They even look like training wheels!
If you showed up to the 1946 World Yoyo Contest sporting a Draupnir, I’m pretty sure they’d consider it cheating.
You’d never make it through prelims.
Well that makes sense.
That’s what bimetals are; yoyos with stainless steel training wheels.
A wide yoyo isn’t a benefit to you in a loop-off…
I know everything reminds me of fixed axle, but this really does. I really wish I had access to the old yoyoing.com/news archives, which was the yoyo site of choice throughout the late 90’s/early 00’s. In 1997, just as forces were converging to bring the hyper/yomega boom into its ultimate global manifestation, there was a great series of threads advocating fixed-axle purism. These were written by Steve Brown, David Capurro, Jason Tracy, and Chuck Short (among others), who if you don’t know who they are, your “yoyo history” has some major gaps.
This was at the point where transaxle/bearing technique had not progressed much past Hydrogen Bomb and Rollercoaster, so transaxles really did feel like a crutch to be relied on by people who wouldn’t be bothered to learn to throw fixed properly, AND they had some major shortcomings; notably consistent response. This was really the turning point in our art where everyone was still mainly doing the same tricks, whether with transaxles or fixed axles, so you can imagine how it felt. Someone like Steve or Jason could do equally progressive tricks on either type of yoyo, so yeah, transaxles felt as though they offered an advantage which the thrower had not EARNED through work, and given a fixed axle yoyo, said thrower looked hopelessly inept (this is still true, but it’s considered less of a liability). The attitudes of those guys toward fixed (and of Bill Alton, a fixed axle purist who wrote the “The Noble Disk” newsletter) were one of my main motivators for throwing wood to begin with.
The “motorized yoyo” argument is apt - if in a few years, that technology really takes off and kids with minimal experience are able to push the art in new directions while ignoring the style you’ve worked hard to perfect, will you scoff at them? Even though what you’ve gained through that hard work is not negated, you probably will, and that’s alright. With the benefit of 25 years’ hindsight since bearings “became a thing”, it’s clear that modern yoyos have progressed to a point where we simply “do different things” with them than we do with a classic fixed axle yoyo. Neither is cheating - each is perfectly suited to the distinct/complementary styles that take advantage of their properties… that fixed axle is still way better is just a happy coincidence. 
TLDR: Nah not really, but once yeah, for sure.
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I like them better than the thin gap they used to have. I don’t think it is cheating, but it is more enjoyable.
Is it cheating to use a calculator on a math test for addition of numbers under 10? NO!
OF COURSE NOT.
Yes it is!!!
Cheating? Nah. Modern Yo-Yos merely alter what tricks are possible. If we were using these things to walk the dog and not much else, then yeah, I might say we were cheating on some level… but even then, a Yo-Yo may serve no other purpose than to entertain the player. If a fully motorized Yo-Yo going around the world makes a kid smile some day, I’m not going to point and say “Cheater!”.
All that said… I’ll reconsider my position entirely if the 2016 1A world champion wins with a Tigershark.
I say motor yoyos are 5 years or less away from the market.
Ima say no, because it’s too complicated.
I mean. It might be a thing, but what we have is really effective and I don’t see a market for something motorized. Also, you would have to I don’t know, charge it or something?
Seems like a pain. The best thing about this toy is that it is so low maintenance and ubiquitous.
Of course this might be the same thing those fixed axle guys said about bearings…
I would not want a motor yo-yo for the sole purpose of a lack of challenge and closure. There would be no definite end to a trick. There are no limitations so tricks would just go on forever and have no rhyme or reason because different combos flow differently from other combos. I would argue that yo-yo needs the limitation that is a definite spin time; it adds a challenge that would otherwise be non-existant in a motor yo-yo. Imagine that you just finished your best combo on a motor yo-yo: now what? You choppily progress into a combo unrelated to the one just elapsed? I think not. Additionally, I can’t imagine horizontal combos would work out too well on a motor yo-yo. Unless someone found a way to make a motorized yo-yo that can bind, then count me out of even considering being intrigued by the idea.
Modern yo-yo’s are not cheating. They are simply different. It’s really hard to compare a modern yo-yo with something like a fixie or even a transaxle yo-yo because you just do different tricks on each toy. On a fixed axle yo-yo, you do fixed axle tricks. You can do bearing tricks with them, but then again you can do yo-yo tricks on a kendama. Fixed axle yo-yo’s and bearingized yo-yo’s are simply designed for different types of enjoyment.
P.S. while jhb may have been joking this thread has actually been very thought-provoking.
Different rigs for different gigs.
I always use that line when teaching people about multi-rotors (drones) at work.
following the trends I see in the RC world, I could see the tech getting to a point where it would be a real possibility if someone would be so inclined to do so. Already ive seen on a facebook group an arduino controlled light bar.
Not saying that motor-yos are going to be the next big thing, or even a thing in general, but the technical possibilities are very real. Just for the gimmick factor alone I figure there may even be one or two floating around in some inventor’s garage scoffed off as unreasonable and forgotten to gather dust.
I say it mostly as a joke but you know what they say, there is alot of truth in jest.
New tools, new rules!
Is using a battery powered drill cheating compared to a corded or a hand drill?
BTW, I still have a couple of hand drills.
I also have a collection of old school Duncan Butterfly’s along with my many bearing throws.
Isn’t there already a motorized Yoyo?
Found pics, Hyper Infinity
it seems im late to the party, as per yoozsh.
No it’s not!!!
The end is near.
A motorized yoyo wouldn’t really diminish the skill involved in yoyoing all that much IMO. Today’s throws are so well designed that managing spin time is a relatively small factor in the difficulty of the learning process anyway. Tilt, string tension, and trick elements - those are the tough parts, and a motor wouldn’t help much with those. Sure you could sidestep learning how to throw properly, but it’s hard to imagine anyone would “git gud” at everything else but never bother to learn Breakaway.