I have used mine a ton and I don't find that I waste any fabric at all and I haven't found that the handle is hard to turn. I don't notice that my dies aren't sharp and my 2 1/2inch die gets lots and lots of use. I wish that I could have bought mine for $199 but even at $349 I would definetly buy it again. If you watch the Accuquilt website they always have great sales on the dies. I can't say anything about the gray mats because I only have the white ones. I have never seen the gray ones, I am still using the orginal ones that I got last summer when I got the Go.