to be fair.... if you look at sending your razors off to be honed at $20 a pop plus 2 way postage..... ~4 razors will cover a full sized 4k/8k norton....

i personally use a 1k/6k jap water stone that was less than $40 at the local wood working shop... and a chinese 12k that was ~$25ish shipped to my door from ebay....

that along with a bit of diamond paste on a piece of leather and i get excellent results....