What is your experience with cheap knives from amazon or others? There are a lot of sub $50 knives there with mostly positive reviews. Are they actually good? Or do you have better cheap options that are not sponsored by amazon? I see brands on there like Lothar or Bergkvist. They actually have decent websites on their own, so I don’t know if they are actually that amazon trash or a decent budget brand.
Knives are getting cheaper. It’s nice. I’d avoid the really cheap button locks. They tend to disengage. Assisted opening, liner lock flippers are dirt cheap but can get you in trouble. Vosteed, Civivi, Kershaw, Boker, Kizer, CRKT, etc… they all make good EDC’s depending on your job and county. They are sub. $50, so you may have to make a return. Defects are more common. Check EVERYTHING. If you do have to make a return, pray to the customer service gods. Also, avoid stainless (unless you’re diving) or brands that don’t tell you the steel. Also, if EDC is in its name, it’s probably a resell from alibaba.
I personally carry a liner lock, gas station flipper most of the time because I beat my knives to shit, working on the farm.
Also, if you want something from a highly reputable brand, the Spyderco Tennacious is $60 but goes on sale for 50% off all the time. I bought one from Walmart for $30.
There’s also this: https://www.amazon.com/Spyderco-Persistence-C136GP-Plain-Knife/dp/B002IWWYS4
But it’s stainless.