I only went with a Boardsmith board a few years ago because I had already seen one in person. It made me dump the inexpensive end grain board I already had, which was made of a lot of very small pieces. And my wife liked the new board enough that she ditched the handful of edge grain boards she already had for a Boardsmith board of her own. Later I met David Smith in person, and got to interact with him and discuss his design and construction considerations/ decisions. This led me to later agree to help out at a show in the DC area, which I did for two years, and to buy additional boards. The product and the person behind the product are why I usually recommend BoardSmith. FWIW, my brother-in-law is a hobbyist woodworker and he tackled a maple board himself this past year, using a Boardsmith board as a model. It turned out very well. But the time needed for him to make one was enough that it would not be worth his while to ever consider making any for sale. The MTM boards look nice, although I prefer the staggered block configuration BoardSmith uses versus the stacked blocks that seem common on the MTM boards for long-term stability. In fact, some of the MTM boards are downright stunning!