We’ve all heard it.

“Despite it’s weight, this Yo-Yo feels very floaty”

“I’d say this Yo-Yo has a decent amount of float… not much, but it’s there”

“When I tried this Yo-Yo I was surprised by it’s floatiness”

Right. Does anyone actually have a proper definition for “floaty”? I’m pretty sure I know what it’s supposed to mean, but I’m curious if everyone in the Yo-Yo community is actually on the same page here. So, how would you define the term “floaty”?

overdrive, drapunir, cliff, Ares star, triad,
phenom, pwave, messiah, anglam, puffin2,

Center weight/nicely spread out center weight (if that makes sense).

YYJ Pinnacle is pretty floaty.

So is the Sentinel, and the M10.

A yoyo isn’t necessarily floaty if it’s lightweight (Pacquiao isn’t floaty); it’s all in the weight distribution.

Fresh pads that prevent the yoyo from “thunking” at the end of the string can make a yoyo feel floaty.

The float of a yoyo kinda comes down to opinion though.

A floaty yoyo feels like sitting down in a 50’s style diner and having a delicious vanilla milkshake after a long day of being on your feet.

i think it’s an emotion : ;D

^
I think they’re mistaking floaty for nimble several times. Floaty generally means the Yoyo has a very light and bouncy feel they are generally easy to maneuver.

No such thing. No yoyo falls any slower than any other.

I think this is more a function of having a fresh, springy string. At least that’s been my experience.

I believe this is the truth of the matter.

What gave you this idea?

Probably gravity?

Sounds like floaty really needs a more solid definition.
At a contest I went to recently, some people were disagreeing about how floaty a Yo-Yo was. I was left wondering if both of these people simply had a different sensation in mind when they thought about what makes a Yo-Yo feel “floaty”.

That’s probably it.

Floaty usually means lots of center weight, which causes the yoyo to be lightweight and fast. Like a Duncan Strix.

mmm not sure about the Strix being floaty; I’ve owned 2.

Here’s the “opinion” part of the floaty aspect of a yoyo, however. lol

So what we’ve determined is… when someone says a Yo-Yo is floaty, it means that in their opinion, the Yo-Yo can be described using a word with a definition that varies depending on who you ask.

i wouldn’t say that, because then explain the YYJ XLR8, and that yoyo plays like a rock.

The easy answer to that is yes.

It is the most nebulous and frustrating word in all of yoyo.

When I say “floaty”, I know exactly what I mean, and I THINK that other people share that definition. But I’m always wrong. And it boggles my mind that it means something different to someone else… I can barely wrap my head around it because I feel like my own perspective MUST be the common sense, logical (as far as perception can have logic, which isn’t very far) way to describe float.

I wish the word would die, but I still find it useful sometimes so I’m just a part of the problem.

So, what is your definition, then? In the past I just assumed “floaty” was supposed to refer to any Yo-Yo that feels light and easy to move on the string, as oppose to feeling heavy, like a rock.

That’s pretty much it in a nutshell. Then people come in claiming that yoyos that feel like a rock to me (or at least “standard… halfway in-between… normal…”) are floaty and ruin the whole thing up.

The extra details are more about describing how a yoyo of the same weight as another yoyo can feel lighter when the scale indicates otherwise. And that’s when stuff gets silly. People are ultra hung-up on weight distribution (which helps) and almost completely ignore the effects of response, string bounce, and bias confirmation… which all ultimately affect perception.

Ah well. It’s argavamating.