Pictures can be found here http://shop.yoyoexpert.com/product/804/CLYW-Puffin
Introduction
After seeing all the hype regarding the Puffin, I picked one up immediately, despite the steep price tag. The only negative thing I found was Slade Riggs (I’ll remove your name if you want) saying it doesn’t spin long enough, especially for a $150 yoyo. While I do agree with this, it is still a great little yoyo with its own merits, though it is no Chief raw performance wise.
Specifications
Diameter: 53.35 mm / 2.10 inches
Width: 44.50 mm / 1.75 inches
Gap Width: 4.25 mm / .16 inches
Weight: 65.7 grams
Bearing Size: Size C Center Trac Bearing
Response: CLYW Snow Tires
Design
The Puffin about 53mm, just under full sized, but feels much bigger in the hand. It has the widest gap for a CLYW, being 4.25mm, giving it some much needed stability. It isn’t a super wide throw, but it is wide, especially for its size. It has peak like rims, with a step separating the high and low wall (like a Canvas). Most importantly, it has a Chief style double rim.
Aesthetics
I have mine in Blizzard, and quite frankly, it looks like a blizzard. When it spins, it creates an interesting blend of shifting blues and greys. CLYW sets a high bar for themselves when it comes to aesthetics, and they delivered.
Weight
Despite the design being influenced by the Peak, the smallish diameter, and the somewhat light weight, I still wasn’t expecting a feather weight due to the Chief like double lip. I was wrong. It moves with grace and agility on the string, feeling light, at least to me, a guy who doesn’t own many light throws. It is pretty zippy, not uncontrollably fast, just zippy.
Performance
Now onto the important part. Here I’m not talking about how performs compared to just any throw, but to other premium throws. I mean, for $30 more you can get a YYR.
This yoyo is outstanding for fast and as well as slow play. It can go extremely fast without before says NO! I REFUSE TO GO FASTER! For slow play, it is extremely comfortable do to its float, something I like when I go slow. However, it is more geared towards fast play, meaning it won’t have the stability of many throws meant for slow play.
The Puffin really shines in technical play, its agility makes very complicated maneuvers easier. Its dimensions are also good for technical play, the smaller size making chopsticks easier and the width making more complicated hop tricks easier.
Even though it has a CLYW bead blast, it isn’t the best grinder. While it is good at arm grinds, the IRG is shallow and the shape of the string zone makes finger grinds difficult. I suck at palm grinds, so I can’t comment on those.
The pseudo-highwall makes regens snappy as well as easy.
The Puffin holds its current axis very well, making it great for horizontal. While it’s not as good as say, a v-shaped yoyo like the Sleipnir, where the loss of spin is minimal, it is still very good at horizontal.
The Bad
With all of this going for it, the Puffin must be a grand slam, right? Wrong. While I am not saying it is a bad yoyo, it has one, big flaw. It has crappy spin times. Not okay, not mediocre, not even below average, just crappy. While it spins long enough for say, a $40 throw, it doesn’t spin like a $150 throw. While this doesn’t make the throw bad, it just prevents it from being great.
Conclusion
While the Puffin is a good throw with many merits, it is prevented from being great due to its crappy spin times. If this is your first CLYW, get a Chief. If you already have a CLYW or two and want something different, get a Puffin.
Edit- this is my first review, don’t crucify me.
Edit 2- I do super long combos.
