virtual1one wrote:EXTREME math fail. 3999 cents / 216 = 18.5 cents ea. At first I thought you might be telling us how many DOLLARS apiece they were, but after that I think you then went on to divide by 2 for unknown reasons as well.

Perhaps they divided by 2 because the price is for two sets. It is actually .092569 Dollars each so you are both wrong.

no way. i was looking to get these for my brother for x-mas but was just thinking they were a little pricey. then WHAM, during my morning troll of teh interwebz i stumble upon woot. the cosmos is trying to tell me something. in for 1!

Newegg has a Holiday set of these on their website today for $24.50 and free shipping. It says "216 Rare Earth magnets in festive Red and Green".

Opps. I missed the earlier post that already said this. Sorry.

hcir wrote:I saw a "demo" set in Brookstone that had been out for a few weeks. Most of the balls were still there, but the shape was so mangled by this time that I found it hard to believe that anyone could create anything cool from such a jumbled mess. I watched the youtube video and was left with the impression that your ability to form intelligible shapes depends entirely on the original shape of the object. That is, it's easy to form nice shapes from a cube, but not so much from an amorphous mass. I was concerned that after a few attempts, mine would look that way and the whole thing would be rendered useless. That's what made me wonder if these were worth buying. Does anyone have any opinions about this?

We have a "mini" set of 125 balls and are able to get it into the original cube shape pretty easily. Even when in a big lump you can put them back into a string and then build your shape from there. The mini set came with a paper that tells you how they work and how to make basic shapes, takes some practice though.

YES! I am in for one. I feel like I'm really part of the group now.

Love me some woot!, but this is not a deal. These are about $25 on Amazon, with free S&H if you're prime. Where's the deal guys?

afitzr wrote:Perhaps they divided by 2 because the price is for two sets. It is actually .092569 Dollars each so you are both wrong.

Oh snap! +.092569

just how toxicly radioactive are these?

dustin91 wrote:Love me some woot!, but this is not a deal. These are about $25 on Amazon, with free S&H if you're prime. Where's the deal guys?

216 for 25 > 432 for 39.99, unless you like spending 10 bucks for a different shipping box and packing slip.

dustin91 wrote:Love me some woot!, but this is not a deal. These are about $25 on Amazon, with free S&H if you're prime. Where's the deal guys?

Pretty sure that is for one set on Amazon. Thus, it would cost $50 for the same amount of balls. Fifty bucks is a lot for some balls....

dustin91 wrote:Love me some woot!, but this is not a deal. These are about $25 on Amazon, with free S&H if you're prime. Where's the deal guys?

Not sure where you're seeing them that cheap on Amazon since the authentic item appears to be $34.95, free shipping, no Prime required, but for only ONE set:

http://www.amazon.com/Buckyballs-The-Amazing-Magnetic-Desktoy/dp/B003Y3101S

Reviews of copies appear to be mixed.

First, I think it's stupid that a "powerful magnet" cannot be sold to a 13-year-old for fear that he will eat it. However, according to the recall notice "it is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product."

Woot, can you explain how you are exempted?

My 11-year-old son borrowed a hunk of Buckyballs from one of his friends a couple of months ago (the "hunk" had somewhat over 300 balls). We had them for about three weeks, and could barely bring ourselves to stop playing with them at bedtime, dinner time, homework time, work time, etc.

As soon as we gave them back, we were missing them.

By the way, there were things we wanted to build that would have taken more than the 300+ balls that we had. Two sets (432 balls) would be a nice amount of them.

I know when I bought some of these last year around Christmas time, it was this much for ONE set. This is a killer deal, and if I didnt already have 3 sets, I'd totally be in for one.

Also, it's nice these appear to be the original silver color, as two of the colored sets I own made my hands turn black when I played with them.

omgwin wrote:Buckyball quality magnets at this price have pretty much always been available on eBay. Just search "216 magnet 5mm"
But if you ever become serious about magnet spheres, go to youtube to figure out what you should buy. Hint: it's not buckyballs.

I'll bite: what do you recommend? Nanodots? And why?

Also, what color are these Buckyballs? It doesn't actually, but they appear to be gold?

THe WOOT field test video (see link under description) is the best part of todays WOOT!

hcir wrote:I saw a "demo" set in Brookstone that had been out for a few weeks. Most of the balls were still there, but the shape was so mangled by this time that I found it hard to believe that anyone could create anything cool from such a jumbled mess.

I suspect a demo set gets dropped on the floor a pretty good number of times. The finish does chip over time, much sooner if the cluster gets dropped. These magnets are a bit brittle (cubes seem especially susceptible to chipping). But it's very easy to get the set back into a cube, and many of the interesting shapes start with putting the balls into a single long string or a bunch of small loops. The Youtube vids may make it look like you can just magically push on something and it pops like origami, but for us mere mortals, there's going to be some time spent setting up the foundation.

These are *great* gift currency at this price to keep on hand for gifts to coworkers (secret santa anyone?), hostesses or disaffected teenagers. I've given a few away to artsy and engineering types alike.

boehmcs1 wrote:First, I think it's stupid that a "powerful magnet" cannot be sold to a 13-year-old for fear that he will eat it. However, according to the recall notice "it is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product."

Woot, can you explain how you are exempted?

The recall notice: (linked from woot on the description page)

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10251.html

It appeared to be a labeling issue on those particular units.

I'm not that smart but our govt is stupid. Really stupid. Did you realize you can drown yourself by drinking too much water?

I've always left toothpicks within easy reach of my toddlers as well - the pointy kind (the tooth picks).

From personal experience, fondling bucky's balls can result in HR violations at work.

"A whole new breed of adult toys with limitless possibilities is here."

Which means...there must be Bucky Food Network out there.

But I'm at work, so I'm not going to hunt it up right now.

If you accidentally swallow any of these, do not wear a metal belt buckle or they will never pass.

I think everyone on woot has at this point either purchased Buckyballs, purchased more Buckyballs, or no longer have functioning credit cards due to an overflow of magnets...

Good thing you don't need to swipe your credit card, so you can keep buying buckyballs...

jsoko wrote:This metal can't be **that** rare!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare-earth_magnet

In for another set. Soon, the mini hadron super-collider will be finished.

Bucky magnetic balls magically turn into Bucky magnetic scat.

I bought the multi-colored set (black/silver/gold) for my Niece and Nephews (ages 8-11) before they came up for a week long visit last year. They did not put them down from the second they opened the box.

The only "issue" I found was that if you lose one, life is over. It seemed like not being able to create the complete cube is like having your favorite pet die. You better order two.. all I am sayin'

ivanivanovich wrote:DANGER WILL ROBINSON !

Do not let any living creature swallow these!!! There's a warning on their website.

Magnets in different parts of your gut could snap together and kink it closed. (My interpretation.)

DANGER ! DANGER !

Yes, and by the same token, don't swallow any of those batteries that you bought yesterday.

cuzzo2 wrote:THe WOOT field test video (see link under description) is the best part of todays WOOT!

That pig is so lucky he's dead.

Just like to point out, they're only dangerous to swallow in pairs. As long as you wait until the first one passes, two of them can't kink parts of your body together. Granted this is only for the balls, the cubes will just lacerate your insides by themselves. But if your low on your rare earth metal intake, these make great supplements!

carabs wrote:I bought the multi-colored set (black/silver/gold) for my Niece and Nephews (ages 8-11) before they came up for a week long visit last year. They did not put them down from the second they opened the box.

The only "issue" I found was that if you lose one, life is over. It seemed like not being able to create the complete cube is like having your favorite pet die. You better order two.. all I am sayin'

You can go to Buckyballs' website and order a mini tube for I think $5, just in case you ever lose a ball.

This actually completes the collection; I can't remember woot ever having the "original" ones, only the silver, black, gold, green, etc. Awesome, more balls!

Will these erase my thumb drive?

My kid swallowed two orders of buckyballs and now I can't get him off the refrigerator door. Ironically, his name is Art.

I have the Buckycubes and must now complete the set.

Very excited to find these here today. My SIL just mentioned these were on my nephew's list. CHECK - that gift if now done.

Are Buckeyballs the new Roomba?

craigwoot wrote:My kid swallowed two orders of buckyballs and now I can't get him off the refrigerator door. Ironically, his name is Art.

!!! ;-)

Unfortunately there are too many folks who will not get the humor in that post... And we'll be barraged with YouTube videos of pet gerbils, hamsters, and snakes hanging off anything made of steel, from fridges to car doors and Comcast trucks.

This thing SUCKS... I got the 'sqaure' version of it a month+ ago when it was offered... I wanted a bunch of nice rare earth magnets, they are NOT rare-earth, they are NOT strong magnets you can use, they are only good for this little TOY..and its itty bitty... the photos makes it look a LOT bigger than it is, its the size of a nickle...and I mean the cube will sit on a nickle and NOT go outside the circle....

..this is NOT a woot worthy item at all.

Steve

I've always wanted these, and now I'll have two sets. I was going to give them as holiday gifts....but they look like they're going to be so much fun....what do to??