hok makes one single stage black, its about $180-$200 for just the black no reducer no catalyst, there are no deals with paint the price is a standard and only varies a few dollars.

Maybe you bought 2 quarts of paint, some reducer, and some catalyst and made 1 gallon mixed?

I have a boat here getting HOK and the paint alone was $3500, plus primer plus sealer, etc.
I would in no way consider this the "best", but if you want tangerine kandy on your boat this is the system

 

Dupont is easier to paint, but it is more expensive then Nason. Nason is cheap, easy to paint, and as long as you have the surface nice and smooth and prepared well, you can easily get away with using Nason. I don't have any other experience with any other kinds of paint, so I couldnt really speak for them.

 

btw all the main paint lines have a budget and premium line of products. DuPont for example has the Hot Hues line that has colors that are just as wild and vibrant as HOK, HOK is just known for having custom paints because basically that is all they sell, but you got to realize the R&D and the bank account companies like PPG and DuPont have to develop their paints and how many cars in this world have their paint on them.

 

Bingo Bingo Bingo!

 

check my build thread for an example of Nason single stage paint on my inner fenders. Decent prep, dirt cheap touch up gun, poor shooting conditions and it still turned out pretty good. If your worried about it being perfect, spend the money and buy good paint. If your not, cheaper paint will be fine.