Think Geek European-Style Bracelet with Timmy Charm Review

I bought my first charm bracelet from ThinkGeek on May 30, 2013. I had fallen in love with the Bling Mushroom Charm and had to have it.

Yes, I know, Trolls have been known to grown mushrooms in the folds of their skin. But I wanted a mushroom on my wrist and it is Shiny!

I ended up purchasing the 7" Bracelet with the Timmy Charm, along with the Bling Mushroom, Space Lampwork, Sparkly Sprockets and Sea Urchin Bead.


I was excited and couldn't wait to get it. Imagine my disappointment when I received my package and the Bling Mushroom and Sea Urchin Bead were missing. To add insult to injury, the Sparkly Sprockets Bead did not fit my new Bracelet.

It appeared that the end of the Bracelet was just a tad too large for the Bead. I presumed that the Bracelet was slightly defective and sent an email out to ThinkGeek about the missing items and requested that they send out a new Bracelet as well.

In response they quickly mailed out the missing Beads as well as a new Sparkly Sprockets Bead as they thought perhaps the problem was with the Bead and not the Bracelet. I was told I could dispose of the defective item as they didn't need it back. So that was nice that I didn't have to mail back the one I got.

I got my missing Beads and rejoiced. Alas, I discovered the new Sparkly Sprocket Bead still did not fit. So a flurry of emails were sent out with the end result being the Sparkly Sprocket Bead being pulled off the shelves while they check with their vendor and me getting a refund for that bead.

Here is my beautiful bracelet on my non-green Troll wrist. Glamours work well when shopping out of Azeroth. Excuse the slight tarnishing of Timmy's ears. Haven't worn in him a long time. I have polished him since this picture was taken. 

Sea Urchin, Space Lampwork, Timmy, Bling Mushroom

Bracelet
The chain is sterling silver and 3 mm in diameter and is advertised to fit with all major brands of beads such as Pandora, Chamilia and Biagi. It however will not fit Trollbeads. This is because the crimp ends where you slide the beads through will increase the diameter slightly.

My not very accurate measurements using a tweezer and a ruler, place the crimp end to be approximately 4 mm in diameter.

Both crimp ends have the 925 metal stamp denoting sterling silver. The stamp on the end attached to the round toggle closure is thin and faint. The other end where you slide the beads through has a very clear stamp. This is the end where the lobster clasp on the toggle bar attaches to. The lobster clasp has a 925 stamp on the bottom opening (the part that moves when you pull back the lever to open it).

Toggle Closure

Pro:
I like the ease of the Toggle Closure. It really does make putting it on and off very easy.

Pro:
Inexpensive, compared to popular brands like Pandora, Chamilia or Trollbeads. It also comes with the Timmy charm. However, I believe the other brands occasionally have GWP promotions whereby you can get a free bracelet after spending a certain amount.

Con:
However I'm not sure I like how it looks. The toggle bar does stick out quite a bit. I'm guessing this is to prevent it from accidentally coming undone.

Con:
The bracelet doesn't seem super sturdy to me and I believe the weak points would be at the soldered jump rings connecting the chain to the toggle closure. Another thing to note is that it is a snake style chain and as such will stretch. When that happens, add another bead to take up the slack as suggested by ThinkGeek.

Con:
Another annoyance I have found is that bead/charms with a 4.5 mm hole tend to get caught by the lever on the lobster clasp. So right now, I make sure my Bling Mushroom which has a 5 mm hole is the last bead to be put on to avoid that issue. Another solution would be to utilize stoppers (beads with silicone rings in them so they don't slide around).

Con:
The bracelet only comes in 3 sizes, 7", 7.5" and 8". I have rather petite wrists and would appreciate a smaller size. I do realize that it would probably fit better once I have it fully filled. But at this point in time, I simply do not have that many beads and I am not sure I would like it fully filled anyway.

7 3/8 inches

My picture shows that my 7" bracelet measures more like 7 3/8 inches long. I presume this is due to stretching. I wish I had measured this the first day I had bought it, just so I would have an idea of how much is due to stretching.

Timmy Charm
The Timmy charm comes with the Toggle Bracelet and can't be purchased separately  or can be purchased separately (Update: 6/2/2014). It is solid silver and measures approximately 13 mm from the top of his head to his chin and 15.5 mm from ear to ear. From the top of the charm ring to his chin is approximately 24 mm. And the diameter of the hole is 5 mm. The charm holder is 2 mm along the bracelet. The back of Timmy's head has a 925 stamp.

Timmy Charm (Front and Back)

Timmy Charm (Side)

Timmy is the ThinkGeek monkey mascot and I find him absolutely adorable. This charm has a large enough diameter hole that it should have no problems fitting competing brands of bracelets.

*Measurements done with a ruler so not exceedingly accurate.

Conclusion:
Overall I do like my charm bracelet although I may end up using the charms on a different bracelet that will hopefully fit my wrist better. I will talk about the other charms I bought in the next post.