I have Silpat but I don't think there are any differences in brands. They are great for anything that sticks but I don't use them for traditional butter/sugar cookies. i don't think the cookies brown or crisp as well. I bake lots of cookies and only have 2 mats but lots of cookie sheets. I love the mats for meringues and stained glass cookies.

Thanks, granjan! I started trying to read up on the silicone mats & the lack of browning/crisping was mentioned. I was thinking that they would also be ideal for something like a King's Cake which always seems to bubble out some cinnamon & sugar no matter how well I seal the sections...the slower browning on the bottom would actually be a plus (at least in my oven) for something like that. So they'll never replace parchment paper, sounds like.

And I like the idea of being able to use them to roll out dough on for those days when I don't feel like toting out my bread board.

Thanks for your help!

Nina