My friends have some real nice expensive pads, but they all fell in love with this one I bought for myself. It works nice and is great if you don't want to play loud. This size is great and thomann do sell a smaller one if you are not into the 12". I chose the 12" because it's great for my own practice sessions where I can maybe place another smaller pad, with different density, at the top end of the 12" pad and experiment with my rudiments. Or else for teaching, where some of my students might not have the most accurate strikes, I start them on the 12" and work down to a 6" or maybe a 4". My students really like this method. Very happy with this pad, great product and great price from Thomann.