Instant progression. Immaculate turns. Bought as a birthday gift for my son. He has been riding from age 2.5 now age 8 and stands 51" tall bare foot to the ground. The 120cm board is probably a bit too big for him this season but should be perfect for next and he will have some time to play on it now. The instant better engagement was apparent to me watching him ride and after his first run I asked "So what do you think"? he replied "It knows what Im going to do". He is a pretty well experienced kid and has ridden some nice hardware so to hear him say that was just confirmation that we made a good choice. He loves the graphic and although that really doesn't affect performance he kind of turns into that cartoon face on the board, he gets a kind of crazy look in his eye and just goes for it. Bindings are technically cool for me in setup and function, I was surprised and really impressed to see the two bolt setup on each binding and how the pivot works to make it an easy move from powder to park settings. He just wanted to be like dad and the rest of the riders with two binding straps, moving from the single buckle three point type of his last baby board. For him the function was a bit of a learning curve but not more than just learning the big buckles are the ones to use and the little buckles are for making settings. He managed to bind and unbind throughout the day with no trouble and by the end of the second session he was popping them off like a pro. Back to the first thing I noticed, engagement. The bindings have given him the ability to really lock into the turns and stop more atuoritatively, a huge jump from the single strap system, he had run prior. He loves all the adults digging his setup and asking about it, he's getting good at explaining the 3D profile to people and now he definitely knows the difference between sintered and extruded bases. Last gondola ride was a short dissertation on speed by an 8 yo and why he would rather have to wax his base to be able to go faster than to have a more durable base that is slow. The Board and binding combo is a win, the shape and liveliness of the combo makes park runs and tree lines equally attainable for a grom seeking enlightenment, I cant wait to see what he unlocks next. Big big love to Bataleon fam for keeping the little ones in their hearts and making gear that we could only have dreamed of as kids!