I always wanted an Emerson knife. I had my first oportunity when a pristine Aftershock showed up in the Exchange and bought it. After my not so nice affair with the Spanish Customs ended up costing not a lot less than if I had bought it in Europe. Oh well, it is expensive but nice. The blade shape is somewhat utilitarian, cuts well and despite the thick blade and grind is usable. The wave works well. Lockup is ok and lockstick... well, I don't care much about it.
A year or two after that I found a Commander (half serrated, coated blade) on the Exchange that had just came back from SPA treatment, so besides some scratches in the black coating, the blade was supposed to be in great shape. Well, I bought it, customes screwed me again and after receiving it I realised that I should have passed... Combo blades of this size don't work well, besides Spyderco is the king of serrations and I already have a few. Action is on the gritty side. But the worst about it is that the SPA treatment basically ground a 100% new edge on it... and given the obtuse saber grind of the original blade, that means that the edge now is extremely thick. Live and learn I guess. I got to say I DONT'T LIKE MY COMMANDER.
Another thing I don't quite like about Emerson is that there seems to be a bunch of blade shapes, a bunch of handle shapes and then they mix and match in every possible combination along with coated/non-coated, plain/half-serrated verions. Some are ok, others don't just appeal to me at all.
I should say that their G10 and handle ergos offer great retention (if you were to use it for fighting that is) but that from an utilitarian perspective they are on the rough side.
Mikel