I chose to go this route instead of Tool, because I figured I'd get more use out of the concept when used with the deck rather than the card box. I'm pretty happy with my decision, though I'm sure I'll eventually opt for Tool as well.

I've never been much of a fan of Ballinger to be honest. He's always been a bit over the top for me, but he's definitely hit the sweet spot with this effect. I love the working, the multiple presentation options, the flexibility, and the ease of use of this gimmick. It's excellent to be able to bring this thing in and take it out as easily as you can, and the reactions have been tremendous. In my experience the T&R effect goes over the best and cleanest by far, but even the lesser effects are better than some of my other routines. I'm very impressed.

On top of the instruction in the DVD, Ballinger goes through the construction and reparation of the gimmick, which I believe happens far too rarely these days. It's wonderful that people choose to share their ideas and magic with us, but we are paying for the privilege, and I get mildly annoyed and having to pay for another "gimmick" when mine begins to show signs of wear. I know that people need to make a living, but where it's applicable, there needs to be instruction on building your own, and Ballinger supplies that in this DVD.

One thing that rubbed me the wrong way was Ballinger's plea at the end of the DVD. He wasn't wrong in what he says, I just believe it shouldn't have been said at all. To admonish people for their poor performances on YouTube was a bit presumptuous, especially considering his relatively weak performances in most of the Magic Geek demo videos. Granted, he's not often revealing a trick through outright ineptitude, but he is horribly mechanical, which I believe means he has no right to give a blanket critique to everyone who purchases his product.

Overall I would highly recommend this effect, as I believe you're going to get a ton of mileage out of it. I know I have, and will.

well to start at first I was a bit skeptical about purchasing redemption. I am quite familiar with tool and altho tool is nice I realized this looked a lot more natural. So I made the purchase.

When I received the box I wasn't shocked and I wasn't amazed. Played around with the basic function of the gimmick and I still felt weird about using it. Watched the DVD which was extremely informative and altho I found the teaching extremely slow , it was a good thing because it helps those new magicians getting started have a better understanding in the first watch so that's cool. When you first receive this it's not going to feel natural right away , I found that i had to make the tough decision of choosing one of the many effects you can do with this gimmick.

I decided to choose the signed card redemption because I found this version was my comfort zone. The idea of ripping a signed card visually and making the pieces vanish in the spectators hand as well as restoring them back to the top of the deck is too powerful , I performed this 5 times today and the reactions were perfect . It's good to prove yourself as a magician before performing this as well as show full confidence in what your doing , basically if you don't beleive it then the audience wont either. Performing this at the end of an ambitious card routine is definitely a must. Reason is because it makes it more powerful. This version alone is worth the price. Note be prepared to rip cards. I suggest buying a one way force deck or two regular decks of cards for ripping purposes. It's necessary and worth it. I rate this version 5 stars because it's truly deserving of 5 stars . If performed properly it has no flaws just take your time make it nice and slow and beautiful. I had to give an autograph today to someone familiar with my magic... That was interesting. Buy this.

I'll give a brief review on my thoughts on the other variations

Fuse redemption. Now this one is pretty cool a rip card to a healed folded card effect . Great idea . Great effect looks sweet I played with this. But the handling of the restoration kinda throws off my mood about doing this one for someone . I don't find it fits well with the ambitious card rather a stand alone effect. 3.5 stars

Torn redemption . I love this out of all the variations of redemption this is easily the second best. The fact that you mess up a card trick and rip a card out of frustration then restore each individual piece to the selected card at the same time is unexpected and it beautiful. The downfall of this effect is that the DVD dosen't teach how to vanish or ditch a regular playing card. That's not a problem for me but you should have experience doing so or this isn't the product you should be buying ... Yet.... But eventually.... Definitely. This variation gets 4.5 stars .

Zoom pow . Ok this effect is great. You can take a signed selection and fuze it with a torn up signed selection that is restored . Basically two signed selections fuze in a impossible way. GreAt effect but 4 stars because you need to buy special cards for it but their not expensive.

I won't bother reviewing the rest because I found my comfort zone with the signed redemption as well as torn . The other effects are neat but these four are the only ones I truly played with. I would love to hear other people's opinions on the other effects or even discuss it with them in the forums .

Note the DVD teaches you how to customize gimmick as well as make one.

Over all I have to say this is in my top 5 now. I'm very happy with the purchase. I just gotta say one thing to you if you buy this . Practice and actually make the effort to go out and perform. Show off . Have fun !

The gimmicks are not only easy to use, but they also can be used to do effects outside the torn and restored card. Chris has really put a lot of effort into this project, he makes it so there's something for everyone. There's some effects for beginners, but also some for more advanced card magicians. Plus, he teaches you how to repair the gimmick just in case which was awesome of him. Tips, tricks, and variations are sprinkled throughout the DVD for a more effective performance. Do yourself a favor and get this awesome trick today! :)

Chris explains the trick and gives you enough info to do it well.

The routines are well thought out and Chris has broken it down to where I was able to perform one of the basic routines in an ambitious card routine for friends in under an hour of practice.

Chris gives you enough info to repair your card, or even construct a new one if you want to move it to a different type of deck.

Thanks Chris, it is a nice effect and I enjoyed performing it.

I agree with the other reviewers BUT if and only if you plan to use this for a trick in which you tear up a selected card. I thought it would be good as a utility gimmick, which it isn't. If you want a utility device because you want to do things other then a torn and restored then don't get this. However, if you want to do an effect where you rip up the card then I can't think of anything better then this.

This trick looks great on camera, but if you're performing it in person, you'd better hope that your spectators are half-blind, or drunk. The gimmick is quite visible, and the only way to hide it is to make wild gesticulating motions with your arms, as if you hold the deck still for too long, they'll see the gimmick, but if you "oversell" the arm motions, it gets suspicious. This isn't practical, not recommended.

Not a bad method, but the demos in the ad were a little misleading. As an example [Penguin note: edit to protect the secret] Also, the actual illusion created by the gimmick is weak. It requires more distance. In the demo video he is pretty close to the audience. I find that it can be easily seen at that distance. One more thing, I have been a Paul Harris fan for a very long time and I expect a little extra from the products he endorses.

This is great! The gimmick is clever; but the best part is the box and DVD are packed with all the supplies and information you need. My only complaint is after shipping it's a little pricey...

I liked it very much.Easy and fun!

Good idea but the gimick is full visible, better not to show the bottom of the deck after the vanish.
I prefer a similar and better trick ,Tool by David Stone