Johexi Puzzle Mat Roll Up

 

 It's not often that I am given promotional products.  I was approached on Facebook by the company Johexi.  They were looking for feedback on their product, and sent me a free puzzle board in exchange for a review.

I was thrilled to have good mail to look forward to in the middle of a pandemic!  And since I live in a small guest house, I'm always looking for storage solutions.  Being able to roll up and store away a puzzle in progress is a great advantage.  I don't have to guess how quickly I'll be finished with a puzzle before I begin, spreading something out on my kitchen table, and knowing I'm having guests over in x amount of days.   I figured it would be weeks before I received my puzzle mat, but it came in just a few days. 

 

The Johexi Puzzle Mat came in a box just slightly larger than a shoebox.  The mat itself is made of neoprene, and the core that you roll the puzzle up around is made of foam.  The core comes in two pieces, which you stick together using included adhesive velcro.  This is basically the only portion that has to be assembled.  There are straps included to wrap around the rolled up puzzle.  Once rolled and strapped, the puzzle is to be inserted into a carry bag with a strap to go around your shoulder.  I can see how this system would make for easy travel. 

We recently had a heat wave in Southern CA, with temperatures up to 113 degrees.  So I had to wall myself and my pups up in my bedroom to contain the air conditioning from my one window unit.  This went on for three days, and the nights were record setting hot as well.  I needed to distract myself during that weekend so I wouldn't focus on the heat and feel the claustrophobia.  So, I opened up a puzzle I'd gotten in a trade, Pomegranate's "Country Dog Gentleman."  It's a 1000 pc puzzle, and I knew it would fill the time.  But since I was trapped in my bedroom, I had only one surface to work on -- my bed.  

 

The Johexi Mat helped keep puzzle dust off my bed.  Because the mat is made of soft neoprene, I put some foamcore underneath to provide a hard surface.  The puzzle pieces slid smoothly across the neoprene and the black surface made my puzzle pieces stand out, so it was easy to see the piece I was looking for.  The mat was large enough to hold my entire puzzle even while I had many pieces spread out.  

My major complaint with the puzzle mat was sort of my own fault - I was so excited to use it, that I couldn't wait.  I'd only had it about two days before trying it out.  It was so new that the neoprene was off-gassing terribly.  And because I was trapped in the one room, the off-gasses were terrible!  It gave me a pretty bad headache.  I would suggest taking this out of the box as soon as you get it and leaving it somewhere for a few weeks before you begin to use it.

I haven't really tried rolling up a puzzle and taking it somewhere, but as I said, I think it would be easy to pack up a puzzle in progress.  Some reviewers have suggested that the company add a pocket to the travel pouch to hold puzzle pieces or a box.  I think that would be a great idea. 

I am keeping this item to use over and over again.  It retails for around $25 and can be found on Amazon here.