These boards are a even 50x50 making counting easy, and they lock together well. They are transparent, so you can slip a pattern under if that is your style. Only a few issues I've had I'll go into.
Biggest issue is that they will warp on you if too much heat is applied for too long. It's probably the single biggest complaint from new beaders who over iron their projects. This is also what lead to the development of the "tape method", again due to people ironing impropperly.
As a vetern beader, I iron on the boards with no problems, but ovet time my boards have warpped. I'm not faulting the quality of the product (they are great) but the general wear and tear of using them.
One minor complaint. Artkal sells smaller 25x25 boards. They don't actually line up with the same peg spacing on these boards. So if a liitle bit if your project is hanging off your board, you will need a full sized 50x50 to latch on.