I love it. I can sharpen my only knifes without asking my hubby to do it....

A good gift, but not for restaurant grade knives.

When I was in college, I bought a very expensive set of knives. I hadn't sharpened them since the day I bought them. I am now 62 years old. Those knives wouldn't even cut a paper towel. I purchased one of those things where you have to run the knife down the length of a steel rod. Thank goodness for the inability of my knives to cut anything or I would be minus a hand by now. Then I bought one where you run your knife across it while you roll it back and forth on the top of your counter. At least it got the knife sharp enough to cut the Formica when slipping out of the sharpener. In desperation I ordered the Linkyo sharpener. It took a couple of attempts to get it right (HINT: Read the directions) but finally it worked wonders. I even took the little plug out of the place that holds the shavings just to make sure there were some, to prove it is not just some contraption that makes noise trying to get you to believe your knife is being sharpened. Success! After 40 years my knives are like new! Or at least what I think of as new as who can remember back that far. I even got a follow up email from the guy who runs the place making sure I was happy. I'm happy!

2 day report. The sharpener seems like a good value for the price. I sharpened some very dull knifes for my mother and with little effort and time the knifes edges were extremely sharp, to the point that I had to remind my 84 year old mother numerous times to be very careful when using, handling, and washing her knives. If you have never used an electric sharpener here are some tips and observations:
1.Practice with an old knife until you get the feel for the correct angle and pressure to drag the knife through the sharpener.
2. Be patient. Learn to use a nice soft even drag pressure. Do not force the knife or the motor will stall which can cause overheating and possibly shorten the life of the sharpener. Plus, you take the chance of creating a burn spot on your knife.
3.If you just have to drag your thumb across the newly sharpened blade to see if it is sharp, do not use your bowling hand. In other words you do not need to have trust issues. It works. But if you must, draw your knife across an envelope before and after you sharpen it.
4. One thing only time will tell for me is how long the grinding stones last. Maybe someone who has long hours of sharpening can comment.

The media could not be loaded. Sharpens well. My only complaint is feeling the sensation in my teeth sometimes (think like nails on a chalkboard but the sensation doesnt happen every time so its worth it.) The knife glides through with a nice smooth motion and its easy to use. Knives come out sharp after about 3-6 passes depending on how dull. Its not too loud but definitely audible. Not used often but still works well after 5 yrs. Id buy it again.