I recently received my reward from a Kickstarter project I pledged towards earlier this year, and it was certainly worth the wait.
These spinning tops from Canadian startup Forever Spin are simply gorgeous. I've wanted to get an "Inception" top ever since I saw the movie, but only pushed when I saw these.
I'm glad I did.
They are machined from the solid material, originally started as variations of stainless steel, the pledging snowballed so magnificently and backers requested more different materials, the final line up on offer was:
Brushed Stainless
Mirror Polish Stainless
Gold Plated Stainless
Copper
Brass
Aluminium
Titanium
Bronze
Nickel
Tungsten
As well as a gold plated "Forever Dock" to display them.
I pledged for the ones shown above, brushed stainless, and added brass and copper after - I received the green"kickstarter" top as a bonus for doing so...
In the hand they are so beautiful and tactile. When I'm not spinning them I often have one in my hand just rolling it between my fingers.
But of course, spinning is what they do...
There have been a few remarks on kickstarter that they don't spin well compared with a certain other spinning top project, "The Lambda Top". But I think these dissenters miss the point. The Forever Spin top isn't about breaking records for longest spin times, it's about having a classicly shaped top that looks beautiful and spins well and is made in one piece out of solid material.
The Lambda top is an exercise in engineering.
It's like saying a Ferrari is rubbish because it isn't as fast as a top fuel dragster. Sure the dragster is fast, but is it beautiful? Certainly not beautiful like a Ferrari.
And without a proper spin surface, on a good day I can get about 2 minutes spin time from the brass or copper tops. Top be honest, that's probably long enough. Spend 10 minutes and thats about 5 / 6 spins, or 1 with the Lambda... May as well go and do some work while that's spinning, nothing more to do.
Not to mention they match my other Kickstarter rewards nicely (Kara's Kustoms pens).
(I also have the aluminium and brass pens, but not on me right now...)
It's not just the tops that are pleasing to the eye, the packaging has been well thought out too, with little muslin bags to keep the tops protected (certainly helps as mine shares pocket room with my pocket knife and flashlight). The outer box is really nice too, simple, modest and dare I say it, classy.
The only item offered that I wasn't enamoured with, would be the "ForeverDock". It's a purely subjective opinion but I would have liked a circular base, with spaces for the tops evenly arranged around the rim. And maybe made from a nice wood - to act as a foil to the metalfest of the tops themselves. But that's just my take on it.
All in all, I'm very impressed with both the product and the presentation and I hope to add more tops to my collection over the following months.
I have just backed another spinning top project, the Janus Top. Like the Lambda, this is another engineered top, but I think it looks nicer than the Lambda.
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