These nunchaku are extremely well made. I bought a pair of these as a beginner and they have held up VERY well to the many many many drops to the cement floor of my basement! A little chipping, NO cracking and the ball bearings haven't degraded at all despite many direct hits with concrete! They've held up for a year and I expect them to continue to work well for me as I don't drop them nearly as much as I used to. Beginner or not I would highly recommend these. The only reason I gave 4 of 5 stars is because when I ordered two, they didn't match colors -shrug- not too bad but enough for me to knock it down a star.