I was quite disappointed in the quality of this puzzle, particularly the fit. Even though it’s adorably cute, it wasn’t enough to make up for pieces that seem to fit where they do not belong and a mushy feel that doesn’t let you know whether or not you’ve got the right piece. The image is great, the rest of this puzzle – not so much.
Sunsout is one of those companies whose puzzles can range from excellent to poor quality; you never seem to know what you’re going to get. Because of that I normally do NOT purchase this brand retail, but I admit to buying this and one other Sunsout puzzle last month in an attempt to stock up a bit before….well, you know.
I’ve done several puzzles with artwork by Tricia Reilly-Matthews, and they’re always sweet and cute, she captures the innocence of childhood and it makes for beautiful puzzles – that must be why I caved and bought the two puzzles. If it weren’t for the quality, it would have been quite an entertaining assembly. It wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be, image-wise, but the challenge kept me on my toes.
The way jigsaw puzzle pieces fit together is one of the most important aspects of quality, and when it is lacking it makes for an assembly experience that is less than optimal. It was an extremely frustrating assembly that might otherwise have been entertaining. Even with chipboard that was a good thickness, a good variety of piece shapes and lovely image reproduction, the poor fit negated most of the pluses and I am not recommending this puzzle.
Usually what I tell myself is that it won’t happen again. That the next time I’m in a store near the puzzles I will remember my bad experience with this brand and will not buy any of their puzzles. The problem is that the brand isn’t consistent with it’s quality and I always want to believe that the puzzle I want to buy is going to be one of the good ones; sometimes it is, but sometimes it isn’t. Did I learn my lesson this time? Only time will tell.
Details:
- Title: Rainy Day Sketch
- Artist: Tricia Reilly-Matthews
- Brand: Sunsout
- Piece count: 500 pieces
- Size: Approx. 19 x 19 in. (48 x 48 cm)
- Purchased: New
Quality:
- Board: Good
- Cutting: Good/Fair
- Image: Very good
- Box: Average
- Fit: Poor
- Puzzle Dust: Large amount
- Piece cut: Grid cut – offset
- Piece shapes: Good variety
- Finish: Slightly shiny finish, lays flat
Overall Rating: Fair/Poor, not recommended
*These days finding any jigsaw puzzle in stores or online is almost a miracle, so if you find this puzzle out there you have to take my recommendation with a grain of salt. All reviews are only opinions; my puzzle and my opinion of it might differ from yours. So if you come across this one and you’re out of puzzles….you do what’s best for you.
My Jigsaw Journal 
Hi Stacey, hope you are staying safe and sane. So, about 3 months ago I caved on a Sunsout because of the image (Forest Gnomes), and then promptly shelved it. Afraid because of quality and difficulty. When asking my sister (via text, social distancing and all) what puzzle I should do next, she went online to do a search. I of course was sending images from my “stash”, but didn’t send that image. Not sure what she was thinking 400 miles away?? But she randomly picked “Forest Gnomes” off the internet, lol. I had given her two Heye choices. Long story short, I pulled out “FG”, and was please with the quality, but it wasn’t a walk in the park. Finished, it is simply gorgeous 😃. And my eyes and nose have finally cleared from your post the other day. Thank you for sharing such a personal treasure. My mom was my best friend too.
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Thanks for the kind words about the pic of me and mom. Mom’s are the best!
I’m glad your Sunsout puzzle was good and that you enjoyed it. That’s the problem, you never know what you’re going to get. At least for me. I’ve had fantastic quality and really awful quality from them too. I don’t like the gamble when I’m choosing a puzzle. But I’m glad you had a good experience with yours. I don’t think I’ve seen that image.
Stay safe 🙂
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So annoying! I have a bunch of Sunsouts with images by Susan Brabeau, I’ve done one of them, and it was exactly like this. But the images are just irresistible. Aargh!
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I know, the puzzler’s dilemma. Do we get the images we love with questionable quality, or get an image that doesn’t excite us as much from a brand with excellent quality? Aaarrrgh!!!!
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For me, the answer should be quality over image, since I know I enjoy a mediocre image with great quality more than a fantastic image with crappy quality, but even though I know it, I still keep getting seduced my images 🙂
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*by images
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Ditto, I must be getting too old to remember. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
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