I am new to collecting PSA/BGS Slabs and I was wondering which company makes the better slab for protecting Pokemon cards? Many collectors want the best protection for their cards, not necessarily grading it to make profit.
Not asking which is more preferable for grading, but for the collectors that prefer the best protection for their cards, Which offers the superior protection? (Considering strength, durability, construction, tolerances, included plastic sleeve or not.)
PSA Slabs are longer, skinnier, and tend to weigh under 45 grams. BGS slabs are short and fat, weigh in over 70 grams and I noticed they come with Plastic Penny Sleeve (highly favored among collectors).
Would both survive the shaking test / dropping on floor test? I just got my cards this year and fortunately have not dropped a slab yet to know. It feels like the Beckett slabs are more premium.
Neither is water proof, neither has survived the USPS soft-mailer test, and neither will save the card from a significant trauma.
The PSA slab is great for storage and protecting the card for normal handling and viewing.
The BGS slab is sturdy but the plastic is prone to chips. Card is safe and the sleeve helps prevent the card from receiving damage if the card moves around alittle in the case.
Sonically sealed slabs offer the best protection currently available on the market. Both PSA and BGS are great options. The differences are mostly cosmetic, any difference in the level of protection is trivial.
Hi Pkmn, you imply both are sealed with sound. The concern from previous respondents touched on waterproof or not.
For evidence, I recently opened a BGS slab and was surprised that the plastic sleeve containing the pokemon card was completely sealed and offers additional water proofing, ie. if a basement was to flood and the cards were stored in the basement it would be better to have the Beckett slabs in there and it is the premium protector of current times. It seems waterproof to me unless someone has an experience with water breaching the card.
The Beckett version offers an additional level of protection with the sealed plastic sleeve. I don’t believe sonically seals help with water proofing, as others suggested. It’s nice they add a sleeve, its like $.01 for much comfort of mind to collectors.
You obviously already have your own opinion as to which case offers the best protection and will attack anyone who attempts to present an opposite position. These opinion confirmation threads are useless.
There are youtube videos out there. Some show that PSA cards are water resistant, some show that they let water leak in. I have not seen anything about BGS cards and their water resistance… almost as if it’s not a problem to the vast, vast majority of collectors (ie. trivial). I honestly doubt that BGS offers much if any additional protection to water. If you don’t want your cards to get water damaged in a flood, move them off the ground.
As someone who has cracked open quite a few PSA and BGS slabs (for my raw Pokemon and MTG sets, respectively), I will say this: BGS slabs are way harder to open. I can safely open a PSA slab within a minute or two and leave it mostly intact. BGS slabs are much more labor intensive to open and are never left intact after opening them. Based on this experience, I’m of the belief that BGS slabs offer better protection.
That said, I think both PSA and BGS slabs offer adequate protection for most circumstances. I don’t collect graded cards, but if I did I’d collect PSA slabs (for both Pokemon and MTG). BGS slabs are too clunky for my liking, and take up a lot more space. But that’s obviously just a matter of personal preference.
The general e-4 response appears to be to collect cards as a hobby, not to make a profit. Its not backhanded, I typically buy cards because I think it will go up, which goes against many collector hobbyist that have responded.
But this Post topic is not about how to make more money with whichever grader, but to go with the general consensus that it having better protection and waterproof is a highly sought after attribute then not.
BGS the puts cards in sleeves, which is obviously a step up from PSA’s loose cards in the case. Also BGS just feels more protected and sturdy, but that’s just my opinion.
I have heard from other forums before 2010 that the beckett ones do not offer good waterproof as well. There was the thought that recent beckett slabs have better protection.
I recently cracked a 2020 version and noticed it offered nice protection against ie. water.
I’m learning from others, and it seems others might think PSA slabs offer similar water protection, and I ask why? If their reasoning is sound, I would be inclined to change my mind.
I collect both beckett and psa slabs, and am not attacking anyone that thinks one way or the other. I just ask for more information because there’s other variables at play, ie. Penny Sleeves/Deck Protector sealed attributes that Beckett provides.
My last thread, I have sent quite a bit of cards to PSA so I’m not against either company. If they could improve their card slabs as the industry grows, that would be fantastic.
From tests that have been done in the past, it seems that BGS has better UV and moisture protection than PSA, but both don’t guarantee full protection as much as they boast.
Edit: I should state that none of the videos I’ve seen have also done major controls. I know @silversnorlax204 did tests with PSA cases that were more controlled but that’s the closest to the scientific method I’ve seen.