Had the gold & black set of Buckyballs Woot offered. Loved them. Very addictive. Then some jackhole stole them off my desk at work. Scumbags.

!!!WARNING!!!
DONT BUY... ZEN MAGNETS HAVE A DEAL RIGHT NOW!!!
GO LOOK ON DEAL WOOT... HURRY BEFORE THEIR GONE>>>>

zlongren wrote:Has anyone had the casing rubbed off after a while? I have a set and this happened to every ball, and they now leave black marks all over.

The company sent me a new set so no complaints there, but curious if anyone else has had this happen.

Mine have done the same thing. So have all the ones that I bought last Christmas as gifts.

if you don't like these colors, how about black and gold:
http://moofi.woot.com/moofi/Clacky-click

What you're looking at is 216 ball comprising about a square inch. Was surprised when they arrived to learn how small the package is. No pun intended of course.

tweng wrote:Hey, so zen magnets have a similar deal now, except they call them neoballs. Apparently they have slightly less quality than zenmagnets, but the price is $12 per set with $4 flat shipping!
Here's a link
here

There appears to be only 132 sets left. Plus, if you order all 132 sets, they'll charge only, like, $56 shipping...

Shopping cart glitch, anyone?

Darn you woot. How dare you keep me waiting so long for my Bag of Coal.

This is a GREAT deal. I got a set of the golden edition in a mystery box (non-Woot). These things are extremely distracting and a lot of fun to play around with. A proven "stoner toy" for sure. If I had the money, I would Woot this one in a heartbeat.

Perfect gift here for a great price! Just don't give it to kids, these things are deadly if swallowed.

BIGELLOW wrote:If it helps, imagine you're putting the majority of the money in the pockets of all of the employees involved, whereas only a portion goes specifically to the CEO.
...

fair point, but all else being equal, I'd rather give my money to the company with an attitude closer (in the video in question) by the dude from Zen than that of the guy from Buckeyballs.

I trust my 5 year old not to put them in her mouth - I do not trust her not to drop them on the floor and leave them for the cats to find. I certainly do not trust the cats not to eat them.

The "extra tail made of a 12 inch long piece of shoelace" incident proved they are not to be trusted.

I bought a gold off ebay for $15 shipped. Came in a nice little can. They arrived much faster than my woot orders :/

See link below for cheaper silver ones... http://cgi.ebay.com/216-6-Neo-Cube-MAGNETIC-BALLS-Sphere-NEOCUBE-Puzzle_W0QQitemZ270676365483QQcategoryZ2615QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp4340.m506QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DNGRI%26its%3DI%252BC%26itu%3DUA%26otn%3D10%26pmod%3D320620271306%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D5486459503027482154

zenmagnets wrote:Zen Magnet representative here. It's really not so hard to undercut Buckyballs, and still have better quality. A lot of you have asked us for a deal, so here it is:
http://zenmagnets.com/index.php?p=1_12
Inside are also answers to a lot of other questions that have been asked by wooters.

If you like what you see, bumps appreciated here, and on the corresponding
deals.woot listing.

Ha nice job undercutting woot on their own website. In 4 2. One for me, one as a gift.

richellelander wrote:If we stopped buying products from companies who's CEO are jerks, we wouldn't be buying much.

davilathegreat wrote:That's got to be the craziest thing I've read all day. So, you're not buying this product because some dude in a suit ruffles your feathers? Do you get to know the executives of pharmaceutical companies before buying allergy medication? Car companies? Convenience stores? If CEO's had to be affable to sell products, most businesses would immediately collapse.

They both speak the truth. I worked for a fortune 500 company (retailer) for a couple of years and the people on top are jerks. However shoppers keep shopping.

Shopping because the person on top is nice will only go so far. It ultimately comes down to the bank account.

In any case, I got one set for my mom :D

Kuragari wrote:I really wish these would be more reasonably priced... I mean they're cool and all... but I think I'll wait until I see a set at a good price...

Two sets for the price of one- I don't see you getting any better price than that! (And if you do, give me a call!)

Just saw this on a recall site:

The CPSC today announced the recall of 175,000 magnetic toys called Buckyballs. This magnetic toy recall was issued because the package rates the product for children 13 and up, but the federal toy standard requires that toys with tiny magnets not be sold to children under 14. Buckyballs are manufactured in China.

Jameel88 wrote:!!!WARNING!!!
DONT BUY... ZEN MAGNETS HAVE A DEAL RIGHT NOW!!!
GO LOOK ON DEAL WOOT... HURRY BEFORE THEIR GONE>>>>

Mmm... not likely to take advice from someone who doesn't know the difference between "their" and "they're." Besides, the zen deal isn't much better, and the woot website doesn't look like it was designed by a 14-year-old in 1997.

Niklasmama wrote:Just saw this on a recall site:

The CPSC today announced the recall of 175,000 magnetic toys called Buckyballs. This magnetic toy recall was issued because the package rates the product for children 13 and up, but the federal toy standard requires that toys with tiny magnets not be sold to children under 14. Buckyballs are manufactured in China.

That recall is old, they label them all for adults only now. It seems they are not safe for 13 year olds. You have to be 14 before you are smart enough not to eat them.

derekio wrote:this isn't a deal. same price as their website.

This is the price for ONE set on their website. So this is a good deal at 50% off.

It all started casually. A couple of sets of standard Buckyballs. All the kids were doing it. So I caved just to be cool. But then I started using. A #$%$ ex-friend lost a few precious spheres when she wasn't careful. I had to pay a premium for just a couple of replacements!

I soon found myself paying full retail at Fry's just so I could have more. Then the dreaded idea struck me. What if I had eight sets? I'd get so geeky high that I might never come down. So I shelled out some dollars in a dark alley to get more sets from a fly-by-night outfit out of Hong Kong. Bad trip dudes. The stuff I got looked like factory seconds.

But my original Woot supplier came back at me with a vengeance. Soon I was making up extra Woot accounts in my wife and kid's names just so I could get more and more.

Now, Woot is at it one last time. With this Wooting I can achieve the ultimate geek high. The 27 complete set, 18x18x18 cube.

After this binge, its over Woot! Do you hear me? It is over. I'm going to go off the balls. COLD TURKEY.

I swear. i swea...

Woot...

What impeccable timing! I just bought two sets at retail on Friday.

D'oh!

I bought these the last time they came up on w00t. They are endless hours of mindless fun.

wonders if these are too magnetic to be around anything electronic. I bought these last time and am pretty darn scared to keep it around my computer or anything electronic.

The Zen guy that posted here seems like a couch bag, glad I bought two sets here.

zenmagnets wrote:Zen Magnet representative here. It's really not so hard to undercut Buckyballs, and still have better quality. A lot of you have asked us for a deal, so here it is:
http://zenmagnets.com/index.php?p=1_12
Inside are also answers to a lot of other questions that have been asked by wooters.

If you like what you see, bumps appreciated here, and on the corresponding
deals.woot listing.

I bought 3

Does anyone know if these would make it here in time for christmas or not?

Man, they must really be trying to get rid of these. I bought the set they were selling a month or so back and paid more for less. I guess the whole "one deal a day" concept loses some muster when you see a similar deal pop up on the same product a month later.

mjonatzke wrote:this is two sets for the price of one

So is the website right now.... plus $5.95 shipping.

Why is Zen better?

These things look really cool, but sadly (for Jake Bronstein), I can't bring myself to support such a massive d-bag. If Mr. Bronstein wants to apologize to Zen, maybe I'll thank him by purchasing what looks like a pretty cool toy. Until then, I'ma bookmark Zen and wait til they're back in stock over there.

mhardman wrote:It all started casually. A couple of sets of standard Buckyballs. All the kids were doing it. So I caved just to be cool. But then I started using. A #$%$ ex-friend lost a few precious spheres when she wasn't careful. I had to pay a premium for just a couple of replacements!

I soon found myself paying full retail at Fry's just so I could have more. Then the dreaded idea struck me. What if I had eight sets? I'd get so geeky high that I might never come down. So I shelled out some dollars in a dark alley to get more sets from a fly-by-night outfit out of Hong Kong. Bad trip dudes. The stuff I got looked like factory seconds.

But my original Woot supplier came back at me with a vengeance. Soon I was making up extra Woot accounts in my wife and kid's names just so I could get more and more.

Now, Woot is at it one last time. With this Wooting I can achieve the ultimate geek high. The 27 complete set, 18x18x18 cube.

After this binge, its over Woot! Do you hear me? It is over. I'm going to go off the balls. COLD TURKEY.

I swear. i swea...

Woot...

Don't worry - there is always hope. Doctors have produced a Methadone analog for Buckyballs. Methaballs look exactly the same as Buckyballs, and have the same weight, feel, and slight variation in geometric tolerance (according to the CEO of Zen magnets).

The only difference is that Methaballs are not magnetic! That's right - you can play with them, and try to make whatever shapes you like. All you'll get is frustration, and you'll also lose the Methaballs all over the house in the process. Sure, the kids will eat them, but you don't have to worry because non-magnetic balls won't harm them (much). Eventually you'll just have to quit.

Countless marriages, careers, and rubber ducks have already been saved owing to Methaballs. Tell a needy friend about Methaballs now!

comiczoner wrote:I was kind of thrown off by his attitude at first, too... but after thinking about it, he acted the way I probably would have after such a phone call.

HAHAHA I WONT SUPPORT A COMPANY THAT SUPPORTS WIKILEAKS...

Yes, lets usher in the new world order without a fight. The war on terror is a farce honey, its a fear tool. Every bit of fear they can muster up is another hard gained liberty you will give up for your "safety." EVERYTHING is the terrorists these days, get your head out of FOX news' a$$. Also does anyone have any Amero's I could buy with my purposefully devalued currency?

parrotice wrote: I wont support a company that supports WikiLeaks.

It's fine if you don't want our magnets, but very curious what you have against wikileaks. Aware that woot forums aren't known for their serious discussions, but people with your attitude are always a bit nauseating. Wikileaks has been doing the job that news networks should have been doing. If anything, we need more wikileaks, not less of it. Don't shoot the messenger.

“In a free society we're supposed to know the truth. In a society where truth becomes treason, then we're in big trouble."

I bought two of these on a previous Woot! day. One is here in my office with me.

Sure, I can get it back into a cube. Yes, it begins with making a long string first. But most of the time I just like playing with these magnets, squishing the shape into other shapes. Kinda like a stress release thingie. ("thingie" is a medical term)

But... be warned... the coating of these coems off. After fooling with the magnets I see tiny silver flakes all over my hands. As a result, the balls themselves are less shiney. A little dull.

Here's a photo I just took, you can see the flakes a little bit.

Do not know how these measure up to the other brand, but the Buckyballs that I have are not exactly high quality.

Does anyone know if you can use these to make a magnetic bracelet?

zephalis wrote:I applaud you and the OP. Although I've never really understood the why's of the no seatbelts in busses thing. It's always bugged me that I wasn't given the option (and with a few drivers I wanted that option 8o).

[rant]The 14 recommendation is ridiculous. Kids stop swallowing things by 6-7 at the latest if they're raised even somewhat properly. I've seen adults that misuse magnets. If you're a parent and you need to be told what toys are safe for your kid then you probably aren't much of a parent to begin with. Overprotective parenting leads to dull, boring, ignorant zombies. [/rant]

how about JARTS (Lawn Darts) lol. talk about a KILLER toy :D

zenmagnets wrote:“In a free society we're supposed to know the truth. In a society where truth becomes treason, then we're in big trouble."

Ooo, a quote! That must make it truthish.

If you guys like this, check out this guys product using ferro fluid. It's a pretty cool desktop toy like the bukcy balls.

www.czferro.com

should i buy these of the neoball by zen magnets??!

HELP??!!

bassyb wrote:Does anyone know if you can use these to make a magnetic bracelet?

Dunno if anyone replied, but funny enough I was just playing with the Zen Magnets and they go into bracelets/rings very well. That's not to say anything good or bad about the "look" of wearing them, but I like the idea of having these things to play with whenever I feel like it, and they are strong enough in the bracelet form that I wouldn't really worry about them falling off.... but I would worry about them getting stuck to various magnetic things, like a door handle.

morrowz wrote:Anyone else vaguely offended by the name of this particular toy? Buckyballs have a very specific meaning in science, not really related to magnets at all...

I think the reference to Buckminsterfullerenes was adapted because the kinds of structures you can model resemble them.

patch96 wrote:should i buy these of the neoball by zen magnets??!

HELP??!!

I think I am jumping... at the Zen price ( for the Neo balls ) you can get 4 sets of 216 balls for the same price as the twofer, for the buckyballs, here.

earthltd wrote:Absolutely! But I don't mind the magnets. It's the cube structure that is the lie. Buckyballs have a geodesic form. These would be a blast if you could build the forms implied by the name. But, alas, two pole magnets don't let it happen.

You can build a Buckyball with them...

Just make the appropriate pentagons and hexagons and stick them together to form an icosahedron.

riv413 wrote:I believe the silver IS the regular edition as opposed to the gold or black.

Definitely not the regular version... The silver are shinier:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/science/bbe8/images/6211/

Kind of like the difference between steel and silver.

------------------------------

The only reason I even replied is because somehow these comments made it to the front page...