By all means experiment with at least one synthetic finisher many here use and rave about the Naniwa Super Stone 12k not that there aren't better but the price on the Naniwa SS is far less then the quality of the edge it produces :p
I have a good saying about buying "Better" hones though "No amount of money spent on a finisher can improve the edge more then the time spent honing more razors"
Translated, go hone 100 different razors on yer Coticule the edge will get a ton better :rofl2: plus you will learn the characteristics or many different steels and grinds... You might also find like many of us have, that the real tangible improvements to the shaving edge actually happen at the lower levels of razor honing :)
ps: to answer your actual question above though I love my Shaptons I think they are one of the easiest most exact systems out there, key being the word systems and I know it is just my opinion but I feel they work the best in a complete system...