First off - let me say thanks in advance for the help. I’m into a lot of other forums for my other hobbies, but I can already tell I’ve got a lot of reading to do here…
I’m an older beginner - I’ll be 40 in a few days… I tinkered around with the typical Duncan imperial in my youth and a bit again in college… never anything serious though… never even tried to learn to sleep or anything like that.
So - I for some reason now have an urge to learn… Midlife crisis? Second Childhood? No idea… but I’m very interested.
I picked up what I could find at the local Walmart - a Duncan Imperial and a Butterfly. Spent about 3 hours off and on yesterday watching videos and practicing my throw… by midnight I could finally control a sleep and return… but it still needs a lot of work.
I also found that I think I want to get a bit better yoyo to start with, as both of these just dont want to sleep for very long at all - maybe 10 seconds or so… and they dont appear very well balanced.
That being said - I’m heading to Toy’s R Us tonight planning on picking up a Metal Drifter. But I wanted to ask if there were any others that they usually carry that would be good as well?
My head is swimming with all the new terminology - but i know I want a responsive yo-yo that can be made unresponsive as I learn more. I believe the Drifter will meet this requirement via the friction stickers and/or bearing oil mods…
Eventually, in a month or two when I acquire some skills, I’ll likely get something like a DM2, but didnt want to throw nearly $50 at this until I’m sure I’ll enjoy it long term.
Thanks for your suggestions and I look forward to learning more…
I would say skip the drifter and get a DMII. Then go through the tutorials on this site. That’s how a lot of us got started.
The DMII comes with two bearings, a thin and a wide, so you will be able to move from the beginner tricks to the more advanced. If you get stuck or have questions just ask on the forums. We are here to help.
DM2 is a great way to go. There are even cheaper options, but none of them would quite stack up to the DM2 (or others by YYJ in the same tier).
But if you’re really uncertain of the spend, get a Legacy II by YoyoJam or a YoyoJam Classic and buy an extra bearing to go with it (for when you want to try unresponsive). The Legacy II comes with both bearings, the Classic only comes with the slim so you need to buy the larger one separately.
There’s also the YoyoFactory One. The lighter weight gives it shorter spin times, but it will certainly give you more than 10 seconds.
If you are goint to TRU then get a yoyofactory velocity ;D
with it’s adjustable response level you can “grow” with the yoyo.
It’s a pretty awesome value for 15.00.
or…
Message me your address and I’ll send you a yoyo ;). I think I have one you will like. It was given to me when I first joined this site… i think its time to pass it on. It’s been used dinged up … dyed red and put thru heck. But I don’t use it much anymore and it needs to be played with.
You will have to learn to bind to use it but… it’s not that hard to figure out. Let me know if you want it.
If you are set on getting something from Toys R Us, see if they have a Yomega Maverick. It will take you pretty far. You can make them unresponsive quite easily when you want to learn how to bind.
If you are willing to purchase a yoyo online, there are tons of great options out there. The YoYoJam Classic is the best yoyo to start with in my opinion.
Welcome. I started a few months ago with a Duncan Butterfly, then bought a DMII. Now I’m throwing a Yoyorecreation Sleipnir. Top of the line Japanese craftsmanship. If I were you I would skip on the Metal Drifter. I may be wrong on this, but I don’t believe it comes with a responsive bearing. The DMII is a great choice for beginners, but as someone else already said, the YoyoJam Classic or any other cheap YoyoJam will be great for you. Just make sure to buy a thin responsive bearing if the yoyo doesn’t come with one. If you’re like me then you probably want to go ahead and get the Metal Drifter so you don’t have to wait for your yoyo to ship to you. If you have the money to buy it for that reason then I would say go ahead. If not then it would be worth the time and money to go ahead and buy a cheaper YoyoJam or YoyoFactory yoyo.
Thanks for the info guys - I’m now leaning toward the Maverick after doing a bit more reading…
Like I said - if I stick with it, a DM2 will likely be in my future… my wife things I’m nuts… she literally is laughing at me wanting to go to toys r us tonight… Ohh well - I could always go out and buy another guitar for $500 instead… who’d be laughing then?
he did mention getting another guitar… I play bass myself and actually went on a TRU/GC trip to get my son his ProZ and i got a foot controller for my line6 amp a few months ago.
ToysRus should carry fh2’s which are now stock recessed. They have a good shape and will play better than the metal drifter due to the recess. Some of them also carry fhz’s. If they have light up ones those are also stock recessed
I’d be very interested as to their total stock but those would be my choices unless by some magical chance they have flipsides which would be the best possible choice
Ok here’s what you do. Buy a yoyojam Classic. A one drop 10 ball bearing, YoyoJam silicone pads and maybe 2 packs of fat kitty string.
With this you’ll be able to make it through all of the intermediate section stock an then put in the new Pads and bearing with this you can go as far as you’d like. (Until you want another yoyo)
Welcome fellow older player. I started nearly 2 years ago at the age of 39.
I started wth a Reflex and an Imperial. Yes, getting that throw good and steady is important.
Before you spend any money, there are a lot of ways to go. Personally, the selection at Toys R Us is hit and miss and this varies from store to store. It’s not well supported, so it’s a good thing you came here. Now you can get help and yoyos to upgrade to.
First, we haven’t really established how dedicated you are to this. Older players can be more determined. This is good.
The Metal Drifter is OK, but you can do better. Stock, it’s responsive: comes back with a tug. With a good bearing cleaning, it becomes unresponsive(needs a bind return to come back).You can do the same thing with a Freehand2 or a Freakhand. However, you may not want to deal with bearing cleanings and stuff like that just yet. This is why I’m going to mention thngs like budget. Figure out how much you’re willing to spend.
First, I think you’re going to want to go with a package that has everything you need to go from responsive to unresponsive play. The YoYoJam Classic is great, but you have to order extra parts, and you may not be up for that yet. For a few dollars more, you can get the YoYoJam Legacy II, which keeps you under $25 If you want to spend a bit more($30 total), there is the YYJ Chaser. For more, there is the YYJ DM2(a proven favorite) and a few otehrs with plastic bodies and metal rims. The models I have specifically mentioned come with a slim bearing pre-installed for responsive play, but also include a wide bearing for unresponsive play. While now we’re talking a budget around $45 for the yoyo, you’ll find this is the tip of the iceberg but don’t worry about that now.
Now you need to decide if you want lube or not. You will need strings, so get a 25, 50 or 100 count of YYE 100% polyester string. So what if it says “advanced”. You can get it.
The bad side is Toys R Us does not carry YoYoJam. You’ll have to order it from an online retailer unless there is a nearby store that carries a larger selection of yoyos. Call first and save time.
Yeah, my wife thinks I’m nuts too. I can guaranty you, I can easily drop $2K on cabling and not blink an eye at it. Being a sound production company is very expensive. Right now I’m looking at a potential $8K repair bill for 2 bits of gear. Stuff happens(bad caps, parts fail).
Funny, I’m off to Guitar Center to get a small mixer for making yoyo contests a bit more portable. I also do sound production for yoyo contests. I got a friend of mine who is into yoyo, into sound!
Whatever you do, consider the options and budget. Don’t go nuts yet.
Lots of options… and cash isnt that tight… I just wanted to be sure before I go off the deep end…
Long story short - I picked up the Maverick…
I love it…
I mean… lets be honest - I suck… but at least now I’m not rewinding like every time I throw. Its only every fourth or fifth…
Seriously though - I’m getting my throw down. Its hard to control as a total noob… I have about 2 out of 5 that are nice and stable and not tilted… man the tilting thing is a major pain in the tail. But I can already tell that I’m getting the hang of it.
I can sleep for 20 seconds or so and control the return pretty well… so thats a big step up. I just need to work on the throw… throw… throw for now…
So, what is the first thing I should learn? I’ve looked at videos about binding and it looks like I will need to be able to do a mount of some sort… I tried and failed miserably a couple of times to even get the yo-yo on the string… it looks so easy online…
I think I need to find a local 12 year old yo-yo savant to give me lessons… and thats no joke… My last guitar teacher was 12 years younger than me… and that boy could SHRED.
Work on your throw, get your “kiddy tricks” down from the basic/beginner tricks, get comfortable with those. With a better throw(your throwing of the yoyo) and confidence, the sleep time will improve. Bind would be the next logical step around when you hit Brain Twister.
Other than that, perseverance and practice. I still suck, I try to throw every day and I just enjoy it!
I can’t tell you how many hours I spent (having fun, mind you! It didn’t feel boring to me in the least!) with my Raider just throwing a “Man on the Flying Trapeze” (henceforth known simply as “trapeze”) and doing a “fly away” return to hand.
Trapeze. Pull your hands apart quickly to pop the yoyo in the air. It’s a responsive yoyo, so the slack grabs and it comes back to your throw hand.
Over and over and over. Watching TV while doing hundreds of these… just because they’re so fun and with the Raider that’s about all I felt like doing.
You can move to binds whenever you feel like it (I started practicing binds with the Raider while waiting for my DM2) but there’s no need to rush. Get that sleeper/gravity pull down. Get that trapeze going. Won’t be long before you’re doing UFOs and sidewinders (to this day, the funnest “beginner” tricks of all time IMO). Suddenly you’re doing Atom Smashers…
a few months ago.