Magnetic glass boards are really nice to look at, but they are an expensive solution, as you need very strong (and expensive) magnets compared to a traditional whiteboard. In addition, you are very limited in what you can hang on glass boards, because they are smooth and weak in the magnetic field. The magnets therefore end up attracting other magnets instead of staying where you put the magnet in the first place, because the magnetic field from the other magnets is greater than that behind the glass board - it is not the glass itself that is magnetic, but a magnetic steel plate behind the glass plate. The magnets must therefore work through a thick layer of glass, and it makes very good sense that they are attracted to the other magnets on the board so easily that you end up with a big "ball" of magnets (and with your papers on the floor).
Many people are not told this when they buy boards online or in the supermarket or hardware store, and they are also not told how magnetic the steel plate behind the glass is. They are simply told that strong magnets are needed, but the magnets that you would normally describe as strong magnets are not particularly strong when they are placed on the glass boards, and therefore customers often feel that they should not have chosen a glass board. You can also forget about using ordinary souvenir magnets for your glass board; they cannot even keep themselves on the board.
We can provide this advice, and we have therefore chosen to focus on the magnets - not the glass boards. Because, as I stated in the beginning: they are really nice to look at, and there is not much else good to say about them compared to, for example, a whiteboard or magnetic paint, which both have the writing function like on a glass board, but which are much more magnetic and practical solutions.
So until "the perfect glass board" is invented, where the glass itself is magnetic, we will stick to advising on choosing magnets for glass boards.
Written by: Mia, owner of Magnetz.dk
