Is there anyone here who owns a Shinwoo Griffin Wing? I’m considering branching out to 4A, and it’s so cheap… 
It’s an A-bearing, so you’re going to have a fast spinning yoyo. Not saying anything good or bad, it is what it is.
The caps have a tendency to pop out on drops. Glue them in or leave them out. I’m trying to think if there’s a reason to not glue them in, so hold off on that part.
Cheap in price for sure. Durable. Fun. Good bounces. OK for finger grinds. Generous catch area. Decent overall performer.
I’d still recommend a Fiesta XX for starting with 4A, but if you gotta be budget, this is a great option that is much better than the Duncan Hayabusa. The Hayabusa feels overly small, but it’s strong and tough, but doesn’t bounce worth a darn. The Griffin Wing is decent stuff.
(yes, I have one)
Studio is right about the caps. One cap flies of every time I drop it, but it’s not that big of a deal I just pop it back in.
I can’t give much of a comparison seeing as I don’t own any other offstring throws, however I’ve found it to be a great yoyo for learning offstring especially considering the price. The store says that the rims are rubber, but mine seem to be some type of plastic and there are quite a few scuff in them from where I dropped it over concrete so it is durable.
Take my opinion with a grain of salt please, because I started learning on a butterfly that I painted and put ductape on the rims so for me this is an amazing upgrade.
Caps tend to pop out when dropped so I just leave them out.
Its a decent 4a yoyo, its wide, spins are ok, extremely durable.
I disagree with the extremely durable statement. I have two and both cracked right away where the bolt runs through the yoyo. Probably from over tightening so be careful. Also the other day a large chunk broke off of the inside. These have definitely been dropped a lot, but I would not consider them highly durable. I don’t have experience with any other off string yoyos though, so maybe I was just expecting too much.
Mine has been dropped thousands of times and is still doing just fine. You may have gotten a bad one, or perhaps your over-tightening had something to do with it.
It’s good to have a contrasting opinion to help “keep it real”.
Even so, I still recommend the Fiesta XX. It’s not that much more.
I think that most of it started with over tightening. My students played with it a lot at school and it just couldn’t handle that type of abuse. They are pretty rough on stuff.
I know what you’re talking about. I got my son a Fiesta XX and he played it so much to learn 4A(he can do 4A now) that it finally began breaking down. The Solid Spin axle finally said “I give up!”.
The Griffin Wing is a decent starter. I’m not sure how well it is for competition as I’m nowhere near that level. I’m thinking though if you wanted something that can handle a ton of abuse, the celcon Fiesta XX definitely has the durability needed. The Go Big has rubber rims and if you’re not having an issue with the trivial fact that it can really take off on you if you drop it(due to the rubber rims), it can handle more abuse. The narrower bearing makes binds, whips and other kind of tricks a bit easier.
The thing is I really don’t recommend spending more than $30 on a first off-string. I feel that the money in this case is well spent. Both the Fiesta XX and GoBig are awesome. They are like the DM2’s of the off-string realm: They can take you from nothing to beast if you want them to. If you’re not sure if you want to do 4A, the Griffin Wing gives you good price and performance. It’s not that much, so if you want to ugprade, you’re out less. If you decide 4A isn’t for you, your losses are minimized, or you can just put it aside and it will patiently wait for you to re-consider it’s fate.
I started with the Fiesta XX. I now have 3 of them, and I want a 4th(more colors). I fixed my son’s Fiesta XX and got him a second and I got him a Go Big, and he plays my other off-strings regularly, which ranges in cost from as low as a Shinwoo Griffn Wing, to a Chico YoyoCompany ZRO and sOMEThING Jet Set(and Jet Set EC) and loads of stuff in between. He’s not to finicky as long as it’s performing properly. I am personally glad I didn’t get him the Griffin Wing, because the caps popping out gets old fast and he’d lose them. Other than that, I’d honestly have no problem getting one for him. However, he’s got his eyes on more expensive stuff. That’s one of the downfalls I have of my collection is he’s developing preferences for the more expensive stuff. He’s 7 and he can tellthe difference. I don’t tell him what stuff costs. He knows.
As far as having a really durable 4A, it depends what you want, what you need and what your budget is. Honestly, delrin seems to be the way to go. It seems to take the most abuse with the least amount of show. It just costs a lot more. Expect over $60. My favorite budget delrin off-string is the Jet Set. The odd thing is that I cannot do a open whip bind on a white off-string. I just cannot figure that out! However, back to price/materials/durability, I think the GoBig is probably the best way to go because those rubber rims take a beating and protects the yoyo. The Fiesta XX rims will get scratched up and that will hurt on long play sessions when they’ve been nicked up. Other than that, the celcon isn’t really repairable should something happen. At the same time, it’s gonna be a while before it will fail. My son plays his over concrete and his white one is beat to crap and back. I did repair his white one though and it appears to be holding.
As durable as I feel the Griffin Wing is, it’s not going to take the same abuse as the other yoyos I mentioned are. To avoid issues, I say play over grass or over carpets. For use with groups of kids, I have to say this is not suitable for that.
I made that mistake on Tuesday, it didn’t feel like it was tight so I tightened it some more and I hear this pop. There are now three cracks by the bolt end.
Aside from that and the caps popping off, mine is just scratched up on the rims and I drop this thing a lot. I mostly played over concrete last summer when I was lucky if I caught it one out of ten times. That is just my experience with it though.