I'm going to give Ranger Knives another go, especially since they've revamped the RD line. I was put off on them initially because I got somewhat of a lemon RD-7 in my opinion and had little luck resolving it with Jason.
I was not favorably impressed with the RD-9 I purchased from them a couple of years ago. It is real tough, but not much good at anything except being a paperweight. I was not aware that they had revamped the line until you just mentioned it. So I just went and looked at their web site and the new RD line looks much nicer than the old ones. Maybe I'll try an RD-7.
