I love my collection of Sabatier, a few I got from thebestthings.com. I bought a Norton tri-stone 26 years ago, still in great shape. The knives work really well for me, sharpen easily, maintain an edge and I don't find the extra maintenance to be a problem. Should anything happen to them, replacements are affordable. I will allow that I may be missing out on not using the Japanese carbon knives but I can't really afford to find out by trial and error. Perhaps some day.