I’m still fairly new to sharpening with stones and with going through several generic brands I finally came across Shapton. I needed to sharpen my heavy-weight German santoku which is my most used knife.
I liked that this stone was longer, didn’t need soaking and cut through instantly. You don’t need rigorous elbow grease and the knife sharpens pretty quick if you’re agile and know your way around the stone.
With a few tries of sharpening, my knife is extremely sharp now. It’s good enough being just a little short of razor sharp. My kids loosely use knives around our house so unless everyone’s a pro at it, I’m happy with the level of sharpness I got out of Shapton (orange). Also: the sharpening stays! I can go through a few days without needing to re sharpen my knife. Great purchase at competitive pricing!