I was interested in this new handle design but I figured that the guards would not hold up to a lot of abuse. I think its fine though for the blade style. lets face it, you can baton wood with almost any knife if you HAD to but some are just better designed for the task. I bought a SOD for a chopper. sure it will cut a tomato if I needed to but it wouldnt be the best tool for the job, which is why I picked up a S5LE. If i decided to purchase a regulator I would consider it a replacement for my Ka-bar which sits under my driver seat and handles all types of general purpose tasks when needed.