I bought 3 decks. All 3 had an inward, end-for-end warp. This made faroing considerably difficult. My search for a deck that facilitates a smooth faro-shuffle was my main reason for purchasing the 809s. Needless to say, I was disappointed.

Further, one of the decks was considerably roughly cut--as if there were tiny burrs along the sides. White splotches were visible on the sides of this deck, as well. The two other decks had no splotching and weren't "rough."

The paper stock seems a bit softer than the 808s. I can't see any advantage-I think I prefer the slightly stiffer stock.

The above drawbacks aside, the design is a nice alternative to the 808s, and, incidentally, I ordered a set of (blue) Twilight cards--which are 809s--and they were not warped. They faroed fine.

The red-backed Mandolins that I get are perfect. The blue ones suck for some reason. It could be that I just got a bad batch. They are always warped inwards and when you square the deck and look at the sides, you see white spots all over.