I guess hand grips are very personal. Some like it big and fat whereas some like it thin and flat. Different strokes for different folks. We are all born different.
EXACTLY!
One thing I will note. Jman (?) posted about the tang being above the scales (or was that below?). Anyway, mine are perfect. You cannot run your finger across the scale/tang interface and discern where the tang vs. scale is. At all. It is better than a Busse BG Team Gemini that I have right next to it, where the tang is easily felt all the way around. Not that it is enough to be a problem, and I didn't even notice it until Jman posted about the 5.1, and I pulled out the BGTG to compare to mine.
No, the 5.1 is about as perfect as a knife gets, technically. There will always be variations among individuals on what they like about a knife, such that no knife can ever please everyone perfectly. And the fact the 5.1 is in 20CV (and maybe in the future I'll have one in 3V as well) instead of a coated SR-101 makes it desirable to me as a knife that will be in my line-up of go-tos, depending on where I'm "going to" that day. And even with the INFImandu or SWATmandu, there will be times the 5.1 will get the nod over the 'mandus. Probably mostly depending on my mood that day. The 5.1 will always be a better chopper than the 'mandus. The weight and balance of it is different. Even though they seem to balance at the same point (right behind the "guard" on the main scales), the 5.1 seems to be more blade heavy, and just heavier in general. Much more of a working knife. Whereas the 'mandus feel lighter and livelier in the hand.
To me, the 5.1 is more of a camping knife, one you take with you on a backpacking trip into the middle of nowehere. The 'mandu is one that you keep with you in your GHB, more of an urban survival or EDC type blade. It can do anything the 5.1 can, but because of the weight and the balance, it might require a little more muscle behind it while carrying lighter. As a hunting knife, I would go with the 'mandu over the 5.1. The balance of the blade, and the unambiguity of the orientation of the edge, makes it the kind of blade where you can operate it better by feel, without seeing exactly where it is (I won't go into detail, but that becomes important when you're successful as a hunter). Different needs, different knives. That is why you really can't have one knife to do everything, IMO. It might do it, but why limit yourself to a jack of all trades, even in a narrow size range, when you can have specialists that will do jobs better? That is why the knife world is so great, and why I have so many. Actually, too many. But regardless, variety is good.