If you are going to buy pocket knives or self defense tools, one of the most important considerations is which is better between the spring assisted knife vs switchblade. Switchblades are designed to be carried in your hand without the aid of a sheath or holster. They look like the blades of knives and you can hold them without a problem, but they don’t work very well in practice because you have to balance the weight of the blade and your own weight, plus you have to put your entire arm behind the knife. While this doesn’t sound bad on paper, in reality it causes many problems:
Spring assisted knives (also called slip proof knives) allow one to carry around in a manner that would be otherwise impossible: with the aid of an assisted blade, you can get the weight of your entire arm behind the knife so that you have significantly less chance of getting injured. This makes carrying such knives much easier. The switchblade is another story, however. In order to use a switchblade properly you have to have both a sheath and a blade that allow you to close the blade behind your hand without touching the side of the handle.
Switchblades are designed so that you can get the weight of your entire arm behind the handle so that all you have to do is point the knife in a direction that makes you comfortable. This is a much more difficult task than simply reaching out with your hand and grabbing the handle of the knife. Even though the knife looks like it is very strong (it is), if you can’t get into a comfortable position to operate the blade then you will be much more likely to drop the knife. This isn’t something that is very hard to overcome if you know what you are doing, however, so when deciding between the spring assisted EDC pocket knife and the switchblade, I suggest looking at how easy it would be for you to get into a comfortable grip of the knife.