Let me chime in with an unscheduled review:
Duncan gets freaky with the Freakhand. These are monster/horror themed Freehand2’s in all translucent plastic with matching Duncan Dice CW and new monster graphics. Too scared to yoyo? Maybe the Freakhand isn’t for you!
Some specs:
Diameter:57.15mm
Width:38.1mm
Gap: 3.43mm
WEight:58 grams
What is it? Again, it’s essentially a Freehand2 with monster/horror graphics. It comes in 4 colors and there’s some mail-in offer for a t-shirt.
Enough. How does it play?
Out of the box, it’s responsive. It feels good but it’s too darn responsive. A bearing cleaning helped and now it’s semi-responsive, which means it WILL come with a tug but isn’t so willing to come back as frequently as it was before. I find this to be really good for myself for now as I did set it up with the dice CW and am trying 5A with it. The tug responsiveness helps with “one less thing to deal with”, although I can bind just fine.
The Freakhand appears to use Duncan silicone stickers, 12mm inner diameter sized and an A-bearing. These also don’t ship with extra spacers but are completely compatible with the Duncan spacer and bearing kit. I suppose you could beefcake this if you wanted to.
Overall, for $15, this readily available off the shelf yoyo is a good introduction to 1A and 5A without much cost or investment. It’s easy to mod, by removing stickers or replacing spacers. It’s relatively durable. It could be heavier though, which I think would help with spin times. The width could also be a tad wider, but it’s really just a re-themed FH2, so the specs are identical to the FH2, including play and personality. I can say this because I have a white FH2.
In general, this is fun, it’s not expensive and it’s easy to get. But, there’s plenty of better stuff out there for 1A and 5A, such as the FHZ or Metal Drifter. The semi-responsive can be a strength or a weakness depending on preferences, skill and individual style. It is pocket friendly and the colors are pretty cool.
The weight, as I mentioned, could be better. I wonder if there are weight rings. It just doesn’t seem to sleep or spin ideally as long as I like, and it starts to tilt out after longer combos where-as stuff like my DM2, dv888 or even PSG or Asteroid are still fast, strong and stable.
The narrowness and walls are very unforgiving. One really bad hit and you’re toast, so bind it back and start over.
I bought one for use since I do a horror film festival, but people didn’t “get it”. Oh well, maybe because it was spinning. Or maybe because I’m not that good(I’ve gotten better!).
So, my recommendation:
Nothing special or amazing. Good for starting with 5A and cheap enough and common enough where you won’t give a crap if you beat this to oblivion and back. Nice beater for 1A as well. Definitely worth the money and I’m glad I have one.
(Sorry, not the best review. I suck I know. But I try. I also wasn’t planning a review)