sjchampion wrote:Buckyballs can kill. Its bogus to say "Adults only" since kids will find them and some will pop them in their mouth. So sick of WOOT selling this crap.

Its not on Kids Woot. and its not "bogus" to say adults only. they put "over 21 on wine woot... is that bogus too since kids can get into alcohol? watch the kids better, or PUT AWAY thing dangerous to them.

Not for households with pets either. I'm just saying...

Not a day goes by that I don't play with my buckyballs. I own 3 sets (1 black edition, 2 original) and can make a plethora of shapes with them. If you don't want the challenge of figuring out shapes on your own, you can always buy the big book of bucky to go with.

BTW, this is quite the deal. 1 of the black edition cost me this much at Hastings.

aoviss wrote:I have a few sets of these, kept one, gave some as gifts.

Bored after five minutes with them. They arent very strong, either in attraction to iron nor each other...too small to really handle very well. I keep finding them all over the place.

I hate these, wish I'd never wasted the money.

You can buy these as magnetic bearings for about 5% of the price and in any size you want.

These are marketed garbage

You sure you didn't get the cheaper versions? There's 3 different brands (neocube, bucky, and zen magnets). I prefer bucky because they're much more difficult to lose (I've found every one I've every dropped) and they're super strong. I've heard neocube is the worst of the 3.

I had fun once...

once.


** this was a reply to a curmudgeon that had posted about how terrible Woot! is for offering this kind of thing. I, for one, am just happy for a non-camera.

please don't eat ... it will cost your parents a lot of money in doctor bills ;)

sjchampion wrote:Buckyballs can kill. Its bogus to say "Adults only" since kids will find them and some will pop them in their mouth. So sick of WOOT selling this crap.

I'm not sure I understand. They kill because they're small, right? And kids will put small things in their mouths. Look, Woot can't sell exclusively large non-mouthable items! If you don't watch your kid, they're gonna take some of your stuff, and it will end up in their mouths. Watch your kid. There are a whole lot of problems that can be solved just by being a damn parent, and "Woot sells small stuff" really shouldn't have to be on that list.

Wow! How exciting! I think I'll buy zero sets.

I bought 2 of the silver sets about 2 years ago. I won't be buying anymore for 2 reasons.

1) Even with low to moderate use the paint will flake. It sticks to your hands and the smell of them and your hands is terrible.

2) Buckyball support replaced both sets due to flaking and the replacements did the exact same thing. Buckyball support replaced these willingly on the premis of potential health issues with ingestion or eye conrtact with the outer metal coatings flaking off.

Shortly after it flaked the second time I threw them away.

Edited to correct spelling, posting from phone.
Edit2: http://www.woot.com/forums/viewpost.aspx?PostID=4389160&PageIndex=4&ReplyCount=273#post4389573

Looks like I posted about this last year too

http://rnbphilly.com/15091/bucky-ballsphilly-inventor/

My 17-year old son got me some of these for Christmas, but his 15-year old brother can't keep his hands off them. Perfect timing Woot - in for 2 sets of two for his birthday.

chefbooyadee wrote:I was thinking about getting a set, but I'm rather appalled by Buckyballs's anti-competitive business tactics(legal threats and DMCA takedown request for a quality comparison video), so I'll pass.

Oi, I've been waiting for some of these and here they are...and then I see how they do business. Sorry, not giving my money to jerks.

Annabanana1c3 wrote:You sure you didn't get the cheaper versions? There's 3 different brands (neocube, bucky, and zen magnets). I prefer bucky because they're much more difficult to lose (I've found every one I've every dropped) and they're super strong. I've heard neocube is the worst of the 3.

FWIW, In one of my four sets bought in a previous woot, there was at least one very weak ball in the set. If you just start pulling the string, eventually, it will break off and won't want to reconnect to one certain ball, it'll just keep breaking off again. It's frustrating enough that I typically pull that ball off and store it when I'm playing, but it makes it annoying when you can't make that perfect cube.

Anyway, I have them, and like them, but don't love them. Partially due to the whole drama between them zen magnets (who seem kind of douchey too, frankly). Partially because it took what felt like a really, really long time to "get the hang" of them. I have had to start storing them elsewhere because I de-magnetized my wallet with them, forgetting I left it sit on the desktop. It ended up being one of those things my husband desperately wanted, and then got played with for 3 weeks, and now sit largely untouched.

I am a school counselor and have the square Buckycubes on my desk. The students (middle and high school) LOVE THESE!!!!! If you have a teenager and are looking for a unique gift...get these!

jessiebyrd004 wrote:Did you guys know that the fella who invented bucky balls used to be on Road Rules or Real World or one of those MTV reality shows from back in the day? That's weird to me.

So, they're actually Pucky Balls?

dwhit8 wrote:I'm not sure I understand. They kill because they're small, right? And kids will put small things in their mouths. Look, Woot can't sell exclusively large non-mouthable items! If you don't watch your kid, they're gonna take some of your stuff, and it will end up in their mouths. Watch your kid. There are a whole lot of problems that can be solved just by being a damn parent, and "Woot sells small stuff" really shouldn't have to be on that list.

They kill because they stick together inside the body, sometimes pinching off intestines, etc. But you are right. Watch your kid, cat and dog. More trouble than they are worth in my opinion.

chefbooyadee wrote:I was thinking about getting a set, but I'm rather appalled by Buckyballs's anti-competitive business tactics(legal threats and DMCA takedown request for a quality comparison video), so I'll pass.

Thank you. I will pass as well.

Great start to a Monday morning reading all the comments about "BALLS'.

the inventor, jake bronstein, is a tool.

In for two sets! I received a 5*5 set for Valentines Day and have them on my desk at work. Co-workers certainly enjoy them and the 6*6 will be a nice addition.

You have to be gentle with the balls. They are very fragile

Are these really strong magnets, I have a defibrillator and the last thing i need is to be playing with someone else s manufactured balls and die....or at least have the devices settings screwed up.

As Eugene Levey said in the movie Splash "BUCKYBALLS!"

They do look like fun - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Dq-brYCeoE - a two pack would be twice as good!

crashck wrote:I have been waiting for Woot to offer Zen Magnets...is it worth getting these Buckyballs or waiting for Zen Magnets?

I would wait. The quality concerns that others are discussing are valid. I have a set that began flaking heavily within a month of casual, yet admittedly regular, use. There are other brands of magnetic spheres that are considerably more durable. I enjoy Nanodots brand, but it is not the only quality brand.

Jertyrael wrote:Wow. Great deal on a pair ! And they are the 216 piece sets so you aren't missing out!

Is it? Seems to me they were $10 cheaper last year. Not worth it as my Zen magnets are still much stronger and I've had them longer!

The reason they're dangerous inside the intestines is they tend to be attracted to each other and the liquid state of what's in the bowels offers no real resistance. If two balls are swallowed at different times, they may attract each other from different sections of the small intestines as they are wadded up near each other ni the abdomin. Then the magnets get within 1/2" of each other and start to really attract. Over a short time they get close enough to press on the inside walls of the intestines, and the attraction becomes stronger as they get closer. The small intestines are soft, and the magnets keep pulling closer until they begin pressing through the intestines to meet. Eventually they do meet, and you have two perforations. This causes an immediate severe infection that requires surgery and antibiotics to fix.

That said, they are a good time killer for creative people. There are a lot of videos on youtube for challenging and beautiful designs to create. I wasn't able to stop buying them until I had 15 sets because I was always wanting to build larger creations. They can be quite addictive.

Most of my sets I got for around $22/231 (nanosphres) Make sure if you get different brands of sets that the balls are exactly the same size. Nanospheres are larger I think. Most other brands are made from the same base generic product out of china and are 5mm. (so a string of 20 is exactly 10cm long) If you have different size balls you'll have a hard time making things.

The nickel plated are the ONLY durable vareiety. ALL other colors will be more prone to chipping off the paint! There's really no way around this problem. The colored balls are best used for highlighting in finished display models.

The generics in plain packaging can be gotten on ebay now for around $15/set, so actually this isn't such a hot deal here. There's no difference between them and brand names. 12 of my 15 sets have been generics and I have only gotten ONE bad ball. (5.5mm!) If you only want a couple, these are ok. If you get addicted, go to ebay for additional sets.

This is one bizarre product recall.

Who would have guessed there's an epidemic of teenagers popping shiny spherical magnets?

***WARNING****WARNING**** These are not toys, or candy, or mouth wash, or breath mints. These are ONLY to be used by responsible adults for stress relief(ie. making a cool jump drive holder for your buddies desk). So if you are prone to eating random objects you should stay FAR away from these dangerous odjects.....

Either every time some child swallows some of these and perforates their small bowel it gets reported in the popular media, or these cases are happening very frequently.

Since my initial thought is that the latter is the case, I'm wondering how Buckballs (and their competitors) haven't been sued into a smoking hole in the ground by now.

I wanted these for so long but they were just to expensive for what it is.. but now that its 2 for 1 how could i pass it up?!

Also this is my first woot!

I've got a few sets, and I too have experienced lost balls, flaking coating, dirty hands after excessive playing, and even a metallic smell (I'm an Iron Ranger, where it rains taconite dust, so the smell doesn't bother me!) but even after all of these, I love these toys. There might be better competitors out there now (I don't have hands-on experience with Zen balls), but I'm going to consider buying these to keep my set all in the same brand.

They are fantastic desk toys, but as others have mentioned, people will do all sorts of crazy things and you'll end up losing balls often!

WilfBrim wrote:Either every time some child swallows some of these and perforates their small bowel it gets reported in the popular media, or these cases are happening very frequently.

Since my initial thought is that the latter is the case, I'm wondering how Buckballs (and their competitors) haven't been sued into a smoking hole in the ground by now.

I don't think it is Buckyballs that have caused the problem. Until a few kids got some serious injuries, small, strong, rare-earth magnets were used in some kids toys and those toys caused the problems. My daughter had one of these toy building sets. As a result of these accidents, any item containing such magnets now carries a warning.

I got 2 sets of BuckyCubes. Maybe it's time to get my hands on a set of balls.

gopvifootball wrote:I got buckyballs on here a year ago and they came in a cube container. It just makes more sense to sell buckyballs in a buckyball-like shape. I guess this must have been a rather recent change.

The cube shape is incredibly impractical for storage. I don't know why Buckyball does it. As a good habit, it's best to put the balls into a 6-layer hexagon shape to store. The poles will mostly cancel and potential for magnetic interference is minimal (not saying you should carry your credit cards or harddrives in the same pocket, but it's lower risk at least).

Demonstration using the Zen Magnets at my desk:

betagirl wrote:Expect to buy extras if you bring them to work - they will get stolen from your desk and returned with missing balls...often.

In all honesty, if you are one not to share (like I am) don't even bring them to work. They're almost too popular.

I keep mine at work but whenever I'm done playing with them I put them back into the cube form. It helps me quickly tell if there are any missing balls and deters someone from playing with them unless they can make the cube.

Amazon has another alternative that I have had since Christmas and they have held up quite nicely. People have reviewed them as being very similar to Buckyballs and come in a wide variety of colors for $20 for each set of 216.

http://www.amazon.com/Magnet-Balls-Original-Magnetic-Collector/dp/B003D7CFTQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334584611&sr=8-1

I have a lot of balls, and play with them often. This set isn't appealing to me, however, because I prefer my balls to be the same color.

Bought these for the office a while back.
Very fun.

Drive you nuts trying to get them back into the original cube shape.

The outer "shell" came off a couple of them.
So they might look like solid steel, but they're actually a ferrous core covered with a thin shiny coating.

Only a couple out of hundreds, though, so no biggie.

Every time I see these I think I'm going to buy them, then I read the comments.

I feel I am far too clumsy and I would be the one who slips and ends up inhaling some of these. Oh, the dangers of being a supreme klutz.