It's an individual choice. Whatever feels good to you.

I prefer doing everything with my big knife. The other gadgets are just a pain to clean and store.

Put the money you spend on the hand chopper in a good knife. Will last you a lifetime.

We had a hand chopper for a while (similar to this style http://www1.bloomingdales.com/shop/product/cuisinart-stainless-steel-chopper?ID=666629&cm_mmc=Google_PLA-_-main-_-21882504424-_-mkwid_21882504424&gclid=COLNs-3cmrQCFYZM4AodvUQAcg) but only used it a few times before deciding we could do much better with our good knives. Maybe we never got the hang of it, but it wasn't worth the effort and storage space.

I have this one

http://www.amazon.com/Vidalia-Chop-Wizard-VOWR-2/dp/B000I6JZWA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355515266&sr=8-1&keywords=vidalia+chopper

and it rocks! It is especially good for onions - no tears. But it's also great if you have a lot of veggies to chop like for a stew. And best of all, it goes in the dishwasher! You do have to clean out the grooves with a little tool that comes with it.

I'd rather invest the time and money on finding a good knife (you don't need an expensive one - victorinox makes a really good chef's knife for under $30). A hand chopper is better than a bad paring knife, which is what my parents use, it drives me nuts! A knife is just so easy to clean and can be used for so many things.

It chopped onions better than hand - finer, no tears. However it is too much trouble for me to get it out of the drawer, then wash/air dry it afterwards. I end up forgetting it.

Do you love yours? Which one do you have? Is it so much better than using a knife? Should I save my money and stick with a knife?