Stones securely packaged and free from damage. My Benchmade service knife (so dull that I physicllay could not cut myself on it) was a razor after 8 passes on coarse, the fine, then whetstone. It's wide enough for my number 4 planes and all my chisels and includes a pretty decently large bottle of their honing solution.

Bottom line, worth every penny.

I really like the stability and options of this setup. I bought one for me and one for my god daughter who is getting to cool uncle ryan stuff ;-)
The diamond are far superior (IMHO) for getting a knife to where it should be. It will reshape a blade with some elbow grease and some beers, and then finish it off with the ol' Arkansas stone, also an excellent must have for any knife collector, hoarder, or just can't control the urge "HAVE THAT KNIFE". I sharpened every knife in the house from Grandpa's ol hand me downs,my DPX HEST (love it), my Striders, to my high end kitchen knives.

This is the first sharpener of this size that I have ever owned; this thing is massive compared to your standard sharpeners. The build quality seems really good as the plastic seems sturdy and the stone quality appears very well made. On the 50008, you get two diamond stones and one Arkansas stone and a bottle of honing solution...do NOT use oil, use the provided solution, or I use water on the diamond stones. Due to the size, it takes some getting used to as I find myself only using a small portion of the stone and leaving a lot of available stone untouched. With the amount of use, I expect this to last my lifetime. I didn't even need a new sharpener/hone, it was more of an impulse buy, but I am glad I went with the larger stones. I even found myself sharpening scissors and kitchen knives that I had written off, but refused to throw away. Several hours later and everything in the house is sharp again.
Freehand honing takes practice and time so don't get discouraged if you have to spend a lot of time on these stones.

I'm writing this review about 1.5 years after my purchase. In a nutshell, I think this is an excellent honing device and is well worth the investment for any person who likes to keep their knives sharp. Below are details on how I use the device for anyone who is interested.

If you are new to sharpening knives, keep in mind that no matter what honing device you purchase, sharpening your knives takes practice and will likely be frustrating at first no matter what you're using. Regardless, my set of kitchen knives are of mediocre quality and after a good 5-10 minute sharpening with this device, they maintain their edge for about 2-3 weeks after at least daily dinner preparation + breakfast/lunch on the weekends. The knife edges would probably last longer if my wife took care of them properly when it was her turn to cook, but I figure we are even because I never put the toilet seat down. Nevertheless, the below approach has been successful for me over the past 1.5 years and I don't see this bench wearing out anytime soon. I sharpen about 7-8 knives every 2-3 weeks or so and have had just as much success with the various pocket knives I own.

No matter the status of the knife, I always start with the coarse stone. The bench comes with a wedge, but you'll quickly find that one angle doesn't fit all knives and depending on the purpose of the knife, the angle will differ. So, to find the right edge, I'll first run the knife forward at a minimal angle with the edge pointing away from me and keep increasing the angle until it starts picking up the honing solution (which I always have a thin layer of on the stone). This is a decent approach when you're sharpening a knife for the first time and trying to figure out its angle, but it's not perfect. After enough practice, you'll learn to feel the right angle by both the sound and vibrations of the knife as you pass it across the stone.

Once I have my angle down, I'll do about 20 to 30 strokes on one side of the blade, alternating between forward and backward passes with each stroke before doing the same on the other side. Some people suggest going straight up and down, but I find more success with passing the knife along a horizontal angle so that the entire blade crosses the stone with each stroke. The amount of pressure I use is about what I would need to push an elevator button.

Before I switch to the next finer stone to repeat the process, I test the knife edge on a piece of paper. If the entire edge passes easily through paper, I know that my angle should be good. This should be the case even after your first pass with the coarse stone, which will give you coarser cuts visible via the frayed paper fibers, but should still be smooth and easy.. However, one caveat is that if both sides of the blade are not equally honed, the knife won't easily pass through the paper. This doesn't mean you need to start over, but that you might need to balance the edge. To determine what edge needs further honing, rub your thumb perpendicularly across the blade (never test the sharpness of a blade by running a finger down the edge, that is a good way to cut yourself) - the edge that feels rougher/grainier is the one that may need a few more strokes against the stone.

Once I'm done using the stones, I finalize the edge by running it about 30 times up and down each side of a leather strop that has decreasing grits at approximately the same angle I was using on the stones.

Hope this helpful for people who are just as frustrated as I was when I first starting sharpening my knives. Once you figure it out, having sharp knives in the kitchen makes cooking so much more enjoyable.

It works extremely well and I can easily get my knives back to factory sharp easily and consistently. I would definitely save up for the 8in size. There is a surprising difference between 6 and 8 in especially since I'm primarily sharpening large kitchen knives. Than being said, 1 more try and it's going into storage. I haven't been able to get scary sharp with it. Factory sharp has always been great for me but I've recently been spoiled by scary sharp using Japanese waterstones. I haven't been able to achieve that sharpness with this system yet.