There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
Why Shun: - They are sharpened to 16 degrees, which makes them perceptibly sharper than a standard knife. - They are relatively light - They are pretty. :-)
Why 6" and not 8": - It is lighter, it's easier to be precise at speed with a lighter knife. - It's shorter also allowing for more precision at speed. - It is a bit cheaper. - If you are going to need a bigger knife for a relatively infrequent task, such as opening a big squash, you'll use a bigger cheapo knife for that task. (I have a 15$ plastic handle 9" knife for these tasks, it's great)
Why pay the extra $$ for the Premiere: - Even prettier - The sides are bumpy, making food stick to it less.
You mentioned the 16 degree angle, Western knives have 25 if I remember correctly. The pros of that is, at least for me, confidence in cutting through bone and things like squash, and generally be rougher with the blade. I've had a wusthof 8"chef for 7 years and it is the knife I use at home. My shun is for work and I know what I will and won't cut with it.
Anyways not trying to be a butt about your recommendation, just wanting to participate in throwing my two cents. And I get you where specifically talking about the 6 inch and bringing up the speed of using a smaller chef as opposed to an 8. Never used a small chef knife so I don't have anything to say about that :)
Using the shun on chopping veggies quickly with precision is where it is a real joy to use.