Matthew V. Walters
I recently bought and installed this whiteboard, and I wanted to provide some feedback on some apparent improvements Quartet has made for customers.
First, Quartet provided a large "template" sheet for marking hole locations. I say "template" because it doesn't have preset mark points. You still have to lay the whiteboard over the paper and mark the centers.
Special note, when marking the center, the true center, use additional lighting to cancel out the shadows. This is a recess, so light from a side will cast a shadow and make it look like center is in a different place. Even a phone LED camera light will do well for mobile lighting to find the actual center.
I marked my holes and taped the big paper to the wall. I used nothing else to align or check fitment and just YOLOed it. When you tape, make sure you spend the time to level it and have it nice and flat. I taped the 4 corners plus the 4 centers and made small adjustments until I was happy.
I drilled 7/32" holes through the paper, then removed the paper, and installed the drywall anchors provided.
Two, the drywall anchors appear to be improved. These are the same style but appear to be a heavier duty version, metal I believe. Past reviews showed white plastic anchors. Mine were silver and appeared to be a cast metal of the same "screw" style of anchor. It went in well, no complaints.
Three, there were complaints about the threads being bad. Quartet shipped the mounting hardware threaded together. I don't know if this is how it's normally shipped, but this choice does mean someone is hand threading and checking the threads during final assembly. This might be a choice to self QC these parts by forcing pre-assembly at the factory. When I got my parts, I had to unthread the two metal halves. The threads seemed good and worked fine with no anti-seize required.
Final thoughts
So how'd I do? Well, I just went for it just to see how things would turn out. It turned out good. Everything aligned well, assembled easy, and I can't really complain. It was not a hard one person job and all of 10 minutes of work. It probably took longer to unpackage than install, and the only thing that took time was taking some care to mark the true centers and to lay the big paper on the wall well.
Alignment options
Let's say you mess up a little bit. What are your options for alignment? There is a small amount of wiggle room in two places. There is some wiggle room in the hole for the small, long screw going into the drywall anchor. You should be able to loosen this and move the metal cylinder part around a small amount side to side to gain a small amount of extra clearance if needed. It's not a lot of play, but it's some. There's also a little bit of wiggle room in the hole of the whiteboard, so the whiteboard does have a little play in the design. Combined, it might be able to compensate + or - 1/8" or so.
For the most part, just take your time marking the center well and use a secondary light source that you can move around. This will probably take care of most of the fitment problems people have. Also spend time getting the paper nice and flat, both underneath the whiteboard when initially marking centers and when taped on the wall. Take a little time at both these steps, and you should be golden. Even for me not really taking any additional steps, I was probably within a 1/16" of center to center between the worst two holes (bottom left, top right) for alignment relative to each other's ideal.
Is the whiteboard any good?
Yea. It's got a metal back for magnets, but the magnets need to be strong to also have enough strength through the layer of glass. Magnetic strength drops off fast relative to distance away, so layer of glass means powerful magnets are needed. As long as you're aware of that, great. The stock Quartet stuff works good. If you get aftermarket magnets, just look for higher strength stuff. That's it.
The glass is of course nice to write on, so it's too functions well. It's hard to complain about a glass surface, aka why I bought this one.
The slight 3D effect from the glass layer and the white backing is neat/interesting. Good or bad? I don't know. The whiteboard still functions well.
The hardware that came with the whiteboard is certainly decent enough for the price point. I would not expect more, so it's perfectly acceptable for the price and ultimately looks good and a little upscale.
The packaging is ok. There was plenty of use of foam on all sides and in the corners. The glass whiteboard arrived in good shape. I can't say if it'd ever take a real fall or toss, but the outer carton is clearly labeled "glass," so hopefully it's handled well enough. Mine was.
Nothing was missing on arrival.
Instructions were simple enough to follow and had enough information to where I was not questioning anything. I'm a poor use case though. I'm already pretty handy, so this is kind of eyes closed stuff for me. But the key bits of information like what drill bit size was readily found in seconds. No complaints.
| Manufacturer | ACCO Brands |
|---|---|
| Brand | Quartet |
| Item Weight | 37.5 pounds |
| Product Dimensions | 48 x 2 x 36 inches |
| Item model number | G4836W |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Color | White |
| Material Type | Alloy Steel, Glass |
| Number of Items | 1 |
| Size | 4' x 3' |
| Manufacturer Part Number | G4836W |
