Customer Reviews

Dry Erase Board Porcelain Aluminum Frame 36INX48IN

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Wow! After about 2 months and 4 units shipped, I finally recieved a dry erase board that is usable, although still damaged, but luckily not enough to reduce the functionality of the board (cardboard had a hole punched in it and dinged the metallic back, but not enough to dent the ceramic side). This would have received at least 4 stars if it weren't for the terrible way the board is packaged and shipped. There is a piece of cardboard over the ceramic front (a thin piece), no protection on the back other than the outside shipping cardboard. The sides had a small cardboard corner and the sides had a 1/2" square piece of very cheap styrofoam. The first three had substantial damage from shipping including corners that were mashed and bent from being dropped and two units with holes punched in the packaging that left holes in the magnetic board. I even called 3M to bring it to their attention. It seems to me they have lost more than they would have ever made selling one of these if the return rate is this high. If I were in charge, I think a few more dollars in better packaging and more direction to the shipping company (hint: their logo is brown) would be well worth the additional incremental unit cost. 1 return out of 100 or 1000 should be more acceptable. I guess they sell enough stickies, it subsidizes the large ticket items.

Okay, on to the actual review. The board is very easy to install. You literally hang two brackets, hang the board on the brackets and put some stickies behind the bottom corners to keep it stable. That said, I would highly advise you have two levels available. A small one to get the first bracket level horizontally and then a larger level (I recommend a 4 foot one) to then get a level mark between the two brackets (they should be about 3 feet apart for a 4ft board). As big as this is, being off just a small amount will be very noticable.

Once installed (about 10 minutes with the right tools), the board looks great. It came with 4 colored markers, but they were all dry, so they were pretty useless.

For an office, it should work fine for most any needs. For a home (my use), it looks great in our hall by the door so we can make notes, track chores, etc. for our kids. I left off the cheap bottom tray that is supposed to hold the markers. Besides being bent, it would just be a good way to get bruised trying to get by it in the hall. The board is sturdy enough for heavy use, but not heavy enough to install or take down later, if needed.

3M, fix your packaging issues. it took me months to get an acceptable board. If you have the patience, it is at a good price point, but be prepared to be frustrated and have lots of tape on hand for packaging it back up.

Good luck!

This porcelain over steel board (4' x 3' in my case) seemed the perfect product on spec. However, it was damaged in shipping, being warped on two axes, which caused all four edges to be out of straight by 1-3 inches (ouch) and caused the board surface to be unacceptably concave. Additionally, the edge frame was crinkled pretty badly on the side of the lower left corner. I was able to mostly straighen out the warpage. The corner damage is mostly hidden in my installation near a wall corner, so I opted to keep it rather than return it. I suspect a replacement would also have a high likelihood of being damaged in shipping. The next time I will buy from a local store, even if it is much more expensive.

The board surface seems to work pretty well. Both the chisel tip markers that came with the board and some BIC fine point low odor markers write on the board adequately for my use (personal/small team use). However, the surface doesn't erase that well. A 'ghost' image is left behind using the felt eraser I purchased in a kit with the BIC fine point pens. A paper towel and a little bit of the cleaning spray, also in the BIC kit, cleans the board nicely. Perhaps this is more an issue with the eraser. Note that I did give the board a decent clean and rinse first.

The aesthetics of the board are good. It looks fine and professional. However, the mounting hardware is pretty poor. I would have rather had screw mounts through the four corners like (apparently) some Quartet boards use. My wall is not perfectly straight, nor did the board arrive perfectly straight. Anchoring the 4 corners securely would have solved a lot of ills. The standard mounting hardware is 2 brackets for the top, and two ADHESIVE attachments for the bottom, which are unacceptable in my case. I'm going to end up finding some other mechanical fastener for the bottom corners.

Overall I am adequately satisfied, but not thrilled with this product. If it had come undamaged and with better mounting hardware, I would have given it 4 stars.

I orderd a similer board from a different companie came all scracht and the frame was comeing off. I sent it back and ordered this board much nicer than the other guys and cheaper too! Now i can finalie worck on my speling"