Here are my feelings on TOPS (off the top of my head):
Pros:
Decent Steel
Though not near as good as some other steels, it is a decent choice, and it atleast is not stainless. I hear they have a good heat treat, though have also heard of some cases that make me feel I would want a little more toughness.
Great Handle Material
I must say, I like micarta a lot, and TOPS uses it almost exclusively. I also like the finish they put on it (grippy, but I don't think it would give me blisters).
Cons:
Traction Grooves
All the TOPS knives (atleast the large ones) that I have seen have what TOPS calls traction grooves. Basically, they are groups of quite sharp grooves that extend slightly above (on the ones I've seen) the handle material. They are from the tang. They are HIGHLY abrasive, and I have no doubt they would damage my hand (large blistering, perhaps ripped skin) severly under heavy use over quite a short period of time (30 minutes perhaps). They only way I would ever use a large TOPS knife for hard use (their intended purpose) would be with gloves, which are not to my liking.
Designs
Most of the TOPS designs are far from my liking. TOPS grinds are usually very thick, both primary and edge grinds. This reduces chopping and cutting performance greatly. I also dislike tantos for my uses, and TOPS uses them extensively, although drop points are becoming more available. I also dislike most of the saw tooth spines, and weird sharp protusions from the spines of many of their knives.
Warranty
If I broke a TOPS knife doing something quite unabusive, I would expect even the TOPS warranty to cover it. Even if it went beyond the warranty, I would not be surprised if it were covered because the person with power knew that the failure shouldn't have happened. However, I feel that a failure doing something very unabusive is unlikely (it would have to be an error in manufacture, heat treat, et cetera I think) I feel that if I broke a TOPS knife, it would probably be doing something almost universally deemed abusive. Why would I do it? Perhaps I had to, perhaps it was an accident, perhaps it saved me time and effort. For example, perhaps I was chopping with extremely powerful strokes and made full contact with a sharp, hard rock. Let's say the blade broke or atleast severly chipped out at the point of impact due to the amazing force of the blow and the concentration of the blow on one tiny part of the blade. Would TOPS cover that? After all, it's my fault, admittedly by accident, but my fault. Also, it put the blade under a huge amount of stress, an abusive level of stress, to a point where failure is almost expected. I would not expect TOPS to cover me in that and other highly abusive situations. If they did, I would be surprised. Other companies offer warranties that cover ANYTHING short of intentional damage. I am covered no matter what. I value that coverage.
When I look for a hard-use knife (or most any knife for that matter), I look for many things. These include cohesion of design (design features all tartegeted towards one intended purpose or small group of purposes-the purpose(s) I'm looking to fill), ergonomics (although ergonomics are highly subjective, I watch out for obvious pitfalls such as, for me, traction grooves), performance, and warranty.
In the $150 range, there are better knives for my uses (camp and survival chores, general utility), IMHO. For example, Swamp Rat Knives (
www.swamprat.com ) offer the Battle Rat which is superfluous to all the TOPS knives I've seen in its size range in almost every way.
I know everyone has their own uses, ergonomic preferences, favorite brands and styles, but I go almost totally by how a knife performs. This has lead me to a few companies that I follow most closely.