Totally agree with you, all my defensives knives are cheap ones. I love expensive defensive knives too (micro jimbo,...) but I will never take the risk to go out with them. With a cheap one I don't fear to brake it, to mis use it, or to throw it away, depending of the situation. It is the criteria: am I able to throw it away, loose it for ever? For fast deployment, flipper is the best with the less chance of making a mistake. A deep (or ultra deep) pocket clip, wire is better for discretion, even if I think much more of puttig in my pocket directly without using the clip. And all the locking mechanism are good enough, as long as it's not a slipjoint. I live in France, it is criminalise to wear a knife (500$ bill fine and a mention to criminal record), in UK you risk jail, du to terrorist, but I don't want to be naked if I cross one of them path...