Note: Work in progress, more brands and details will be added step by step.
Geomag has countless sets with different themes. This is a summary of how to get certain colors.
There is a Rainbow palette of twelve colors, where six colors can be considered "standard" colors. In addition to that, there are steel blue and pink, plus black, white, grey and clear/silver. Then there are certain special molds with translucent colors or glitter, plus a glow in the dark type. In total, there are about 30 different variants available.
| Brand | Type | Set Size | Sticks | Balls | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geomag | Masterbox | 248pc | 144 | 104 | Available in eight colors, plus black and white |
| Geomag | Masterbox Compact | 192pc | 120 | 72 | Available in eight colors, plus a glow in the dark set, and assorted glitter colors |
| Geomag | Pink #344 | 104pc | 36 | 28 | 36 Sticks Pink |
| Geomag | Magnetic Motion #762 | 146pc | 38 | 44 | 38 Sticks Steel Blue |
| Geomag | NASA Rocket #810 | 84pc | 30 | 19 | 6 Sticks Grey, plus 12 blue, 12 red |
| Geomag | Rainbow #370 | 32pc | 12 | 9 | One stick of each color, plus 11 different panels of selected colors |
| Geomag | Rainbow #371 | 72pc | 24 | 24 | Two sticks of each color, plus 24 different panels across the full color range |
Goobi mainly offers different sized sets with seven assorted colors, plus one set with black and white elements, which seems to be discontinued now.
| Brand | Type | Set Size | Sticks | Balls | Tripods | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goobi | Color | 40pc | 21 | 12 | 7 | 3 sticks of each color |
| Goobi | Color | 110pc | 56 | 33 | 21 | 8 sticks of each color |
| Goobi | Color | 180pc | 84 | 61 | 35 | 12 sticks of each color |
| Goobi | Color | 300pc | 140 | 90 | 70 | 20 sticks of each color |
| Goobi | Black and White | 110pc | 56 | 33 | 21 | 28 sticks of each color |
Please note that Goobi changed the physical size for the Juniors sets. Old sets had 144mm sticks with 60mm balls, new sets have 130mm sticks with 53mm balls. The old 144mm sticks cannot be used with the new ball size, the minimum ball diameter for the old sticks is about 56mm.
| Brand | Type | Set Size | Balls | Sticks | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goobi | Juniors | 40pc | 16 | 24 | Sticks and Balls in red, green, blue, yellow |
| Goobi | Juniors | 20pc | 8 | 12 | Sticks and Balls in red, green, blue, yellow |
The Goobi sets are excellent for geometric builds. Only long sticks and balls, strong magnets, no extra pieces.
There seems to be only a single set Nexus Magne Sticks 863052 avaiable. This set is also marketed as Eduplay Magnet Jumbo Sticks 120540.
However, there are at least two different production batches. The sticks of current sets have one unique pattern per color, previous sets did not have this strict pattern assignment. The sticks from the older batche have "KEBOTOYS" lettering in the recessed areas, while the sticks from the current batch have no lettering in the recessed area.
| Brand | Type | Set Size | Balls | Medium Sticks | Short Sticks | Curved Sticks | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nexus | Magne Sticks | 52pc | 12 | 20 | 4 | 8 | Sticks and Balls in red, green, blue, yellow; plus 4 Half-Balls and 4 Eyes |
With twenty medium sticks per set, you only need two sets to get enough to build different geometric models. With only four short sticks per set, these have no real use for geometric purposes. Three sets contain just enough short sticks to build an Octahedron.
SmartMax offers many different sets with different focus. The sets listed here are examples for geometric use with a good price/value ratio.
Older sets had metallic silver balls and six colors for the sticks, new sets have white balls and nine colors for the sticks.
Warm Colors: Red, Yellow, Orange, Pink*.
Cold Colors: Blue, Green, Purple, Light Blue*, Lime*.
( recently added colors marked with * )
| Brand | Type | Set Size | Balls | Long Sticks | Medium Sticks | Curved Sticks | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SmartMax | Build & Learn (SMX908) | 100pc | 26 | 18 | 48 | 8 | |
| SmartMax | Build XXL (SMX907) | 70pc | 20 | 12 | 38 | - | |
| SmartMax | Start XL (SMX501) | 42pc | 12 | 12 | 18 | - | |
| SmartMax | SMX104 | 12pc | - | 6 | - | - | Supplementary set: Long sticks; Out of production? |
| SmartMax | SMX105 | 12pc | - | 6 | 6 | - | Supplementary set: Long and medium sticks |
If you mainly want to get straight sticks, the 70-piece "Build XXL" is the best option. To add some more long and medium sticks, you can add one or two supplementary sets.
SmartMax is the only brand where you can get enough long and medium sticks to be suitable for larger geometric builds. However, the concept of monopolar sticks divided into warm and cold colors restricts the choice of colors for the builds.
Old sets contained a balanced amount of three cold and three warm colors. Recent sets come with nine colors containing an unbalanced amount of more cold than warm colored sticks.