So, since 2001, my EDC's have primarily been:
Green Emerson mini CQC7
Emerson mini A100
Spyderco Techno

There are others I have carried, but those have been my primary EDS's

Now I think I may want a Spyderco Native 5 Salt, yes, the one with the yellow handles.

For those more experienced than me, will I be happy with the Native 5?

Thank you for any advice.

I bought two Salts (1 ea. Atlantic & Pacific) for my wife and I to carry while kayaking. I also own an early model Native. If you like the Native and expect to get it wet the Salt might be a good choice. If you're not on the water...well it does have a yellow handle.

The Native is my favorite Spyderco.

The only negative I can think of is the action is very stiff on the Native 5 salt, more so then the regular native 5. It loosens up a bit with use but it will still require a bit of wrist to flick open. If you are used to the compression lock knives this might come as a shock at first.

Other than that the Native 5 is awesome and the Salt is both very light weight and damn near impervious to elements.

I never liked my Native. That’s a personal opinion though. The steel in that version is basically corrosion proof but if you like sharp steels that keep an edge for a long time this steel won’t cut it for you. I’ve never needed that kind of extreme stainless so I’d rather have any number of different steels that sacrifice one attribute for another.

I looked it up. I was thinking of the H1 steel, the Native salt has some steel I’ve never heard of. I expect it’s similar to H1.

H1 is the one that tends to work best in a serrated format.

The Native 5 uses LC200 which, as I understand it, holds an edge much better and works better as a plain edge.

All my salts however are serrated.

quote:

Originally posted by Redleg06:
I bought two Salts (1 ea. Atlantic & Pacific) for my wife and I to carry while kayaking.

That's what I bought mine for and the only thing I use it for. As such, I have no idea how it cuts anything other than monofilament.
I don't want to use it elsewhere, I don't want to dull it because I don't want to have to sharpen it.

Depends how important it is to you to have a true one hand close knife?

I don't have a Native 5, but have sharpen them. Agree with Cslinger, stiff action. Fairly typical of back locks. Will certainly be stiffer then your Emersons. I have a CQC7A.

Looking at LC200 as the SteelNerd/sharpener I am. LC200 is a pretty good stainless steel as far as edge retention and ease of sharpening. Would make a great kitchen knife steel.

I have a couple of the H1 Salts for being around the salt water and I couldn't be happier. The closest thing to doing the job outside of the Salts is the Boye knives which come with a Marlin spike but cost a fortune and have softer steel, cobalt actually.