When I first got into yoyoing it was really common for someone to evaluate a yoyo’s performance based on the price of another. For example, you might hear someone say:
“The N12 is a $16 yoyo that plays like a $35 yoyo”
or
“The Silenus is a $35 yoyo that plays like a $50 yoyo.”
That kind of thing. I used to see it all the time on the internet. People still do it, but I don’t think it’s as prevalent as it used to be.
My question is, since we’re now at a point where “every yoyo is good,” can we even say how good a yoyo should be at a certain price? Should this still be a thing?
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it either. I do it all the time. I’ll probably always do it.
And that’s a really good point. A lot of Magicyoyos are sub $25, but most of them play good. 5 year’s ago, there were still good yoyo’s out there for under $25, but there was a lot of garbage throws out there too. I’d say when we’re talking about yoyo’s that cheap, price is probably the best unit of measurement.
What I’m getting at, is once you get into the $50 and up range, is shape and personal preference more relevant to how good a yoyo plays than price?
I would say that at this point what separates an $50 or even $80 from a $30 YoYo is just looks or details.
The anodizing and the look of the design isn’t as good but they play as good. The exception is that the bearings they come with seem to often be inferior.
idk, in my experience, except in rare cases, $70+ yoyos typically play better than anything cheaper. Unless it is the incredibly cheap magicyoyos, imo you are kind of getting what you pay for these days.
In terms of ability to pull off tricks, I think you might be harder pressed to argue that a $100+ throw will really give you a competitive advantage over, say, a Shutter Wide Angle or any competition-focused design. In this scenario, I think the design and specs of the yoyo matter a lot more than price/boutique-ness. So the “X yoyo for $Y plays like a yoyo that costs $Y” doesn’t really add any information.
In terms of a boutique feel, though, I think it makes more sense. If, say, One Drop can match the smoothness of a much more expensive throw with one of their budget throws like the SK, then I think the comparison is meaningful. (Also, IMO the SK plays like something they could have changed a fair bit more $$ for.)
That said, since I started collecting a couple of years, the quality you can get per dollar spent has definitely increased, especially from small boutique companies like Circle City or ThrowCafe. So I wonder if saying the Silenus, for example, is a $30 yoyo that plays like a $50+ should still has meaning since what you can get for $50 has improved so much since it came out that IMO it’s a $30 that plays like a $30.
The only time I use this is when I think there is no better yoyo up to a certain price.
For example, if I have a $30 yoyo. And imo it is the best yoyo I’ve ever played under $50, I’ll say it plays like a $50 yoyo.
But yeah I would say I definitely don’t use this as much because I don’t think nowadays there are really any yoyos that are straight up better than yoyos that cost $10 or $20 more. When you’re looking for the best, what you get is really what you pay for nowadays imo
“Plays like a $50 yoyo” is meaningless to me unless (a) you tell me which $50 yoyo you think it plays like, and (b) that particular $50 yoyo doesn’t play like a DV888…
