XL is surprisingly worth the money. Purchased on Amazon in Feb of 2016 after husband bent our 25 year old ironing board (not while ironing-- mind you -- but while trying to be "helpful" and putting it away after I used it to iron his shirts and failed to promptly store it).Pros: Extra inches of height setting option is AWESOME for tall people. Additional inches of overall usable board length are fabulous for folks with longer inseam pants, for those of us who occasionally iron sheets, scarves, table cloths or longer skirts/formal wear.Convex legs are very stable (on flat kitchen floor -- can't speak to stability on thick carpet). While I don't sit while ironing, that design should make it more comfortable if you like to sit and iron.For its size, the board is very lightweight. I was skeptical that the foam-look board material would melt or compress, it hasn't.Neutrals: Is a little awkward to open/close --however, the mechanism and lever have held up and worked fine for over a year.I personally dislike the splotchy, butterfly design of the board cover. The darker and lighter shading shows through fabric and makes it sometimes appear that articles have stains. Would greatly prefer a plain cover in a neutral shade (silver or taupe/gray please) as I my ironing board doesn't need to coordinate with my household decor. And when ironing, I prefer the cleaner look of a solid cover. IMO, solid color cover should be standard and "decorator" covers should be replacement options.Cons: I was looking forward to using (and expected to like) the detachable iron holder/stand. However, I found it frustrating to attach and detach and gave up on doing so after two or three tries to scooch it out at the end without sacrificing board surface space. On my second attempt, I clearly didn't secure it properly and it unexpectedly detached -- and threw the iron to the floor (denting both the iron and the floor). I haven't thrown it out and keep thinking I'll try it again, but haven't bothered as I prefer the full length of the board without the stand at the end.It is pricey. But after a year of use, I do believe it's saved me a little time with the extra length and width and over the course of a year, I can say it was worth the extra cost for me -- but might not be if you're shorter than 5'6" or so -- don't regularly iron larger, flat things (like sheets, tablecloths or curtains) and/or if you mostly iron children's clothes or have short pant inseams and short skirts.Only real concern (that I've resolved) was that because it's longer in length, it was too tall to fit and hang in my "over the door" ironing board and iron holder (so it could be stored away on the inside of my utility closet door).I resolved that by hanging 1" flat bungee cords from a couple of over-the-door hooks (spaced on either side of the iron-holder and made loops for each leg of the iron on either side. To put the board away (so it hangs up off the floor and lays flat against the inside of the utility closet door), I rest the board on the floor and against the door, stretch one side of the bungee cord down around one leg and then pull the other bungee around the other leg and it then lifts up off the floor and hangs perfectly.