I think that knife nuts tend to pay a lot of attention to the steels and as a result, tend to spend more per knife. My most expensive knives are fixed blades and they are the least used. I should say.... seldom used. I still buy fixed blades, but I have pulled back somewhat even for the lesser priced fixed blades. My thought, why do I need a newly produced Schrade fixed blade to satisfy my curiosity?
On folders, my price per knife has been going up. But I still pretty much refuse to consider knives costing more than $200. Most seem to run in the $100-$150 range now which is a substantial step up in price over things I purchased 10 years ago. But I still like Vic SAKs and always will. Come to think of it, I need to sharpen mine.
The only knife I've purchased at full price, used, and intend to keep so far is the Rat Worx MRX at $300 flat. It will outlive me and my children. I've been carrying and using it for a couple months now and treating it like a gas station knife and you can hardly tell it's been outside of the box.
You can get what you pay for if you shop around, do research, and are careful.
Higher-end (read: higher priced) knives represent a better investment because you can resell them later at a price that isn't too far off from new as long as you don't abuse it. Economically-priced knives give you value and performance but no real resale option when you've decided to replace it.
I'm pretty sure I'd be completely broke as opposed to mildly broke if I stayed exclusively in the budget knife range. At least in the $100-300 range, I can get about 75-85% of my initial expenditure back and I'm likely to be a little more mindful of where I place it and how I use it. As a result, I don't lose it, I don't break it, it actually is worth the cost to send it in for warranty work, and I can sell or trade it down the line towards something better. Also, it's worth noting that the margins on higher-end items can actually lead to mild profits; Pick up a Sebenza at a good price, carry it for a while, and sell it a touch higher, and you've basically been -paid- to carry the knife. It's not common, but when I see the chance, I hop all over it. I picked up a gold-class mini barrage with CTEK and M390 steel for EIGHTY DOLLARS off of ebay. Carried it, used it, enjoyed it, sold it for $115 which was still a ridiculously good price. I later saw that same one (same serial number!) on eBay again at $215 and it sold at that price too. So, anywhere between 2-4 people got that knife at a good price, hopefully used it, and then still came out ahead. Such is the magic of the higher-end knife world.
