20" Premium Quality Vinyl Roll-up Chess Board (USA)

This comes from Chess House and is made in USA 2 1/4" sq. cloth for $6.95. Further they state....<<Cloth-backed and silk screened in the USA on automobile grade vinyl, the board will last for years. The board will lay flat yet easily roll up for storage in any one of the chess equipment bags.>> 

Does anyone have experience with this board, my concers are after being rolled up for 6 months will it lay perfectly flat or will you have to live with curled ends of the board?

They also make two other advertised as brushed aluminum color and the "rare" gold color...descriptions the same but they get almost double for them I am guessing due to the colors.

Here is the url in case anyone wants to view what I am asking about.http://www.chesshouse.com/club_style_chess_boards_s/71.htm

I just want a vinyl roll up that lays flat and is durable for a few years.  If there isn't such thing also let me know.  Years ago, and I mean 30 years ago most vinyl boards were all crap. Thank you in advance for responding.  

I am not encouraging or endorsing any chess site for equipment, this was the only site I saw vinyl boards made in the USA with a cloth back and claiming premium automobile vinyl. 

I have never used a vinyl board that laid flat enough for me.  I have no reason to suspect that one would be any better.  I use only mousepad or silicone roll-up boards.  They cost a little more but lay flat every time.  My silicone board was wadded up (literally) in my bag for a year and a half and laid out perfectly flat immediately.

Hi Mike:
Have you considered a mousepad board? They are wrinkle free, and you can bend them, roll them up, and they will lay flat for ever. IMO, way better than the vinyl boards

Here is a thought....has anyone every tried to scotch guard the mouse pad board once a year so it cleans up and never gets solied. I know once it stains you can't get it out. 

Yes I have a large size mouse pad board but was just looking for something a bit lighter and easier to roll up for portability. 

I'm using the vinyl chessboard with 2.25" squares from wholesale chess and it lays flat after I unroll it even after it's been in storage for a long time. It will have just a tiny bit of memory at first, then I roll it "the other way" and that ends the memory, and it lays flat as a pancake and on the pieces go. The set is their big knight set. When I got it, it was called the executive set. The pieces are nice and heavy, I love the set, carrying case is nice as well.

if you store a cloth-backed vinyl board properly (rolled up, playing surface pointing outwards), it should stay perfectly flat for years. I still use several vinyl boards I bought in the 90s and they still lie perfectly flat.

Guys I am looking for a roll up board myself and really don't care about the flatness.   i feel i can get sufficient for my purpose.  I am concerned with its durability and moisture and clean up. If I can get a vinyl board to not lose its appearance when wet or can clean up, that would be good.  I am not sure this should be good quality vinyl, mousepad, or silicone.  

My vinyl boards always lay flat... they have a rather sort memory and lay perfectly flat after a few minute.  One issue I see all the time is storage.  People with boards that don’t lie flat tend to store the vinyl boards incorrectly.  Use a little common sense and make sure gravity is on your side when you unroll the board.  Always roll the board with the printed playing side on the outside, cloth side on the inside.  Gravity will erase any memory the board has when you unroll it and place it on a playing surface.  Give it a few minutes, gravity will do its job.  I have stored my boards for many months this way and they always return to being perfectly flat.  Before I roll them up again for storage, after use, I turn the board upside down.  If there is any “curl” still in the board, I then roll the board perpendicular to that curl, if there is one.  Never see any curled edges on my boards.

Here are two pretty good videos, useful if you have not seen any of these boards up close before.

One video mentions the silicone board is the "best", I do not agree with this.  All the boards have advantages and disadvantages.

I have 2 of the premium vinyl boards from Chesshouse and it is a good board. I like them because they are thinner than most, I really dislike mousepad boards because they are so thick and spongy.

They both live rolled up in my travel case and they do unroll reasonably flat. I would not say perfectly flat, there is a bit of roll to the surface when layed out, but not anything that interferes with play. As to durability, the printing is excellent and I have not noticed any fraying on the edges after about 2 years of use. They clean up nicely with soap and water.