In a knife that didn't cut anything, I sharpened it first with the 400 and when the edge improved, I continued with the 1000 until it became sharp. After a few passes with a steel massager, it shaved the hairs of the hand. Very good stone and it doesn't seem to wear easily. As for me, I don't think it needs a stone with a higher grit for amateur use.

The stone is very good as long as someone knows how to sharpen. Going from 400 to 1000 might tire someone out. It depends, of course, on how hard the blade is. The 400 grit takes a lot of material from the blade, and the 1000 grit, which is for finishing, might tire someone out until the blade becomes as sharp as desired. That's why personally I have an 800 grit stone for after the 400 grit, I go to 800 and end up at 1000. The stone, however, is worth its money. Frequent wetting during sharpening.

It is the 3rd stone I generally buy and I have been using it quite a lot for about 2 months now, almost daily use, and on good knives with high hardness. It is really good and it shows in the result, plus it really is the hardness it claims to be. For the money and the job it does, I recommend it blindly.