Portable Goban

Thanks for the pointer. That site has several interesting products.

As far as I can tell, I agree with the other two posters here hinting that gogameguru is the place to go.

See, if you are aiming for a portable set of the non-wood category and intend to use standard size stones, then why pay $15+shipping for a vinyl mat that is more bulky and likely to be subject to wear in a work bag or whatever, when you could spend $5+shipping for a much less bulky, more shippable go board that will store easily when tucked into your stone containers and which will expose the hardness of whatever surface you place it on (a virtue, in my opinion).

Gogameguru has comparatively expensive equipment due to the emphasis on goods manufactured for the korean market and some other markup, but they’ve worked hard with producers to get a standard of portability that is a nice balance of cost, niceness, and durability. The featherweight board is really a great thing and so long as you aren’t traveling in a rugged way, which will accelerate the rate at which glass stones chip, the bento box is extremely compact and probably the best solution out there for clubs with an equipment locker and for tournament directors who may find that they have to pull out a few extra sets for those who didn’t bring any.

Although I would look favorably on a cheap line of bakelite stones or ing stones as a portable standard since these would have durability and heft, the best stones for all-terrain play and for introducing new players to the game is cheap glass (as in the bento box) or yunzi. Anything more expensive and broken or damaged stones can start to become very painful, but light plastic or thin ceramic has always been a bit annoying to me. The high end boards and glass on gogameguru seem priced over their real value to me, but they have produced pretty excellent compact and portable sets and boards for the money.

Magnetic sets are probably okay, but a comment that I would make increasingly these days is that a tablet is probably just as good or better for visibility and ease of use, so if you would be satisfied with a magnetic set you may not need to pay for what could as easily be accomplished in a free app. The one exception, of course, may be the magnetic sets that approach full size. The one from Yellow Mountain Imports that 108 mentioned is the only magnetic set that I know of which fits this description. The hand feel of the stones is probably terrible but a magnetized set (just like portable software) would be great for turbulent planes and bumpy roads.

Thank you for your input. The shipping costs are definitely a gamechanger for inexpensive products, doubling the costs in these cases.

Gogameguru seems the best place for low shipping costs - I’m looking at the Featherweight Go Board, at 5$ and free shipping, made of a fabric-plastic-ish material that seems durable and portable. I might even add the Featherweight Go Set, low-cost, low-shipping, at 30$ I’d get not-too-cheap stones that I wouldn’t care losing or breaking a few with a plastic board. Perfect for on the run Go :smiley:

This one looks pretty portable by yellow mountain imports.

Edit: Oops, I see it was already mentioned.