I know the feeling. I also wasted far to many greenbacks on pocket knives from DX, MF and several others, etc... but we all have to start somewhere. If you havent owned an SRM or Enlan, then you probably dont have anything of high quality in your budget collection to compare it with. And once you do have an SRM or Enlan, then nearly everything else in the price range seems like pure junk. I hung onto only a few of those "DX" knives and gave the rest away as gifts. Of those gifted, I dont think any of them survived a year before they were worn out, broken, lost or thrown away. Pure rubbish!
Only one of those knives made it to my list as "recommended": Dealextreme sku19366
It retains an edge quite well for the harsh box cutting duties Ive used it for, but I have yet to abuse it to find its true muster. I found another similar Kershaw knife for +$50 in a local store. The sales person agreed that the DX was of higher quality. He never asked me what I paid or where I got it, and I didnt have the heart to volunteer the information and embarrass him in from of several other customers in his store. Its roughly a $5 knife.
I've been avoiding the link in your sig like the plague...have always been a knife hoarder, but have tried to avoid the Chinese market as much as possible. I guess just because of "knife snobbery" and general reputation of Chinese produced garbage. LOL
CRKT has been my personal fave and EDC for years now, but their quality has been going to crap. Have retired my beast M16-14ZSF that I carried horizontally at my back simply for the need of a multi-tool more often. That rarely saw use anyway and I used my M16-13Z that's clipped in my front pocket for almost everything.
Have recently been eyeing Böker's Magnum line and have to admit that the quality is amazing! And now I have broken down and clicked your links...I'm screwed... Will probably have at the least an EL01 ordered by the end of the day. (have just gotten so used to that flipper that I'd be lost without it)
I've got a black Sanrenmu 939 on order from this excellent ebay seller, doingoutdoor. Paid $13.50 shipped. I wanted one in silver but no one had any. How does the black hold up?
I have the Enlan EL-01 and EL-02B and both are really nice. The Enlan is a little bit to heavy for me, but the quality is relly good. The EL02B is great, because is looks differnet to others, because it has the stonewashed finished blade and is much thinner as the EL02.
Navy K-631s, Ganzo 710, SRM 939 and SRM T-01 are my current favs. I have about a dozen others and 19 more on order.
Right now I would say the SRM 939 is a must buy. It may not be around much longer and it is a great EDC. That blade shape is ultra useful and the entire knife is a slick design. Only small con with it is the clip is only tip down and the clip flares out too much at the end. If this was aluminum handled with a Spyderco type blade hole and tip down, it would be a perfect knife and I would buy all there were in the world.
Been looking at the 939 too, only thing that sort of puts me off is black paint on blade, I will be using it as food knife when outdoors and wouldnt want any kind of paint chipping off and into my food.