Silicon(e) Chess Board

Came across this video a few months back of a guy reviewing the prototype of a silicon(e) board: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLj2yQ9BeRk

Since I'm in the market for a new tournament board I decided to go looking for it.

It seems it has been released to market recently though I can only find it on amazon and one ebay seller (who I presume is the same guy).

So before I drop 25 bucks + shipping + customs on this I was wondering does anybody have any experience with one? Is it as amazing as it seems?

It looks like it lies flat, doesn't it? That's good.

I'd want a look at the final product to check for glossiness and brightness of the light squares.

As a piece slider, the tackiness of silicone is not a plus.

I use a mousepad board so I'm used to playing on a flat surface 

The silicone board looks like it can be bunched up or folded pretty small (mousepad board is BIG) which is why it's so appealing to me

And I tend to be more of a glider than a slider 

Looks like it wouldn't be too much different from the standard rollup boards, but since I'm a casual player and not a tournament player, I still prefer wooden or marble chess boards.

 Of course, but lugging my wooden board to tournaments is not something I wish to do. The big disadvantage of the rollup boards already on the market is that they can't be folded and they tend to lose their shape and not lay flat.

And the mouspead/rubberback boards although they can be folded without losing shape still take up a lot of space.

So the silicone board looks like it can be made pretty compact leaving space in my bag for other stuff.

I've ordered one in any case but it probably won't arrive for another couple of weeks. I'm sure there's someone out there who has one already who can chime in.

Well, like I said I'm a casual player, so if I take a chess set with me, I have a folding wooden set.

I got one from American Chess and, while it is quite nice, I probabably won't use it much.  I got it so I could scrunch it up and put it in my drawstring chess pieces bag and I would imgaine that it would be great for that but it is also quite a "sticky" surface which I dislike.  I love the feel of sliding a piece along the standard vinyl chess boards and the silicone board just wouldn't allow that.  I also dislike how vinyl boards get all creased if you treat them wrong but the smoothness won out in the end.  It might be great for you though if sliding is not an issue.

Hope that helps.

Laser

I got the board in the mail today and I'm quite pleased (and surprised to see it arrive so soon)

It is very "sticky" as lasertswift mentioned but in my opinion the compactness more than makes up for that. It folds small enough to fit into a coat pocket and unrolls perfectly flat as expected. It also looks like it could withstand a bit of abuse.

 So, not quite the perfect tournament board but, for me, as close as it comes.

I guess as long as you're not a piece slider it should work OK.

There's a good YouTube video on this topic:

"Chess Board Differences" by Wholesale Chess