[jchcollins]

Hi Mike,

I spent what would probably amount to a small fortune last year in basically doing experiments with mag holders, both the Ultra-Pro One Touches, and Pro-Mold.

Yes, Pro-Mold are fine and they have a lot of good attributes. For the run of the mill 1960's - 80's card, 20 point regular size is fine. This to me was always a problem in some situations with the UP One Touch cases, because the smallest thickness they offer is 35 pt. While this works for most cards, in the late 60's and early 70's in particular, Topps used thinner cardboard stock - and many of those I have found will slide around some in the UP cases. It's really more a personal preference thing; I don't think those cards move enough in the holders to get damaged, but I have just found that some things work better in Pro-Mold.

If you are going to use penny sleeves with your holders, you can either do that with the regular PM 20 points, or with their new "sleeve" holder which comes sans the rails to keep the card in place, and just has a perfectly recessed area for a penny sleeve. I tried a few of these out about a month ago, and really like them. But you can still use penny sleeves also with the regular PM cases, you just have to take a bit more time positioning the card correctly around the rails so that they will hit on the outside area of the card on the penny sleeve once you close it up. Both of these provide a look not totally unlike the Beckett slabs with their inner sleeve, and of course if your goal is for the card not to move in the case, this is very helpful.

Just some tips from my experience, if they would be helpful - on the differences in the main 2 types of mag holders / cases -

*Ultra Pro "One Touch" - Comes in a variety of sizes to hold the thicker modern cards, but the smallest width is 35 point. UP works by basically having one half of the case be a "tray" into which the card is inserted in a very form fitting cutout. With UP 35's, you get more the feeling that you are lowering the card into a slot that was made for it, and the corner cutouts are very precise and have never given me a problem.

*Pro-Mold Mags - 20 point and up. In comparison to the UP cases, I always feel like the Pro-Molds operate more like a picture frame than a case with a deeper cutout. So when you put your card in aligned with the rails, they kind of sit on the same level instead of your card going down into a recess or something. I'm pretty sure this is purely a function of the 20 pt. instead of 35 being slightly shallower. I will say that with the "rail" system for Pro-Mold, I like their corner cutouts a little less, as the rails on the inside of the case are what form the cutouts, and while the cards don't generally move enough inside the cases to matter, the ends of the rails facing the cards are not tapered off at the ends (such as like what PSA does in their slabs...) and in theory anyway - could cause some damage to an edge near a corner if a card were to hit up against it hard where the rail ends and is sharp.

My advice to you when determining what you like would just see what your personal preferences are, and buy the ones you like the best. I will say that Pro-Mold has a much stronger magnet on their cases, which is a huge plus I suppose if you are prone to frequently dropping your cards. (I am more so than I used to be, apparently...) For my money going forward, I will probably order some more of the "penny sleeve" Pro-Mold recesses, as those are the simplest cases they make if your main goal is to ensure your card does not move / slide around egregiously inside the case. But each unto their own.

Good luck!
-John