I also forgot to mention that if you want something in a more traditional, all purpose blade shape, you may want to look at the Buck Vantage series. They're manual openers with both an oval thumb hole, and a flipper. The flipper opens them as fast as any auto or assisted opener I've ever used.
The $25 - $30 select level has 420HC steel, which isn't spectacular, but the Paul Bos heat treat lets it perform better than it should, so it has decent edge holding. The avid level steps the price up to about $40, but upgrades the steel Sandvik 13C26, also with HT by Bos. If $60 is in the budget then you can get the Vantage Pro with a CPM-S30V blade, once again with Bos heat treat.
Getting back to the Buck Vantage, those knives are US made liner locks with various handle materials over stainless steel liners. I'm actually getting ready to post a Vantage review to YouTube, so you caught me at a good time. I'll also note that for a $10 to $20 price increase on each steel level (select, avid, and pro) you can upgrade to the Vantage Force line. The biggest upgrade on the force line is the full length back spacer that makes them more rigid. If you're more concerned with general cutting than with prying tasks, the various levels of the standard Vantage line will serve you quite well.
Just to be thorough, here's a little more steel info: S30V is a true super steel and it has great edge retention. On knives I use for things like rope and cord cutting I don't polish the edge out because S30V takes a toothy edge that bites in, and it holds that edge forever. For slicers I'll polish the edge out on S30V blades, and again it holds the edge really well, even in abrasive materials like cardboard. If you go with S30V, I strongly recommend diamond sharpeners because the abrasion resistance of this steel almost requires diamond to sharpen it. 13C26 and 14C28N are easy to sharpen on ceramic or natural stone. Because those two steels have very fine grain structure from their origins as a razor blade steel they have the stability to take very acute edges and hold them rather well. They're also pretty easy to polish out to scary sharp levels with a little time and effort.