I received the map earlier today and was excited to start scratching off the places our family had been to. The packaging was solid and premium-feeling, but as soon as I opened it up to get the map out, this strong, tire-like odor came out. I'm not sure what material this map could possibly be made of to have that strong of a scent.Next, I went ahead and started scratching off some of the countries and US states we had been to, but then a question came up that my wife and I had to find a solution for: do we scratch off every country we have been to, whether as a couple, family, or individually? If we counted travels were just one of us went, that wouldn't have been fair to the other person. So, we decided to ONLY mark a country where at least two of us (husband/wife, husband/son, wife/son) traveled. That sounded fair!As I was scratching off the gold, I noticed that the odor was still obnoxiously strong. So strong, in fact, that my wife and her mother left the room because it may contain health hazard-related chemicals. I persisted and continued scratching and eventually started feeling a bit nauseous and left to take a break. I opened up all the windows in the room to air out the place.PROS- Seemingly solid material- Colorful countries- Scratch tools to help with broad and/or precision markingCONS- Toxic odor coming right out of the packaging and the map (which either has subsided over time or I got used to the smell over the past 4 hours)- Scratch tool doesn't always scratch off all the gold, requiring me to use my finger to rub the remainder off, then use the included cloth to wipe off the rest- Gold was not perfectly aligned with some countries, and so as I followed the border marking on the gold, another country was starting to be revealed underneath- Some countries or areas were difficult to discern. For example, Hawaii wasn't marked, but once you uncovered the gold, "HI" showed up underneath.Fits a 24" x 17" frame.Overall, I am still excited to keep the map, but the strong fumes definitely dampened the experience. Unless I come back to update this review, you can assume that the odors have gone away since. I'll be sure to check again tomorrow with a fresh nose. [Update 1/5/2020: Odor has gone away]If you found this review helpful, please click the "Helpful" button below to encourage me to write more. Thank you!
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