The coating on the Alaskan Guide models serves a different function than Ionfusion and the underlying steel is different. The Ionfusion (aka Buckcote) blades had a thick and hard blade coating that was intended to serve as the cutting edge. The edge was honed on one side (primarily through the substrate steel) to expose the nitride alloy coating material on the other side as an edge. This provided a much harder edge than steel alloys.
The problem I found with this is that the edge was asymmetrically supported by this grind and so the edge could bend over if you really whacked it onto bone. Since the underlying alloy was 420HC at a normal hardness you didn't get exceptional blade toughness. In fact the asymmetrical grind made the edge weaker than a normal Buck 420HC blade.
The Alaskan Guide models use their hard coating primarily for appearance. They provide a dark scratch resistant finish. The blade and edge grind is Buck's normal symmetrical hollow grind, but the blade alloy is the tougher and harder S30V rather than 420HC. The honed edge on these blades does not have exposed coating at the edge, the edge is the base S30V alloy on both sides. The combination gives a tougher edge than the Ionfusion blades, but the edge is not as hard. If you used an Ionfusion blade on hide, sinew, and meat it would stay sharp longer than the S30V blade. The S30V blade would hold an edge much longer than a 420HC blade. If you whacked the blades against tough things like bone the S30V blade would resist dinging better than either the Ionfusion or the 420HC blades. I think that the Alaskan Guide blades are a great bargain and offer exceptional performance. I bought one and was impressed by the heat treatment. The Vanguard model that I got gets sharper than any other S30V blade that I have tried. I guess that Paul Bos knows what he is doing.
Has any one ever had a problem with this knfe? After looking at the different posts on theis forum I am looking for a replacement for my ionfusion knifes is this the same coating just different color. I had three ionfusions and Buck doesn't warranty them any more. Is that the case with these? do they perform as well as ionfusion? 
