They are quality Vic Firth's, I'll give them that. Not breaking anytime soon, they hit good and so on. But playing with them? Stay away.
The grip sure works, and I am one to argue that the grip could be less grippy even. I can play 15 minutes using these sticks and after that I just have stop and not touch a drum stick for a week with the blisters I have. It's a funny idea, "sticks that stick", but reality is that at least for the extreme-metal and it's blast beats I play they're just killing my skin.