So, I got a bottle of yoyofactory thin lube and I’ve been using that on all my yoyos since I figured it was all the same stuff. But then I noticed on the box of yoyojam yoyos it says not to use anything besides yoyojam brand lube.
It seems like it should be fine, but I can’t help but be paranoid. One yoyo in particular (yoyojam big ben) seems like the bearing is spinning unusually slow which makes doing offstring kinda hard.
Don’t worry, any yoyo lube will work perfectly fine in any bearing yoyo. Additionally, many non-yoyo branded lubes will work (sewing maching oil, trumpet valve oil, gun oil, etc). They are all pretty much the same thing with regards to yoyo bearings. Some of them are probably actually the exact same thing with different logos on the label. There is nothing special about YYJ yoyos or lube that requires they be used exclusively together. The YYJ warning is probably to encourage you to buy their products and to make sure you don’t use random household products that might damage the yoyo or fail to lubricate the bearing properly.
You may just have too much lube in the Big Ben bearing. Try cleaning the bearing out and re-applying a small amount of lube.
Lots of lube is the same stuff, but not all of it. With some lubes I can notice a difference. Some people can’t notice a difference at all. I guess it’s just a matter of how refined your tastes are.
But, any yoyo lube will do and many non yoyo lubes work just fine.
When I bought my first yoyo a year ago today, I didn’t buy any lube. I was worried about ruining my bearings, but didn’t really have the money to spend on buying lube by itself after factoring in shipping. The only yoyo website that I knew about online charged for shipping no matter how small or large the order. So anyway, I went out and bought some Rem Oil (it’s gun oil). I used it on my bearings once or twice in about a month, but since then I haven’t put any sort of lube on my bearings. Don’t worry about which lube you use in any bearing, it’s not going to matter. In fact, I would recommend not using any lube at all unless you’re wanting to play responsive. My bearings haven’t been lubed in about 11 months, and they’re all completely fine.
Keep in mind that yomega says to only use brain lube on their stuff.
BTW - I use brain lube exclusively (because I have a ton of it).
But I use it on everything.