At which price range are the majority of your knife purchases?

[Mikael Andersson]

My purchases are at the $100 to $299 range.

[BTG]

My purchases are at the $100 to $299 range.

Me too, I was thinking 150 $ would be pretty close,,,mostly 100-200.... A few over 200, few under 100...

[Archimedes]

Mine have gone from around a $100 being the cheapest to I think around 5K as the highest. It is not uncommon fro me to buy $1000 plus knives. But, I would say on average maybe $200. Maybe like 10 cheaper knives for every super high one.

[Mikael Andersson]

If anyone noticed I made it so that you can change your vote as things tends to change as time passes.

[Cujobob]

$100-299 is a huge range. The PM2 and the Slysz Bowie are two different price points, clearly.

I buy a good knife that appeals to me at whatever price I think it's worth. I own $1000 knives and own many $50 and up, too.

[Mikael Andersson]

$100-299 is a huge range. The PM2 and the Slysz Bowie are two different price points, clearly.

I buy a good knife that appeals to me at whatever price I think it's worth. I own $1000 knives and own many $50 and up, too.

Yes but I think that if someone can afford to pay $140 for a knife they probably also could afford to pay $280 for another knife.

[Evil D]

Typically they're just over $100 but I believe I've paid as much as $265 for one.

[mrtodd777]

I am usually right at $100 with a few a little higher.. That being said, if you would have told me 2 years ago that I would be spending $150 for a knife I would have Laughed in your face. The struggle is real ladies and gentlemen..

[abbazaba]

$100-$300 covers a lot of ground, and is where I feel like most premium production knives have been priced. Might have been better to have more increments over $100 to get better data.

[swigert]

100-300 for me also. Nirvana will be first Spyderco out of that range for me.

[murphjd25]

i had to say 100-300 also. that could go up when i get more funds for even nicer spydies hehe

[Able Dog]

$100-299, because that is a wide range that covers a lot of excellent knives. Everything from the stainless Police to the Rubicon sits within that pricerange. I'm not surprised it is leading in the poll.

Not to forget any knives that cost more/less, but they don't make up the majority of my purchases.

[Xplorer]

In particular I find the knives that appeal to me most tend to fall in the $200-$300 range. There are a number of knives in that range being produced by Spyderco as collaborative efforts with custom knife makers. These knives tend to work, look and feel remarkably close to the actual custom knives they are replicating at a fraction of the cost. The Techno, Slysz Bowie, Rubicon, Firefly, and Southard are a few good examples....and there's a bunch more.

[JAfromMN]

60 to 99 once or twice a year.

I use mine and im on a tight budget

[Knivesinedc]

100-299 but only 1 or two blades a year. The rest are usually gotten through trades.

[Mikael Andersson]

I made up this list as to what knives to expect at each price range... I love doing this stuff and please tell me if you find that something isn't right about this.

This list is for pocket folders with 2'' to 4'' blades.

$1 to $9 - Crappy Quality and Low Quality knives

$10 to $29 - Low Quality and Lower Medium Quality knives

$30 to $59 - Medium Quality knives

$60 to $99 - Upper Medium Quality knives

$100 to $299 - High Quality Production knives

$300 to $599 - Premium Production and Mid-Tech knives

$600+ - Mid-Tech and Custom knives

[Evil D]

I made up this list as to what knives to expect at each price range... I love doing this stuff and please tell me if you find that something isn't right about this.

This list is for pocket folders with 2'' to 4'' blades.

$1 to $9 - Crappy Quality and Low Quality knives

$10 to $29 - Low Quality and Lower Medium Quality knives

$30 to $59 - Medium Quality knives

$60 to $99 - Upper Medium Quality knives

$100 to $299 - High Quality Production knives

$300 to $599 - Premium Production and Mid-Tech knives

$600+ - Mid-Tech and Custom knives

I think that's a pretty subjective list and will depend a lot on what a person thinks "quality" is. Personally I think my $15 Opinel is an amazing knife for the price and is a quality knife for $15. By comparison I would take an Opinel over just about any generic flea market knife at any price. Your breakdown would lump the Opinel in the low quality group, but I don't think that's a fair assessment of the knife. Then your $30-$59 bracket being medium quality, that's where my Ladybug/Manbug/Dragonfly live, and I surely would consider those knives to be well above medium quality.

What I'm saying is, maybe quality isn't the best way to describe your price points. I can get a Victorinox SAK for $20 and I would never say they're a low quality knife. My experience is, the higher the price, the less you're paying for a tool and the more you're paying for materials, production cost, and probably the name and exclusivity that comes with it. My $15 Opinel will out slice a $600 Hinderer all day everyday, so what is it about a $600 knife that makes it better when it's so easily out performed by a $15 knife?

That's a rhetorical question of course. I fully understand the allure of those knives and for most knives/brands I understand where the cost comes from. An Opinel cost $15 because it only has 5 parts that make up the entire knife, and all those parts are inexpensive and don't cost a lot to manufacture. But, does that make it a low quality knife or an inexpensive knife? Obviously there isn't a direct correlation between cost and performance.

The problem with your list is that it assumes that everyone wants the same thing and places value in the same things. In the end, all a Hinderer can do that an Opinel can't is survive getting beat on in ways that a folding knife should never get beat on, and it cost 40x as much and doesn't slice half as well. So, for a person who cares more about all out slicing performance, a Hinderer is an over priced knife that doesn't slice well. But, to a guy who places his value in exotic materials and modern steels and wants to go and pry a door off its hinges, he probably feels pretty good about his Hinderer and wouldn't waste $15 on an Opinel because he'd probably break it the first time he used it.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

I'm with David on this.

Excellent points!

I believe there are both objective and subjective meanings of quality when it comes to products like knives.
The Opinel example is perfect, and can be extended to Swedish made Mora knives.

It is mainly to do with 1 The quality control processing and materials used, 2 What is your use for the particular knife?

I consider a knife like the Spyderco Endura and Spyderco Delica to be almost perfect for my own everyday carry needs, but then so is the Byrd Cara Cara, and at a fraction of the cost of the Endura, it has always stood up to cutting tests and chores I and others have put it through.

For serious diving, fishing, and watersports and activities a knife like the Caspian Salt, Pacific Salt, or Aqua Salt is prime and I don't think you can beat those for quality from what I have seen available on the global knife market, for those uses.

[RamZar]

I picked $100-$299 and my average is in the $200-$249.99 range.

I think most would choose $100-$149.99.

I think the following ranges from $100 would work better:

$100-$149.99
$150-199.99
$200-$249.99
$250+

[Holzfaeller]

In the past, I've spent real money for knives that were supposed to be worth it. Now I compare any new knife that I desire to my Manix 2 LW and ask, what does it do better than this sub-$100 knife? I save a lot of money that way.