Al Mar are well made, usually slim, expensive and suitable for covert operations--at least some models. They're most famous for slim folders. For $395, their Sere Operator is about as good as they come and is a fixed blade. It's VG tool steel--hard as hell & holds a wicked edge--but also time consuming to sharpen, best done with a diamond stone. For a lot less money, you can get a a SOG. I like and use my SOG Pentagon in S.E Asia, where you can't tell the Catholics from the NPA (communists) or **** Moro Islamic liberation front baddies and in highly populated areas, sometimes a knife is best--a gun shot brings too much attention and you want to get the job done and just disappear, with out eyes and ears starting a trail on you--they will cut off your head and play soccer with it for a laugh. The folding AEGIS folder series by SOG are nice, open very fast, and come in black, which can be a real plus. Maybe the best all around QUALITY knife in that realm for the money, is the black SOG Trident tanto folder--I always have a couple--in my room, pocket--wherever--at under 4 ounces, fast opening and reliable, they're hard to beat, keep an edge and not too hard to sharpen. When I leave, I usually give them to people who were valuable to me and they still have them if i see them again, even years later and are very grateful--to them--it's a month's wages--to us--a steak dinner. Try westsidewholesale.com SOG fixed blades are nice, but you might want to rework the sheaths a bit--they take too long to be pulled out and can be noisy. Why SOG makes good knives and so so sheaths is beyond me.
