Brand loyalty.

General Yo-Yo
1

I notice that there are quite a few players out there (mostly the younger ones) who will strictly limit themselves to a certain brand yoyo. Keep in mind that this isn’t just “oh I like the yoyos this company makes.” This is literally, they wont go and buy another company yoyo, cause they are so focused on trying to get strictly the next special edition YYF, SPYY, CLYW, YYR, whatever it may be.

Well I gotta say, buck that into a tree.

The thing is, that in the community, we have tons of different companies, always putting out great throws that are quite good most of the time. And when you don’t give some of these companies a chance, you never know, you might be seriously missing out.

At Nationals this year, I met a young kid who was looking through my yoyo case.
“Have any cool YYF?” He asked.
“Nah”
“Aw, I need more yyf.”
“Why just yyf?”
“cause they are the best company!”
“They are good, but have you thrown other stuff?”
“I don’t need to, if its not yyf its not gonna be good.”

To some they may find that a bit shocking, but I can honestly tell you that I have met a few individuals as such.

Limiting yourself to one company is stupid. (Hence my view on sponsorships but Ill save that for another time), there’s lots of options, no need to commit, just have fun and throw what you want.

Go to a contest, blindfold yourself, and have people randomly give you yoyos to try and throw them without knowing what they are. Your favorites will be quite the assortment I think eh?

Throw whatever the hay you want, throw yoyos, not the brand.

J

5 Likes
2

I agree, although I am not brand loyal to the extent where I will not buy any other yoyos, I do tend to like one drop. Just like it, not adore it.

3

I would never limit myself to just one company, there are too many others to try, use, and have. Although most of us would have one favorite company, and mine would be Yoyojam, that won’t be the only company you will see in my case. Something else that shouldn’t be done is avoiding a certain company just because you tried one of their yoyos and didn’t like it. I didn’t really like the feel of the YYF Lunatic, but I love the YYF Supernova Lite and YYF Genesis.

4

I don’t limit myself, I just won’t buy a certain brand if I don’t like there ethics.

Jayyo, sponsored players can use any yoyos they want, they just can’t compete with them most of the time (when Eiji won worlds he used a aquarius when he was on yyf). That’s why you don’t get sponsored by a company unless you like there throws.

5

I agree. Unless you have a contractually binding reason to be loyal to one brand, it’s best to try a little of this, a little bit of that. OR, if you like a brand, maybe a whole lot of that.

Let’s take it to another level. Let’s say we’re talking mics. I know, it’s not yoyos, but trust me, I’ll force it back there soon. Let’s just say we are working in the $85-120 arena. I choose this because a lot of the more decent metals are in this range, but is kinda of where decent mics start.

Why do I have 6 Shure SM57’s? At around $100 each, they can do quite a bit, from horns, guitar, percussion and even vocals if you put a wind screen on them(the mic works great with THIN vocals, I find an SM57 can rock on a male Asian vocals). Or I can use one of my 4 Shure SM58’s, which I can handle the same task with, but with the assembly around the diaphragm, it performs better on vocals, but isn’t quite so hot on snare or guitar, but if you know the response variations, you can manage that real quick. Or I can use my pair of Audix i5’s or even the two Blue Ball mics(brand is Blue, model is Ball). So far, everything I’ve mentioned is in the $100 range. Each has strengths and weaknesses that I can exploit to help my mix down the line. But, I find my Sennheiser e609’s work great on clean guitar but not so well for metal guitar, but at $109, I can use the hypercardiod design and the flat square shape as well. It’s also great on toms, horns and some percussion. Everything brings something unique to the equation that a skilled engineer can use to their advantage by exploiting both the strengths and weaknesses of a mic design to get the desired results from the mics in inventory.

Now, let’s go WFO(look it up, I don’t wanna get banned) and crack open my mic case for mics that I use for live sound. Focusing on mics in a handheld design only, I have mics that range from $89 to $550. This is where it starts to come back to yoyo. I had a guy working for me who wanted to perform try out mics I have before the show went on. We had stuff set up early so I put him up on stage and gave him 2 cables and a bucket full of mics. Models included the $89 Sennheiser e835($89), Shure SM58($100), the Shure SM86($180), Audix OM-5($160), Blue Encore 200($170), Telefunken M-80($240), EV Cobalt Co9(Got on sale for $40, regularly $100) and the Audio Technica AE5400($540). After all was said and done, the mic he sounded best on was the e835, at the LOWER END of the cost arena.

He also tried many of my other mics for studio applications. I forget what he chose but I send him out the door with around $3K in mics to try out. I think he ended up choosing the Cascade Fat Head II Live ribbon mic. He was definitely not suited for the AT 2020 he already bought, and my AT 4040 wasn’t fairing much better for him.

What I mean to show is that in my case, I have to buy a lot of mics to have lots of tools to not only handle a variety of sources, but ample mics in inventory to handle a lot of source. I also choose to not accept mic endorsements so I don’t have limitations or restrictions. But as a sound production company, I need to have variety to please clients. This guy who was working for me was able to bypass a lot of the “buy before you try” stuff by working with me to find what worked best with him.

Of course, sometimes using a less than optimum mic may be desired in order to change the character of the vocal. I mean, moving down a line of mics, you can almost sound like instead of 1 guy, you’ve go a group of similar sounding guys each with their own character, but it’s just one dude and a variety of mics.

Same with yoyos. Don’t limit yourself. Ever. I mean, even if you’re a world champion, don’t restrict yourself to any one brand or model. Sure, I’m all for preferences, that’s good too, and when you’re getting ready for competition, yeah, you’re going to focus on your go-to model(s), which is natural. Every yoyo is different, bringing something new to experience, that will either exploit something you know, or end up exposing some weakness and making you work on your game more.

Yes, I have brands I like too, but I refuse to limit myself. Do I like YYF? Sure. Do I like YYJ? Yup, big time. CLYW? Great stuff. Other brands are in there too. Even so, all things said and done, at the moment, I still like my DM2 the best of all the stuff I have. However, I know that if I only throw that, I’m limiting myself, so I make sure I throw lots of other yoyos to. Again, the variety keeps me sharp, or at least sharper than I would be otherwise.

I’m relatively new. 6 months of throwing. I have a LOT to learn and many of you will easily pass me, and many of you I’ll never catch up to. But the advise is still the same: Buy more yoyos, try more stuff, don’t limit yourself to a brand or model and always practice. If you have a few yoyos, do this: make a “yoyo of the day” and that’s all you throw. Rotate regularly, don’t get stuck into one model. I do this. I still throw my DM2 almost every day, but after I get warmed up, it’s often time to go onto the “yoyo of the day”. But, I do say when I’m learning new stuff, I just focus on the DM2. I need my comfort zone!

Plus, someone came up with the idea of “No Bearing November”. You know what, despite the fact I’m not doing it this year as I’m too new, I think this is a great idea. Fixed axle throws for all of November. I’m going to go research a great fixed axle throw for next year and I will only use that yoyo. Well, I lie. I go on vacation in November, and for that, I’m bringing my 4 most favorite throws to help wind-down from my full day enjoying the Disney parks I’m visiting. I mean, I really enjoy Disney parks, but I gotta wind down after a day of fantasy!

Again, I have nothing against developing preferences. Preferences are going to develop regardless, that’s just a fact of life. Just don’t force yourself into a position of deliberately limiting your options without a valid reason.

So, today I’ve just received a dv888, a Northstar and the light-up FHZ. So, you know what I’m gonna be throwing today! Sure, it’s YYF, but there’s Duncan too. Chances are high I’ll also be throwing my Code 1, DM2 and Avalanche too.

6

WFO-world federeation of orthodontists.

7

I may fall guilty into this category.

I LOVE GENERALYOS. And I own alot of them, but I reach out and buy other brands, but if a new throw from them comes out, I may buy it.

Great post, another home run.

8

I LIKE YOYOS! I want to try them all!

9

Uh, no. Not even close.

10

I used to think only Duncan and Yomega were legit. Wow. :o

11

Wide … open

12

Really all I can afford are Duncan yo-yos, and they really work for me. Duncan is really the only thing I throw, mainly because I can’t afford anything else. That and Duncan is totally legit! Yoyojam looks good, but my parents won’t put their credit card through any other company. Duncan has also replaced any yo-yos that have been broke, and have even done a little something for me that i’m no0t going to say. ::slight_smile:

13

We have a winner!

14
15

Just remember, it’s still perfectly fine to have a favorite, and collect a few (many) yoyos from that brand. It’s just important not to LIMIT yourself based on what you normally like or favor.

I mean, I have mostly SPYY yoyos. I love 'em to death. I get excited by new releases and usually buy them. Then again, I never really thought I’d like ANY Werrd yoyo. At MA States I spontaneously bought a Split Decision, even though I hated the shape. Whaddaya know, I like it, a lot. This won’t persuade me towards Werrd’s other yoyos (honestly, I think most of em look gross, at least for me), but I didn’t limit myself based on a bias in either direction.

Open minds, people. Companies are cool, yeah. Just don’t forget the yoyo. You mihgt be pleasantly surprised.

16

Well, it stinks when someone else is forcing decisions. But, I know the deal, and I’m the parent/decision maker, so I have no issue spending on my kids.

For similar or less money than many Duncans, you can get some inexpensive and fantastic throws from YYF and YYJ, just to name a few. The YYF Whip and ONE, even the JK and Popstar come to mind. I’m sure there’s some other sub-$25 stuff YYF makes. YYJ has the Kickside, Lyn Fury, Speed Maker, Prelude and Legacy II. If you’re into off-string, YYJ also has the Big Yo and Fiesta II.

Shinwoo makes some decent stuff in the $15 and under range.

When I started, what brand came to mind? Well, Duncan was the only thing I knew. Now, Duncan has changed a lot since 1978 when I got my Imperial and had a disaster of a time with it, but moving forward 32 years to 2011(ignore the math, I’m going by birthdays), I wasn’t involved in yoyo and did little to learn anything. So, I started with Duncan and for good reason. I still have plenty of Duncan throws now, but I’m liking other brands better.

Plus, if you do your shopping here, YoYoExpert sells for less than the MSRP(Manufacturer’s Suggest Retail price), but then again, so does every other online store.

Regardless of where you shop, if you are enjoying the yoyo and/or want to learn more, then all are welcome at YoYoExpert.

17

I do like to “collect” certain brands i.e. One Drop and CLYW, but i’d love to try all the different makes and models!

Would be a shame to limit yourself on just one brand.

18

So far all my yoyos have been 50 dollars or under so i haven’t gotten an opportunity to try that many brands but for Chirstmas and for my birthday I am hoping to buy/get some one drop, spyy, and maybe some werrd. My goal is to eventually have owned/tried most of the companies.

19

i have two yyj and four yyf i really like yyf because the have good cheap throws and im only 13 so i don’t get money all the time but when I get a job im wanting to try one drop and others

20

It’s the persons choice whether or not they want to be brand specific. They could have different reasons for it that go beyond yoyo performance. While it may seem stupid to some of you for a person to do this, it doesn’t even affect you.

People are brand specific about a lot of things in life for many different reasons. Sometimes they try 1 brand and love it so much that they see no reason to switch.