What is your experience with cheap knives from amazon or others? There are a lot of sub $50 knives there with mostly positive reviews. Are they actually good? Or do you have better cheap options that are not sponsored by amazon? I see brands on there like Lothar or Bergkvist. They actually have decent websites on their own, so I don’t know if they are actually that amazon trash or a decent budget brand.
It’s hard to know what is and is not a no-name brand if you’re new to knives. There’s no discernible difference (on the surface) between a pop-up vendor who just re-brands cheap knives and a true manufacturer. One of the best ways to start figuring this out is to not shop on Amazon. A dedicated and trusted knife store like: BladeHQ, KnifeCenter, WhiteMountainKnives, KnifeJoy, KnivesShipFree, and a few others, will give you the best info. You will find better ways to filter and budget options that are much better choices. But it’s still overwhelming.
If you have a specific style of knife you’re looking for, and you’re not sure if it’s a good or bad brand, I’d start by asking here (or over in [email protected]
As other’s have said, there are some good budget brands out there for well under $50.