I've used everything from a steel, to crock stix, to wet and/or dry stones, and Ive never seen anything that puts as good an edge on a kinfe as quickly as my Chef's Choice. It does everything from a quick hone to creating an edge on a knife that never had one, and in less than 5 minutes.
I've got the one w/ 3 wheels ($100 dollar range). I see where they have a commercial grade available now too.
I never had the money for one of those fancy units, I've used a plain Jain whetstone in the past, and for a premium edge, a Lansky sharpener.
But When I was fishing in Oregon the pros who cut fish on the docks(lightening fast!) all had wicked sharp knifes, and they all used one of those yellow plastic sharpeners that look like a pair of brass knuckles and has a notch for the edge of the knife. They would draw that thing down the blade a couple of times every other fish or so and kept it in the scabbard on their hip with the knife when not in use. This was also followed with a few passes on a steel.
So I bought one of those for myself they are only a few bucks, and while it's true you have to use it frequently and it will eventual eat up your blades, it works very well and doesn't cost much either. Coupled with the cheaper white plastic handled restaurant quality knives available at Sam's You can get a sharp edge for cheap and if it gets to thin over time your only out about six bucks. You can buy a lot of those sharpeners and new blades for the price of that fancy machine.
