I have never had mine professionally sharpened and I am not great at doing that myself. I use the steel to hone a good edge, but that's not the same.
I just got a great Cangshan set from Costco that I really like — they're razor sharp and have been great for the last year. They were not expensive. I'm leaning toward what lightmann said above - get decent priced ones new ones every 5-6 years.