i bought ar5's when they very first came out skied em from mid february through march grinding park rails. then skied them the next year doing the same thing. last year i skied them doing some urban and lotsa park rails and stuff last year till vt open. then the sidewall blew out. i skied them on rails all summer long and fall (by this time they had no edges underfoot,i.e. they had fallen out) 2 weekends ago i broke my publics and skied them for the turkey rail jam at killy, then skied them this weekend on urban. the binding ripped out first day and i remounted it, realing that the core was breaking, i hit one more rail after the remounting and then the core snapped in half on the next rail. considering i broke my publics in 9 days of skiing(a freak thing of course) i would say they are pretty good choice, although they are expensive and many people that i know have not had them hold up like this.