Ahoy from the other side fo the cause way!
I'm Falcom121 (as it says from the left) and am here to do a comparison between the Incarnum PK Ring and Wizard PK Ring. I've already posted this on the SMC forums and since this is a Malaysian product, it should be done here as well, since there's so much controversy.
Now there have been claims that the IPK is a rip off product which should not be supported. I at one point agreed with this too, however, this should not be discussed here as in this thread I’m going to compare both of these rings to determine which is a better tool for magicians. I’m not going to tell you if it’s a pirated product or not whether it is ethnical or not, that is for you to decide after you see this comparison between the two rings, hence I give you:
THE WAR OF THE RINGS!
Muhahahahaha!
Sorry, couldn’t resist it. Hehe.
Okay, let’s begin with PACKAGING:
The IPK arrived at my house in a DVD box. The ring was placed in a sealed shiny package thing much like the one that a SIM card comes in. The out side of the packaging is printed in color but the instructional booklet inside isn’t. The monochrome instructional booklet doesn’t really obscure the words except on a few occasions where unimportant “look cool” text printed.
The WPK, (which I purchased via an online dealer), was purchased before I received my sample IPK. The case is found in ziplock which contains the instructions which are printed in color (important points are in red print). Someone described the case that the WPK comes in as beautiful; I have to admit, when I saw it on Ellusionist it looked really good, like it was make of glass or something. When I saw it for real, and when my sister saw it, we came to a conclusion very quickly- it looked cheap.
So both products’ packaging looked equally cheap. The WPK looked more normal, that is more like a magic product. Most magic products have one thing in common, their packaging all look cheap. I like the silver packet that the IPK came in though.
INSTUCTIONAL BOOKLETS
WPK has the relevant warning and introduction to the ring etc. There are instructions for two routines; Stopping Time and Coin Through Glass. The latter’s description is really confusing, but after reading a few times and trial and error with a glass, I finally understood it.
The IPK has instructions for two effects: Tempus Fugit (second hand of borrowed watch stops at a spectator chosen time. E.g.: they say 1 o’clock the second hand stops at 1) and In Transit (crumpled up dollar bill through glass). The instructions for both are far more detailed than the one included in the WPK even to the point of adding line by line of patter in the first routine. To be fair, I read the WPK’s instruction before this so I had the concept of coin/dollar note through glass, and therefore understood “In Transit” much faster than coin through glass. Also the WPK warns us not to use this on digital or self winding watches, the IPK merely states use an analogue watch and not digital.
I have to say that the routines included with the IPK feel very much like similar to that of the ones in WPK, and made me a bit suspicious. However, I must say that these concepts (i.e. How to stop a watch, or make a coin/ dollar bill pass through a cup) must have been around for quite some time already, so yeah. Also, I felt that the addition to Tempus Fugit for the spectator to select a time before the actual time stop really spoils the trick. I like to keep it simple.
The IPK instructional booklet however does not mention anything about using the ring if you have a pacemaker on, the WPK warns against it. The IPK has a warning about wearing the ring 24/7 as some toxins will allegedly build up at the base of the finger. When I read that, I couldn’t really believe it, but yeah, that’s the down side of the IPK. The WPK tell us we can put in on and never take it off the IPK says don’t wear it for prolonged periods. Maybe Reno (owner of the company that makes IPK) can shed some light as to why the safety warning for the IPK and not WPK.
Finally, both instructions for watch stopping routines fail to mention that quarts watches are a no go. I found this out on the net, but quarts watches can get seriously busted if a magnet is placed near them. This is something that both manufacturers should take note of and add to their instruction manuals.
WARRANTIES
Well, the WPK has a lifetime warranty that says they’ll replace the ring for you if it breaks for a nominal fee, IPK doesn’t have that. That’s a very big downside to the IPK because, these rings are fragile, and might eventually break one day.
MAGNETIC STRENGTH
Okay, this is the real important stuff; Reno claimed that the IPK is 3 times stronger than the WPK. This is why I first asked Reno to send me a ring so I could write a review. Well I devised this test to compare the two rings.
I basically sandwiched bicycle cards between my steel core half and the ring that I was testing. Starting from 1 card I kept adding cards between the steel core and the ring. Each time I added one card, I tried to lift the sandwich off my open palm by lifting the ring. So I if I managed to lift up the pile even partially I would add another card and repeat the “lifting test” this carried on until I couldn’t lift the pile. See picture for details.
This test I designed is 95% accurate, the 5% of inaccuracy I would say come from deciding whether the pile was lifted or not. I tried to make this as accurate as possible by placing both ring and steel core coin in the centre of the playing cards.
Finally, I must admit one grave inaccuracy before I continue. The IPK I received about one week ago broke just before I had a chance to test it. What happened was I just dropped it one the floor while using the computer, and it split into two pieces but I tried to put it together to the best of my ability so that it still resembled a ring. So in a sense, I’d think that this test started a bit one sided with a disadvantage given to the IPK.
Here are the results:
The IPK managed to lift 18 cards (at least partially off my hand) with the help of a steel core half, while the WPK only managed to lift up 8 with a steel core half as well. The IPK was not seen to be 3 times as strong as the WPK (as Reno claimed it would be) but significantly stronger than the WPK.
OTHERS
The IPK only comes in one size, 19mm as the website says, one size fits most. Now bear in mind that the R&D for the IPK was in Malaysia, so yes 19mm would fit a lot more Asians than Western folks as Asians generally smaller in size.
Next of all, the IPK is thicker than the WPK so it might affect your coins slights more. Yes, both rings would affect certain slights like the deep back clip which I’m still struggling with, as such I wear it one my left hand now.
They both look the same but upon close inspection one would notice the subtle differences like dimensions etc.
INITIAL IMPRESSIONS
When I first got the IPK, I felt that there really wasn’t much difference in strength between the two. From that day on, I put on my IPK and let my WPK take a holiday, but today when I took them both out, I realized the difference in strength needed to separate a steel core from each; i.e. the IPK needed more.
FINALLY
If you have made it this far… yes, it was a long read, I want you to know that in the event that you need a really really in-depth review like this one, send me a free sample I’ll be happy to do it as long as its not to near to my exams.
Yeah, I’ll promise to do a good job, do contact me.
P.S: Remove the spacing between the “@” sign.
P.P.S: Could some one please put copy and past this entire thing onto the magic cafe. I know that they are talking about these rings but can't post on they're forums as I can't register, due to them not accepting hotmail emails. Thanks!
Ipk Vs Wpk, Round one, FIGHT!
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