I've only had the knife for a couple days now so I cannot comment on long term durability or how the blade will hold up to abuse over time, but here are some of my initial thoughts:The good:*Lockup is very good. The liner lock is solid and locks regardless of how you open the knife (fast or slow). There is no issue of only half engaging or allowing the blade to work itself loose.*Very smooth operation. The blade opens and closes like butter. There is just the right amount of retention on the detent to keep the blade closed, but it is extremely easy to open blade and even disengage the liner lock and close it one handed.*Ambidextrous opening. The handle only has a pronounced scalloped cutout for right hand opening, however, the "Spyder hole" is so large that even with the pocket clip on the left side it is extremely easy to open the knife one handed with your left hand.*No blade play whatsoever. Completely solid side to side and up and down and blade is in the middle of the frame when folded (I've seen some budget knives have the blade rub up against one side)*Lots of options on how to carry the knife: left or right, tip up or tip down. Many knifes only allow you to change tip orientation.*Price to quality ratio is great. Is this a $200+ spyderco? definitely not. Is it better than any $30-$40 knife you might find at wal-mart/Big5/etc? Absolutely. Blade is extremely sharp out of the box, it opens and closes smooth as butter and it has a positive lockup that you can have confidence in.Cons (a couple are my personal preference and may not be true for others):*Blade is much darker than stock picture. In the picture the blade looks like a dark gray steel that almost look like a stonewash color. In reality the blade is coated in a satin black that looks, to be honest, kind of cheap. Sort of the type you'd expect to see on a walmart tacticool special. I know that other reviewers have mentioned that the coating has held up well to abuse, but it just feels wrong to me. Maybe it will look better with usage.*Closing is not ambidextrous. While not a con for me as I am right handed, left handed users will not be able to disengage the liner lock one handed to close the blade as easily.*Knife is lighter than you'd expect for its size. This could be a pro for some people, but for me, combined with the blade coating that I do not like, it makes the knife feel cheap and unreliable. the G10 scales are well done and they help save weight, but the steel liner is "skeletonized" (aka has large holes drilled in it) to save on weight as well so the knife feel way lighter than it should for how big it is.In conclusion: I do not regret buying it, but I do not know how much use this will get from me and how much time it will get in the carry rotation. I tend to gravitate towards smaller knifes for EDC purposes as I typically use them for mundane tasks and not self defense. The size of this does lend itself as a good candidate for primary self defense purposes as I am sure pretty much any one on the planet will pause and wonder how you pulled a mini machete out of your pocket. For me, it just takes up to much pocket real estate; it is very difficult for me to fit my hands (large glove size) in my pocket when this is in the pocket as well.