Bought a pretty good chef's knife, an 8" Victorinox, maybe not top of the line but still a pretty nice knife. Came nice and sharp but wasn't going to stay sharp forever... so I bought the Chef's Choice 220. Keeps the Victorinox, with a thin gauged blade, nice and sharp. It works. And it's easy, left slot, right slot 4 or 5 times and then back and forth manually in the slot on the far right.

It's put an edge back on my cheapo older knives too, but not like the Victorinox. Have some 30+ year old Hampton Forge knives, very inexpensive, made in China (under $20 for the set back then). The blades are a thicker gauge and in some cases have to be pushed down in the slots. I really like the 8" chef's knife, yeah cheapo but full tang blade, 3 riveted handle, nice feel and weight. Got an edge back on that knife (dull for years) but I doubt it will ever be as sharp as the new Victorinox. Still I can use it now, might be cheap but I like that knife. Also put a better edge on my cheapo Farberware bread knife, works for serrated too. I have a 6" Henckels chef's knife ordered, maybe I'll get to do a little name-dropping on knives for a change. I'm confident this chef's choice 220 will keep the Henckels sharp too. I actually give it a 4.5, but that's good enough for a 5.

This sharpener is perfect for anyone who has a lot of knives, but not a lot of time to sharpen them all. Manually sharpening is not only time consuming, but it takes a bit of practice and skill to do it properly. This machine is able to quickly give your knives a razor sharp edge with little if any practice or skill. You simply turn it on, and slide the blade into the slots. The spinning grinding wheels grind the edge to the perfect angle in seconds and your are done. If you want to just "dress it up" you can use the manual slot and just pull the blade through it a few times to restore the edge back to razor sharpness. Very well made, it looks like it will last longer than many of the cheaper models I have seen.

I'm almost 60 now & in my 20's I started buying Henckels knives while my husband & I were stationed in Germany (he was in the Army). We had a very small income & I had to save for each & every knife & cherished each one. I always sharpened them on the wand Henckels included with the steak knives but knew that my knives were never as sharp as they were new. So, 35 years later my beloved knives were pretty dull & I just didn't know what to do about it. I started looking for a sharpener on Amazon & read many, many reviews before I settled on this model. I started sharpening my knives the day the package arrived. They are now much, much better but I'm going to sharpen them all again. I love this sharpener & thank all the knowlegeable folks who posted reviews that helped me choose this sharpener. The only cautionary comment I have is that it takes a bit of getting used to in phase 1 to hold the knives at the correct angle. I also had a bit of difficulty sharpening the edges of knives that have a curved tip. Oddly enough, I got the best blade on a chep utility knife I bought at a building supply store many years ago :). I use it as a paring knife & am amazed - I guess the name on the brand isn't as important as the steel.

Obviously I didn't know much about keeping my blades sharp but I am so glad I followed the reviews & bought this sharpener. I also think the price is right - a small investment considering the cost of my knives. All I want now is something that will sharpen my scissors since you can't sharpen them on this unit.

I'm a very happy customer :)!

Out of the box, the unit ran slow and would stop with very little pressure on the knife. Took the unit apart and found the shaft that runs from the motor to the grinding wheels, was dragging on the plastic divider/dust guard. Sprayed some silicon spray on contact point and reassembled. Works great. Would caution purchaser to be prepared to make this small repair on some units.

My grandfather was a rancher in south Texas and I'd watch him carefully hone his pocket knife on a small whetstone in the evenings, sitting at the front porch while visiting with neighbors. He used just the right angle to make it as sharp as possible and it was always razor sharp. Ever since then, I'd use nothing but non-stainless kitchen knives and use a variety of whetstones with which to sharpen them. I'd even use a cork and cleanser to shine up my carbon steel Sabatier knives! Through the years, I gave in and began buying stainless steel knives but maintained my snobbery of using nothing but fine whetstones to keep them sharp. Then I read about the Chef's Choice 220 Hybrid Diamond Hone Knife Sharpener. I could try it on some old knives and if it didn't work, I'd sharpen our "good" stainless steel knives with whetstones. Well, let me tell you - this electric sharpener is the cat's pajamas! I quickly moved from the old knives to our good ones and tried a paring knife in desperate need of sharpening. It sliced through a ripe tomato with ease. If you have a sensitive touch to these things (which I do), you can feel a bit of a "bite" as the knife cuts. Hard to explain but you can just tell that the knife is as sharp as it's going to get. And in my case, our knives are all in good shape so it only took a few passes to get them sharp. The final step is non-powered and it just sets up the knife edge to a razor sharp alignment. If I had known this new-fangled, electric knife sharpener worked this well without destroying good knives, I'd have gotten it years ago. It works so well, Grandpa would have used it! (and loved it!)