Haha, good luck! It won’t take long to get the terminology. The most basic to understand is “responsive” vs. “unresponsive” yoyoing, which is the biggest thing impacting most of our recommendations.
“Responsive” just means like the yoyos you’re probably accustomed to. They can sleep at the end of the string, but at the end of the day when you give the string a tug, the yoyo will return to your hand.
“Unresponsive” means that (ideally) no matter how many times you give it a tug, the yoyo does not come back to your hand. It just hops around. To get it back to your hand you have to perform a “bind” which is more or less a special trick that makes the string engage with the walls of the yoyo so that it comes back to your hand. Most modern string-trick yoyoing (1A) is done with an unresponsive yoyo because it allows you to hop the yoyo around and add multiple wraps of string around the axle without the yoyo coming back to your hand before you want it to.
The recommendations in this thread are primarily along the lines of “get something that can be responsive so that you can shake off the rust and do certain tricks, but then consider getting unresponsive so that you can do the more modern stuff.” The Dark Magic 2 and other yoyos recommended go from responsive to unresponsive just by changing the bearing.
The Speed Maker all day! It’s the best plastic ever! It’s all catch zone, spins pretty decently, it was designed by THE master Hiroyuki “Mickey” Suzuki who like a 19 time world champ or something dumb. Basically what I’m saying is any of those yo-yos will do great, I can do any of the tricks I know on any of your listed yo-yos. I’m just biased because the speed maker was my first throw. Also yo-yoing has come a long way since Yomega fireballs and just be sure you know what to expect before you get a bind required throw.
OK, all, I’ve narrowed it down to a handful of yoyos based on recommendations and reading around, but I do have a question regarding redundancy.
I’m thinking of buying a handful of yos: YYF ONE, YYF Paul Han ONEstar, YYJ Classic and maybe a YYF ShaqlerStar.
Since I’m still getting familiar with the terminology and whatnot, I’m curious if any of those listed above are redundant. For example, is the ONE and ONEstar so close to the same that it’d be pointless, at this time, for me to get both?
And one final question: I’m going to buy a couple packs of various strings to play with, but what about lubrication?
The one and onestar are very different, at least from reviews I’ve read. Personally, I don’t feel the need to own all those plastics because some of that money could be better spent on string and accessories or maybe even saving up for a nice metal throw. Which is where you’re headed if you stick with strong tricks.
I just got back into yoyoing after a 12-year layoff. The world has changed quite a bit, but I’m enjoying the new tricks. Back in the day I could do string tricks like split the atom, trapeze and brother, double or nothing and such. I had heard about such things as boingy-boing, but didn’t have anyone to show it to me then.
When I started back last December, I got a YoYoFactory Velocity, since it was cheap and could be adjusted for both responsive and unresponsive play. After a couple of weeks I was ready for a new throw, and after reading reviews and such I got a YYF Protostar, and then a couple of weeks later, a YYJ Dark Magic 2. I like both of those throws a lot, but I find myself playing a bit more with the Protostar. I’ve played with some of the cheaper plastics as well (the One, the PSG, the Whip, and the Classic), and they all have their points, but I find myself gravitating back to the Protostar and the DM2. The DM2 has more of an old-school feel, but the Protostar seems to spin a bit longer for me and plays a bit faster. Having them both is nice. I find that some tricks I seem to learn better on one or the other, but once I’ve learned them I can develop more of a feel for the essence of the trick after practicing on several yoyos.
Others have suggested trying several kinds of string, which I highly recommend. I also have used flowable silicone to replace the response in my Protostar, which I found to work well, and wasn’t too hard to do. You will also want to learn about cleaning bearings, etc. I lube mine after cleaning with YYJ thin lube (a tiny bit) to keep them quieter.
Have fun getting back into it. In the last two and a half months I have learned a number of new tricks including some cool ones that were unheard of in the old days, like the whips, slacks, lacerations, etc. And if you were any good with string tricks back then, you will be amazed at what you can do with an unresponsive yoyo. I almost never have the yoyo snap back unexpectedly, which made learning some of those string tricks quite painful back in the day… Now I can do combos like a pullover to chain reaction to split the atom (possible this far in my days with a responsive throw) followed by a couple of boomerangs into a split bottom mount followed by pop-n-fresh and ripcord to a bind. It still blows my mind that this is possible on one throw. (I’m sure some of the young bucks out there are saying, “yeah, so what?” But I’m having fun.)
Hi skatalite. Welcome back to the wonderful world of yo-yos.
I’ve read your posts and you seem like a nice fellow. I’m willing to send you a few yo-yos to try that may help in your decision making process. You can throw them for a couple weeks and send them back. It’s gonna cost ya though… $6.00. Priority with tracking please. If those terms are acceptable send me a message with your mailing address.
I fancy myself as a good judge of character. You seem to fit the bill.
The ONE and ONEstar are two different yoyos. The ONE is YYF’s beginner yoyos that still plays well no matter what skill set you’re in. The ONEstar has a very similar shape to the ShaqlerStar you’ve mentioned earlier but without the weight rings the ShaqlerStar has.
I suggest getting 100 pieces of 100% Polyester string :]. YYE’s bulk string will do for now because it’s still a killer for the price.
Lubrication is there if any of your bearings need some care. Grab both thick and thin lubes because it’ll last you a while. Again, like I suggested earlier, either YYF or YYJ branded lube is fine. :]
And this is the best thing about the yoyo community, you get lots of support from everyone and even a few surprises when you least expect it. Enjoy the trial package he’ll give you
Good choice taking him up on that offer! You’ll quickly come to find that this community is full of great people like Vegabomb who will happily help you out when you need it.
My advice is as follows: spend a good amount of time playing around with whatever Vega sends you and make note of your likes and dislikes. Then, come back here with those thoughts and let us all give you a hand in picking out your next step.
The great thing about yoyoing is that it can be as cheap or expensive as you want. A skilled thrower could win World’s with a $20 plastic yoyo just as easily as he/she could with a $400 titanium yoyo, so your investment is really up to you. The only thing you’ll need is a lot of string and, of course, there are a huge number of options and preferences there as well.
Once you get more comfortable with your throw and figure out a few tricks you like, let us know how things are going and we’ll be able to recommend new tricks to learn and styles to try. Something you’ll probably love to see is 5A; when a counterweight is attached to the string and the string isn’t attached to your hand. There’s been fantastic advancement in that style as well as all the others, but I find the newest generation of 5A tricks to be the most immediately impressive and bewildering.
Regardless of how quickly or slowly you progress, make sure to have fun with it. There’s a whole community of people here who have been throwing for years and years, so definitely don’t hesitate to ask questions until you’re red in the face.
I have some KLR’s that the responce groove is not deep enough for factory settings.
The pads are above the surface a few thousanths.
It would make for a good practice throw, to learn how to bind.
PM me, ill hook you up.
Okay, so thick lube and thin lube is chosen at checkout and if you click on the links, they'll explain how they work. Basically, thick lube is for responsive yoyos where the yoyo comes back with a little tug and they're also for looping yoyos where you can do loops (throwing the yoyo forward, not down and receiving it then simultaneously throwing it out over and over again). Thin lube is for unresponsive yoyos where the yoyo won't come back up no matter how much you pull so you have to do something called a bind where you make a loop and create tension in the gap of the yoyo and therefore, letting the yoyo come back up.
Thanks for this! I’ve definitely noticed the price range just by looking through YYE’s shop. Lots of pretty yoyos out there, and some incredibly cool demo videos.
I went rummaging through my boxes of miscellaneous items and, amongst a bunch of old Pogs (haha!), I found my Saber Raider and a Fireball. Gah, must be 15-16 years old by now. But I’ve been messing around with them the past couple of days. Heck, I remember thinking the SB2 was the end-all-be-all because it was, like, $200.
Yep, throw and return. Vegabomb is doing me a huge favor, that’s for sure. Since I’m basically starting fresh, I need to get versed on the new technologies and styles. Slowly but surely, it’s all coming together. Vega is helping me out a ton by giving me a sample of what’s out there so I can see what I actually like/am comfortable with, and that way I have a much, much better idea of what to buy.
The General is also being awesome by sending me one of his yoyos. I’ve read very positive things about them since joining this forum, so I’m eager to try out the KLR. It’s also cool to be getting a yoyo made in Riverside, since I grew up in SoCal.
Sadly, I don’t know of any stores in the Oklahoma City area that sell yoyos, outside of typical Duncans and Yomegas. And I’m one of those people who like to touch/try things out first; it comes from being a musician — I have a hard time buying a guitar sight-unseen, much less buying one before playing it.
Again, thanks to both those members, and to everyone who has helped me get up to speed. Fifteen years away from the sport/hobby created a lot of catching up. But, the generosity and kindness shown by this community is handsdown awesome. Thanks, all.
Eventually you’ll feel that you have a good handle on things within the yoyoing community. I guarantee that when that happens, something will come along and surprise the hell out of you! People here can be exceptionally kind at times.
Make sure to take your time with the whole process of yoyoing once Vega’s throws show up. When you’re first starting out or coming back from a long bread it can be very easy to get discouraged or burnt-out. I’ve let it happen to me most times than I can count and not a single one of them was necessary. Just go slowly and stay relaxed!
Cool man! I’m here in Oklahoma as well and restarting after about a 2-3 year hiatus. I missed the community haha! I didn’t think any one was left in the okie state that threw. We should throw sometime! As far as getting a good yoyo to get back into it with there are some really good yoyos out there that are pretty awesome and cheap. You can get a DV888 for about 50 bucks and its all metal and plays super smooth. I use mine more than my Augie G5+ now. The whip looks like a solid performer and the grind machine is always a good choice. Good luck!
