Beginners practise staff - anyone used these?

Hey everyone!
New person here.
Tried staff a few years ago and really enjoyed it, have been meaning to get my own practise one for ages but for various reasons kept putting it off...until now!

Ive been doing a lot of research, on this site and others... but due to the differences in american/UK measurements, ive been having a few issues.. (im UK by the way.)

People seem to say that a good size for a contact staff is 5'... but I have only been able to find fire staffs at this length.
All the practise/contact staffs I can find are 100cm (3.2ft), 120cm (3.9ft), and 140cm (4.6ft).

So yeah.. I'd like a decently weighted staff that I can bash about and drop without worrying too much, cos im clearly going to. But I dont want to end up getting one thats too big, and therefore (potentially?) making learning much harder for me.

Is it better to start with a shorter or longer staff?

http://www.firetoys.co.uk/juggling/Flames_n_Games_Lumo_Contact_staffs.html

These are the ones ive been looking at. Though if anyone has any suggestions, I'd be very grateful

Aaaaand... my writing is complete! Thanks!

(Edit: Moved into proper forum. Sorry ^^)

I'm no professional, but as far as practice staffs... staves.... *ahem* as far as using a practice staff goes, I would probably myself just get one for fire if I planned on doing fire at some point.

I would then find some way to protect the kevlar from damage, and probably not practice over cement.

Aside from that, 3.2 sounds far too short for a contact staff, but I know very little about sizes, I've just been learning on a friend's staff, and I'm not sure what his is, but it's most definately around 5 or more feet long.

Hopefully someone more qualified comes along. ^_^

Also: http://mcp.tepookatoys.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=149&Itemid=11

Thanks for the input Ill check out that site

Yeah I did think about getting a fire staff as my practise stick, but I figured if im gonna keep dropping it then it seems like a waste of good kevlar.
I suppose it'll be pretty safe on grass though.

I was only looking for these practise ones cos they are properly weighted etc, so it would be the next best thing while im in my garden, which would be a bad place for fire

Just so you know, practice staffs are pretty tricky for contact as they are generally quite light to prevent damage when you hit yourself (as you will when learning) if you learn contact with a light stick you'll be able to do it with almost anything but may take a bit longer. They lack weight on the ends which keeps the staff momentum up at lower speeds and when learning contact you don't want it moving quickly towards your face

added weight helps even out the bumps and jumps a staff makes when learning contact rolls so you get a better feel and is less likely to slow down sop much it loses it's balance (centripetal force I think like a gyroscope)