which stone?

The Spyderco ceramic will probably produce a finer finish, and almost certainly have a much longer service life due to reduced stone surface wear.

I use the Spyderco Grey (which produces a pretty fine finish itself) and DoubleStuff stones more than any other stones.

They're pretty much 'lifetime' stones.

Hope this helps!
 
The Spyderco ceramic will probably produce a finer finish, and almost certainly have a much longer service life due to reduced stone surface wear.

I use the Spyderco Grey (which produces a pretty fine finish itself) and DoubleStuff stones more than any other stones.

They're pretty much 'lifetime' stones.
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I would agree. I don't have experience with the spydercos (although I've heard nothing but praise) but I do have some experience with Arkansas, and I wouldn't buy that one. The quality of these stones varies allot, and I have gotten completely crap stones before form no-name companies. If you do want a good Arkansas benchstone, its going to be $75 - $100+. So I would recommend the Spydercos, I've heard they work just as well or better.

I do disagree with the service life however, a good arkansas should last just about forever. I have one I've been using every couple days for about 15 years, and it has yet to show ANY signs of wear, it looks exactly the same as the day I bought it, no kidding. I've heard many stories of them lasting several generations.
 
Consider also that the hardness of novaculite, the mineral in Arkansas stones, runs about 6.5-8.0 Mohs, while the aluminum oxide in the Spyderco ceramic stones is about 9.0 Mohs hardness (diamond is 10 Mohs, FWIW.) This is significant because the vanadium carbides, and maybe other carbides as well, in many steel alloys can be nearly as hard or even a bit harder than 9.0 Mohs. So expect an Arkansas stone to be very slow going, or maybe even near impossible, when trying to sharpen some stainlesses or even high hardness non-stainless steel alloys.
 
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