At what point does vibe actually matter? Or is it basically just preferential? I have a couple yo-yos with fairly heavy vibe that I like a lot more than some I’ve played that are dead smooth, it doesn’t seem to negatively impact play in my experience, I guess I don’t really mind vibe🤷♂️
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That’s the whole deal, mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it don’t matter.
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I’m more in the camp of “Hey, this throw cost $100. It better be smooth for that price.” Then there’s nail vibe or something is wrong/defective. I have only ever received 2 yoyos out of 50ish that were defective from the manufacturer, and both were refunded no problem. Some with nail vibe can be fixed with a bit of tightening/loosening, swapping or cleaning the bearing, or even just bumping it around a bit. I like my 1A throws to be smooth as possible, more for a feeling rather than performance.
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Yeah I can agree with that sentiment, if I spent $100 on a throw I would want it to be smooth, most of my throws have been secondhand so fortunately I haven’t had to pay a whole lot for some pretty good throws, but I still reach for my vibey throws more than my others for some reason, I kind of like the feedback from the vibration, idk how to describe what I mean really, I feel like they spin more aggressively than my smooth throws lol
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For me is only about if it start to affect playing, I do not mind some nail vibe or even a slight vibe on the yoyo (also because while you play is not like you really feel it), it become annoying only when affect rotation and play and start to pulse.
I over used and destroyed couple of yoyos in my life and I stop to play with them only when they started to wobble quite a bit and mess around with the string as well (I think I kind of misalligned the halves or the dings where so many that changed the weight distribution), otherwise I do not really care.
Said that I can understand the sentiment of someone getting annoyed if paid more than 100$ for a premium product and find it to have a certain amount of vibes (again I think nail vibe is just stupid and many yoyos have it).
I noticed how in the yoyo world seems a matter of luck about this vibe things, some 30$ yoyos have glass smooth (Yoyofriends, C3 comes to my mind) and some other expensive have nail vibe, being bimetal also can’t really help!
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I could literally write a book about this subject… but I will spare you guys and just keep it short>>>
Within a year of the beginning of my yo-yo modding adventures, I started going to contests and deliberately running in to really good players. That was around 1998…
I have had many short to very long conversations with dozens and dozens of players over the last few decades. I have been to breakfast, lunch and dinner with everybody sitting around the table with mad playing skills but me, lol.
In ‘Hundreds’ of conversations, I have NEVER…. EVER……LIKE IN NEVER-EVER heard a single player even attempt to make ‘vibey’ yo-yos the subject to talk about.
Of course only an Idiot would deliberately dumb enough to want or prefer a vibey yo-yo over a smoother yoyo. That’s only logical/common sense.
But back in the 90’s, most yo-yos had some sort of vibe: string…edge of yoyo… or both.
People were driven to evolve the trick ladder in an upward direction and vibe was not an excuse to stunt trick generating.
The String Doctors in California: Big Dave, the Longoria brothers, Nathan Crissey, Johnnie DelValle, Stu Pendous , Paul Escolar, Gabe Lozano, Spencer Berry, etc> they were using Freehands, Superyo Renegades, Bumblebee G5’s and creating tricks that are still amazing today. Especially considering the level of difficulty in using yo-yos that by todays standards, now seem pretty darn primitive, lol
The following are a few reasons ‘vibe’ seemed to become a ‘thing’.
As yo-yos became more expensive, people began to focus more on getting their moneys worth. Yo-yos seems more disposable when they cost less than $20. Obviously back then $20 still wasn’t Peanuts, but when the Cold Fusion came out at around $150, things changed. $150 bucks for a yo-yo? What quality can you expect for $150?
Kinda like a Hamburger. You walk down to the corner and buy a big hamburger for $1. As long as it tastes ok…… for a buck, what the heck? Right?
Now, if you go to Wonder_Burger and you pay $30 for a Hamburger, that sucker better be ‘Legendary’!
There are a good number of yo-yo enthusiasts that seem to focus a little too much energy on the Vibe factor, than the playability factor.
With the advent of Titanium yo-yos flowing into the scene, the preoccupation with vibe ramped up. When people ‘Bounce’: $300, $400, $500 for a yo-yo, near perfection levels of smoothness are expected, at least partly to justify the Extravagant prices.
The pastime is more complicated when considering that hundreds of dollars for one yoyo… is. Ton of money for some folks. The less money you have to spend on a yo-yo, but stick your neck out and spend it anyways, makes it even more critical that you feel you got a precision yoyo that justifiesthe high price tag.
Interestingly, some yo-yos with Absolutely NO Vibe whatsoever, don’t even play that well, lol…
But, they sure are smooth, aren’t they?
Bottom line… you pay more, you expect more, right? But, this mindset has migrated down to even less expensive yo-yos. People want and expect every single yoyo at every price point to be literally vibe free.
There is nothing wrong with wanting a good value for your money, no matter what your budget.
But, the more concerned you are about small amounts of vibe, you are simply wasting energy that could be used to actually practice learning tricks and having fun.
Vibe is heavily overrated.
Throwing yo-yos is much more fun than crying about them.
PS… one thing I should mention that is a sad reality of ‘vibe’> selling a yo-yo with vibe. Many people buy yo-yos, knowing that they will probably just throw them for the adventure and then sell them to finance their next purchase. So the obvious downside of getting a vibey yo-yo, is that you have to honestly disclose the vibe to potential buyers that either won’t even care, or buyers that will lean heavily on the lowest price possible, because your yo-yo has vibe…. And they might not even care. It just turns out to be a bargaining point used by buyers to get better deals. Kinda lame but that’s life.
….
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I’m different. I like a small amount of vibe so I can gage how fast the thow is spinning… If it is absolutely smooth, how can you tell?
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Half the time I’m throwing fixed axle. Best to appreciate vibe when it’s there and appreciate when it isn’t.
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I just blame myself for not binding cleanly or throwing a bad throw if my yoyos vibe enough that I can see it. I don’t do the like finger nail test to check for vibe ever really.
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I honestly wonder if the focus on perfect smoothness a) reduces the number of shops that are willing to produce yo-yos and b) limits innovation in yo-yo design.
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Once I understood what “nail vibe” was and checked a few throws for it…I realized that the only time I notice nail vibe is when I use my nail to test for it. Before that I had no idea there was any vibe at all. I can have a yo-yo with nail vibe and never feel that vibe in play…on the other hand, I can have vibe on almost every throw from a yo-yo that will smooth out perfectly with a nail test. For me it’s more that I know it’s there so my mind turns it into a thing that it really isn’t.
Now I have also had a yo-yo that really does vibrate due to some sort of imbalance or imperfection. This is way different. This will affect the yo-yo’s play and how much you enjoy/hate it. These are just my thoughts.
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I check for nail vibe:
- Out of idle curiosity when I first receive a new yo-yo.
- Out of morbid curiosity when a yo-yo hits something.
Other than that, any vibe that doesn’t impact play is not important to me.
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If you have to “test” for vibe, your yo-yo is smooth… but I’m old, I can’t stop my hands from shaking long enough to know if it’s me or the throw.
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Way back in another time and place, (when TVs used picture tubes) you could actually see the “nail vibe” by setting the TV to a blank channel (no picture) and throw a sleeper in front of the screen. The 60 hz flicker of the screen was in effect a strobe light that illuminated the vibe very nicely.
(Yeah, I know this shows I’m old 
)
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I have an old tube tv in the basement that I was going to strip for parts. You’re telling me I can just plug it in and make a nail vibe tester out of it?? 
I see you said picture tube. The tv I have is vacuum tube circuitry. 
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Having never seen this with an old TV, I can’t tell if 60hz flicker videos on YouTube create the same result. It does seem like a vibey yoyo has blurry edges.
E.g they can be found by searching for “1080p60 Flicker Test 60 Hz Fps” (warning: may link to flickering/strobing videos)
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I have grown out of expecting zero vibe.
I was watching some pros yo-yo tutorials and noticed in the slow motion replays of the trick elements, every time the string touches the yo-yo, the yo- yo wobbles. Vibe is negligible when you are slapping the yo-yo around off axis and back and forth with the string…
at least that is my two Pennie’s
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It’s the cathode ray tube picture tube that does it all. The other vacuum tubes in the TV are not important. You need the CRT. It’s the TV screen. If you have it, it’s there.
While solid state LED screens also work at the 60 hz frequency I’ve not been able to duplicate the process with them.
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Me too 
New throws or directly after a tragic ding.
I feel like after my yo-yo hits a certain age I no longer care about their well being and I start treating them like I’m the hulk.
I have an old 888 and a superstar dinged to hell and back and I’m surprised it’s still dead smooth on the end of the string. Almost like it’s not even spinning.
There’s something about a lot of these new snowflake yo-yos that can’t take a couple hits off the old coffee table 
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