I have heard a lot of people wanting Peaks and that they are willing to pay a heap of money for them.
I can see how people would want them because of their rarity, but do they actually play well and have they earned the hype?
They play pretty nice, but its really more of a novelty to own one.
The Peak is like a legendary yoyo that everyone wants to get their hands on.
Neh. I don’t really like it as a player.
Peaks are good throws hands down. But there are many more throws just as good. I think about it in levels.
Financially: By buying\trading for a peak(which isn’t the easiest thing to do considering any run but especially first). You can easy sell for a good deal of cash.
Collectible: It’s discontinued, and for it being a powerhouse media name like CLYW’s first throw. No doubt it’s a great piece to own.
Hype: CLYWs name is all you need to understand the hype. As well as people still urning for it and keeps the name buzzing.
I personally think it isn’t worth “all” the hype it’s given. And I think it has mostly been due to the fact that the peak release was somewhere around the time the Anti-yo Bapezilla released and many know that was the king of hype back then and sorta still now.
It depends on the run, and even the individual peak. I’ve heard from a lot of people 2nd run were good, but not as good as 1st or 3rd run. I’ve only thrown 2 or 3 before and I liked them. Kinda reminded me of the canvas. As others have said though, they’re really just more of a piece of yoyo history that’s sought after for what the yoyo represents: the start of one of the most well loved companies today. Also their rarity and collectability is insane.
If you’re looking for a pure performance yoyo, no, they’re not really worth what you’d be paying for one. But if you’re looking for something that’s just a lot of fun, yeah, they’re great. But be ready if you get one for everyone to want to throw it at meet ups.
Peaks play amazing, but in my opinion, there are many throws out there that are better.
The Peak came out at the end of 2006, and around then yoyo design was beginning to shift directions. Just about everyone started doing stepped shapes, sometimes low walls, a few companies were experimenting with hubstacks, and also for a while undersized yoyos were the hot thing. Everyone seemed to think the most important aspect of yoyo design was novelty: had it been done before? And other than the coating there was little that was truly new about the Peak; CLYW even promoted it as the love child of a 401k and a Hitman.
And I was totally happy about it, because that’s what I wanted to begin with. I saw the Peak as the ultimate refinement of everything I’d been wanting in a yoyo at the time it came out. White (on metal!), HM/DMesque shape, mid weight and size, wide/deep silicone response, C bearing, moderate gap, and wonderfully balanced. It’s an attractive yoyo, but more than that, the way it feels to throw and bind is marvelous—it’s a feel few other yoyos even approach. Even today when I throw a Peak, it makes me wonder a bit why I have any other yoyos (and the answer is, of course, because of reasons).
Well, as it happened, the Peak turned out to be an iconic design for many other people. Whether due to its turbulent history, its scarcity, its aesthetics, its design makeup, the praise it’s gotten over the years, the simple fact that it was CLYW’s first yoyo, or whatever other factors, I guess it’s different for everyone. For me, as I just described, it’s personal. It was the right yoyo for me. And seeing the prices soar ever higher makes me a bit sad, because I’d like to get a couple more.
I think of it as the 250 GTO of yoyos. There are yoyos now that outperform it, sure, but pure performance isn’t really why you’d get an old Ferrari either, is it?
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