The first DE I owned was a Merkur 33c. I learned on that for about a year before I considered buying another razor. I bought a 39c, but noticed some plating problems so returned it immediately. At that point, I decided to just go for it and buy an ATT. The Kronos R2 I purchased ended my RAD before it even began --- I seriously cannot fathom a better razor than this! I'm only mildly interested in trying the H2 plate, but I reckon I likely will eventually. I like that my R2 plate has the 2013 date on it b/c that's the year my son was born --- I hope that someday he will be interested in receiving it, and that this razor will start to acquire family heirloom status at that time.