Magnatiles vs Connetix vs cheaper knock-offs

[EdithGrantham]

Trying to decide between brands of magnetic tiles for my 3yo for Christmas, are the proper brands much better than the cheaper ones you can get from Amazon?

We have at least four different brands all bought on Amazon. All absolutely fine! All work the same, none have broken, none have seemed to have less powerful magnets etc.

Apart from checking they're the right size and have good reviews they're all pretty much the same!

Also: look on Amazon warehouse for a bargain. They're usually just returned items but discounted!

That's great thanks, also, how have I not heard of Amazon warehouse before, that's amazing!

We've got a lot of Connetix and they've been used most days for 3.5 years. We've only ever had 1 broken tile, they are amazingly strong. I've tried a few cheaper versions but the magnets aren't at strong

We have a mix of Magnatiles and sets off Amazon. Not 100 percent sure I could tell which is which as they are all stored together. We started with magnatiles but branched out because dc2 wanted people.

Thanks for the new replies, I was leaning towards Connetix but the price means we'd only be able to buy a few and I have a feeling they're better the more you have?

Connetix currently have a 20% sale in most online stores

The sale is a bit of a false economy. There is a website called small kins and I can get the same set through them cheaper than on the connectix website with the discount..

I've had a look at the sale and the 40 piece sets are still over £40 that's over £1 per tile, it still seems so expensive!

The bulk of our magnetic tile stash is Playmags, which I got because they review really well and they were good value for larger amounts. We bought them on Amazon.

We started off with a set of 150 tiles, which I think was a good amount of tiles and lots of different shapes - although I think 100+ is certainly a good starting point.

For her 4th birthday we bought another 100 set of Playmags and then the Connetix ball run set as well. In terms of quality they seem very similar and they work well together. I will say the ball run is fantastic and we do get a lot of use out of it, but you don't get many tiles with it so we were glad we had additional tiles so she can build taller runs.

We have Playmags, the tiles are really strong mixed with some smaller sets from Connecticut and Magnatiles.

I really recommend the Playmags for value. The Connetix ball run kit is a really fun addition for later on.

Thanks both, I've added the Playmags to the Christmas list

Going against the grain here but I love connetix and think they’re absolutely worth it. We started with a giant off brand set and they were ok but then I tried building with a friends set and did a lot of googling and I thought in the end it did really make a difference if you’re trying to build big.
My DC are now 9 and 7 and we started collecting when DC2 was 2. They often used to get a shared pack for Xmas or second DC got them from grandparents when they wanted to buy something spendy but they didn’t need anything else (often the way with the youngest!). They still use them all the time, so much so I’ve ordered the new roads set and rectangles for Christmas. And it is one of those things where the more you have the more you can build. We store them all on an Ikea trolley that gets rolled inside and outside and they really are just great. We have hundreds and we’ve only ever had one crack slightly- and they’ve definitely been trodden on a lot!
I don’t think I’ll ever sell them- I’ll keep them for future grand children- but if I did I’m confident they’d have held some value.

I found magna tiles poor/ disappointing compared to our amazon ones (i just picked ones with good reviews)

I was coming to say playmags too. I have magnatiles as well (well the DC) and I find playmags stronger and better quality.