I personally have no experience with bo staff and so my review may not reflect how good it actually is. For me, it is too flexible (it bends a rediculous amount when brought down hard) making it hard for me to train with (when I say train I mean mess around, but still). Also if left in a bent position for too long it will permanently be bent that way. Also the foam has stretched on the ends so there is now a few inches of just foam outer covering, which I find annoying. It was good for when you got hit by it though. It hurt a bit but no where near what it would if it was a hard bo. Overall, a good cheap bo for small practice, but I don't know how good it is for when you transition to a real bo staff.