Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Our now 4-year old has spent more time with her Magna-Tiles than any other toy we own. When we wanted to get her a larger set so she can build more things I had a problem finding the ones I wanted. I ran across these Metro Mags and was put off initially by the top reviews that claimed the magnets were not good. There was something that felt fishy about those reviews, especially in light of the other good ones so I bought this set. As it turns out, the magnets are just fine! The day the product arrived, I did some experimenting with the original Magna-Tiles and these pieces. After putting two squares of each type together and pulling them apart, I felt like the magnets in the Metro Mags felt slightly less strongly attracted. This was further supported by building a small cube that felt slightly less sturdy than the originals. As I was now officially on a quest, I decided I wanted something a little more quantitative so I devised The M&M Test. I clamped a small square to the edge of a table with half of it hanging over the end of the table, I then suspended an equilateral triangle piece above the ground by attaching it to the end of the square (held on the same plane as the square and table top by only its two magnets). I then placed plain M&Ms (pastel ones, like for Easter) on the triangle one-by-one until its magnets gave way. I minimised the bounce effect by supporting the triangle from underneath as I added each chocolatey treat. The result of this experiment was that the original Magna-Tiles could suspend 11 M&Ms before failing while the Metro Mags could only support 9 candies. So, I can attest that in both subjective and objective experiments, the original Magna-Tiles demonstrated superior magnetic attraction. At a cost difference of 25-35 cents per tile, I would say that you get your money's worth with the originals. However, after opening the Metro Tiles, my daughter immediately built a tower that I estimate to have been 6 or 7 stories high before collapsing from it's own weight and questionable design. In my judgement the Metro Tiles are a suitable substitute for someone looking to minimise their total investment in magnetic tile building bits.