My wife gave me an Astute, and I think it's become my new favorite Spyderco.
Initially, I was worried it might feel a bit small in my hand. It ended up being a perfect fit. The handle is a bit short, but it really locks in when you close your grip. I also found it to be rather versatile, facilitating a number of different grips without compromising safety.
I don't normally care about blade/handle ratio, but I definitely took notice the first time I opened up the Astute. That's a lot of blade crammed into that handle, especially compared to a Delica. Like Spydergirl88 said, the knife is very well finished, and it feels nicer than its price would lead you to believe. Lockup is solid, and opening is smooth as butter. I'm loving the blade shape, and how thinly ground it was. I ended up lightly thinning and convexing the edge. With a blade ground this thin, I want to try and get as much performance out of it as I can. I'll be curious to see how Spyderco's 8Cr compares to the same steel as used by other brands. It definitely polishes up nicely, and offered some resistance on the CBN and ceramic. So hopefully that means it will hold a decent edge. This will be used more as an around the house, off work EDC, so I doubt it will see much of what people would consider hard use.
It almost makes me a bit sad that this knife is part of Spyderco's value line. Mainly because I would love to see this knife in Cruwear, or K390. I bet that thinly ground blade would just scream in a carbon or tool steel of some sort.
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