Sorry to pick on you because of something that I see all over, but it has really irked me. At some point we need to get a sense of reality. The HEST (and many others) is a super thick, super tough overbuilt folder. If you break it, you did something majorly wrong. To point out that notch could be a failure point is valid, but the failure level is so high as to be irrelevant. I would argue that unless the blade was in a vice up to the notch the true failure is much closer to the tip. That is where most knives break.

Uninformed internet failure engineering is driving me insane.

Now as far as appealing to the urban mall ninja, you are spot on. HEST is a popular opinion designed knife. The good thing is it seems to be a good knife with actual capabilities that exceed almost anyone's needs.

Thanks for letting me rant and I don't mean anything personal.