[sc]

I don't think you can make the call on which knife you'd use till you had both. If you enjoy cooking or if you hate cooking but have to, the $100 knife will likely become your choice knife: preparing food becomes quicker and easier -- you're investment returns in time and peace of mind.

The $100 knife is also usually quite indestructible compared with the $10 counterpart. Even a $100 knife in the poorest care is salvageable with a professional sharpening.

[hs]

that's it, $100 knife is wonderful till you lost it or break it

$10 knifes, you can afford to have spares

another example, i no longer use mechanical pencil because it betrayed me so many times (i can't see if there's extra lead inside)

transparent mech pencil is better, but i often forget to bring extra leads :(

that's why i buy 96 counts pencils for $5 ... the lead is visible, it never fails me

and no, i don't bring sharpener (you can always break the pencil and 'sharpen' the lead against rough surfaces)

i bring 5 sharpened pencils instead and put the rest in various places

although it's redundant (to ensure reliability), it's simpler and i'm much happier