For me I keep circling back to just one or two features that really have become the 'no-fail' test of whether it's something I will want to keep and use. No matter how much I like an overall design as a whole, if these features are present I will mostly always become sour on it and move on. This would be my neverending disappointment with choils in virtually all shapes, sizes and forms. I've even owned the 'no-snag choil' from the Dog Soldier 8, etc. My logic is simple, no matter what proposed benefits one can suggest come along with adding a choil (and I know the list is purported to be quite large) I feel it's not at all worth the trade-off of adding an incredibly large hole in the blade by removing cutting edge.
We have pistols and revolvers that are designed to remain snag free, for example, because getting the weapon snagged on the draw can be a life ending result. I can see no logic that would dispute the idea that should one need to plunge their knife into another man's body in defense (which can happen to anyone in combat or in civilian life), one would want that knife to be to least likely to hangup on something which prevents it's removal for further use. I have discussed this matter with a friend of mine who referenced a video documenting that even a small choil, closer to what one would call a sharpening choil, causes significant problems removing the knife from a body (using animal carcass). I cannot find the video for reference.
I find it nonsensical to see on one hand these knives are promoted as combat knives as a whole and in some cases even labeled specifically as fighting knives. It just doesn't add up in my brain to add a feature which can arguably add some degree of added utility for other cutting chores yet would likely cause an outright failure in other cutting tasks. Now, modifying choils can certainly be done, though I've not done it. I don't find sharpening a choil or rounding it to be the best solution as it still removes the point of the blade where you have the most leverage advantage in hard cutting in trade for 'choking up' to regain the same leverage advantage you've lost by adding the choil, only to be holding a hard piece of metal with no handle.
My challenge is simple, I dare you to break the 'norm' for just defaulting to putting a choil on every single knife design out of the shop. I would go so far as to ask yourself when designing... why does this knife absolutely REQUIRE a choil to become highly functional as an all around tool? Is there another way of getting to that same end point without adding a giant hole in the blade at the guard? I would suggest that you can achieve such results without resorting to adding this 'feature' by paying good attention to mass distribution of the tool, handle design and good cutting geometry with a thinner edge. If the end user requires a notch for sharpening, it is much easier to cut a small notch than for me to add back removed material.
All of your other criteria are nice features, I love stonewashed finish and resiprene-C handles, but it matters little to me if it comes with a choil anymore. I've gone full circle on this issue several times over and basically the only way the features you mention trump this issue is if I'm just collecting based on emotion (which I'm prone to do) but when I bring myself back to reality and viewing these knives as tools that should hold the 'form follows function' rule then it becomes quite easy for me to just say I really shouldn't buy anymore knives produced in the Busse compound moving forward. It's a broad stroke but it's where I find myself at this point after a decade of going back and forth on buying sprees and the subsequent dieback.
