Never used an electric myself so can't comment on that. I do prefer a clean cut with little effort...preferably in one swipe on my fillets though. I know a lot of folks measure quality in filleting fish in the time spent... I'm the opposite. I prefer quality cuts with little or no rinsing necessary. Most folks would think I'm crazy for the time I put in to my fish and deer carving :) but as mentioned to each their own. Its all about how YOU want it. Whatever serves YOU best. For years I would have my fish filleted by a cleaning station. If I did myself I would steak it up. Often I ended up with a wet bag of moosh that never seemed to cook well. Never again to say the least. A Japanese restaurant I frequented in my home town really inspired me to start filleting myself. The care he took and precision in his cuts with no blood on the meat and no need for rinsing was astonishing. I had him fillet 4 fresh kings for me. Anyone I gave those fillets to said they were the best they had ever gotten from me. I was sold from that point on and its been a self learning/gratifying process for me since then

Maybe this post should be removed to the 1/0 hooks thread...party on Garth!!!

Well deer are a whole different animal.. Since you are limited to the few we harvest , I take much more time and care into the processing. Never used an electric for that.
When we have a limit of 50 perch per person, speed becomes the focus. I'm not saying I'm wasting fish but I'm not going to be tedious about every one either. The electric knife rules and does a good job. It worked well on the few stripers we harvested last season too.
Will say though for a salmon, I'd most likely use a manual knife. Better yet , for the casual keeper myself of that species , I will just take it to a cleaning station.

I hear ya on the perch tuna. A lot of effort for little meat. I cleaned 2- 12 " perch 2 weeks ago. They were females loaded with eggs so I was quite disappointed on how little meat there was when finished. My typical self tried my best to get the most meat out of it though. I can imagine a bucket of fifty being a whole different ball game though. And yes deer is a whole different animal. This was my second year in experience of carving them. Tedious is an understatement. Friends of mine send them out to the butcher and for the money I do believe its worth it. But I prefer to carve myself

I prefer to butcher my deer.  I take the time to de-bone everything including the hind quarters. 
I usually keep one hind quarter whole for smoking at a local shop, the other I take down for steaks, stew and roasts.  The back straps I cut into thirds.  The front shoulders and neck are used for stew and ground meat.  The filets are the first cuts to hit the grill. 
The only fish I keep these days are stripers and fluke (summer flounder).  A good Dexter carbon steel makes quick work of those species. 

As Gerry said , I always process our own deer. For the money these days some "shops" charge you are way better off going with beef at the supermarket . Another concern I have with sending them out is getting " my" deer back.
De- bone everything , a few steaks, butterfly the back straps, some stew meat, any good size chunks for ice fishing then grind EVERYTHING !! I always get asked , why not more steaks , roasts and such.. No way for me, ground meat can be used in so many more ways.

Bummer about the perch. The females do look bigger then their meat , males are more solid but if you cut them right there is plenty meat to be had.

The folks I know who get their deer processed pay 75 a deer. That isn't too bad if you add up your time spent. But its time well worth it to me. And yes, are you really getting "your" deer back? There's a pride that comes with doing it yourself. It is new to me so I spend a lot of extra time. But I work towards a quality final product. And I do prefer steak over the Hamburg... and my family is blood thirsty so we cook it on the rare side. I managed to do my first full 4 quarters this past season and I steaked up the majority of my front quarters. Never been much of a stew guy so I opted for steaks. Again, still a learning experience for me. But very rewarding.

It's all relevant to ones choice. Venison is super lean meat and if the cuts are not choice the steaks can be terrible , dry and tough. I only cut a few off each hind quarter . Then chunk up the rest of quarter for quick throw on the grill what we call ice chunks..
We mix all the ground meat wit 2 choices, beef trimmings/fat or very thick fatty bacon slices cut and mixed.
For us burger just works well in so many options. Lasagna , chili, meat loaf, tacos, goulash, and of course burgers ..
Mmmmmm, now I'm hungry !!!

I like to take one of the large muscles from the hind quarter and make cutlets for venison parmigiana.  Its so good you would swear you were eating veal.  I also cut some of hinds into thick London Broil like steaks, marinate 24 hours and once cooked slice it on the bias like a broil.   

Just checking in Guys.  Are we still looking at an Ice Fishing outing  up North on 2-15/16?
Gotta start making the Golumpki's!
Got my NJ license Sat.  Couple 48+" Muskies - some nice Hybrid Stripers and some fat walleye caught on Lake Hopatcong.
Maybe I'll get out locally here before heading up North.  Fichy you still looking to fish NJ in Feb?

I hear ya on the burger tuna

Gerry, I've made a few cuts in which I refer to as London broils. I believe my front quarters produced one each as well. Cook em up just like they were that and they are great. Back strap is definitely my favorite though.

My next meat venture is gonna be chicken slaughtering. Probably next early winter.