I've always adored the concept of the Beautyblender, and after buying (and completely falling in love with) the XOBeauty Flawless Finish Sponge which was a much cheaper alternative, I was even more excited to finally try the Original Beautyblender.
Unfortunately, it was a bit of a let down by comparison - I found it far too soft and pliant. It was so soft that it didn't really 'bounce' on my face the way people talk about, and didn't really seem to 'smoosh' the product in the way I'm used to.
Personally, I found the firmer, bouncier version by XOBeauty to be much more effective at properly blending foundation into an airbrushed finish, and I'll be sticking with that one over the Beautyblender.
This product is absolutely amazing! I loved it when I first bought it but now that it's old I just don't feel like spending another $30 to repurchase it. I do however love the RT sponge which is basically the same. The only different is the texture and the beauty blender does have more bounce when dampened. However this doesn't really effect the results because the products you apply will basically turn out the same.