Thank you for the kind words, Obie. The fact that you are responsible for the First Tier Soaps thread, which has taken on a life of its own, only makes your acknowledgement more meaningful. I will honestly say that I find it truly gratifying that I've been able to give something back to this wonderful community.
I completely agree, when it comes to the quality of the synthetics brushes I love the way mine feel and perform for me morning after morning. The fact is that my only previous experience with brushes had largely been with relatively low-quality knots and synthetics seemed a great way to learn about what I actually like before diving into buying a better quality badger brush. After completing my review I found that I was perfectly happy with my synthetics and I could honestly go through my life using the knots I currently have. Of course our hobby tends to quickly go well past what we could live with and seems to become a rabbit hole down which we chase endless options of razors, brushes, soaps, hones and aftershaves.
The brush that should be arriving by the end of the week is interesting in that I went with the Silvertip on a whim but I'm glad I did because it offers the the opportunity to try something new. At this point I feel a little guilty expounding the virtues of synthetics without having owned a decent quality, soft-tipped, badger brush. I hope that the knot is something truly special but I suspect that it will simply be different from the lower-end badgers and my beloved synthetics. Regardless I will finally have a knowledge base that includes something beyond what many consider "entry-level" brushes.
At this point I want to keep this thread alive and encourage the rest of the community to share their own experiences with the different synthetic knots. As for myself, I've once again been getting the itch to add to this project. For the immediate future I'll be playing with my new brush and building some experience with a Silvertip badger. After that I'll figure it out. I've been increasingly interested in turning my own brush handles and if I do decide to invest in a lathe the possibility of adding new synthetic knots to my collection only increases.
One last thing, Obie, thanks for giving me a few more synthetic brushes to look into!