Magic Tricks

Firstly, the reviews here on Penguin have been unfair IMO. To date, most of the negative reviews parrot the fact that a user broke their spectro touch unit, and then complained about a lack of customer service. We aren’t reviewing user errors. We also aren’t reviewing poor customer service here. We are reviewing a PROP.

Next issue: Additional negative reviews complain that there are caveats to using the prop. Oh what? You mean it doesn’t work underwater? Must be a 1 star… Come on now. That sort of nonsense is unreasonable. EVERY prop has caveats. Learn to use your gear properly and stop being a lazy magician!

Now let’s review FAIRLY.

The prop itself is somewhat fragile. That being said, as long as you are comfortable with arts and crafts – and you should be if you’re a Magician – you will be able to make most repairs yourself, if need be. I have dropped my unit multiple times, broken off pieces, dislodged the motor, and more. I’ve always been able to fix it. So it COULD be argued that it’s actually pretty durable to withstand constant drops! Haha. But seriously - don’t drop it…

The motor can sometimes rattle slightly within the casing. This can create a more “noisy” unit than you might like. This is easily preventable. I simply wedged a small piece of cardboard between the casing and the motor, and all rattling immediately stopped. I’ve never had another issue with that.

The only other potential issue is attaching the unit to a participant. I think it would be possible to use the hook from a hook coin as a way to attach this to someone’s clothing. However, I’ve used double-sided sticky carpet tape. This works well. I only use it one or two performances, then I take it off and turn it over allowing the fresh side to get one or two additional performances. Then I throw it away and put a new piece on. You don’t want to use people that have extremely loose fitting clothing. It’s very simple to find someone with a T-shirt. It’s literally not an issue…

While it almost sounds like a joke, I really do think a single or double hook from a hook coin would work very well and there’s really virtually no danger in using this carefully with a participant. Of course - after reading the reviews from some “magicians”, I actually doubt their ability to use this under any constraints. Haha.

What about staging? Admittedly, I use this on stage. I use it in every show. So I know how to use it AND I know the constraints. Most who left poor reviews have largely never used it, so they really don’t know what they’re talking about. Keep that in mind! Do I think it’s best for a stage environment? Well, probably. Could you use it in a close-up environment? Absolutely. But you’re going to have to think through choreography on how to place and remove the prop from the participant. Close-up guys don’t think nearly enough about choreography – and they should. For stage guys, it’s natural to think about choreography because it’s required for virtually all of our routines. But just like any sleight, you need to prepare for how to get in and out of a routine.

So what are the negatives – honestly, there really aren’t many. The sticky backing is a little bit of a negative and that it would be really nice to think of a more robust way of keeping the item attached… But as long as you use someone with a T-shirt and place it on their shoulder, this works very well… You just have to find the right person – just like you would with any other routine.

I’ve addressed the perceived negatives – but I haven’t really talked about the positives! This prop is absolutely incredible. Truly. You can basically touch someone from across the stage; and with the right choreography, it seems like you’ve touched them all over the place. It’s truly incredible. You can do a PK touch on one person ANYWHERE - stage, street, restaurant, etc. It doesn’t get better than this.

Highly recommended. Know what else I also highly recommend? Getting to know your props and actually practicing. 😜