For many years I carried a CRKT Komodo Gold tanto 4" blade that I bought in about 1995. Made in Taiwan and worked great! Easy to sharpen to shaving-sharp, held an edge fairly well, and had rubbery handle sides so it was hand-filling but not too heavy and fairly comfortable in a pocket. Eventually I realized that it was illegal to carry due to blade length and retired it from EDC. A wonderful knife if you can find one and it is legal where you live.
Tried several of the then-current CRKT knives around 3" blade length and found them all to be crap (this was around 2010). Finally bit the bullet and bought a Benchmade Mini-griptillian tanto, which was slick, and I liked that it was indisputably within the legal blade length, but it has a few drawbacks: 1. A little too small for my comfort in handling. (I have big, clumsy hands.) 2. Pricey enough that I don't love worrying about losing it in EDC. 3. Blade bevel angle seems a little too thick. I can get it fairly sharp, but not nearly as slicey as my old Komodo, and it doesn't hold an edge all that well.
Early this year I bit on a $12 sale price on an LA Police Gear Rescue EDC 3.4" tanto. It's too lumpy and heavy for in-pocket EDC (IMHO) but is OK clipped in the top of my back pocket. I can't get it quite as sharp as the Komodo, but it will shave hair off my arm. Edge holding is a little better than the Benchmade (sorry fanboys!) It flips open pretty easily and reliably with the bump on the back of the blade. And, of course, even at the regular price of $16, it's virtually disposable. The only thing I don't like about it (other than the political and labor implications of buying cheap Chinese goods) is that it's nominally within the legal size limit for my city, but it's close enough that a cranky cop might choose to believe otherwise.