Looking for a newbie EDC

Its hard to narrow a knife down to those exact parameters. I would say what's already been said with Benchmade Triage.. There are alot of different variations on the knife so take your pick.

Op don't bother getting a SOG trident. The seatbelt or whatever cutter that may be sucks. Plain and simple. You get what you pay for and I've seen a triage for <130..
 
I think the OP should really reconsider the requirements of partial serrations and a tanto blade shape. Tanto blades are about the least useful for common tasks of any blade shape and partially serrated blades typically have too little of both serrated and plain edge sections to be overly useful, plus 98% of people on here hate them.
 
I started out with some serrated knives, and regretted it. They are very difficult to trade or sell, as well. I don't use my tantos either because I don't want to have to maintain (sharpen) the secondary tip.
I love my Aegis. It is a great choice when you want something light. The mini and regular Aegis's are both on sale at Knife Center right now.
 
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Wow a lot more feedback than I had anticipated! Thanks very much everyone! Lots to take into consideration.

My main reason for wanting the tanto blade is for cosmetics (I think this won't hurt me much as I'm rarely camping and mainly see myself using the blade for box cutting at work and even then that's maybe 2 boxes a week on average). As for the glass breaker I really want that because I grew up a boy scout and well, "be prepared" is really ingrained into me. I'd want to be ready to help if I come across a car accident or if I myself am in one and the door is jammed. Again the partially serrated is part of the being prepared, in the off chance that I need it for the not too common case were I am camping.

I'll take some time to go over the suggestions and see what stand out and what I want to reconsider. Thank you all again for the feedback and help so far!
 
Glass breakers and seatbelt cutters are almost always better as a stand alone unit. I would go for something like a res-q-me on your keys over a knife that has a lot of compromises. The spyderco assist would be the exception. As an EDC knife, thin and comfortable are going to be better than something big, heavy and designed for people wearing gloves. no point in having a seatbelt cutter that makes you turn the knife funny, or that you never practice with. and to be honest that type of cutter only works when its razor sharp, so its far better as a dedicated tool than part of an EDC which might dull a bit with use. A full blade, even a bit dulled, will cut a seatbelt pretty well.

Partial serration is kinda worst of both worlds in my mind. if you want a rope and belt cutter, then by all means, get a fully serrated sheepsfoot design. But for general utility, even though I'm not a tanto fan, if you are, that will work just fine. a sharp blade is a sharp blade. you want something that is going to work well for your 90% of uses, because that is what you are going to do under stress. and might as well work for the actual tasks you need it for.

Personally I started out trying to get one knife to do it all, and ended up with several that didn't do anything well at all. Including a Trident folder. Over time I realized that a lot of what I thought I needed a specific feature for was handled just fine by a sharp knife. Or were better served by something else, like a big pair of shears, or a rescue hook. On the job I tend to carry a couple knives to do different jobs, partly due to where I live. One handed openers are a bit grey where I live, but I work with ropes a lot, so I have a skeletool CX. Really handy, not so good in the hand for more than a couple cuts, so I also have something that I can do some carving or shavings with that doesn't have to be fast access. Outside of work I generally carry a multi-tool or a SAK. so far has been enough.
 
The Cold Steel AK-47 has the steel for a glass breaker and has a bull strong lock, too. They have upgraded the steel so you can get the older AUS8 version very inexpensively, now. The new models are more expensive as they have CTS-XHP steel. No tanto blade, those are useless in real life, as a word of advice.

However, Spyderco makes some awesome cutting tools. You could start on the low end with the Tenacious in all black (~$40). For a bit more you can have an Endura (~$69) in all black. From there you can look at a Manix 2 in all black (~$85 or ~$106 depending on model). Also, the Paramillitary 2 is a real nice knife in all black ($117).
 
Lansky responder has a reverse tanto (more useful for me) and a glass breaker. Under $30 last I looked, can be zip tie waved and love the big belly blade. Deep carry clip as requested.

Its a liner lock, but you didnt mention why you were looking at the arc lock and super duper strong locks remind me of partial serrations, sound good on paper cant say Ive ever found them useful.
Skip the part serrations and seat belt cutter as has been mentioned, a sharp blade will do what you need.
 
Glass breaker tip is almost useless,just saying....but the Benckmade Stryker has a sweet Tango and comes in two sizes...has the Axis lock and that's a BIG bonus.
 
That sog is a great knife. However, the spring on my sog flashback recently broke. All I did to cause it to break was open it normally. The fit and finish on them are not up to the standards of spyderco, benchmade, or cold steel. But when it was working properly the flashback was excellent in pocket and hand. As were my other sogs. I have the aegis tanto, and mini trident, and both flash models. Each i have been pleased with because they are all very light, very capable cutters, they whip open, and mostly i think the designs are excellent. The s&w knifes will cut things. But compared to what else is on the market, they are abomidable garbage.
 
I use the glass breaker/skull crusher thing on my responder all the time to punch holes in the bottom of soup cans so I dont have to risk the tip of my knife. Also came in handy once on a black lab that thought my ankle was a pork chop, makes a good kuboton and no need to try and open the folder or worry about sliding up the blade.
 
I will second some of the above advice. You will be much better served getting a dedicated glass breaker/belt cutter and a dedicated camping/general use folder (spyderco Endura was a good suggestion) than trying to get all of that in one tool. A lot of the tools that come with all the features you mentioned have put more thought into marketing than design and usefulness.
 
I guess everyone has to get experience with the serrated vs non-serrated option. I had plain edged knives for years and then all of a sudden all these partially serrated knives were being offered. Figured there must be something to it. So, my first modern knives were SOGs about 10 years ago; some partial serrated and others plain edged. I learned that unless you have a specific use for the serrations, it is just wasted edge. I eventually purchased a fully serrated Endura and have an old SOG that is fully serrated that I picked up on the bay. The SOG is a small nice folding knife (Air Soft as I recall). I keep the that Endura inside my vehicle for emergencies. One of my SAKs also has the serrated seat cutter blade; it's actually a good design with tiny serrations.

Some people like Tanto blades. I don't. But who am I to dictate what is useful for you? The best selling point of a tanto blade is a stronger point in most cases. Tantos were made for stabbing and the rest is mostly advertising.

If you are interested, knives are a journey. Frequently we don't know the outcome of that journey. I discovered that my preferences were met all along with plain edged knives; but I still had to give serrations a try after all many of my kitchen knives are serrated.

SOGs aren't bad knives overall and I have no big issue with them. SOG lost me when they copied the Spydie hole.
 
Too many options. dont know. You want all that one blade? or im not reading correctly. the glass breaker has me stumped. Lots of good ones listed up there though.
 
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sorry for a double but I like serrations however full serrated blades Wear em out and dis card .forget re sharpening them. Can someone advise on how to sharpen a pentagon? its dull.
 
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