As a newcomer to yo-yos, I thought I’d put down my impressions here of the yo-yos I’ve purchased and used so far as a beginner.
I started with the YYE One. It was nice and easy to use and learn on, and I accomplished my first few tricks with it. Definitely a good beginner’s yo-yo.
I purchased a YYT Fizz yo-yo on a recommendation I read. I was pleased with the weight and feel, but the thing has a terrible habit of getting the string stuck and tangled up in the special return system (it doesn’t use pads), especially when doing things like the snap wind where the string may not wind perfectly around the yo-yo. It doesn’t help that I’m a beginner, either.
The YYT Oracle was my next purchase for looping. These are nice and smooth and responsive. Definitely worth it for me so far.
I have a few more beginner/intermediate yo-yos on the way including a Velocity, Glide, Metal Drifter, and a N00b Bind. I’m finding it fun to mess with the different types of yo-yos. I’d be happy to hear suggestions.
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I’d stick with what you have now and work your way up the trick ladder. Get your breakaways relatively smooth before trying unresponsive play. At that point you need to learn how to bind. Better yoyo recs will come later, but basically everything out there over $30 is a great yoyo depending on preferences.
Dont want to overwhelm you, but fixed axle play is also fun. A wooden fixie belongs in every yoyo collection imo.
That’s funny you mention that. I work yearly at the New York Renaissance Faire in costume and was looking for a wooden yo-yo to mess with that is more “period” (I don’t really know if there were yo-yos in that day and age but I’ll pretend and no one will care. 
). I thought I saw some being made by YYF, but I’d want just a plain one with no markings.
My breakaway isn’t too shabby. The thing I seem to have issues with is my sleeper. I can do a sleeper, but when I try to get any speed on it tends to bounce and return. I understand it is a “feel” thing, but I just haven’t found it yet and there really aren’t any helpful tips I’ve found on it on video. The other thing is the tendency for my yo-yo to lose responsiveness after practicing a while, but that might have to do with the string tension, I’m not sure. It seems to come back with a new string.
For modern fixed axle tricks I’d recommend something organic (butterfly shaped) vs the old school imperial, but you can get one of those too if you want.
As for your breakaways, just keep practicing. You will get to a point where you can throw both hard and smooth. For the response, string tension is important, but also sadly cheap throws imo play cheap. I have a Duncan Pro Z set up responsive and it has the starburst system. Without double wrapping the axle the response is utter garbage, and still unreliable at best. I dont have experience with the yoyos you have, so maybe someone else can chime in. You can try double wrapping the axle to improve response, but you will lose a little sleep time. Depending on the string you have and the time you are practicing, you might have to just keep replacing your string when it gets too unresponsive. Kitty doesn’t last long in a responsive yoyo in my experience.
So simply just continue practicing breakaways, gradually ramp up how hard you throw it, and eventually you won’t have it thunk and come back up on a hard throw. This practice is great for keeping your technique smooth for when you want to start playing unresponsive. Of course unresponsive is more forgiving of poor technique, so once you get the unresponsive yoyo you won’t have the issues you are currently dealing with, but refining your technique is recommended almost always by high level players.
Remember just to have fun. That’s the best way to yoyo.
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