Always an interesting topic for discussion. Without getting into specifics, I know that I personally can weed out at least half of the knives I see at first glance, just on design considerations. Everyone's criteria may be different, but I suspect their ratio of first-glance rejections is at least that. Most reviews, however, ignore a lot of fairly important design points to concentrate on materials and construction.<br><br>Much of the divisive conversation about survival knives seems to hinge on whether it should be useable as a weapon. That derives directly from the anticipated survival scenarios, and this gets into much broader philosophical territory.<br><br>One small point that I seldom see addressed in reviews- I personally dislike knives with asymmetrical blades and symmetrical handles. If it matters which way the blade is facing (pretty much anything but a dagger), I feel pretty strongly that you should be able to tell by feel, without thinking, how it's oriented. I don't mean to offend anyone, but military knives commonly fail on that point. Maybe it's just me.