Why I Chose a MS Score-board

These tutorials/reviews are a product of extensive reading, researching and lots of time spent on making them. Please do not copy, or share on your page (for promoting your items in your shop) unless I give you permission to do so. Please ask nicely....I won't say no...but you need to ask.... You can link it on your blogs if you have used these tutorials...please share the link with me when you do use these tutorials...I would love to stop by and see what you have done! 

I took at least 6 months to decide whether to buy or not to buy the scoreboard, and if yes, which one..the MS(Martha stewart) or the Score-pal. 

http://www.eksuccessbrands.com/marthastewartcrafts/

I am not a fun fold person, neither do I do 3D projects, but yes, I love doing crazy folds on my scrapbook pages...and if I had it, maybe I would give the fun folds a try...

My areas of contention were firstly, PRICE, PRICE, and then usability.

When it came to price, If you are buying from India, you can get it from anywhere between 1300-1800 depending where you buy from. I got a good deal and jumped in...In the end I paid 1500 including shipping for it. According to me, a good price.
If you are buying from the USA, Joann's or Micheals have really great prices, and if you have coupons, you can get it for as low as 10-12$. And if someone can go to the store and buy for you, you save on the shipping too..

The Score-pal on the other hand, isn't less than 2300 in India and around 40$ in the USA...its not easily available at most Joann's or Micheals, you have to order it online, so in the end it comes to around 50$, which was a huge NO for me.

Then comes the USAGE-
I have just played around with CS and printer paper to get the hang of it...and I love it..its everything I wanted. Some people don't like the flimsy scoring tool that comes with the MS board, but that is what gives you the crisp score...Because it is thin and pointed towards the end, it gives a very crisp line...

Photo credit - Valita @http://craftingwithsue.blogspot.in/

This photo shows the difference in the thickness..

Another plus point is the enveloper tool, that comes in to make envelopes. Agreed that envelopes end up being bigger than the card by 1/4th inch or more at times, but I would say something better than nothing on the score pal.

The deciding factor was the grooves on the MS  board...1/8th of an inch apart...fabulous for making rosettes and easier to calculate...no need to keep shifting your paper around ...
I have never been able to find a logic to the grid lines on Score Pal.

Also I like that the right edge of the MS board is open, meaning I can use longer sheets of paper on it, not limiting myself to 12x12 sheets

The only negative thing I can say for the MS  board is, Its flimsy and thin. Which was proven very well, when my scoreboard and Sharda's broke in transit. Her's worse than mine...

So whenever you get it, ask for extra packaging, and don't trust DTDC...this is my third fight with them. One extra tip....Open your package first as soon as you get it, and if it is in good condition, only then sign the delivery challan. Else have it returned back. And do write on the challan slip that it was in broken condition.

My NEGATIVES
for the other negative, coz the grooves are set together, if you try scoring very fast, you might skip a groove...My Solution, TAKE a second more to score, and hold your scoring tool at an angle of 45 deg rather than straight...

Pic copyright Valita@http://craftingwithsue.blogspot.in

The details printed on the tool box on top are pretty tiny..
 And what's with the hard to open door of the bone folder storage..I might break it one day!

So I am heavily in favor of MS scoreboard. Yes its not as sturdy as the scorepal, but as long as it does the work, I'm okay with it.