# How am I doing? **URL:** \ **Category:** General Yo-Yo\ **Created:** [November 29, 2012, 10:20pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/how-am-i-doing/45902 "2012-11-29T22:20:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dj\_dvs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Dj\_dvs](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/Dj_dvs)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 10:20pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/how-am-i-doing/45902/1 "2012-11-29T22:20:45Z")
So I was shopping for my daughter’s birthday a couple of months ago at Toys R Us, and I decided to pick up a Raider. I did this because back in highschool I messed with a fireball, and I liked doing basic loops. Well I started wanting to learn new tricks and found Andre’s tutorials searching online. Now I am almost through the intermediate section. Some of the tricks I can barely do because the Raider dies pretty quickly when you put string in the gap. My wife is getting me a dark magic 2 for Christmas, and the color will be a surprise. I’m hoping my learning will be accelerated once I start playing on the DM2 as opposed to the Raider. Am I doing ok for 2 months on the Raider? I have all the intermediate tricks excep 3. Right now I’m working on a Mach 5, but the string always kills the yo yo. ---
**Author:** ![WAT-AAH](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/wat-aah/32/1010_2.png) [@WAT-AAH](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/WAT-AAH)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 10:24pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/how-am-i-doing/45902/2 "2012-11-29T22:24:38Z")
That’s great with a raideer, that’s how I started too, and the dark magic 2(also my first high quality yoyo) really accelerated me, keep it up! ---
**Author:** ![StrippedAxle](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/strippedaxle/32/1163_2.png) [@StrippedAxle](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/StrippedAxle)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 10:39pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/how-am-i-doing/45902/3 "2012-11-29T22:39:18Z")
That’s pretty good, especially with a Raider! Keep it up! ---
**Author:** ![A\_Soviet\_Locust](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/a_soviet_locust/32/113687_2.png) [@A\_Soviet\_Locust](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/A_Soviet_Locust)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 10:40pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/how-am-i-doing/45902/4 "2012-11-29T22:40:34Z")
Yeah, with a Raider that’s pretty impressive. DMII is a great yoyo, you’ll like it. ---
**Author:** ![yuki\_onitsura](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/yuki_onitsura/32/1162_2.png) [@yuki\_onitsura](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/yuki_onitsura)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 11:05pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/how-am-i-doing/45902/5 "2012-11-29T23:05:36Z")
That’s pretty sweet progress with a Raider. The DM2 is fantastic and can take you all the way through the tricks. Gave mine away a month ago and I’m kind of missing it now. Yuki ---
**Author:** ![JohnnyJ](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/johnnyj/32/94616_2.png) [@JohnnyJ](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/JohnnyJ)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 11:15pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/how-am-i-doing/45902/6 "2012-11-29T23:15:44Z")
> [@Dj\_dvs](#): > > So I was shopping for my daughter’s birthday a couple of months ago at Toys R Us, and I decided to pick up a Raider. I did this because back in highschool I messed with a fireball, and I liked doing basic loops. Well I started wanting to learn new tricks and found Andre’s tutorials searching online. Now I am almost through the intermediate section. Some of the tricks I can barely do because the Raider dies pretty quickly when you put string in the gap. > > My wife is getting me a dark magic 2 for Christmas, and the color will be a surprise. I’m hoping my learning will be accelerated once I start playing on the DM2 as opposed to the Raider. > > Am I doing ok for 2 months on the Raider? I have all the intermediate tricks excep 3. Right now I’m working on a Mach 5, but the string always kills the yo yo. Are you aware of unresponsive play and the bind return yet? ---
**Author:** ![jhauxfan](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/jhauxfan/32/838_2.png) [@jhauxfan](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/jhauxfan)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 11:19pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/how-am-i-doing/45902/7 "2012-11-29T23:19:23Z")
Doing awesome. You’ll kill with a Dark Magic II. Try not to be too set on learning the tricks in order. If you get stuck on a trick try something else. I can do many of the expert tricks, but I still have trouble with a handful of the advanced ones. ---
**Author:** ![kuyaChristian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kuyaChristian](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/kuyaChristian)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 11:36pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/how-am-i-doing/45902/8 "2012-11-29T23:36:56Z")
Keep the Raider, and maybe buy another one! You said you like doing looping tricks…so you may wanna try out other kinds of looping tricks as well! I like the looping style of play so I like to encourage you to do two-handed looping [2A] Keep up the good work! ---
**Author:** ![anonyo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@anonyo](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/anonyo)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 11:43pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/how-am-i-doing/45902/9 "2012-11-29T23:43:19Z")
IF you really watch the tutorials, Andre explains about the different kind of yoyos and tricks. Enjoy the DM2. It’s what you need for string tricks. Raiders are good for looping. But, you already knew that. ---
**Author:** ![Dj\_dvs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Dj\_dvs](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/Dj_dvs)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 2:53am UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/how-am-i-doing/45902/10 "2012-11-30T02:53:00Z")
Hey thanks everyone for the posts! Im hoping that learning to do some of these tricks on the Raider will sort of force me to have really good form. A trapeze for example has to be dead on or it won’t land so I’m thinking when I get a better landing zone it will make it that much easier. Johnny, I cleaned my bearing the other day which essentially rendered the Raider unresponsive. I learned the 3 binds that Andre teaches in the intermediate section. I found those really simple to learn and was glad because I was worried binds would be tough the way I’ve heard some people talk about them. I guess it helped that I already had trapeze, brain twister, and split bottom mount down though. Well since then I put Vaseline on the bearing because my wife is trying to learn basic stuff. Plus I don’t think the Raider was really meant for unresponsive play (correct me if I’m wrong) I’m not very interested in 2a because I have limited mobility in my left wrist due to an injury and surgery. I think it may be a tough thing for me, but I think 2a looks really cool! One day I hope to try 5a, but for now I am really enjoying learning string tricks 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Navythrow](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/navythrow/32/1228_2.png) [@Navythrow](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/Navythrow)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 3:11am UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/how-am-i-doing/45902/11 "2012-11-30T03:11:08Z")
You have a very similar story to my own. I started out mainly on a raider my wife got me for fun, progressed decently well, and then I bought a DM II. You just won’t even believe the difference it will make for you. Everything will be so much easier to land.I grew by leaps and bounds with that yoyo in a very small amount of time, and I think you will too. ---
**Author:** ![Dj\_dvs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Dj\_dvs](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/Dj_dvs)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 11:07pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/how-am-i-doing/45902/12 "2012-11-30T23:07:17Z")
Wow that’s great to hear, thanks! Can’t wait to get the new throw. ---
**Author:** ![Skred300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5e9695/32.png) [@Skred300](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/Skred300)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/how-am-i-doing/45902/13 "2012-12-01T15:28:56Z")
The DM2 also boosted my learning and skills in yoyoing so I would say you’re doing really well. If you’re stuck on mach 5 because the spin time is dying out then you’ve probably done the same thing as when I started. Try and not stretch the string and pull too hard once you’ve got into the mach 5 revolving bit. That will probably make your spin time longer. Hope this helps ;D