I haven't posted in this thread, but thought a lot about it. Some thoughts I have are...

Depends on the season. For the Northeast, gotta think about the rule of 3's, so in winter I would be mostly concerned with exposure and have to go with a chopper like my Battle Rat to get me out of the elements as rapidly as possible.

For years I felt like the 7" range was the best compromise and in some ways I still do. I let my Camp Tramp go when I got an awesome sheath for the BR and it became to easy to carry. I have decided that I will get another knife in the 7" range though and will score one of those Survive GS0 7/7's when they are produced again.

Push comes to shove though, I can do a lot with a 4" blade. My gen 2 Howler is the only 4" blade I did a full on shelter to practice. After getting my Gen 1 Howler, I do think the gen 2 chopped a bit better...think the weight distribution was different with the monster choil.

As I started funding my firearms/shooting from my knife collection, I decided to try and stop my eternal search for something better...although it's hard. I love checking out knives so much and am uber curious about the SOB, Survive 4 and some others.