Now before I start my review I'll admit my knowledge of ITRs is limited to the Thread Genie and Thread Boss by Sorcery Manufacturing. I first owned the Thread Boss but lost it and I was quite sadden by that fact as I found it to work quite well and had no complaints. Though after seeing the price of a Thread Boss ITR roughly around 40 dollars or so I looked around to see if I could find a budget ITR. Alas I found the Thread Genie by MM. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
First off the thread is ungodly visible. Its very thick but very strong and quite honestly I think would only be better for stage then close up as I found it to very visible when using. Secondly the design is an exact rip off of the Thread Boss except the alligator clip which is kind of awkard to say the least. It wasn't bad but it wasn't really great. To test out strong the thread was I decided to mess with a bit maybe stretching it to maybe a max of a foot and half before it broke. Nopt the thread but the ITR itself. The rubberband inside had snapped. So I pitched it and quite honestly can't recommend it. Even though its really cheap I purchased mine around 9.95 plus shipping I could have bought myself lunch and been much happier in the end.

Is a spectra reel worth getting because I have read in the talkmagic forums that a cheap indian one is just as good,but not as smooth retraction.

Dear Samm -- if you will reread the post above yours, you will see that you can either be part of the problem, or part of the solution.

If you buy the cheap Indian knockoff ITR, you will be part of the problem. You will also probably end up spending more money in the long run, because you will probably need to buy another ITR to replace the cheapo Indian one when it breaks the week after you buy it.

So what will you decide to do? For the sake of your own good magic and the magic community, please consider being part of the solution and buying the original high quality ITR from Mr. George. Oh, and welcome to the Café! SETH

Sorry to bump an old post. But I just noticed that Sorcery Shop's new Spectra ITR looks EXACTLY like the cheap knock-off.

He's dumped some of the work inside and well, it's making me think that Sorcery is selling the overseas knock-off version themselves.

Has anyone had any experience with this new reel?

I've got the thread boss and it worked great until the thread broke. I literally can't get the darn thing out and I've sucked and sucked. Ok, I've always sucked but for that reason alone I should be a pro. I even took it apart and got the thread loose. Then put it back together and sucked some more. After a while I realized I had spent enough time that I should have just bought a new one.

Or maybe I should have bought 3 knock-off's instead? I really wonder, is there a reason he would change his design to match the knock-off? These things have got to be coming out of China for like $2. It looks like a drinkig straw inside. He used to have something more serious looking. Now they look exactly the same.

I love the ITR. I use it to floss my teeth. But now I'm completely confused.

Rob

How about indian thread reel?

You can get an Indian thread reel for $7.00. The thread is very visible. I think these are OK to practice with - when it breaks, you just throw it away. I would never recommend using one for an actual performance.

Jim

I just did some math and the thread Genie is in reality more expensive.

18' of Invisible Thread comes out to .83 cents per foot. ( If you can call it
invisible Thread that is.)

50'+ of Professional Quality Invisible Thread on the Alpha Boss Reel is .69 cents per foot, so it really is Cheaper when you look at what your actually getting and paying for, the other features like longer retraction distance, adjustable tension, and just a superior job on manufacturing are all bonuses.

So I take that back, the boss really is cheaper when you look at the price per foot of the thread itself.

Stay clear of the thread genie this is the worst I.T.R I have used.