Chico YoYo Company Heavy Hitter
Reviewed by Chris Rhoads
December 30, 2010
Introduction
Right about now everyone should be familiar with the Chico Yo-Yo Company. Richy Nye, Bob Malowney, and Thad Winzenz started it back in April of 2009. During the year and eight months of CYYC’s existence they have dropped three yo-yos on the community, The Bull Dog, delToro, and Route 66. All have been extremely solid players with an extreme attention to detail. Unfortunately, the company has not generated the levels of excitement that companies such as One Drop, CLYW, and Vs. Newton have. Personally I think this is a shame since the yo-yos I have had the pleasure of reviewing have exhibited a high level of quality and play that one would expect from a company cofounded by a National Yo-Yo Master. Today I am taking a look at the company’s fourth release, the full sized Heavy Hitter. Lets see if this is the release that will sky rocket the company into the mainstream.
Specs
• Diameter: 55.88mm
• Width: 43.18mm
• Gap width: 4.5mm
• Weight: 67g
• Bearing: clean & dry 10-Ball
• Response: custom Silicone pads
Construction
The shape of the Heavy Hitter is one that is becoming more and more popular with companies today, the stepped V-Shape. In the past six months I have reviewed two other yo-yos with a similar stepped V-Shape profile, the BBYY Juvenile Offender and the VsNYYC Sky Walker. The advantages of such a shape is that you get the overall stability that comes with a V-Shape while obtaining the extra rim weight associated with an H-Shaped yo-yo. Where the Heavy Hitter differs from the other two stepped V-shapes that I have played is in the rim design. The others flatten out the rims but the Heavy Hitter continues the V-Cut right to the edge of the rim. This gives you an increased catch zone with no unexpected edges that can reject the string and it aids in palm grinds by giving only a thin amount of material a chance to contact the hand. While those are great pluses there is a minus with that sharp edge. At times it can make the yo-yo a little painful to catch during a full speed return to the hand because the rims essentially come to a point. This is by no means a deal breaker but it is something that needs to be mentioned. In the gap, near the response groove there is a second small concave cut that keeps string contact at an absolute minimum. Moving to the face of the yo-yo we see a little bulge in the floor of the cup adding center weight and stability. There is no IGR cut into the underside of the rim but there is a deep flat edge that should allow thumb grinds. The finish of the Heavy Hitter is the same silky smooth, soft bead blast finish that CYYC used on the delToro. The entire yo-yo has been blasted with the exception of a small masked off area near the guts that should reduce string wear. I will not lie, I love the bead blast that CYYC uses, and I was disappointed that it was not on the Route 66. This finish just seems to grind forever and it feels great in the hand. Honestly, I think they are doing themselves an extreme disservice if they release a future design without this finish. Over all I like the design of the yo-yo. I think the rim could have used a tad more rounding to soften the blow to the hand when it hits but other than that it is a very comfortable yo-yo when held.
Weight
While the specs say 67 grams, this yo-yo does not play like a 67 gram yo-yo. When I heard the name Heavy Hitter I had expected a slower playing, floaty yo-yo but that is not entirely the case here. Yes the yo-yo does have some float to it but at the same time this thing can zoom. Due to the size of the Heavy Hitter all that weight is spread out giving it a much more nimble and faster feel on the string than what I had originally envisioned.
Response and Bearing
The custom pads that Chico has come up with for their line of yo-yos last quite a while. They also provide snappy binds and are dead unresponsive out of the box giving a “broken in” feel on the first throw.
They don’t list it as such on their website but Chico uses the same 10-Ball bearing that One Drop and Vs. Newton uses in their yo-yos. It gives the Heavy Hitter a smooth ride while in motion. There really isn’t much more to say about it that I have not said in previous reviews.
Playability
As I said above, I was expecting a completely different type of play when I first received this yo-yo in the mail. On the first throw I was really blown away by what I got. Now, what really surprised me about this yo-yo was how forgiving it was on a horrendous throw. Normally I will toss a yo-yo a slightly bad throw to test it out, but in the case of the Heavy Hitter I accidentally gave it a truly horrible throw. It just so happened that during the action of throwing the Heavy Hitter for the first time, I sneezed. It happens sometimes. What I noticed was that it recovered pretty well from the bad throw on its own. By the time I recovered from sneezing it only showed the slightest bit of wobble on the string and I was still able to complete a few tricks before having to bind. Not my normal way of testing but it was interesting to see how the yo-yo handled it nonetheless. The rest of the play was pure silk on the string. The ultra low walled gap design and the masked guts gives this yo-yo some serious loops for suicides. The catch zone is just enormous for easy whips and hooks, catching even the sloppiest of hooks during my attempts to throw triple Hidemasas at it. Grinds on the Heavy Hitter are pretty much a thing of beauty. The soft bead blast finish allows for long spin times on the arm, finger, and palm. Thumb grinds are a little hairy without a defined IGR. They can be performed but the yo-yo can get slippy if not thrown at a slight angle. At the end of day the only issues I can find with the play of this yo-yo amount to minor ------ in design implementation. Everything else about the play is on par if not better than similar designs coming from top tear Japanese companies.
Final Thoughts
After thoroughly playing this yo-yo, it is the going to be the one I associate with Chico YoYo Company whenever anyone mentions their name. Every company has a signature yo-yo and CYYC is no exception, this is their 888, their Project. If any yo-yo is going to give CYYC the mainstream attention that it needs, it should be this one.