Quieter than a Squeakquel: Stimagz Series II
[NOTICE: I don’t want to bury the lede, there is an affiliate discount link at the bottom of this review. If you already know you want to buy this product, and you’re just here hunting for discount links, feel free to scroll to the bottom. Then come back and take a read through my thoughts and a look at my pictures, while you wait for your order to ship. 😉]
It’s funny when something becomes an integral part of your day for months and months, and then just suddenly disappears from it. When a part of your EDC is suddenly replaced with something else - not rotated but replaced entirely. After my last review of the Stimagz Classics, I wouldn’t have expected that to happen so quickly, but it really is a testament to how well designed the Stimagz Series II version are, that they have completely replaced the Classics in my daily life.
Which is not to say that I don’t still love my Stimagz Classics. I actually broke them out just the other day when I accidentally left my Series IIs across the house but had the Classics in the same room as me. They are still just as useful and enjoyable as ever, they simply aren’t the first thing I reach for anymore, or my first choice to pack in my bag for the day. In order to illustrate why I prefer the Series IIs so much (but why others might prefer the Classics) allow me to point out how the two product releases differ:
Classics and SIIs (as the Series IIs are commonly abbreviated) are more similar than they are different. Both products feature a magnetic core surrounded in plastic, and are generally available in sets of 12 (Classics have gone through a few other options to purchase, but a “set” was always 12 magnets.) Classics and SIIs are both the same width, but the SIIs are slightly longer (not exactly 125% the width of the Classics, but somewhere around there.) SIIs are also heavier (6.3~6.5 grams each, compared to 4.7~5 grams each for the classics, in my highly unscientific measurements.) The magnets strength of both are about the same, with the Classics perhaps being slightly stronger, but the truth is that any difference I’m feeling in that regard probably has much more to do with the type of plastic they are coated with rather than the magnets themselves.
The different type of plastic is the major difference between the Classics and SIIs (aside from the length, of course.) The Classic Stimagz featured a harder plastic casing that made a noticeable “clicky” sound that some people really like. Personally, though, I prefer the more muted sound of the SIIs, which are billed as “quiet” with their softer plastic casing. Now, they aren’t absolutely silent - if you play with them hard and fast enough you’ll get some sound out of them - but they are much easier to play with discretely in an office or while on a phone call compared to the clicking of the Classics. The softer material of the SIIs also has a bit more of a “matte” finish to it, compared to the shinier Classics, a bit of a softer feel in the hand, and also a bit more friction when rubbing two SIIs together. This last point is what I believe causes the most difference in how the SIIs feel in use when compared to the Classics. The friction of the softer material works as more of a counterpoint to the magnet force of the magnets themselves than the slicker Classics against each other. When I opened my first pack of SIIs I wasn’t sure what I thought about this difference, but in time I’ve come to prefer it. Overall, the combination of a soft-touch material and the friction is creates give the SIIs a “softer and bouncier” feel that I really enjoy. As I said before, though, some people really prefer the harder, clicker Classics, so it’s not really a matter of one being superior to the other; it’s just a matter of personal preference.
Speaking of opening a pack of SIIs, Stimara has really improved their packaging game with their latest releases. When I bought my very first set of Classics they arrived in a little plastic bag. The Neon Series Classics I was sent by Stimara last year had their own dedicated boxes, but they were small two part printed boxes that were packaged six each, despite a full set starting at 12 magnets (I believe Stimara did this because they offered 12 and 18 magnets options, as well as a “build your own set” option where you could add different colors in increments of six, so these packages of six made their internal logistics easier, even though it meant a customer was order one set and receiving two boxes.) With Series II Stimara redesigned their packaging into boxes with magnetic flaps and more eye catching prints on them. Based on customer feedback, they even added ribbons to the packaging of their more recent releases, making it super easy to remove the magnets from the box. Stimagz are generally shipped with a warning notice about safe use of magnets (there are special regulations on magnetic toys that Stimara wants to make sure their customers are aware of) as well as informational inserts, such as the latest one showing the full range of the current Series II Gemstones Collection, covering the first six months worth of birthstones.
In regards to the regulations surrounding magnetic toys, now is probably a good time to mention that Stimagz Classics have been discontinued, and won’t see any future new releases. Originally Stimara had announced their intentions of continuing with both Classics and SIIs side-by-side as two different product series to choose from, however late last year they announced they were going in a different direction. The decision is was best explained in Stimara’s announcement on their Discord server, but the bottom line of it is that the shape of Classics having been based on a much older toy design, Stimara has no legal grounds to defend themselves from other companies copying the exact same shape with magenta of their own. And whereas Stimara is confident that they are following the necessary regulations for their Stimagz to be safe for use by adults (their packed-in notice says not to give Stimagz to anyone under the age of 14), if another company released an identical looking product that was not as safe, or was marketed directly to young children, that could potentially land Stimara in legal trouble if their own through their products looking so similar. For that reason, Stimara made the decision to focus exclusively on design dimensions that they developed in-house, like the SIIs, and other possible designs to come.
The first of those design to come is actually coming up in a Kickstarter soon. They are called “Dubz”, and while I don’t have any to show you, I’ve seen pictures myself and they are roughly the size of four Classic Stimagz each, with two magnet cores per piece, and twice as long as a Classic. Stimara recently announced that the Dubz will be coming in both clicky and quiet options, which should be a relief for fans of the clicky materials on the Classics.
But getting back to the SIIs, an additional feature of the SII Kickstarter campaign was specially designed magnetic hard cases. These cases were offered in black or white, with a range of silicone sleeves colored to match the different SII color options. The SII cases were a very neat idea, but unfortunately Stimara was not happy with how easily the tops and bottoms of the cases were able to separate once they recieved the actual production units. For this reason, the cases have been up on the Stimara website with the “Misfit” label and a steep price discount. In my personal usage the cases coming disconnected was not a real bother (especially because the silicone sleeve and magnets held everything together still), however the cases hold a hard limit of 12 SII magnets, and I tend to use 24 magnets at a time (my usage isn’t typical, I have giant hands.) For this reason, I find myself shying away from using the SII cases, because they become a lot less convenient and start to feel bulkier when you have to carry around two of them at the same time. I’ve gone back to carrying my SIIs in a drawstring pouch, instead, because the choice of how many magnets to carry is a lot more variable. One last point of interest on the cases, the magnetic poles for the black and white cases are reversed, so if the tops and bottoms of a black and white case both come off you can’t necessarily swap them. However, they are assembled using interlocking designs, with no glue, so if you are comfortable taking things apart (and don’t mind the risk of breaking things) you can pop one of the cases open and reverse the polarity of the magnets inside (unfortunately this isn’t as exciting as when they do it on Star Trek) and make yourself a set of two-tone cases as I have.
In terms of price, SIIs come in just slightly above where classics had been, with an MSRP of $42 for a set of 12. Having been using the product for months, I think this is an entirely fair price, but I can also understand how that price sits beyond the “impulse buy” range for many people. Stimara does an admirable job of offering various sales and bundles from time to time, and Penquisition readers are always able to get 15% off by using our affiliate discount link (available at the bottom of this review), so that MSRP is move of a “maximum” price, and not what you can expect to actually pay. In the interest of full disclosure, I have personally placed seven different orders through the Stimara website in the past year (not counting the sets and cases that Iordered through the SII Kickstarter campaign), so I’m not kidding when I say that I believe the products are worth the price.
All in all, I feel that the Stimagz Series II are an improvement on the Stimagz Classics, which I was already very fond of. If you’ve been on the fence about Stimagz, I would encourage you to go ahead and take the plunge Stimagz are a great and useful product, and the people at Stimara seem to genuinely be interested in refining their particular vision for the product, and making it available to a wide number of people, not just chasing the latest trends in magnetic fidgets or marketing through FOMO. The Stimara folks have built a lovely little Discord server where they share info with their most devoted fans, and also pay attention to feedback. It’s an admirable thing to watch, and really gives their community a greater feeling of involvement with Stimara (one of their recent social media videos even featured voice acting from a certain blogger…) You don’t have to join their server to use their products, of course, but the fact that they make themselves so open to their community is something that I really appreciate, and at the end of the day makes me feel even better about how much I enjoy their products. If you’re interested in purchasing Stimara products using our 15% affiliate discount code, just follow this link and it should be applied automatically when you go to check out.
The fidget toys reviewed above were purchased at regular retail price or using publicly available discount codes. Please note that the above post contains affiliate links.
