Equipment Review: Featherweight Go Set

The Featherweight Go Set

Description: “Weighing in at just 20.5 oz (580 g), the Featherweight Go Set is even lighter than your average travel Go set. But here’s the thing; it’s a proper, full sized Go board with stones. It includes size 21 plastic stones (0.3 inches or 8 mm thick) with a 0.8 inch (20 mm) diameter and a durable, full size, crease resistant 19x19 plastic Go board. The board can easily be folded or rolled, making this set highly portable. Keep a set in your bag or briefcase so that you’re always ready for a serendipitous game of Go!” - GoGameGuru

Product Details

Title, The Featherweight Go Set
Product, Go Board and Stones Set
Stones (Material), Plastic
Stones (Size), 2 cm x 0.8 cm
Stones (Quantity), 160 of each color
Material (Board), Fabric
Board Dimensions, 19 in. x 18 in.
Weight, 20.5 oz (580 g)
Vendor, GoGameGuru

Synopsis

What’s the best aspect about this product?

• Portability! It’s one of the lightest products I’ve encountered while still maintaining decent quality!

What is the weakest aspect of this product?

• As someone who is used to using real stones, the stones can feel a bit lighter than desired; but to be honest, it beats not having any board or stones to play when you’re out and about!

Is it durable?

• The stones are plastic and should hold up well enough. The board is made of fabric so it shouldn’t tear so easily, but will probably wear out over time with use and will eventually need replacing.

Bottom Line

1. Great lightweight go set for that one can easily pack without noticing any additional weight or bulkiness.
2. Recommended for any player looking to always have a go set on hand without the hassle or concern over the safety of a wooden board or real stones.

My Review

True to their word, this featherweight go set came packed in a super light way with no bulky boxes!

The board is made of fabric and has a nice feel to it. It does have a little issue staying flat after being packaged and folded for so long, but a little patience and flattening helped to keep it pretty straight. And like the description says, it really does feel like a full size board when you spread it out over the table.

As you can see for the stones, they are not simply plastic biconvex stones; but they also have a flat center on both sides in order to ease with the stone placement on the board. Though this is contrary to typical stone design, I think that this works out great for this set since the plastic stones are not very heavy to begin with. So as a result, the flat center really helps out.

As you can see, it’s a great set that really provides a wonderful experience when it’s impossible to carry around a wooden board and real stones. As someone who has used cheaper “featherweight” sets that were plastic boards and such, this is a huge improvement and is the one I recommend if you’re looking for your “featherweight go set.” Hope this helped!

Where Can I Buy It?

• GoGameGuru - $25.00 (shipping and handling not included)

Last Updated on January 9th, 2014