3yo3 Accent reviewed by 888alltheway
Which company do you think makes the prettiest yo-yos? You would probably say "CLYW" or "OneDrop". While these anodized metals are quite pretty, you've all been missing out on some serious beauty…if you don't own a 3yo3.
The owner of 3yo3, also known as Landon Balk, is a wizard. You probably know him as the "Guy who rethreads yo-yos when I strip them", or "The kinda cool modder dude". Well, surprise-surprise; he makes acrylic yo-yos by HAND on a Lathe. Yes, no fancy-shmancy CNC machine; just him, his lathe, his cutting tool, and a chunk of acrylic (Or delrin and teflon). I have with me here a 3yo3 Accent, and I feel like I should review it, since not many of you out there know about 3yo3, and flock toward metals only.
Specs
Diameter:53.30mm
Width:43.10mm
Weight:66g
Gap:4.02mm
Response: General-Yo Hatpads. (You can have a deeper groove for flowable if you want, by telling him when you order.)
Bearing size:C (Some of them out there are D or A)
Price: $75-$85, depending on options and colors
Looks
Well, obviously, this isn't your average yoyo. It's amazing. On a standard metal yoyo, you would have to stick to the production colors, or have it custom anodized it by dropping 60 bucks. Not for 3yo3's. When you buy a 3yo3, you can communicate with Landon right before your purchase, and get whatever color you want on his acrylics. Clean fades, bright fluorescent colors, dark earthy tones, classy solids, anything. The possibilities are endless. He also has a handful of patterned acrylics, so your yoyo looks like rock candy, or a camouflage jacket, or whatever. Go to http://www.landonbalk.com/yoyos.html to look at all the options. You can have it beadblasted if you love grinding, but it comes with a really shiny polish standard. The particular one I have is known as the "Rainbow" dye. It's lovely. The fade is perfect, and the colors are very pretty. I have the same color on my 3yo3 Ceephax, but it's much lighter on the Ceephax. This is the best part about 3yo3 yo-yos. You can have them whatever way you want. Do you have a lucky color? Cool. Tell Landon and have him try to replicate that tone on a yoyo.
The other cool part about his dyed yo-yos are that they are 100% translucent. When they spin, you can see the string through the side. They glow in the sunlight. If you shine a light through one half, the other side will light up too. These yo-yos make you want to jump out on a sunny day and just throw. They sparkle in the sun.
I'm pretty sure 3yo3 has the largest selection of colors from any company. They look stellar, too.
Response and bearing
This is going to be a hard one to write, since Landon offers his yo-yos in a variety of response options. The response and bearing size are completely customizable when you order one. I have the stock version-large bearing with hatpads. The hatpads are slightly recessed, and you can easily swap the response out for RTV or flowable silicone down the road. I have my Accent set up as stock for this review, and my Ceephax is set up with red RTV silicone. What I can say is that the combination of the C-sized bearing, the gap, and the response creates long-lasting, snappy binds consistently. Trick binds are very easy to do, but no unexpected snags happen. It's perfect, really. The bearing seat isn't too tight, and the bearing that came with it was a completely dry C-sized bearing. Not a bad bearing. Kinda stacks up to a SPEC or a YYJ Speed bearing. Lubed is awesome.
3yo3 has made small bearing throws in the past. If you love 5a, go for one of those. You won't regret it.
Comfort
The Accent has a weird shape that no other yoyo has. I would compare it to a Northstar that has a modified catch-zone. The rims are flat, and then slopes into the catchzone until it goes back into the yoyo and comes out again. I would compare this part to X-cube’s Zeus or YYF’s Avant Garde. This groove eliminates unneeded center weight. The yoyo is very comfortable to hold and catch, with no sharp corners that hurt when you use it. Throwing it feels really natural and comfortable. The plastic gives really comfy returns. What else could you ask for? It’s a godsend on cold days…
~my friend’s little brother likes playing pool. He decided that the Accent should be the cue ball.
Playability
First thing that hit me. The smoothness. This thing is drop dead smooth. To compare, it is smoother than a OneDrop DANG that I used to have. There is no feelable vibe, except for on the fingernail test. String vibe? Nope. Visible vibe? Nope. Presence vibe? Nope. Grind vibe? Nope. It’s seriously really smooth.
Play wise, this thing is really fun to play. There’s mighty fine competition throws out there, but most of them are boring and dull. The Accent literally screams fun. It’s not just fun either; it’s a fully fledged yoyo that can compete with the bad boys out there. If someone can win Worlds with a Northstar, then you can win any competition with the Accent. It doesn’t feel like a cheap plastic, it feels like a quality, hand-crafted, fully capable yoyo. And yes, it spins damn long.
Feel-wise, it’s pretty light on the string, and really fast. It’s not zippy like an 888, it feels controlled and smooth throughout, but responds really quick to direction changes. Really fun. The undercut serves to keep the middle section light, as it shaves weight off. the weight really goes to the rims, and it spins long and smooth. It’s much more stable than some of the other plastics(and metals), and is really resistant to tilting. However, controlled tilts are easy to pull off. Amazing play, especially for a plastic. No regrets here.
5a?
I’m really bad at 5a, but I tried my hand at it with the Accent, and I realized how good it really was for 5a. Some yo-yos are really bad or uncomfortable for 5a (Gleipnir), but the Accent is the closest thing to an upgraded FHZ out there! It’s perfectly balanced with any Counterweight, and it feels amazing zinging through the air! It’s like it was made for 5a! Super fast windmills, quick CW swings, and great stability all made this yoyo amazing for 5a. Time to buy a SB one as well!
Grinds
Glossy finish=not very good grinds. However, the Accent’s small machining lines kinda helped. They are very very hard to see. It definitely didn’t shoot up my arm. It stayed in control. if you buy a bead-blasted Accent, grinds will be good as any metal out there. Simple as that.
Conclusion
To be honest, I was slightly iffy about getting an acrylic yoyo without metal weight rings. Consider my doubt retracted. This is one of the best plastics out there, and it even outplays some metals. It feels amazing, looks amazing, and plays amazing. Having this yoyo means you are one classy person. It’s also amazing for 5a. $75 isn’t a bad price for all of that. This yoyo is for the person who wants to mix up their collection and add something different and fun. Even beginners won’t be disappointed.
Photo Credit to Erfan M. None of these photos are altered in any way except for the 3rd one, which looked too light. This yoyo changes shades in different light settings. Awesome
