Soft and Hard Arkansas stones seem to be pretty consistent across Sharpening Supplies, Dan's, and Best. I have 8x3's from all of them and they are all good stones, not a clunker in the bunch.
Black and Translucent stones are a crap shoot, in my experience. There are still some fine 3D Black stones floating around, and a few translucent Translucent stones, but some new Blacks have a mottled, sandy surface, and many of the new Translucent stones are opaque and chalky and full of flaws. I couldn't see where one vendor was better than the others when I went on a minor binge some years ago.
The only brand that seemed to be kicking out noticeably better Soft and Hard stones, when you could find them, were marked Pro Cut, and sold by R.H. Preyda. The only really safe source for Trans stones seems to be Norton. Based on a small sample size, maybe a couple dozen stones.
A lot of guys could be perfectly happy with a good 10x3" Hard Arkansas stone. You can get well beyond "food sharp" with a Hard Ark and the right steel.
