re: cold steel knives

Cheap.....definitely not for some of their knive, although I WOULD agree that many are overpriced. The Roach Belly (I REALLY hate that name, see below) is inexpensive and a nice value.
Gimmicky......sorta, although to me it seems more like heavy, out of the ordinary marketing, including many products that have a niche market.

I really like the Master Hunter, although the blade is a little wide at the tip for the small sized deer we have where I hunt. Despite it's name, the Roach Belly is one of my favorite all purpose knives; it can handle everything from cleaning squirrels to cleaning deer. The Pendleton Hunter is a really nice deer skinning knife. The Pendleton Mini-Hunter is a wonderful squirrel skinning knife. I'd like to buy the "Lite" versions of the latter knives, but have a hard time justifying buying them just because it'd be such a "bargain." One CS knife I did NOT like was the 4" neck knife. The chain broke the first time I wore it....unfortunately, I didn't realize it had broken until getting home after a long squirrel hunt.