Vic Firth X5AVG American Classic Hickory

I now use these sticks for everything apart from jazz where I want a small tipped and much shorter/quieter stick.

These give you more reach/power than your standard 5a.

I was skeptical about the grip when I first saw it, but after I've used these, you don't have to grip the sticks as tightly to hold them, so your hands/arms don't get fatigued as quickly. I now don't like using non coated sticks as these feel so nice to play with.

The rubber coating doesn't melt or come off easily, which is what I was worried about, however you will probably need to replace these slightly more often than X5A, as after a while the rubber coating does start to tear. I play drums most days and a pair would last me 1-2months.

I'm very picky about the dimensions and absorption of sticks. These outperform other brands at the same dimensions in terms of absorption. So there's less vibrating in the stick as you play.

Lovely sticks. If you're a hard hitting, big sweaty drummer (like me) then you probably have sweaty hands and ocassionally when you losen your grip, a stick may go flying into the audience and you have to foot the bill for someone to have a drum stick removed from their eye...not anymore!

Brought these sticks to avoid the above situation and they've worked. The grip feels natural after a couple of session - admittedly different but doesn't take long to get use to and really enjoy, like normal sticks. I prefer these now to standard, non-coated/non-grip style sticks. Quality is the same as any normal 5A stick from Vic Firth. I keep re-buying because I break a lot sticks...like I said, hard hitting drummer!