These crutches are definitely easier on the hands and armpits. The graphics are okay, but the company name/logo covers half of the whole graphic on each side of each crutch. That's a bit much, IMHO. Since the graphics are vinyl prefab stickers, that issue was remedied with a wide black perm. marker. I've had these for 2 weeks, and other than a slight metal on metal sound when the spring is compressed, they've worked well. I would recommend them.