I'm a seasoned jazz alto player, been playing for over 30 years-- Tried many brands and strengths of reeds, and this V16/#2.5 seems to be the one most easy to live with.  When I was younger, like many of my peers, I'd play #4 reeds and brag about it-- When you get older you realize that you don't need lips of steel (nor do you need reeds as thick as surfboards) to play good music.  So I settled into 2.5's and these play nicely, with good tone and the quality is pretty consistent from reed to reed -- If not, I just shave them down as needed.  A good reed for the seasoned player who is confident enough that he doesn't need to prove anything.