My 3 year old destroyed a metal spring (original brand Slinky) in minutes. I decided to try this giant version and I'm really impressed. He's had it for a couple of weeks now and apart from getting tangled up a couple of times we haven't had any problems at all. If my son accidentally gets tangled in the nib, it untangles very easily and doesn't deform in any way (unlike the metal nib mentioned above). This thing has been dope all over my house and has been dropped at least 6 feet multiple times and is fine. I am very happy with the purchase.