There are just so many things wrong with this device it is hard to get through them all. I feel I must judge this product as harshly as it's price requires - if it was $10, I wouldn't have many bad things to say. It's not $10, it cost $55.

First the positives - it promises to do amazing effects and if you are lucky it will work for an hour or so. You also get a funny pen that is spring loaded (if that's a plus).

Now the negatives - the button constantly gets stuck, if the thread snaps (and you don't shut it off) you can often end up with a tangled mess, the motor seems incapable of picking up much more than a tiny scrap of paper, the battery seems to last (at max strength) not much longer than 5 minutes of actual "on" time (and that's using the expensive spider pen batteries), the clip snaps easily and, after a while, it just seems to stop working altogether. It's almost like it knows deep down that it was a great idea but it wasn't built right.

This product is the main reason why I haven't looked into the "tarantula" - I'm too scared that I'm going to be burnt again.

Thankfully Penguin replaced my faulty spider. I am grateful for that but the replacement broke just as quickly.

I'll cut my losses. Don't buy.

I guess the reason for most of the negative reviews is that the Spider Pen is not a gimmick one can take out of the box and perform it instantly. I am constantly amazed at the number of folks who want to call themselves "magicians" who only want stuff that is instantly working and takes no practice. if that's what you want, buy a "Ball & Vase" or a stripper deck and not this.

However, if you are willing to work on the effects, and practice with the gimmick you can perform miracles that no one else in your "magic circle" can do. I personally spent over a month working with the gimmick almost daily before I was comfortable enough to perform in public. Maybe I'm anal-retentive,but it was worth it.

Again, if you want to perform miracles that others are not doing, AND are willing to spend the time to master the gimmick and effects this is a great prop to add to your arsenal.

Honestly, I don't understand the negative reviews at all. I have used other reels in the past. (For example, the Hummingbird reel and it's predecessors.) I believe the Spider Pen is a very nice gimmick and made out of a regular pen quality plastic and as long as it is not abused should last a long time. Another thing about this thread reel; if used properly should not tangle!! I have had previous thread and reel working experience and with the proper care and use it has been an amazing product. When applied to walk-around situations, I find it very practical and it gets AMAZING reactions. Honestly negative reviewers, sit back and think and be creative with the device. Just let your mind open up doors and you take a creative peek inside the rooms. Do this and I am pretty certain you can find an awesome use for this device. I like the device so much I will soon find somewhere to post my own creative tips on effective handling and performance with the device along with some actual on the street performances... THANKS GUYS!!

I just bought a spider pen a couple of months ago, IT IS AMAZING. I have been including it in my closeup routines for a floating bill effect. THe power and sound of the reel is super silent. Maybe just a little too expensive... but still worth it!!!!

I have had a Spider Pen for a couple years and it has spent almost all of that time in a box on a closet shelf. Why? Because it is poorly made and unreliable. It is an ingenious if not perfect design but the execution of that design is very poor.

The motor is virtually silent and you can work at relatively long distances but that means nothing if you can't rely on the device. In fact, you may end up making a darn fool of yourself with the Spider Pen. Half the time the motor won't turn on and, sometimes when it does, the reel is jammed. You find yourself constantly having to take the cap off to figure out why it's not working. The cap also keeps falling off because it is a poor fit and it won't work without the cap on. Also, the threads for the regular pen cap are so bad that the pen is constantly flying apart. , which is aggravating, to put it mildly. I finally had to Super Glue the cap to the pen body to eliminate that problem but then the pen can't be opened and used, which could be a problem if someone suspected that he pen was gimmicked. And the pen really doesn't write well as someone else said because it's spring-loaded and it retracts into the pen body if you try to write with it unless you hold the part that retracts, which is very inconvenient and unnatural.

The thread rates high on invisibility but it's not very strong and, when the reel jams (and it will!) the thread can get tangled up in such a way that you have to cut the thread to remove that part. You would probably be wise to spool your own with a stronger IT.

The bottom line is that although the design is ingenious, the Spider Pen is so poorly made that you can't rely on it. Sometimes I have had to try a trick ten times to get it to work right! Of course, you can't do that with an audience. You will find yourself in the middle of a trick and the spool will stop spinning or the IT will jam and you're standing there looking like a fool. Or the line will simply break. For those reasons, I actually prefer and old-fashioned IT reel over the Spider Pen.

The Spider Pen Pro was supposed to resolve some of these problems but an Internet search only finds an announcement that it will soon be available but that announcement was made a couple years ago. Whatever happened to the Spider Pen Pro?

I gave up on the Spider Pen. However, I came across it this week while looking for something else on my closet shelf and after having it jam, stop working, and having line break while trying to get it to work reliably for an hour or so, I came to the conclusion that a big part of the problem is the cap that goes over the spool. I may try to make a cap that actually works but for the price of a Spider Pen, the manufacturer should have taken care of that.

As for the batteries.... don't bother ordering "special" batteries. You can get them at any drug store in the battery section. They are standard button batteries used for all kinds of things including hearing aids, laser pointers, watches, etc. If they are the same size, they will work. You can by them in large batches for next to nothing on eBay. It's a shame that the pen wasn't made to work on one or two AAA batteries which would have required much less frequent battery changes. They could have easily fit in the body of the pen if the useless ballpoint pen cartridge was eliminated.

If just a little more effort had gone into the quality of the pen, it could have been a great product. As it is, I think I used it two or three times but only to perform tricks for my wife, who knew what I was using, and a couple of my young grandchildren. I wouldn't even think of using this is a "real" performance. You have to be able to rely on your gimmicks.

Obviously a lot of thought went into this highly innovative concept. I love ITR, but hate the set up. This pen solves that issue very nicely. Surprised this didn't come with a battery though, my first thought when I tried to use the pen is it didn't work.

A battery costs a buck or two and would have been a nice addition. Otherwise I love this product!

Don't get this the spider pen pro is comeing
i got it now the pro has come out i ant happy

It's a great reel, but just cheaply made. The plastic cracked after the first day.

I used it twice and then the string messed up to a bowl. This pen is way overprized and really sucks!!!!! Bad product, don't waste your money on this!!!!

Spider Pen by Yigal Mesika


Item: A IT reel that looks like a pen

Price: $55.80

Teaching: Just instructions, well written and everything covered. Aside from reconstruction

Quality of materials: Cheap material and horribly made. The thread is great but the reel was just a piece of poop. Jams occurred all the time. The batteries are just normal watch batteries so don't even bother ordering the "special" ones on the site. It's way too delicate for use!

Difficulty: This product is very difficult to use. You cannot use something that is broken.

Applications: Of course like any thread work. It's only limited by your imagination.

Overall Rating: 2/10. Nice concept, but not a very nice product. When something that cost you 60 bucks breaks, wouldn't you be frustrated?


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