Well, my current 10 yr old transitioned from Math-U-See Gamma to Saxon 54 with no issues so far...
It is different, in a very good way. The manipulatives are incorporated so well into the program- they are not just an accessory, which they can seem to be in many programs. The way they are used to really visualize things like place value and even multiplication really impressed me (and I was a math nerd in high school, I lettered on our Math Team both years I participated- yes, there are competetive math teams, and yes, I was on one, lol!)
I guess I don't see it making it harder to transition back to a regular text style, unless you mean that a child wouldn't like the boring text :-) I think it gives such a good foundation that anything you may use afterwards will be that much easier... at least that's what I'm seeing right now.
