It's happened to you. You are all set for your sneeky peeky and you glance and what do you find...

Nichts, nada, nothing.

GGGRR.

I really hate this feeling (and I am sure you do too). In fact, for a variety of reasons like lighting or poor impression, I have placed considerable time misdirection between the writing and peeking the impression. This is so I can bail out gracefully if the image isn't there. I would rather do this than have them re-write the info on some other paper... I just like to know when to say when. If pressed, I just guess a la Banachek.

One day, I was publically posting about my dismay regarding impressions. Later, I received a PM from Thomas of ParaLabs, stating he thought he had an answer. I was familiar with Thomas, but not acquainted. I was tired of spending cash for the perfect device and he had traveled the road a few steps in front of me. I have purchased nearly everything on the market and liked many (for some reasons) and disliked many (for others). In short, I couldn't find the "perfect" close-up device.

Enter ParaPad.

Because we were familiar with one another, Thomas offered to send the ParaPad and mentioned that since he initiated the offer, he would only ask for payment once it had been sent and I agreed that I liked it. My only risk would be the returned shipping (and hardly a risk, at that).

Upon arrival, I opened the box and withing five minutes of "toying with it", I sent Thomas and Rainer a message asking where to send the paypal cash. It is that good. Within a day, I was asking for a standard US 3 x 5 size (and a nifty black design) that is the offered 3 x 5 model. In short, I convinced them to do this size as well. I was so pleased with the wonderful "German Engineering", that I wanted both sizes. Here are some reasons why I am so pleased:

1. Unfailing Image Capture:
No fear of not having the image. I love not having to worry whether it is there or not. I have come across some people who just won't bear down (regardless of what subtle or bold isn'truction you give).

2. Quality of Image:
This fanatastic device has outstanding impression quality for two reasons. A. The Gimmick is made from the highest quality available, B. The Sharpie marker has been truly designed to offer the best impression, with less image expansion. They tested this to provide the best working marker. Excellent.

3. Oustanding Design:
I mean more than aesthetics here. In short, the peek used is based on peeks that have been around, but the way that the ParaPad has been constructed has made this peek possible, while closing the pad, without ever a fumble or stumble. People with Mits on could still make this work. The pad is very durable and is substantial enough to last, without being cumbersome.


In short, I cannot imagine someone not being pleased with their investment. In my opinion it is the finest close-up pad on the market. I will continue to use my Brown Hornet for pre-show and really like the IMB for stage, but the ParaPad has become the close-up device of preference for me. Maybe it will be for you, as well.

You can find it here:

http://www.paralabs.org/basket/index.php?languageid=2

Needs a password with your link..

Which you should know
:D

but shhhhhhhhhh this is to good

Le viking, yup - that's the point.

Re this pad. I've bought a lot of pads lately. I have everything by Riggs, the nomad, the FIP, butterfly, mindspy pad etc.

I'm just not sure why I would need another and am not sure how it could be possibly any better that what I already have.

That being said, if I got the same deal as Sean, I'd jump on it. Always willing to try new things.

Ok, got it

Ok, I must be dumb, I don't know the surname lol can someone PM me with it?

no! why the hell do you think that's ok to ask for? and if it was a joke - you need to signpost it better!

You need to take a chill pill...don't make me post up the surname here on the board.

well, that would be your own responsibility - I wouldnt be "making" you do anything...

anyway - I have one of these pads, and think its cracking, love the quality of the marker, and the thinking behind the pad and "inner workings" itself is great...

bundy

j

Looks like a lot of stuff compared to a simple riggs pad. not to mention a lot of semi expensive stuff as well as replacement items.

to each his own I suppose.

j

Not riggs like at all...completely different methods and handling!

Oh, I get it now...AL BUNDY!!

Hi,

thanks a lot, Sean, for your appreciation!
We're happy that our device works for you.

And thanks for your appreciation as well, Iain!


@VIEW
You know, the reason for us to build a pad on our own was not that there are too few on the market.
The reason was that non of them matched our personal necessities in all of those aspects that are important to us.

And when we build up this pad a few years ago we don't thought about building them for sale - we build them for our own performances in practice.
But over the last years a crop of colleagues requested to build one up for their personal use.
Nonetheless our pad is not a sales item primarily - it's the pad we build for our own necessities.
Now, when our requirements match the necessities of other performers too - fine!
If not ... well, it's the pad we use anyway.


@John
We add to the pad what we think is of benefit for practice.
We use special paper for example.
The resason for this is that any ink pen (like the Sharpie for example) tend to soak or imbue through a normal sheet of paper.
This causes in the best case that you can spot markings on the flip side of the used sheet;
in the worst case you can see spots of ink on the following page(s) as well.

Now we implemented special coated sheets of paper in our ParaPad so that there are no soakings/imbuings through the sheets and no ink spots on the flip sides!
You can see the writing/drawing through the sheet in frontlighting of course (it's a simple sheet of paper anyway) ...
... but there are no ink spots on the flip sides.

But when we use special paper, it is obvious that an appropriate amount of refill sheets are of benefit for the use of the pad in practice!
So we added this as a standard supplement to the set.


If there are any questions, feel free to ask.
We will try to answer as good as our limited language skills allow us to do.

By the way:
The ParaPad will be also available via http://www.headhacking.com/ by Anthony Jacquin and Kev Sheldrake.

Cheers
Th.

Is this similar at all to Robert Smith's Psypher (Universial Impression)?

@sabitu

For I had to answer again several similar PM-inquiries since yesterday I will try to clarify some aspects/advantages without drawing a comparison to a concrete competitor.

• The copy technique
  Regarding the material we use to get the copy in our pad, there are two different alternatives on the market.
  There is a cheaper one where the scattering of copies is wider by far than on the more expensive one.
  As far as we know our pad is the only one using the expensive material.

• The prepared area
  We neither limit ourselves by using cheaper material nor we economize by preparing just more or less small parts of the sheet.
  For this we don't have to force special areas of the sheet to write or draw.
  We gimmicked nearly every inch of the pad so your participant is free to write or draw wherever she feels comfortable with.

• The prepared Sharpie
  Apart from the quality of the material we prepare the pads with, the diffusion/scattering of the copied image depends on the pen of course.
  It’s determined by the quality of the build in gimmick and its exact position (its distance to the tip/the sheet) in the process of writing.
  I guess we have pretty good Sharpies, …

• The Binding
  You can refill sheets of paper in almost any of the pads on the market.
  But for us it was a fiddling-fidgeting most of the time to do it for real.
  You can open our complete binding system in 2 seconds;
  you can refill paper in another two seconds ...
  ... – and close the binding in 1.
  So we have a 5 second refill.
  
  Apart from this the common spiral binding (EVERY spiral binding) causes a side shift of every sheet or cover that is turned over.
  This is caused by the nature of spirals – and you cannot avoid it.
  Our binding system is different.
  Turning over sheets or a cover means that they will be placed exactly on top of the other sheets on the backside of the pad.
  The advantage of this may be obvious.

• The "Gimmick Hiding Technique"
  The secret is hidden in almost any pad on the market - of course.
  Some common techniques to hide it use sticky preparations.
  Sticky preparations cause a smacking/squishing noise opening it.
  This may be covered, or not being any problem at all in appropriate situations – but we didn’t feel comfortable with this.
  So we use a ... different technology caused by special coated surfaces to hide the secret.
  The "sticking forces" are weaker than using any kind of glue;
  but they are strong enough to do their job anyway:
  To hide the secret during the required moments ...
  ... but to show us the secret easily during the peek.

• The Cutting
  The moment we close our pad is the moment we get the peek.
  We just have to assure to close it the right way.
  We don’t limited ourselves in preparing a pad with the secret material ...
  ... but in addition we used different lengths of sheets and covers to achieve an optimal handling in opening the right gaps at the right time.

• The Paper
  Well - I wrote some sentences concerning our special paper in my last post.

Hope those remarks help.
If there are any further questions, feel free ...

Cheers
Th.

I own a Para Pad myself and I could not agree more with what has already been said.

This is among one of the most handy and useful items I currently use in my show. The quality is top notch and could not ask for more. The Para Pad IMO is state of the art as this wonderful item works flawlessly each and every time. The best thing it can be used for pre-show or during a live show. What more could I want in a pad? the answer to this is nothing its perfect.

Bill Montana
Mentalist Creation Laboratories.

The Parapad ist excellent quality! It is my Nr 1 choice!

Ok

Just ordered mine I hope the impression is even nearly as good as with my Riggs Devices.. Is small writing a problem with this?

Easy paper replacement and the different binding systems were the biggest selling points for me: I hate refilling my Butterfly If the impression is as clear as with the Butterfly, this must be a winner!

-Aleksi Hietanen