I have each type of Salt in my collection (with the exception of the unreleased 2007 models like the Saver Salt), and they're all great knives, i have;
Pacific Salt PE
Atlantic Salt SE
Salt 1 SE
Tasman Salt (one PE, one SE)
of those four, the Tasmans and the Pacific see the most use
When Spyderco says H-1 is rustproof, it *IS* rustproof, i've torture tested a Salt 1 in a hypersaline rock-salt based fog chamber (2.5 gallon aquarium with an ultrasonic fogger), the Salt 1 withstood TWO WEEKS in the chamber with nary a speck of rust, conversely, a mundane Sheffield Hawkbill "Stainless Steel" knife (available in Home Despot and wally-world) showed rust spotting in a *half hour* and actual rust in an *hour*....
H-1 also is incredibly easy to sharpen, and takes a killer edge, properly sharpened H1 is terrifyingly sharp, it's almost a monomolecular level of sharpness, edge holding is decent, it's no S30V or VG-10, but it's good, i'd say it's up there with AUS-8
H-1 steel also "Work Hardens", the more you cut with it and the more you sharpen it, the harder the edge gets, sometimes into the low 60 Rockwell hardness, the more you use it, the better it gets
H-1 can be treated roughly, and thanks to it's high ductability, it's easy to rework, for example, i mashed the tip of my SE Tasman against a metal hand cart when cutting open some boxes, completely rounded over and mushroomed the very tip, 5 minutes with a coarse sharpening stone and i was able to recreate/regrind the tip, and since H-1 work-hardens, the tip i created is much stronger than the factory tip
the downsides to H-1?
well, as stated before, it doesn't have as much edgeholding ability as S30V or VG-10, but makes up for it by being so darned easy to resharpen, it also responds very well to stropping
Also, due to the softness of the steel, H-1 scratches very easily, it's a working steel, and it shows it, it'll never be a pretty steel, as even cutting a simple cardboard box will cause cosmetic scratches
H-1 is a true miracle *working* steel, takes a killer edge, holds it for an acceptable amount of time, is forgiving of abuse, and easily reworked, it won;t stay pretty, but if you want a true ignorable *working* knife, it's an excellent steel
as far as the FRN handles go, they're lightweight, yes, but also exceptionally durable, FRN (Fiberglass Reinforced Nylon) is *not* cheap plastic, it's durable, resilient stuff, and can stand up to heavy use and abuse
the Salt series is the ultimate working knife, a knife that doesn't need to be babied, can take a pounding, and come back asking for more
