I have 2 sets of Ninja Rings, they are seamlessly weld, 4.5 inches diameter, made of thinker wire, and the key is bevelled, which shows some attention to detail. There may be other rings on the market with better quality or lower price, but the Ninjas are perfect for me.

Having said that, I also have many other sets of rings, and honestly the quality of the rings don't make the moves easier to perform, and as Pete Biro said, it doesn't matter to your audience what you use.

I agree with respho,it is in the HANDS of the beholder...

I have a set of rings, 12", that I got from Ron McMillan 30 years ago, and every now and then I have made "improvements". How? For every year th o*****g gets bigger and bigger!
And that goes for my 4" Empire set too, Hocus Pocus Member: $7.95 if not $9.95!

And the crash linking! I picked up that from Dai Vernon's "Synphony of the Rings" (by Lewis Ganson, also 30 years ago!!) and a wider gap gets the better and more silent link. I mean, what are you afraid of, with PRACTICE, experience and confidence you can hide a 1" gap in a 4" set of rings!

Next time you do the rings out there, 12", 4" etc, try it with the biggest gap your hands/fingers can hide, and suddenly you will find what the phrase "getting away with murder" really is about!
And the linking is MUCH easier!!

It is not the props that makes the magic...

I have no problems practicing with a wide gap. I am starting to think, unless I got a bad set, that another reason Ninja rings may be better than Royals is because the Royal rings have too small a gap. The sight of Shoot Ogawa on DVD working with a gap 3 times the size of the ones in my Royal rings certainly gives me pause for thought. Agreed?
kerpa
a/k/a Mike Miller
Chicago area

Yes Mike, agreed!

And the size of the gap, to big: push! Too small: pull!

In my opinion: pull!
A big gap, a silent and more magic crash linking!

As mentioned above, pushing or pulling is the easiest way to widen or close a gap. I prefer to do things the hard way. if the set is not plated I would make the gap bigger by cutting it with a dremel (a tool every man should have). if beveling is desired you could also do that with the almighty dremel. again I would only do this with non plated cheap set. the only set I have is one of the cheap sets. I don't know if its royal or empire, I just know I only paid like 10 bucks for them. I didn't know that bevealing would make things a little easier so I will have to bevel mine.

Ggarcia - doggone! In 30 years I've never made the crossover of dremel from garage to magic. What a great idea! I can't believe I never made the connection. Thanks!