playmags or magnetic stick n stack

smoms

Wed, Nov 13 2013, 9:36 am

playmags are sold by tos4u. magnetic stick n stack are sold by toys to discover. both are imitation magnatiles at a fraction of the price

playmags has more types of shapes but the pictures dont show tall structures. making me wonder if they are not strong enough to go very high.

Does anyone know which one is better? anyone hsve either set and can tell me more about it?

TIA

seeker

Wed, Nov 13 2013, 10:51 am

Sorry to make this harder, but magformers are excellent quality. They are expensive but unlike magnatiles they do go on sale for much more decent prices. Especially this time of year, try watching online.

seeker

Wed, Nov 13 2013, 10:52 am

They don't have that same pretty, translucent look but they do seem to hold together more strongly than the magnatiles. A lot more strongly. Though I don't think they come in as many different shapes.

Nikki

Wed, Nov 13 2013, 11:13 am

I have magformers and magna tiles and I find the magna tiles stronger. I went to the store to buy magna tiles and they convinced me that magformers are better so I listened. Magformers are much more expensive, I paid $198 for 112 pieces and they don't connect right away sometimes you have to shift the pieces to find where the magnets connect.

Later on I went back to buy the magna tiles because we didn't like the magformers. My kids of all ages love the magna tiles and every time I take it out they fight over it. They can okay for hours.

When I was at toys 4 u they sell their brand and magna tiles the brand name and I asked the cashier the difference and she told me that if you can afford it buy the brand name because there is a difference and magna tiles are definitely stronger.

seeker

Wed, Nov 13 2013, 11:15 am

Hm. Thanks for the info. I don't own either, but I've played with them by other people. It just seems like the magnatiles structures tend to collapse a lot. Maybe there were some fakes mixed in.

Nikki

Wed, Nov 13 2013, 5:37 pm

One more thing I forgot to say is that if you are buying magformers only buy it on amazon. After I bought it that night I looked on amazon and it was $40 or $60 less but my kids already opened it otherwise I would have returned it and ordered it on amazon.

Also every day it's a different price on amazon so just check for a week until it's the cheapest.

Another thing is with magna tiles my kids build houses or garages and they play with it. With magformers you build a car but it's not so much pretend play it's more building. So it also depends on your child.

joy613

Wed, Nov 13 2013, 10:14 pm

My kids manage to build pretty tall structures with the Magnetic Stick n Stack. They are not as sturdy as the Magnatiles, but I don't think the playmags are either. They can be busy with them for hours.

bnm

Wed, Nov 13 2013, 11:21 pm

my kids do pretend play with the magformers too. the other day my daughter made rooms for her dolls, a few weeks ago she made 'sukkas'. she had me make a ball and stuck on a few more pieces and pretended its a mike. they fight all day over those magformers and we have 3 packs, sometimes Zuilly has them on sale too

Hashem_Yaazor

Thu, Nov 14 2013, 10:46 am

Reviews on the Stick N Stack are awesome -- they're on Amazon

I personally have the magformers though because my boys enjoy more engineering/architecture than pretend play. They're super strong and very fun. They do pretend to make boats and shuls and stuff, but for the most part, yes they do the ball thing, the mike, the tower, etc == more structural types of things.

(I bought used on eBay. Can't help with pricing there!)

smoms

Thu, Nov 14 2013, 11:12 am

how old are your boys? my son is 5.
the magformers themed sets do look very nice. can they 'play' with it? or does it fall apart?

lea13012

Thu, Nov 14 2013, 11:50 am

To set things clear.....I have both the magnatiles and the Playmags at home. I recently added on the playmags to my original magnatile collection. they now are in one big box...It is Impossible to tell the difference when building anything. The Playmags are just as strong as the magnatiles so definitely worth the money you can save. My kids make about 6 feet tall towers and it holds pretty well. The Playmags also have adorable cars and gate pieces that magnatiles does not have and its a favorite for my kids.

as for stick and stacks I have heard people complain about the quality and sturdiness so not sure.

I hope this helps you decide. I would definitely save the money.

smoms

Thu, Nov 14 2013, 11:56 am

thanks. your input is really helpful. how long have you owned the playmags for?

(btw, welcome aboard, I see its your first post)

el2cg

Fri, Nov 15 2013, 12:16 am

I have the magna tiles for 3 years and it is in constant use. I want to add another box because the kids are constantly fighting over them. Sticks n stack are not compatable to magna tiles. . So I guess I'll get the playmag.

momoswyf

Sun, Nov 17 2013, 6:31 pm

We have Playmags and are very happy with them. when comparing them to my friends magantiles--it seems that they don't have the extra metal rivets at each corner, but I doubt that affects building.

Also, I didn't want to start a new thread for this question, b/c it is along the same lines. Anyone have MagSnaps? I saw that it is one of the Oorah Auction gifts and wondered if it is compatible with the Playmags.

SorGold

Sun, Nov 17 2013, 7:16 pm

For the record: I contacted toys 2 discover and they said the stick n stacks ARE compatible with magna tiles. I think their old version was not compatible but the current one is.

el2cg

Sun, Nov 17 2013, 9:25 pm

SorGold wrote:

For the record: I contacted toys 2 discover and they said the stick n stacks ARE compatible with magna tiles. I think their old version was not compatible but the current one is.

thanks! I wasn't aware that there was a new and old version of stick n stacks