We got this for my son for his second birthday, and it's been a great starter train track for him. I'll comment on a couple of common notes I saw in other feedback: 1) Yes... the magnets repel each other when they're not going the right direction. Magnets do that. You need opposite poles for magnets to attract each other, and if you try to put the two similar poles together, they repel. There may be creative solutions to this issue, but for a relatively inexpensive toy, I don't see it as a major drawback - it's a learning opportunity for kids. Admittedly, when it first happened, I thought this *would* be a major problem. But it took me about 30 seconds to explain it to my 2-year-old, and he understood it right away. Ever since the first couple of times getting upset, he's immediately known to turn one of the train pieces around to get them to stick together. So I think how frustrating this concept is, and for how long, just depends a lot on the child and perhaps where they are on the spectrum of language comprehension at the time, etc. If they have problems understanding it, they will grow into it at some point so it's still worth keeping the toy around. 2) Train quality: I certainly wouldn't rate these trains as being top quality, but they're far preferable to plastic. Perhaps some changes have been made since earlier reviews - I'm not sure. But we haven't had issues with the train coming apart just being pulled over the bridge, etc. The magnets are not super-strong, but they're not overly weak either. The trains are lightweight, but this seems fine for a first train set. 3) Track quality: I haven't seen a problem with this either. Lightweight? Again, probably so. But I find them quite durable, and have not had problems with them coming apart through just running the trains over them. Again, my two-year-old hasn't had any problems putting the tracks together, or playing with them in such a way that allows them to stay together. If they were harder to get apart, that might be a whole other frustration for the toddler age group. 4) Compatibility: My parents bought a wooden Thomas train to go with this track, and it fits fine. They also got another wooden track to add to it (the brand escapes me, but it is also listed as compatible with Brio), and everything seems to fit. Whether various Thomas trains differ in their size, I don't know. Overall, this has been a great toy for us so far, after about a month of use. My son loves it, and enjoys putting the tracks together himself in different configurations, too.
