Hey guys,
I’m new to this “advanced” yoyoing and have just started using my first ball bearing yoyo (about 4-5 days). A Duncan Dragonfly. Having some trouble landing mounts and I cant get a sleeper for longer than 15 - 20 secs. Is there anything I can do to help this or am i looking at upgrading already?
thanks in advance
the duncan dragonfly isn’t very good. Are you advanced enough to bind? if so you could try making the dragonfly unresponsive. I took the cork pads out of mine, and put in some flowable silicone, and it works okay.
But it’s not that best yoyo to learn on. you should go for a yyj lyn fury or a yyf one. Or if you have a little higher of a price limit, go for a dm2. 
I haven’t really practiced binding yet as the dragonfly is pretty responsive, but im sure i could figure it out if need be. I was thinking of getting a duncan metal drifter next although the “one” looks pretty cool too for such a low price.
ehh I’d steer clear of the metal drifter. there are a lot better throws for around the same price. the one is responsive or unresponsive with the change of a bearing. and the lyn fury is responsive, and unresponsive is you do a really simple mod.
I don’t see why you can’t learn a ton on a responsive Duncan Dragonfly. 4-5 days is not a long time. Landing mounts smoothly and getting long spin times takes a lot of practice. So yeah, practice will help with your troubles. Don’t get discouraged; have fun!
Trust me, it’s your throw, not the yoyo. While the dragonfly isn’t that great of a yoyo, you can certainly get all of the beginner tricks down on it. Just keep practising your throw.
so upgrading to something like the one or velocity isn’t going to really be beneficial in helping to land mounts or get longer sleep times? what about practicing binds, can you bind with a responsive yoyo?
Can you bind? Yes. Effectively? No.
If you have the money, you can certainly pick up a better yoyo, but you don’t NEED one. The velocity is good, but you’d probably be better off with a lyn fury (a personal favourite).
The one or the velocity both have a bigger catch zone, thus making tricks easier to land.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with the dragonfly. Yes there are better yoyos, but practice is what makes a player.
thanks for the suggestions so far guys! Im definitely going to keep practicing with my dragonfly for now, maybe thin lube it.
for my next im looking at a velocity, lyn fury, or a one. hoping either one will provide better sleep times and a larger surface for mounting.
Right now, you just need practice, not a new throw.
If you get a Metal Drifter, there are some simple mods you can do to make it play a lot better.
A simple mod to make the dragonfly play better: take some 14 gauge wire, and put two pieces of it under each cap. This will add some rim weight to the yoyo, making the spin time longer.
Also, you don’t need to get a yoyo with a larger catch zone. Sometimes, I practice my string tricks with a modded Duncan Bumblebee. Using the small gap makes my precision better, and improves the quality my mounts and transfers greatly.
Last year I bought a Dragonfly mainly because of nostalgic purposes. During the 1999/2000 boom, I wanted a Turbo Bumble Bee GT but never got around to picking one up, my local card shop was carrying them. I did find however that my D-Fly’s gap was quite narrow, limiting what I could do trick-wise as it kept snagging on me. I also found it dying out/flipping out on me. I will note though that unmodded my D-Fly pulled off a 2-minute sleeper. Forget widening the gap because the string will slip. Weight rings however make the yoyo feel beefier.
When you’re ready for something to grow with, a Lyn Fury/YYJ Plastic, YYF One (never tried one…pun intended), Duncan FH2010, Metal Drifter (These are awesome metals for $20), or maybe even a Squirrel if you want something small to stuff in your pockets. Personally, if I were back at rock bottom and relearning everything, I would probably want a wider yoyo like the Drifter or Lyn Fury/Kickside, something with a larger catch zone.
A note about the Duncan line that can be frustrating for beginners: friction stickers and how fast they wear down. Fortunately, the Metal Drifter has silicone pads instead of the cloth friction pads that the 2010 FH2 has. It can be frustrating when they wear down and being a beginner, not knowing why the yoyo keeps slipping down and not sleeping. I will note that my FH2010 does seem to hold silicone as well as my Drifter. A tip for these is to remove a pad, it will still be responsive and you’ll have a spare pad.
absolute truth but if you are having fun with that yoyo get a better 1. I say get a kickside. It’s a great yoyo responsive or unresponsive. You just have to make it that way.