Oh, and since we're talking budget, here are a couple of my favorite budget knives. These may not be as refined as the usual suspects (SRM, Navy, Enlan, Bee, etc), but if you're on a budget and concerned about bang for the buck, they are still a pretty good deal, IMHO. Where all of them fall short is the quality of the steel. But then again, most people are still paying $30+ for 440C, AUS-8 or worse. Don't give these to a knife enthusiast, obviously. ;)
This used to be my beater knife for opening boxes and cutting cardboard years ago. It looks better than in the picture. Skinny blade, really skinny liner, very soft steel (hence, easy to sharpen).
This was one of DX's top-sellers back when they started selling it early last year. A ton of people love it. I don't really like it, frankly, but I thought I'd include it anyway. It's a Böker knock-off. Comes in a standard "Böker Plus" box and it looks more expensive than it is. This one may even impress your friends if they are not into knives. It's fairly light, which I don't like but many people do. Rides deep in your pocket and at least the early batches were okay quality. Judging from the comments, that may no longer be the case.
Now, this one I do like. I used to buy a lot of junk (I have since slowed down), looking for that one diamond in the rough. This one comes pretty close, at least at its old price point at $7 or so. It's now almost $9 on FP and that's just a tad bit much, if you look at what else you can buy for a little over $10 (763, 939, EL-04, EL-01). Still, I really like this one.
Comes branded "S&W Extreme Ops" (obviously fake). Is spring assisted, has a flipper, ambidextrous thumb-studs and rubberized handles that I like a lot. It's not overly large but it fits my largish hands really well. In fact, it's one of the few cheap knives that I actually use for real work (the liners are pretty thin; also, I have several of these and I've had to do some work on some of them to make the liner properly engage the tang, so please do keep that in mind).
I like the westernized tanto profile (point in line with spine of the blade; about 40% serrated), and the steel isn't as soft as on some budget knives, but still nothing to write home about if you plan on actually using these. Earlier batches came lubricated, fairly sharp out of the box, with pretty decent washers and loctite on the pivot.
What can I say, I like these. :)