I bought the teflon coated Sputniks from razorbladesandmore.com. I use a Merkur Progress on setting of 3 for best results. I was suprised when I first starting using these blades because of the smoothness and the sharpness. I personally have not experienced any roughness whatsoever. I get a BBS shave on the first use of the blade with 3 passes and no irritation. My technique is good though, and your technique will determine your results.. along with your beard type and the razor you use. I have a thick beard so I prep for 5 mins with hot water and soap/conditioner. I recommend these blades most definitely. I have been using the Gillette 7 o'clock YELLOWS from St. Petersburg regularly before moving to these. The Yellows are extremely sharp and pretty smooth, but moving to Sputnik Teflons was super smooth with just less danger from a ninja sharp blade like the yellows. I was pleasantly suprised by these, so they are definitely worth a try. Edit: The blades come with glue on them. I always have a used up blade handy to slice off the glue spots from any new blade I use that has a glue spot. Just remove the glue with the spare blade from the sharp edge to the middle so you don't drag glue across the sharp edge. Simple.. Note, the Super Platinum version made by Sputnik gives a very rough shave for me. The Teflon's are excellent.