Well, then if you want a nice all round yoyo you can replace if you break or lose it, the Wedge would be fine.
If you want something that is actually adjustable from responsive to unresponsive, the YoyoFactory Velocity is your only option really.
If you want something that is very durable, the Yoyofactory Replay Pro is a good pick. It is more stable then the Wedge. It also won the national yoyo contest. The only con is that it is a little heavy.
If you want a cheap metal yoyo, the Yoyofactory Pauloista is on sale for $24. I’ve briefly tried one, and it is a decent throw. It is just as stable as the Replay Pro and more stable then the Wedge.
When I was starting in 2014 or so, I used a Duncan Speed Beatle. I got a Yomega Maverick(newer version), and after that, a Yoyofactory Horizon. I beat that Maverick to heck but it still works. The Horizon has lots of dings around the edges but is still smooth, I didn’t punish it nearly as much as the Maverick.
Moral of the story? If you have a high quality yoyo and beat it learning tricks, the material doesn’t matter all that much, so long as you don’t strip the axle or sit on it.
The yoyo won’t be spinning very fast, so it won’t have enough momentum to both wind up the string AND pull itself back to your hand against gravity. For a bind on a slow spinning yoyo you need to give it extra upwards momentum allowing the spin to simply wind up the string.
Basically you need to tug upwards with your throw hand enough to bring the yoyo up to a catch-able height - I usually aim for a little above shoulder height to give the string enough time to wind.
Sorry if that’s not the best description, but if you practice adding that extra upward momentum you should be able to bind a yoyo which is barely spinning at all.
That seems like a good description to me, but I think this is the wrong thread.
Speaking of snap starting unresponsive yoyos, sometimes I notice that when I do this, I get a nice tight bind, but other times I feel something slipping, and nothing binds at all. It feel similar to the feeling of doing the same motion on a dead yoyo. I’m not sure what I’m doing differently, but it doesn’t seem to happen too often.
Yeah, I realise this is probably the wrong thread and 3 months too late…
Binds and snap starts take time to master, and I’m certainly not claiming the “master” title myself - I’ve seen a video of someone snap starting straight into a fingerspin! Definitely well beyond my ability.
You might want to play around with different string thickness/material or different response pads/silicone. That’s one of the great things about yoyos - experimentation!
