Speed! You want it, you don't want an Ark. I, however, could care less about how long it takes to hone a razor. I have a lot of Shave Ready razors, and a Swaty that works great in refreshing when needed. It's rare I have to go all the way back to a bevel set.

I actually went to synthetics for a while, getting the king series 1k, 4k, 6k, and 8k, but I actually am one of those really weird crazy people who actually enjoy my shaves better off my Ark. Now, like my earlier caveat, it may take 30 minutes to get a straight razor from Butterknifed to shave ready on my kings, and more like an hour and a half on the Arks, with a lot of pressure on the Washita to start. But I do feel a much higher sense of accomplishment knowing that I am using good old quarried in the USA stones for my shaving pleasure, plus, the shave just feels better from my arks. I have never used a Chosera 1k, but I do hear they are awesome and much better for a beginner hone set, but I know also that the king 1k is also very beginner friendly and cuts pretty quickly!

Whatever you do, good luck, and happy shaving.

P.S. Once when trying to hone a SS razor, it took me somewhere in the vicinity of 600 laps... Actual number may vary as I stopped counting at around 400... to set a bevel on my SOFT Ark!!! So, lesson learned, don't try to set a bevel on a stainless razor with a natural Arkansas stone!