After years of carrying bigger blades outdoors, I now lean towards a 4" blade with full tang and no serrations.

I'm less focused on defense and more on surviving comfortably in the wild.

And a variant of the first rule of gunfighting applies... A usable knife you have on you trumps the big knife you did not bring. One reason I carry a Benchmade full sized gryptoillian folder.

ESEE 4, Grohman Canadian Boat/paratrooper knife, and a Helle Norwegian laminated blade are my go-to knives.

I'd get a Mora 4" and use it some. Once you know what length and blade shape you like then spend a bit more.

That said, one of the Mora's or a Cold Steel Canadian (grohman) copy are pretty handy and affordable.

If you want to cut straight to the chase, ESEE 4 is just over $100 with a couple of sheath options. You can spend much more and get prettier knives, but for a factory made knife it's hard to beat.

There is a certain amount of fashion in knives lately. Styles come and go. It's become a thing to spend $400-600 on blades. Kindof like the idea that 1911s require $2k worth of custom work to be useful.