I have a lot of experience with honing tools I own many asian waterstones, several DMT hones, and an expensive electric kitchen knife sharpener. I am proficient in using all of them but have always preferred my waterstones for kitchen knives because the electric sharpener would take off huge amounts of metal, shortening the life of the blade. I would like to note that I would not recommend that you use this with Japanese knives or any knife that has a 15 degree bevel. By my estimate the sharpener will set a good and even bevel somewhere in the 20-25 degree range. As the packaging says "easy light strokes," are the key, it is possible to take off large amounts of metal by applying too much pressure. A little pressure will go a long way. The sharpening material is extremely hard and easily scraps off metal, It feels like it will last a long time. I haven't tried to use it for damage removal like chips in an edge, but I imagine it could speed up that processes as well. So far, I have only used it to touch up some low quality kitchen knives. I am extremely impressed at its performance it easily set a bevel on my dull stainless steel knives in a few strokes and produced a satisfactory edge. I wouldn't say that the quality of the edge is as high as using a stone, but it does a fantastic job despite being a single girt pull through sharpener. It could also be useful for setting a quick bevel before finishing off on a high grit stone. If I had to guess i would say the edge is comparable to what you would get off of a 800-1000 grit bench stone. The product is pretty small and easily fits in the palm of your hand. It will suction to any flat surface so long as it isn't too porous, and the hold is quite strong. I got one for my mother because stones take quite a bit of practice to learn and take longer to use. This product is far better than I expected it to be! I might buy one for myself for those days when I am too lazy to use stones.
