Martin 92-20414 Avanti II Steel Double Post Classroom Easel

Let's start with the cons, since there are soooo many...

CONS:

-Was shipped in VERY shoddy packaging

-Two of the metal tubes were slightly crushed at the end and had to be

hammered into shaped so the easel could be put together

-Directions are VERY minimal, translated poorly from Italian, and the

picture diagram is tiny and mostly unhelpful due to the fact that the

parts aren't even labeled. You will have to pretty much figure out how

to put this thing together without directions.

-The whole thing is held together by pressure screws, which are difficult

to tighten enough to keep everything from sliding apart without tightening

so hard that the welded on bolts crack off. Seem like they will strip out

fairly easily if you actually have to adjust the easel very often.

-The lip that your canvas or drawing board rests on curves up and covers

the bottom 2 inches of whatever your working in, which is very annoying.

-Although fairly sturdy on a flat surface, it will tip backwards quite easily

as the bottom is not sufficiently weighted.

PROS:

-Looks nice and is fairly sturdy once put togetherI have it leaning against a

counter so it won't tip backwards.

-The tray is a nice size and very sturdy.

-It seems like it could hold a fairly weighty canvas or board securelyyet it

is sized comfortably for a smaller space.

My final word on this item: It isn't a TOTAL piece of crap, but it isn't worth

what I paid for it either ($193).

I would feel a little better about this purchase if I had paid about half as much.

I chose this easel because a friend had an older model that was actually made in Italy. The current/new models are now made in China and are very poor quality. The adjustable bolts that secure it are made of cheap plastic that seem very likely to strip or break and it is almost impossible to tighten them enough to hold it in place, which renders it useless. The packaging was also worthless. It arrived in a thin cardboard box with some smashed styrofoam that was a mess to clean up. I sent it back.

Buy Martin 92-20414 Avanti II Steel Double Post Classroom Easel Now

Professional artist. This is only easel for beginner to own and for advanced artist too it is quite satisfactory. I added cables with weight and it easily slides up and down with touch of finger. will send photo to anyone interested... Including the manufacturerer...for a comission

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