Grover

Let me be clear right off the bat, I absolutely love this gear and it is well worth the price. Looks great and is such a huge upgrade in build quality from the dipped-foam stuff. The level of overall protection is excellent, and I could tell a big difference when taking kicks to the head. Also does a good job of staying out of my peripheral vision.

That said, when I first put this on I was a little unsure about it. As another reviewer mentions, there's little chin protection (at first glance anyway), and the strap is designed to go around the front of your chin rather than under it (which I didn't realize for awhile). At first, I thought this was a huge flaw since it allows the gear to slip around a bit on your head and was considering sending it back.

But after sparring with it for a few weeks, I realized that it's actually a feature, not a flaw. The design allows you to set your fit (with the strap and very strong velcro on the back) and then slip the gear on and off very easily, even with gloves on. This makes resting between rounds much more convenient and you spend way less time in general fiddling with your gear. And once I wasn't trying to fit the strap under my chin, I could cinch it much tighter and give my chin more protection. I still doubt it would offer as much protection if you take an uppercut directly to the bottom of your chin, but that's not an issue for me really.

Now to be clear, it does still slip around a bit when I take glancing blows, which is certainly not something you'd want if you were using this in competition, but for training purposes I'm delighted with this purchase.  

Let's be clear—this is a solid, no-frills bo at a reasonable price. That said, I'm writing this review to warn everyone that while the pictures on the website make it seem roughly in line with the others, it's literally the heaviest bo I've ever held. I'm no expert, so maybe our school just favors a lighter staff, but I was genuinely shocked by how big and heavy it was out of the package.

So if you're buying this for a child, this isn't the one for you. I bought this for my 8 y.o. daughter, who is VERY strong for her ago, and it's way too heavy for her.

Also, I saw someone post in the Q&A asking what type of wood it is. A sticker on mine says that it's Red Oak.