Spooky Basket: The "New and Improved" Tailor's Board by Dritz

As promised, my first sewing related product review!
And I'm sorry to say it's not a rave, but a total rant...

Not too long ago, Joann's began selling Dritz's new and improved tailor's board for a whopping $49.99. Naturally, since this item is a rare and expensive commodity on it's own, I squealed when I saw that this version by Dritz also boasted an integrated clapper; the price of a clapper is roughly the same as the board itself, so it looked like a deal.

I'm not prone to impulsive buying of tools without first doing research on them, but I had a 50% coupon that was a day from expiring so I jumped at the chance to buy one of these from Joann.com; there wasn't any way I could make time for a visit before that expiration date. So then it was just a matter of waiting...
I was attempting to research during this time, and not finding a speck of information on it-- not a single review, a post, nothing!

I began to get a little worried.

Finally when my package came, it was all clean and pretty on the outside... but as soon as I opened it and emptied the contents, the box in which the board came in was torn and battered looking-- like they had just beaten the old box and packed it in a new one. I took the board pieces out and discovered that the screws were all missing; it was lucky that we had enough properly fitting screws at hand.

That started me off really sour and contemplating returning it...
As soon as I began assembly, I began seeing the real sour grapes to this deal. The wood is poorly cut so the pieces are not flush against each other, and the holes were drilled terribly inaccurate.
When the board was finally constructed, the clapper refused to go into the slot it's supposed to fit in. I checked to make sure it was properly put together, and indeed it was; once again the inaccurate cut of the wood made it a chore to pull and put away the clapper.

The clapper itself seems of very little use-- it does not have enough weight to serve properly as a clapper; it seems only good for maybe two layers of light to medium weight fabrics... a total bummer...

It's supposed to glide in and out of the board, with only magnets to hold the two together while not in use; but the pieces are so wedged I don't even bother to "conserve" space, as it says it would do if put together.

The good thing about the board is that it does do the job it's supposed to; the edges will all find a use eventually, so at least this wasn't a total lemon of a purchase.

My eldest brother has kindly offered to make me a custom tailor's board and clapper with point press-- I'm eagerly looking forward to having truly functioning and sentimental pieces!