So I have a friend at work who has a seven year old. He has one of those ball things that auto return. He is amazed at the thing you can do with modern yoyos. I have some old imperials but with the options out there I feel like his options are more than that. What would you guys recommend for a beginner? Keep in mind a maintenance free yoyo would be ideal.
I’d suggest a good responsive yoyo. And for that I’d strongly suggest the Yoyo Factory Replay. Be aware that the Replay Pro is unresponsive and will require that you know how to do a bind. For a 7 year old that could be tough.
The other one I’d suggest is the Yoyo Factory Fast 201. It’s also a responsive yoyo but it has these little pawls which make it easier to get the yoyo to return.
Like Greg said, the Replay is really great, also allows you to upgrade the bearing later to make it unresponsive.
My personal favorite, what I would probably go with is the Recess First Base. It comes stock with a slim bearing, so it is responsive at first, which will allow him to get the basics down. But Recess gives you a Large C bearing with the First Base, so when he is ready to learn to bind you already have the bearing you need.
The Replay is $15, but you’ll have another $6-10 in a large C bearing down the road if you just want to upgrade it. The First Base is $20 with everything you need.
No affiliation with either company. I own both of these, play them both, just prefer the First Base.
I usually recommend a YYF One for younger kids because of the smaller size. It’s a good yo-yo to learn on.
I put my vote down as a yyf one or a fast 201
I don’t know why it completely slipped my mind, but at our local yoyo club we always suggest the Yoyo Factory Velocity. It has a dial on the side which you can use to make it either responsive or unresponsive. So that’s a single yoyo which can grow with you as you learn to use an unresponsive yoyo.