This victorinox knife is commonly recommended on Somethingawful and Cooks Illustrated as a budget knife that also performs pretty solidly. I own it and I definitely think it was worth the 25 dollars I paid for it. If you're not in a rush to get a new knife though I'd recommend waiting until the price drops since camelcamelcamel says that this current price point is the highest its ever been.
29.99 is a great price for this knife.
Mongrel; if you want an awesome knife that'll last forever and do a great job without requiring a lot of maintainance while also being sharp as fuck and well-balanced, get the Victorinox. You might be better off with the 10-inch than the 8-inch, but if you're accustomed to smaller knives the 8 inch is fucking great.
I cannot emphasize this enough:
If you are not going to spend a hundred+ dollars on a knife this is the only knife you should buy. It's basically the standard issue line cook and culinary school knife because it's dirt cheap and super functional. If you have particular knife skills and preferences you might seek out something else, and if you don't like having to take the knife to the grinder twice a year you might seek out something else, but for the price point there is literally nothing better you can buy that you don't find used at a yuppy's estate sale.
Just remember that because the knife is stainless steel and has a very high rockwell hardness it's hard to keep sharp with a honing steel, but it will keep an edge for a long time. Find a grinder in your area (I take mine to a guy who sells stoves) and they'll usually sharpen knives for about a dollar a piece, or less. Buck Stove charges me 60 cents a piece.
My personal kinfe is a 10 inch Sabatier Jeune, made between 1870 and 1940. I bought it at an estate sale for ten dollars, and later found out it's about a 250 dollar antique usually bought by either collectors or enthusiasts. It weighs about as much as a feather and holds an edge so sharp that the knife actually scares me a little. But it's carbon steel, so it's ugly and a pain in the ass to maintain. I love that knife, though.
Just a life protip: If you ever see an estate sale, stop and go straight into the kitchen. Most people have lots of infomercial junk, cheap shitty knives they bought in a set at sears one christmas in 1996 and paper-thin pans that 'were the cheapest they had at the store'. You'll be disappointed most of the time. But every once in a while you'll find a 40 year old Osterizer blender that can powder granite or a solid chef's knife or some really good all-clad or wear-ever pans with thick bottoms. Or old pyrex, fuck old pyrex (pre-1980) is GOLD. It's so much better than the new shit because the tempering process was a lot more rigorous and it's MUCH more durable.
