PICTURES
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn175/altankerbell/FHZreview001.jpg
INTRO
About a month or so ago I had contacted XminusmikeX and inquired on his FHZ’s and what his prices would be. I didn’t specify a colorway or specs I was just asking his prices. Well, long story short and after a few PMs it was decided, he was going to surprise me with the colorway and specs. He told me I wouldn’t see it or know anything about it until I received the package, I was so excited, I had never thrown a FHZ before so I figured this would be a great way to jump into the FHZ experience…
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Once I received this surprise FHZ that minusmike (Mike from here on out) modded and custom painted, my jaw fell out of my face. I saw the pics Mike posted on the paint job but holy crap, those pics don’t do this thing ANY justice. The colors while not spinning are just brilliantly vibrant, they just scream attention. When it is spinning, the colors meld together so well it appears to be a green tinted pearl spinning at the end of a string. Oh, and by the way, Mike also sends the complete original packaging to include the Counterweights unlike many other modders who would just send the throw. So not only did I get this sick-nasty throw but I also got 3 Counterweights and a Buddy Jim’s Blue and White twisted string.
TECH
(Information gathered from YoYoExpert and converted by Google)
Material: Polycarbonate
Diameter: 2.25in./57.15mm
Width: 1.5in/38.1mm
Response: Single Side Red RTV (Groove will support Flowable)
Bearing Size: A
PLAY
Margarine, you know, similar to butter, only better? Yeah, that’s a good way to describe it. The MMZ (I proclaim we call this the Minus Mike Zero) came with both sets of spacers (the gold or wider spacers were installed when I received it) and with the two golds in it, it was so smooth that I was constantly binding hard to get a bite due to what I thought were low RPMs only to be painfully surprised at the ferocity of the return. I bruised up my pinky pretty good because of this. I wasn’t quite used to the larger diameter either (being a 47-51mm guy myself) but even with my short and stubby nubs I was able to find comfort on a throw AND on a catch. Now, play, on a throw I can be sloppy or precise, this thing is so forgiving with the schmoove rings that I could literally hit myself in the elbow hard enough to give me that funny bone effect and correct its acquired vibe by ITSELF. Even my Uber Stable Frantics don’t do that. I tried som BT Combos and wasn’t surprised to see that this thing could hold 4-5 string wraps with ease. As for Hops, with the stability I already stated, can you imagine how uncoordinated you would have to be to screw those up? Suicides? Done, easy, the gap with the gold spacers, the silver spacers, AND 50/50 work great enough that the loops stay nice and big (at least they do for me, ymmv) but I pretty much suck at Suicides so half the time I would miss the massive loops just dancing past me. Whips and slacks while I don’t feel are too effected by the yoyo play completely fine on this bad boy. Now grinds, this thing IS grindable but only about as good as any other non-finished polycarbonate does. Overall I think this thing is a monster on a string, I no longer mourn the death of my ProtoStar, lets just put it that way.
CONCLUSION
For the price of $30 shipped and receiving the complete original packaging AND the awesome paint job this thing is easily an equal if not better choice than a ProtoStar in my opinion. The fact that you can literally choose ANY color combo you want (within reason) and pick and choose what mod features, response type you want you get not only an awesome player but a one of a kind piece of art, if you haven’t played a FHZ and you are thinking about giving it a shot, shoot XminusmikeX a PM and let him know, the man is a modification genius and he is a great guy.
