Nice video, thanks! Like someone said above it looks amazing in the black light. I noticed the pads look thick in one of the photos I saw. Next time I order something I might have to add one of those on to my order. Looks super fun.
Yes fun! Best yoyo, nah. Great one to carry around though. It cost me about the same as a duncan butterfly did for FAF, so at that price its a bet. Only the yellow glows in black light, fyi. Found that out too lol.
Im going to guess maybe the freehand is the better option but cant say for sure yet. Ill make a video with my plastics when i get a chance, i want my order to get here first. At these prices its hard not to get each one, which is what i did lol. $20ish bucks well spent lol
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Glad you mentioned that about the original Speedaholic pads. I had one a few years ago when I was in the middle of the responsive trick ladder and was annoyed that it often responded too soon. Tricks that were easy on the Whip were impossible on the Speedaholic. It was too early in my journey to know to look at the pads.
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The rarity of the yoyo colorway. Just choose which one looks the best to you. The CW is essentially a homage, because the FH1 was the first “Freehand” or “5A” yoyo to be sold and always came with a CW. Most people probably don’t use the CW with it, or are not buying FH1’s with the intention to 5A them.
I think to fully grasp the idea of the FH1 you need a little history update/lesson so enjoy the rant.
I know 25-30 might seem like a stretch, but before these new FH1’s were released a couple years ago, you would have to search the BST for a used FHZ which started around $40+. An OLDER more inferior design was MORE expensive because that’s how important this throw was to our community at large.
The main thing to understand my reasonings for pushing the FH1 is this.
Most of the staple tricks you learn from 1-50 on yotricks were invented on the FH1 back in 2002. After a while, people realized that this and the Renegade would turn unresponsive after wearing down the response system. This invented the bind, and led to people modifying their yoyos to become unresponsive to allow for more string wraps and spin time, which allowed for the creation of more difficult tricks. So you essentially progress the same as they did when they invented the tricks with the FH1.
I feel that, moving in this way towards your yoyo progression is the best possible way to start. Once you start getting into more difficult tricks, you can simply start modifying your FH1 to make it unresponsive like they did back in the day or start buying unresponsive throws. If by some chance you don’t stick with it, at least you can throw your FH1 as a responsive yoyo for fun whenever you feel like it.
To me, yo-yo isn’t just learning about how to do tricks, but it’s understanding how the yo-yo works, how response pads react, how the bearing size or how oil can affect the responsiveness, how the smallest amount of gap width can drastically change the way the yoyo performs.
I got my sister a shooting star when they first released and ended up just giving her a FH1 instead because she had too much frustration with the shooting star. Half Spec bearings aren’t the best responsive solution imo, and I think that they’re a bit on the gimmicky side. The yoyo is usually designed as an unresponsive throw, but allows for a halfspec to try and be responsive to cover more ground. In correlation, the FH1 is designed to be responsive, but can become unresponsive. That to me, is the biggest distinction and benefit to the FH1 for a beginner.
Last thing is this, I think the FH1 forces you to play clean and in turn helps create good habits.
https://www.instagram.com/crs_mkt/
Behold, Chris Makita.
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I love hearing history/background information like this. To know how important the Freehand yo-yo is the history of yo-yoing makes this specific yo-yo much more intriguing to me.
There is definitely a rewarding feeling working your way through the progression from easier tricks to harder tricks. I remember the first time I ever did the ‘brain twister’ and what an amazing accomplishment I felt like that was at the time. Now that I see what everyone is doing with yo-yos today, I realize it wasn’t as great as accomplishment as I felt like it was then, but it felt very rewarding the first time I pulled it off. Pulling my yo-yo out last week for the first time in probably 7+ years and still being able to do the ‘brain twisting’ still made me feel pretty good. Crazy I know…such a simple trick felt rewarding to this old man. LOL
But thank you for taking the time to explain the importance of the FH1 to the yo-yo community. I appreciate you do that!
edit: After reading all your recommendations, it seems like I’m leaning towards either the Freehand One or the Whip as my responsive yo-yo purchase. Both seem to get a lot of love!!!
I know several of you said the Origen, but it’s not available (or at least I don’t see it) on the yoyoexpert website…from where I’ll be placing my order. I know I could order it from other places but since I’m to the point of free shipping, I’m going to order everything from here. Maybe in the future I’ll get an Origen.
Again, thank you for all your patience and the help you’ve given me as I start my journey!
TripleB
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Getting ready to place my order and have one last question.
I’ve decided to get the Freehand One, but the $9 Whip seems to get a lot of love here. Is there a reason to have them both? I mean, would there ever be an instance you could think of where I would reach for the Whip instead of the Freehand One for specific tricks, or because it did something better than the FHO, or any other reason that would make it worth having both of them?
Or is the Freehand One just superior to the Whip in every way?
Again, I appreciate all the help you’ve been. Cannot wait to finally place my order and get to yo-yoing next week!
TripleB
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No reason to get both really fh1 is just better by a lot but whip is still very good for the price.
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Sorry, another question in regards to the Freehand One: are all of the different models built the same and weigh the same?
I’m looking at the Brian Cabildo edition, the Unknown Edition (all black), or the Glow. Just curious as to whether all of these models will feel exactly the same?
Thank you!
TripleB
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Don’t worry about asking questions. They all are the same as far as I know besides the 2022 Paul Escolar artwork edition one that is like pink marble with baby blue caps. That one weighs a little less from what I read.
Yoyo Acquisition Disorder (YAD) is a thing.
Every yoyo plays and feels different. That is why a lot of people have “Collections”.
Between the Whip and the FH1, if comparing the 2, the FH1 will win in my opinion.
As a Beater throw, taking everywhere, handing to people to try, the Whip would be my yoyo of choice. Not that I dont do the same thing with the FH1 (I know, not much help).
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Another note; Just starting out, you may get a Yoyo you dont agree with. Or it doesnt agree with you…
Just put it on the shelf and revisit it down the road, your views will most likely be different.
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Personally, I prefer the Whip. I had too much trouble getting the response dialed in on the FH1. I tried different pads, friction stickers, lubing, not lubing, etc. It was always either not responsive enough to play responsive or in a semi-unresponsive state where it would bind back randomly. Also, the plastic guts got stripped way too easily.
My Whip just works the way I want it to without much hassle and the only “modification” I did to it was replace the thick pads with flush ones. I can loop with it, do stalls, and still bust out some decent combos on it. I barely ever have to lube it or mess with it in any way.
Obligatory YMMV
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Same here, though I think the response on the FH1 is fine. The weight of the Whip is just right. To me the FH1 plastic is just a little heavy. I hear the Nats 2022 version is lighter and I have one, but haven’t tried it yet. Also like the idea that the whip can be unresponsive with just a bearing swap (also not tried that yet).
Obvious to most here that any “best yoyo” is a funny hypothetical. Once you’re here, it’s too late for you. You’re going to probably end up with the “best” for every mood, day of the week, etc etc and it will be different than most others’ bests.
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You’re talking about the $9 Whip, right? 
You’re absolutely correct…I went down this path many years ago, buying every yo-yo that looked like it should be good. Luckily stopped at only about 10 or 11 yo-yo’s and after about 2 months the Raider and the Turbo Bumble Bee were the only two I ever picked up.
Thanks for the input!
TripleB
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In my opinion either a Duncan Butterfly XT or a YYF Whip
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If you have a Hobby Lobby in your area they carry the Whip. $6.
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I just noticed on another site that Yoyorecreation just released a $12 slimline plastic responsive - the 5ive - in a vaguely El Mijo form factor. I’m assuming they’ll be coming to Yoyoexpert soon too. Looks quite slimline so maybe not the first beginner yoyo, but I’ll definitely be grabbing one soon.
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Physically thinnest yoyo I have
I decided to order the Freehand One (Brian Cabildo edition) as my #1 responsive yo-yo…but also ended up ordering the Whip (for the low cost of the Whip I figured what the heck).
For an unresponsive yo-yo I ordered a Shooting Star.
I appreciate all of your help and guidance…it has lead me to what I feel is an amazing “starter” set of yo-yos!
I look forward to working my way through the long list of yo-yo tricks starting with these three yo-yos - I cannot wait to get started on Tuesday when the yo-yos arrive…already been checking out tutorial videos 
Again, can’t thank you enough for all the help!
TripleB
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Welcome to the start of YAD. Like I mentioned, when I cant decide, I get both…
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