Cold Steal made some nice knives especially the CarbonV ones. I love their shovel
and machete kukuri and they do make stuff no one else does. That said it seems like most people start out with CS because they are available at your local knife store but when they get more knoledge and taste they start to upgrade.
I would consider holding on to nice Carbon V knives because they won't be making any more and most new versions are not as good.