The original toibocks - storage container by ToiBocks - review by The-IT-Guy-And-My-Secretary

I have been waiting and saving up to get my Toibocks like a school kid would save up money for a bike on his paper route. I have wanted one of these since the first time I saw one, just to give you an idea of how excited about this product I have been. When I finally got up the money to get one, I ordered it right away. Unfortunately, my experience with the product did leave a bit to be desired.

The Toibocks is shipped in a regular cardboard box. The box the toy comes in has a picture of the product, as well as the company's logo and some basic information. The Toibocks arrived wrapped in plastic and surrounded with molded foam to prevent shipping damage. The documents and instructions that come with the Toibocks are shipped in a plastic envelope also protecting them from shipping damage. Rubber stick on feet are included with the box to prevent the box from moving around on slippery surfaces.

I carefully took the box out of its wrapping, set it down on our bed and applied the rubber feet. As I turned the box to apply the feet, I started to see defects on the Toibocks that can be best described as being manufacturing defects. It looked as if they had used wood stain or magic marker to try and pass the product off as perfect. I found several places that nails or fasteners had been used, where it looked as if somebody had poorly attempted to cover up the nails also with finish. I also found several light scratches on the top and back of the box.

When I opened the box I was pleased at how nice the Toibocks emblem looked. The emblem is a metal medallion that is located on the inside of the upper box lid. I enjoyed how nice the felt lining of the tray and lid was made. The lining, which is made of felt, is burgundy in color and soft to the touch. I then used the included instructions (which I suggest you read first) to open the box and found the mechanism to be very easy to operate and very well made. I can't tell you how the lock works, but trust me, it's pretty cool.

When I removed the tray, I was yet again confronted with poor craftsmanship. The tray had several areas where excess stain or a magic marker repair had taken place. I also found very slight, but clearly visible damage to the locking mechanism on the tray side of the lock. The damage looked as if the lock had either been loose enough during shipping to scratch or impact the wood slightly, which may have caused the wood to lose its finishing. I found that the compartment was finished beautifully with burgundy felt, just as the upper tray had been. I didn't find any further flaws at all with the secret compartment's construction or detail.

One of the Toibocks major downfalls for us is space. It has a length of 11 inches and a width of 7 Inches. It sits with a height of 6 1/4 inches with a weight of 5lbs. It is made of wood, metal and felt cloth. For easy figuring, think of something slightly smaller than the size of a mans size 12 shoe box. My major problem was that we do have toys that unfortunately will not fit into the Toibocks. My wife has a Jackrabbit and the toy is just slightly too big to fit, which is a bit of a disappointment because we were hoping to keep all of our toys in one place. I figured (and this is my fault for not checking sizes) that the Toibocks would be big enough to fit the Jackrabbit, since it is one of the most popular and spoken about female toys on the market. Once again, Eden has sizes listed on their site below the product. Use the measurements!

Even with all of the downsides I have seen with our Toibocks, I do have to say that I absolutely love the box and I will without a doubt be buying it's sister product the ToiTissue for my side of the bed. What really disappointed me was the damage on the product. I am not one to send a product back, so I probably will just take it down to my garage and repair the damage myself. My problem is that I shouldn't have to repair a product that is brand new. Since the shipping box arrived undamaged and Eden does not open the products while at the warehouse, I can't help but to think the product was shipped damaged from the company.