I bought the same kit when I started; just different scales and I went with the black Latigo. I think that Straight Razor Design is the best company to deal with, I've submitted questions on their site and I have always gotten a timely response and they don't just recommend the most expensive item. I've only been straight razor shaving for 9 months and it has been a journey. I still have a hard time getting a BBS shave on my neck (my whiskers grow from east to west on my neck). But I still enjoy it and I am hooked now. I currently own 5 razors (2 of which I purchased from SRD and that is what I am basing my recommendation on - they were way more helpful on those two purchases than where I purchased the other 3 from). I purposely didn't mention the other places because they weren't bad to deal with at all but SRD was just head and shoulders above them.