I got one of these (this exact model, I think) for my mother-in-law as a present one year, and I'd suggest you avoid it. These contraptions chew up the blade, don't work well if you have a heel and don't get it all that sharp to boot.

If you really want something for speed, maybe see if you can find a wet grinder like the Tormek T-3.

What I'd really like is a Tormek with the Japanese water stone wheels.

That said (and it may be heresy) you can get a quick and dirty edge by first using a 'diamond steel' and then using a 'ceramic steel'.

In general tho, I tend to do most of my sharpening on a 1000/4000 combo Japanese water stone, and typically only using the coarse side. If the blade is badly munged, I'll work on it a bit with the diamond steel to get it into shake, then finish it up with the water stone.

For $160, I think you'd be much better off getting yourself a diamond steel, a ceramic steel, and a 800-1200ish Japanese water stone.

And this is from someone who likes gadgets. :-)

-john


Oh, the Sharpmaker is a decent "system". I have one and sometimes will use in combination with the other methods. For example getting a good clean angle on the 1000 water stone, then putting a slight micro edge with the Sharpmaker.

Edit2: Note the Sharpmaker is kinda small to handle big kitchen knives.