Veritas Prep Books vs Manhattan GMAT Books

Since I am in a unique situation (I own full sets of both Veritas and Manhattan GMAT books), I though many of you may wonder how they stack up. Well, both are excellent resources and are used as the classroom material by their respective publishers (so you are ultimately getting what you would get in the classroom minus the instructor) but they are not the same.

Overview of VERITAS Books:

- A total of 15 guides (8 Math, 6 Verbal, AWA, and a test simulation booklet)
- Includes a math refresher and 14 topical guides
- Guides are intermingled (not my favorite way of studying). It goes like this: Arguments, Arithmetic, CR, Algebra, SC.... I prefer to focus on Math or Verbal and drive it home (but this is me)
- The set comes in a nice box; all of the guides are printed on excellent paper with very luxurious covers (gold logos/leterring is embossed)
- The spacing is weird; in many situations there is only 1 question per page, so a 150 page book could easily consist of 25 pages of theory, 100 quesitons on 100 pages, and 25 pages of explanations; one word of advice - don't solve the questions in the books or on the margins. On teh real test questios are presented on the monitor. Try to use a separate sheet of scratch paper.
- 5 online CAT tests are included when books are purchased directly from https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#-prep-books/ (as of 10/5/2011)
Price: $299

Veritas Strengths:

- Practice questions. Every one of the 15 guides is packed with practice quesitons
- Includes a sample of the official scratch paper (test simulation booklet) with a marker; $15 value
- Includes a math refresher with the set: $16 value
- Naming is straighforward. Algebra, Arithmetic, Sentence Correction, etc). I felt MGMAT's naming strategy of Number Properties, Word Translations, and VIC'S (what are those?) were confusing for a firt-timer and not very clear which books to get if buying ala carte
- Fresh questions; you probably have not seen them on forums/etc since these books have just been published
- Decicated book on AWA (this is usually a low priority for most test takers but still a nice touch). Surprisingly this book has additional CR and RC questions, so don't discard it if you think you don't need AWA practice

Overview of Manhattan GMAT Books:

- A total of 8 guides (5 quant and 3 verbal)
- All of the books refer to the Official Guide for the bulk practice; good if you have not solved throug the OG 12 but it sucks if you already did
- Additional practice for each of the 8 books is available online
- Package comes with 6 practice tests
- Guides are distinctly split into the Math and Verbal
Price: $122 (originally $193)

Manhattan GMAT Strengths:

- Though there are fewer books they seem to be more packed with material, esp books such as Number Properties and Word Translations
- 6 Online CAT tests
- Closely tied to the practice questions in the Official Guide
- Price ($122 vs $299)
- Coverage of DS throughout vs a dedicated DS book (probably not a big deal/difference but I felt having DS interspersed was better)


Bottom line: the Veritas set feels more complete (it has the test simulation booklet, AWA book, Math refresher, and a dedicated DS book). It would also be nice to have a reference to the OG 12 for additional practice (though you can use GMAT Club's guide to the OG). Finally, the price at 2.5 times that of MGMAT (and half the cost of Knewton class) seems to be a tad high. The big value and play I see from the Veritas set is a resource for those who are retaking the GMAT and need a new fresh source of strategy, questions, and inspiration. If you wanted to have more than the 5 tests provided with Veritas Books, you can buy just a single MGMAT Guide and it will provide you with another 6 tests.

I welcome your questions and feedback!
Also, some unboxing photos of the new VeritasGuides