Ultra Pro

The thickness table

Most sleeve makers describe thickness with an adjective. Ultra Pro publishes a number for each line, and the number is per side — the company’s own phrasing is “front and back”. That matters when comparing against a brand that quotes a single figure, because a 90-micron front and 120-micron back is not the same sleeve as a 100-micron one.

Read down the table and the range splits cleanly into two jobs. The thin lines are storage and inner layers; the thick lines are the deck sleeves meant to be shuffled.

• Penny Sleeves: 45 microns, front and back
• Premium Card Sleeves, PRO-Fit Inner Sleeves, Anti-Microbial Guard Sleeves, Lite Board Game Sleeves: 50 microns, front and back
• PRO-Matte, PRO-Gloss, Eclipse Matte and Gloss, Art Sleeves: 90-micron clear front, 120-micron back
• Board Game Sleeves and Sleeve Covers: 100 microns, front and back

What is non-PVC and what is not

Ultra Pro’s penny sleeves are described as non-PVC, archival-safe, acid-free polypropylene — a named polymer, which is the form of claim worth having. The PRO-Binder line is described the same way: all materials archival-safe, acid-free and non-PVC, with the interior pages of the zippered Vivid binders stated as acid-free, non-PVC.

Its 3 × 4 regular toploader is a different statement entirely: “made with super clear, rigid PVC plastic”, rated for cards up to 35 pt, with no archival or acid-free claim on the listing at all. That is consistent with every other rigid holder on the market, and it is also why a toploader is a transport format rather than a storage one.

There is one gap worth knowing. BCW publishes that its PVC holders contain no plasticisers or stearates; Ultra Pro says the holder is PVC and says nothing about how it is formulated. On the single question that decides long-term contact safety, Ultra Pro’s paperwork is the thinner of the two. A gap in the documentation is not evidence of a problem — but it is a gap.

Capacities, and the sleeving state they assume

Ultra Pro quotes binder capacity with the sleeving state attached, which is the honest way to do it: a sleeved card is thicker than a bare one, and a capacity without a sleeving state is a capacity for a binder nobody uses that way.

• Vivid 12-pocket zippered PRO-Binder: up to 480 cards in Deck Protector sleeves, twenty 12-pocket pages, side-loading, acid-free non-PVC pages, padded leatherette cover with zipper
• 4-pocket PRO-Binder: 160 cards in Deck Protector sleeves, side-loading, elastic strap closure, all materials archival-safe acid-free non-PVC
• 4-pocket toploader zippered Premium PRO-Binder: up to 80 cards in standard toploaders across twenty pages
• Premium Series 4-Pocket Secure Pages: four toploaders per page, sized for toploaders up to 130 pt, acid-free non-PVC, 3-hole punched, 100 pages per display
• ONE-TOUCH stands: made in three sizes, for 35 and 55 pt, 130 pt, and 180 pt holders; holders sold separately

The 12-pocket page that is not for cards

Ultra Pro also sells a 12-Pocket Platinum Page whose pockets measure 2¼ × 2½ inches. The company lists it for stickers, tags and small collectibles, and a standard trading card is 2½ × 3½ inches, so it does not fit.

This is worth a line of its own because “12-pocket” is the layout where pocket size varies most across the whole market, and a page named for its pocket count can be bought for the wrong contents. Read the pocket dimensions, not the count.