I’ve purchased around 20 of the Lightning knives and have gifted many of them. The ones most available now are the Elite version and the last couple batches that I have purchased were that model. They seemed to eliminated the slight twang sound from the spring plus by adding the 3rd screw attachment for the pocket clip it has become quite a bit more solid feeling. They have these in all sorts of blade styles, but I have found the drop point and tanto the most useful.
I’ve also picked up 2 of the protyoype I and 2 of the prototype IIIs from midtech knives. I’ve found the type II, which is larger and feels better made to be a very nice OTF.
The Kershaw Launch 4 looks interesting to me, but I cannot justify such an expensive knife.
I don’t mind political discussion being banned as long as it’s enforced equally for both sides. Too often I see biased enforcement that allows one side or the other to get in the last word despite otherwise losing an argument. Other times I see an offhand comment is left unmoderated until someone with an opposing viewpoint posts a (good) rebuff and suddenly the zero tolerance policy for political discussion goes back into effect. I’m in favor of an impartial zero tolerance policy or no policy at all. I think BLF is more impartial that most. DEFINITELY a lot better than reddit which is an absolute mess with biased moderators everywhere.
Regarding OTF knives, they are very cool but unfortunately my stinking state has a ban on them. I can get a license and legally carry a gun, but pointy objects with switches on them are a no-no. 
I find that the OTF knives are the best fit for how I use them. For instance I have an automatic Buck 110 and I love it, but press the button and it cracks right open. It’s only one way though. So like a single action OTF, I have to manually bring the blade back. Since it’s auto, there is spring resistance. I love the knife, but I find that once it’s open I usually complete what I’m doing then close it. With a dual action OTF I’ll work on something, whether it’s cutting some insulation, cutting the wrapper off a bottle of wine, or opening an amazon box, then close it and put it right away. Also they’re a lot of fun to just open and close.
I have a Lightning I got about 10 years ago? It’s great. I think I paid $25 for it. Fires and retracts fast and reliably, there’s some blade wiggle, but nothing major. It is bulky and heavy, and the blade steel is the typical 420 HC or some other Chinesium variety that doesn’t hold an edge well (bit is easy to sharpen). I haven’t tried any other chinese otf though. Mighty tempting!
I carry a benchmade infadel on my ballistic vest. Have done so for years. Still going strong, no complaints.
Microtech UTX-70SE Carbon handle bronze blade and hardware
Microtech UTX-85DE Blue body stonewashed blade and hardware
The 70 is on me daily, if I don’t have the 85 also I usually have a Benchmade Mini Freek or a ZT0456CF on me for a “bigger” blade.
I had a Lightning, but it stopped working correctly after a few months. Bought another, and it did the same. So, I have no confidence in Lightnings.
I’ve found that my Kalashnikov is just as useful as an OTF. Push the button, out it comes. When done, push the button again and use the side of my leg (or whatever) to push it closed. Quick one-handed operation, which is what I was after.
ok.
i will play.
the good: cool. really. cool.
the bad: prices. way too high.
the ugly: quality control. counterfeits.
personally, i have not found them worth the money.
a small (3 inch) blade with unreliable lock-up.
and, of course, the legal/liability issue.
Bought a couple of the MT Boba Fett clones, then a real UTX 85 as atonement. My EDC is the Boba Fett, a good thwaack every time. The real one is just for looking at.
Does anyone (probably have to be 50 or over) remember the Edge Company of Brattleboro, Vt? I remember purchasing OTF kit knives from them in the 90’s. They would ship the kit with the blade left uninstalled. That’s how they got around the legalities. That business model only lasted a couple of years, but I carried one of their OTF with a standard spear blade for a decade at work before the pot metal internal frame cracked and broke.
At Tensor where I got the Corporal twist angle they just happen to offer many OTF models.
Anyone heard of WinterBladeCo? They use all magnets for all their knives..no springs. Mostly custom builds, but some production models will be on the way soon. Tell em Scott Ray sent ya!
I'm in the process of trying to buy one of these.
It's an automatic knife, but it's not out the front, so I guess it doesn't really fit in this thread. 
So i had a couple of cheap OTF years ago, they were selling at a gun show, camo colored, etc.
i don’t know if they were fakes or if all OTF do this, but you could click the switch while holding it against your palm and it wouldn’t cut thru your skin.
Because I don't delete posts just because they're off-topic.
(Before today, I thought all automatic knives were out the front.) 
Would love to post pics of my microtechs but I still haven't figured out the image uploading on here yet
Well press on regardless; Surely everyone appreciates your off-topic contributions to the forum SNR too. :laughing: 
@Scott, you need to open a free account at imgur com and upload your images to them to host, then put the links they provide in your message and the pictures will magically appear in your post.
I tried. It says imgur is at max capacity, try again later. Been saying that for over a month now. Also, imgur is the most political site I've been on in a while...dunno how this group supports them when there's strict "no politics" rule here..but to upload a pic you gotta log into a political site. Lol.
Imgur is a good image hosting site. I didn't know that it was at max capacity.
I sometimes use Imgur. I log in and upload and ignore other people's images.
You can use many other image hosting sites.
I usually use abload.de, but that site is in German so it's not the most user friendly to people that don't know German.