Flash: Color-Changing Flash Drives
Chad Long
- EASY TO DO!
- FUN TO PERFORM!
- EYE-POPPING MAGIC!
- GREAT CLIMAX!
- PERFECT FOR STROLLING!
* These custom-designed flash drives do not contain memory.
Reviews
(Top ▲)
The gimmicks are superb quality. The instruction is short, but very good. Longer instruction really wasn’t necessary. The routine can be performed surrounded. The difficulty level is easy.
CONS
The only reservation I have about this is you have to consider the shelf life of this product. Technology is constantly changing and perhaps people don’t use flash drives in the future. It may be the distant future, or it may be just around the corner. The benefit to this is it is a commonly recognized prop. If it is no longer a used item in the future, it will become an obsolete prop.
VERDICT
Very nice effect and routine, but could it become obsolete in the future?
(Top ▲)
For $35 you get 3 well made props and a very clever update on a classic effect.
The DVD runtime is only about 10 minutes, but unless you're completely unfamiliar with the paddle move this, surprisingly, is all you need. The packaging, DVD and gimmicks are all well made/produced. Considering that these days people are putting out DVDs with one or two tricks on it for $35 or more, this is a steal. You not only get very well done instructions in DVD format, but you also get three well made products and some well produced written instructions that make learning the effect even easier.
The material the props are made from makes the sleight of hand easier than any other prop I've ever done the paddle move with. I see no reason not to highly recommend this. I will, however, give my usual counsel regarding presentation. As you watch Chad Long's presentation, notice that he pretty much completely ignores his audience and spends his time looking down at his props. Please do NOT try to replicate his "performance." While the technique (i.e., the moves) was pretty much flawless, the routines was so fast and so "meaningless" that it was over before it started, and unfortunately Long missed several opportunities to kibitz with the audience and play on their reactions, but he missed them because he appeared to be to focused on looking at his hands.
Again, I try not to let a poor performance impact the rating. The rating should be about the quality of the props, the production value, the practicality of the method and the advertising accuracy. And on All of Those counts, this product is top notch and highly recommended; just don't try to replicate his presentation.
One consideration: The props are not real flash drives. They look real, but are not actual drives, but if you planned on using them at work and then removing them from your USB drive and performing a trick with them, you still can. They actually plug in to the USB port fine. They just don't actually work. If you liked what you saw in the demo, you'll be very happy with your purchase.
Final Verdict:
5 Stars with a Stone Status of GEM!
(Top ▲)
My repertoire is mostly mentalism, bizarre, and card magic. So I wasn’t sure this would work for me. I was mostly curious if it would work for the audience.
My main concern was that these would pass as flash drives. I have never seen flash drives like this, although I’ll admit I’ve seen USB drives that look like toy pigs, so maybe the audience would accept these magic props as well...
And they did. The audience accepted the props as flash drives, they reacted to the magic moments, and they reacted to the ‘jumbo’ finale. So we can accept that if someone wants to work on this, it can go in their repertoires fairly easily.
That said, there are a few drawbacks. The original color changing knives ACTUALLY functioned as pocket knives. These are NOT real flash drives. For $35, I think it’s fair to get functional drives, if for half that, you get functional knives. So a star off for that.
Also, because these are technological devices, some people might attribute the magic that happens to the props, not to you. Especially since the props can’t be examined at every moment. That’s true of the original knife routine as well, but those are not technological devices. That said, no star off for that, because simple routining can solve that problem.
Finally. Some older and younger audience members might not know what a flash drive is. Some will, but some won’t. So you have to read your audience, or take a gamble of whether they will accept this as a piece of our modern world, or this weird thing they don’t know about. So a half star for that.
Grand total, this gets three and a half stars! If you like the look of the props, and like the idea of doing the routine on the demo, then you will be happy with this product!