I have heard a lot of mixed opinions about clips; the general consensus is that Porper clips are the best for keeping the cards in great shape but are really hard on the tucks, which is kind of a turn off. But I haven't heard anything reliable about any of the poly/synth/plastic clips. Also I remember seeing a bamboo clip for the... Tendrils deck was it? That was supposed to be pretty good, but I heard that there were a lot of issues behind the scenes that were making people unhappy with whomever was producing them.
Is there a good thread that covers Card Clips in a kind of pro's/con's format, or just a good breakdown of clips in general? I haven't had too much luck with the search function and this seemed like a good place to ask for opinions and suggestions. The ones that keep catching my eye are DDs Classic Clips, which are Porper clips but do not have the "M" bend to even the pressure.. Is that going to be a detriment in the long run?
I don't think we've done a clips-only thread.
Joseph Porper clips are the gold standard. Yes, they apply good pressure to a pack of cards. Yes, this can abuse the tuck box a bit. But if you're a cardist or a magician who insists on perfectly flat cards, it's the best, simplest solution.
Plastic clips - haven't personally evaluated any, but I can't imagine they'd apply the same pressure as a Porper. I'd also think they'd be less durable. A Porper isn't bent metal - it's carved from a solid brick of aluminum. Terribly strong.
The bamboo clips were called Eco Clips, a product of Conjuring Creations. The inventor, Robert Butler (screen name: Robert) developed them and they were quite successful, but he over-promised a little on the supply and couldn't make them quickly enough. He folded shop on making those, but has switched to Loop Cuts and a plastic clip design. i have a pair of the prototypes and two Tendril clips. They were bulkier than most clips and don't apply pressure as well as a Porper, but they were also lighter and did a better job of protecting the tuck boxes.
There are some variants on the Porper. Dan and Dave have been doing assorted decorative clips, the most recent of which don't have the M-shaped spring in the spine. David Blaine did his own version of leather-wrapped Porpers with his logo on the inside of the spine - he sold his most recent ones with a very rare deck of White Lions gaff cards. Then there are the non-Porpers, mostly lightweight bent steel - Ellusionist have some with decorative designs to match their custom decks, and Zenneth Kok had some that could be used for a "blister" card prediction routine quite nicely. Lastly, there are the cheap Porper knock-offs from China and the generic clips.
A newer category of deck protectors is the deck case - technically, it's an older category since portable leather deck cases have been around for decades if not longer. But there are more recent innovations, such as a flip-open model that can be worn on a belt and made with a custom design on them - they've been popular on a number of KS projects. Ellusionist has their "straight-jacket" case - canvas and leather, designed to look like a Houdini-era straightjacket; I'm told there's some tricks that can be done using them. Lastly, there's CARC's newest entry in the category, the card jacket - a thick paperboard box that encloses an entire tuck box. They look kind of nice and do provide a bit of protection to the tuck, but they won't apply an iota of pressure to keep the cards flat, as will none of the other models I mentioned in this paragraph.
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