I have bought a shit ton of random knives (Helvie, drake, GEC, flexcut, morakniv etc) based on recos from subreddits and youtube videos and I have to say despite how cool they are, I think my favorite go tos are a Victorinox tinker that I redid the edge on and a Remington whittler I bought on eBay because the price was right.
I have an old Opinel I like that I picked up a couple decades back. I don't really whittle regularly so I can't speak to use-wear but it's still in really good shape after 20+ years so there's that.
I love the look of opinels but never tried using one. What model do u use?
I'll have to check when I get home, it's roughly 6" and has a swivel collar to lock the blade. Cylindrical wood handle with some shaping for comfort.