Guys. Yuuki Spencer said it was the best plastic he’s ever played. No more discussion needed.
Yuuki is a fanboy. ;D
Where did you get this incredibly flawed information? Do you have any clue how much it costs to create a mold? Multiply that cost each time you make a revision to the design.
Companies that use injection molding make up the money spent on molds by selling thousands and thousands of units at thousands of hobby shops and toy stores across the world. Do you expect Chris to be able move the same number of units and to have the same distribution that YYF, YYJ, or Duncan has? There is a reason most small yoyo manufacturers don’t branch out into injection molded yoyos.
Here is a post from Steve Brown in the CLYW manufacturers thread. If anyone knows anything about plastic yoyos, it’s Steve.
Another glowing review of the Yeti.
1 Like
Good job. You Google’d “What is trolling” and clicked on the first link you saw. You then copied and pasted it here hoping to sound educated in internet etiquette.
Anyway, ignoring the Anti-CLYW kids, on the line of discussion about CLYW branching out with new contributions to yo-yoing.
Do you guys think it could be possible to do colorways on a plastic yo-yo? Is there some way to dye plastic in a way that resembles anodizing on metal?
Yeah, it’s great to read specs that make sense
you are spot on! the machining start up has a much less intro cost (but for long term costs injection molding costs less) then injection molding, but over the long term injection molding gets cheaper as you go, but we are talking thousands of uses from the mold to get to a place where it is cheaper and easier to maintain that lowered cost, if a company doesn’t have the ability to make and sell thousands of units then injection molding has a higher costs associated then machining due to the longer setup and mold making times as well as purchasing your raw materials that costs a lot more if not bought in massive bulk where it gets much cheaper then small quantities. so saying all that to say this, if you are doing injection molding the most bang for the buck is thousands and thousands of items made and most small yoyo companies cant really make it worth it much cheaper then machining just because they aren’t/can’t buy in large enough quantities to make it cheaper then machining to make it worthwhile to use that as a mainstay.
I would like to see a review on the yeti from someone who is unbiased. All these amazing words we here about the yeti are from CLYW fanboys, team members, or someone is is affiliated or close friends with them. That creates a bias to me and I would love to here words from someone without one. I would like to play one and have my own opinion but until I do play one I wouldn’t buy one.
It is a nominee for my next throw!
So I have had to luck to be able to play both yoyo’s a good amount now. I can say this. They are nothing alike but both awesome. Yes the Rally plays and feels like a metal. Best plastic yoyo I have ever played (many have been saying this over the last few weeks) The Yeti plays very solid but it plays like a plastic (that is not a bad thing) The Yeti is also CRAZY stable. Much more stable than the Rally in my eyes (again this is not a good or bad thing) For my $$ they are both well worth the $40 and $45 price tags.
I also feel once people who are NOT CLYW fans play them they will want to buy one. It is a great plastic throw. I consider myself more of a One Drop fan than CLYW but I have owned and collected about the same amount of each company.
1 Like
Are you even tying to understand? Let me show some figures to see if you are.
Injection molded plastic
$20,000 start up fee
$4 per yoyo (Its’ share of the start up burden)
$0.35 per half
$0.50 for everything else
Lets say he does 5,000 total
4+.35+.35+.5=5.2 $5.20 per unit to manufacture. Chris would probably double that ($10.40), then YYE might double that.
All in all, $20.80. That seems much more on target. Lets also do some other numbers with our hypothetical figures:
Chris would make $26,000. It would take all units to regain the initial start up cost. However, that is factored into the cost of the yoyo, so any profit you calculate is pure profit. If he sold the first 1,000 direct, he would make $15,600 the moment he sold the thousandth.
On to metal yoyos
For the sake of simplicity, I wont factor in set up cost.
$18 for machining (Both halves. And here alone the cost is much more than that of the Yeti. And, it isn’t a variable based on the number produced.)
$10-$20 for anodizing (Actually, we should keep that as a constant, so $15)
$0.75 for box, stickers, and guts.
Would be priced at $67.50 wholesale (Again based on a 200% markup)
YYE would sell it for $135
Now do you understand?
Also, yes, I expect Chris to be able to move similar amounts of units as YYJ YYF, Duncan and others, so long as they are priced competitively. One last thing before I leave this thread completely, I never said the Yeti didn’t look good , play good, was understable or anything of the sorts. I only said it was priced very high.
EDIT I am not “anti-CLYW,” I just don’t feel like the yoyo’s perform at their price point. In fact, I like most of them, I just wouldn’t pay retail for them (And I’ve saving my money for something else).
I love Chris and I think he’s a great guy, but I work for his competition and I gain absolutely nothing from his success. As a friend, if I thought the Yeti wasn’t everything it should be I would tell him. And publicly I would just avoid the topic entirely.
I’m really excited by the fact that companies like CLYW and C3YoYoDesign and OneDrop are putting out plastic yoyos. REALLY excited about it, in fact. It’s a sign that these small, boutique manufacturers are investing in the future of the industry and that they are leveraging their company to be part of it moving forward.
I can honestly say the Yeti doesn’t feel like any plastic yoyo I’ve ever thrown…and with almost 20 years of this chicanery under my belt, I’ve thrown a damn lot of them. Whether or not you, specifically, will like it is pretty hard to gauge. But I can honestly and accurately say that it’s unique in the market, it’s a great design, and it plays better than any plastic I own other than the Protostar (which, in my opinion, is still the gold standard for plastic competition throws). But being that Chris accomplished this without metal weight rings speaks to his skill as an engineer and to the unique properties of the materials used.
My opinion is still just an opinion but I promise you…it’s an unbiased one. 
8 Likes
I don’t know why you’d think Steve Brown is biased towards CLYW. I’m sure he’s friends with most of the people behind nearly every company. I believe if anyone should be reviewing yoyos, he would, probably, be more qualified than anyone else.
I want to get a Yeti, mainly, because it’s a new material being introduced and I like trying innovative ideas.
4 Likes
I am saving for an Albatross, but I might need one of these.
Trying to prove that you think the yoyo is priced too high by creating a fictional set of production costs is kind of like proving the Earth is flat by pointing at the horizon and saying “See?”
Looking at your numbers it’s clear that you aren’t familiar with production costs for injection molding, nor with the general costs of running a small business of the sort that CLYW is. Not your fault at all, and I don’t say that to be dismissive or lord it over you…just that you’re throwing around a lot of things that are meant to look definitive without actually having most of the pertinent information, and that can create a pretty seriously false impression in a lot of people’s minds about what is happening here.
It’s really irresponsible to do that to someone’s livelihood just because you personally think something should be different than it is.
8 Likes
great POV Steve, i also like the breathe of fresh air you bring to this thread! the truth is much better then speculation any day!
1 Like
Since it’s you, I’ll answer.
Those numbers were not meant to be an actual representation of the price and cost of the Yeti. Rather, they were just to show that no matter how you factor it, injection molding costs less. I’m not claiming to know much about injection molding, although I do think it is overpriced.
Fun fact: It isn’t that hard to see the curvature of the Earth, just go to the beach and watch a ship sail away.
No that’s when they fall off the edge.
1 Like
I understand that you aren’t trying to claim those are Chris’ actual costs, but the way you’re presenting them sure looks that way to most people. My point is that the numbers are fabricated and the breakdown is really incomplete…and posting information like that in a conversation about an actual product that you’re complaining about the price of is incredibly misleading and is only going to further contribute to tons of conversation on message boards where people get themselves all in a frenzy about things they have zero understanding of.
Feels like misinformation to me, and I try to stem the tide of that as much as possible. Nothing personal.
1 Like
It is always the little things that people forget about running a business… like the cost of actually running the business. I am not sure if Chris runs CLYW out of his house or in an actual office but either way the cost of paying for the space and utilities (water, electricity, heat) would probably factor into the cost of the product as well. Also, if he has employees there has to be some way of paying them as well. Plus there are probably quite a few other things I am missing, all of which need to be paid for from the sale of product. After all of that is factored in then it is probably possible to start talking about making a profit.
Factoring all that into the picture, the Yeti has a great price point. I plan on picking one up when it drops.
This is not my definitive word on the subject, just some educated guesses I am taking from watching my father run his own camera repair business for most of his life.
Well said Steve!
I got to play both on my tour of the Onedrop factory. Both are amazing! (I loved the Rally’s slick looks and how it felt in the hand). I have to admit seeing the Yeti in hand it’s quite different in feel and the pictures don’t do it any justice. It is stable and solid. It doesn’t feel like cheap plastic. I’m no CLYW fan-boy but I’m quite impressed with how the prototype played. I’m going to get a couple, if I can. Not only to support the innovation, but because it’s honestly a damn good throw. And for me that’s what it all boils down to for me. I support both of these companies for sticking out their necks, to not only give us what we have been asking for, but doing it so well. It’s a risk for them, plain and simple.