If I were to try and sum up what I've gathered, I'd probably use an expression like "It's nowhere near bad, BUT..."
And while I'm nowhere near interested in doing a statistical analysis, this "BUT" seems to be threefold, and in a somewhat correct decreasing order of magnitude as follow:
- Sharpening or especially deburring has proven to not be the easiest job, but in absolute it's more about the process being tedious, boring, and in some cases bordering on infuriating. Still to some extent some users, either less experienced or even more experienced sharpeners aren't satisfied with the results, leading into the two next "but"...
- Achieved sharpness might not be fully satisfying with any unit, but mostly it seems to be the "inconsistencies" of the steel that will provide different sharpening experiences with different units or at different moments in time with one unit, that users ultimately find irritating - whereas in their experience just about any good carbon, good semi, better SS alternatives to VG-10, get much more consistent results. Hence, and in some ways cutting into the first "but", an obvious problem there that may be the biggest cause of alike irritation is the fact that one cannot rely on a progression/technique that one has efficiently developed to work consistently with specific steels/stones.
- "Ideal" achieved keenness won't be kept long, and to some extent the steel doesn't respond so well to stone touch ups, which, although the steel keeps decent cutting abilities for a good while, will never create an enticement, a thrill, a love that exist for so many other steels that are highly sought after around here. This point may cut into the previous "but" where technique / use / cutting surface may create such a quick loss of keenness that the user may be inclined to think he just can't reach satisfying sharpness, although in reality he did a fine job out of it.
Does this seem to tally with the knowledgeable crowd sharing various experiences here on KKF?