Vic Firth 5AN Nova Hickory Nylon Tip

I normally use the Vic Firth 5AN American Classic Hickory, but saw these at a much lower price, so had to try them. I was wondering what the difference was between these, for 6 euro's and the 11 euro version. The balance and weight is really about the same as the more expensive version, I tried one in each hand and the only difference I noticed was that the wood here is unfinished. I could mix them and still play comfortably. The main difference I think (seeing as both are supposed to be hickory) is that the Nova's are not finished. Gripwise, this actually feels quite good, they don't slip out of my hands easily. However, I feel like this makes them very fragile, after playing with them for an hour in a practice room they already took quite some damage (and I'm not a loud drummer). Since then, however, I've not used them due to Corona... I would say they will most likely last substantially shorter than the Vic Firth 5AN American Classic Hickory sticks, so next time I'll be buying those again. The reason I'm still giving four stars total is that the price is really quite good...

When i first played with the sticks, i definitely noticed the quality that's made vic firth a big name in drum sticks. Light weight, comfortable, and seemingly durable. A couple things wrong were obviously they leave marks on your kit(which doesnt bother me considering its time for new heads), and also, after a couple weeks, the top portion of one of them broke off. Im not a super hard player, but apparently hard enough to break them. Overall though, decent sticks for beginners, and for the price. Also the sticks are great but the red paint comes off the sticks easy takes a little more than Lava or Fast Orange to clean your hands. If you do buy the red ones make sure to rinse the paint off before using. I also bought black ones and those seem to be fine. Either the red paint wasn't cured properly or this is just something you have to expect for discounted drumsticks.
I picked up these sticks because i needed alot of sticks really cheap and really fast. I use 5A and well the red stain stood out. I figured why not. Well they turned out to be fairly durable and are just a striking visual live. All in all this is the best deal for the price you can get on 5A hickory.