Love the excitement and energy Nate puts into his routines! Thinking about picking up an ND, but I really didn’t like the way the D10 felt. I assume the ND, with it’s similar “bell” shaped profile, would be about the same experience. Am I wrong?
3 Likes
you were expecting meaningful insight
but it was I, D10!
3 Likes
Not sure what this even means, but it made me smile! 
5 Likes
I’ve got both, I need to get them out and play them to decide how similar they are.
2 Likes
I’m not home so I can’t string them up to compare but IMO from what I remember, they feel pretty different.
1 Like
They play fairly different, but I can tell they were built with the same goals in mind. I played both with YYF centertracs in them, the D10 has plain old yyf string the and ND has a zipline poly in it. My d10 is a B grade, not sure why, there’s the tiniest fingernail vibe and the anno looks great. The ND plays perfectly smooth.
The biggest difference I feel in play is the ND feels a bit faster to me, but less stable. This becomes really apparent when I get it off plane a bit and it starts to tilt. I find it easier to induce tilting on the ND and it’s harder for me to correct it once the tilting starts. The ND also gets to the point where it will slip the string off the side of the yoyo when trying to correct it earlier than the d10. If I keep it in plane and clean, the ND does have more spin and power, but with my typically inaccurate play the D10 spins longer because it doesn’t tilt as easily or quickly.
This is probably all due to the higher rim to center weight ratio of the ND, and I think the D10 has slightly higher walls.
The blast/finish on the ND is much nicer than the D10 for grinds, the ND feels soft in my hand. I can throw it hard and bind it early and it won’t sting me, the D10 isn’t quite as gentle. This surprises me when I look at their profiles.
If the ND ultra’s design takes proper advantage of 7068, with really thin walls but more rim and center weight it would make a yoyo I enjoy more. I haven’t tried the ultra, so I don’t know how it really plays. I know the bind feels more locked in than either of these throws, and I can get away with much lazier play, but it feels heavier on the string than either of these. I think the D10 feels a little better on the string than the ND.
I like the D10 better than the ND, but it really will come down to personal preference. I think the ND will reward a skilled player more than the D10, but I’m a very casual player and the D10 suits me better. Nate is an amazing player, and I bet the things I see as liabilities in the ND are there because it makes some of what he does a little more possible.
Buy an ND? Here’s my opinion: buy a mark1 diffraction. The diffraction’s shape is pretty similar to the ND, I would guess it was designed with similar goals. It plays how I hoped the ND would play. I pick up the diffraction all the time. The diffraction is very powerful and forgiving and plenty stable without feeling like its locked on rails. It is a go to for me when I’m learning new tricks, and I’ll also pick it up just because its fun and easy to just lose myself tossing it around. Neither the D10 or ND tick all those boxes for me. As I continue to improve I might find myself liking the ND more, I like it more now than when I first got it, and I’ll play it now and then just to see if improving my skills makes me like it more.
Sorry you asked? 
4 Likes
You’re kidding. The ND is really rim weighted. One of the strongest rim weighted feeling yoyos I own, so it stays on plane particularly well. This surprises me.
2 Likes
Thanks for the outstanding write up @d34dj3d!!! From everything you’ve described it seems that I probably wouldn’t care for the ND any more than the D10. Thanks for saving me some time and money!!!
2 Likes
Right, surprised me too. I kept going back and forth between them. I spent well over an hour playing them, and that was the most noticeable difference to me.
1 Like
Thanks for putting in the effort!!!
1 Like