In a yoyoer’s pursuit of perfection, new discoveries come all the time and it comes as no surprise that as with just about everything else, one’s taste in preferences in the yoyoing are bound to change. I’ve been pretty vocal about my changes in preferences (as any of you who have been paying attention to my profile sub-title may have noticed ;D), and I’m interested to hear if anyone else’s preferences have been as much all over the map as mine have been over my 2 year throwing career. To get started, I’ll give you guys some (too?) detailed insight to my yoyoing journey.
When I first started my serious stint in yoyoing, my Lyn Fury was my throw of choice, and for a long time there, YoYoJam was my go-to manufacturer for all my yoyoing needs. My exploration of their bi-metals (DM, Hitman, and my brother’s Black Knight and Speeder) was honestly all I ever thought I need, as I thought spending in the area of $100+ for an all metal yoyo was completely frivolous and unnecessary.
It was at about 6 months into the game where I finally found myself catching metal fever, and the only prescription was YoYoFactory. I found myself getting a Boss, a Dv888, an 888 Classic and a Skyline all within a short time frame, and at that time, undersized, rounded profile YYF metals were my end-all-be-all throws of choice. I was mesmerized by the way that such small yoyos had such power and versatility zipping around on the string. I stayed on the undersized kick for probably the longest out of any other personal trend of my yoyoing career, sticking with throws around 50-52mm for a good year or so. I made strides to diversify, trying out H-shaped throws, different companies and what have you, but at the end of the day, I still swore by my undersized YYFs – the '07 and Classic model 888s specifically. Center Trac bearings were also a big part of this era for me. With each new throw I’d add to my collection, a Center Trac would come right along with it.
It wasn’t until I got some good play time in on my Peak, which had mostly sat in my case for my first few months of owning it amongst the 50mm competitors, that things once again started to make a dramatic switch. The Peak filled out my hand so nicely, and I noticed that it was less prone to changing plane (precession?) during play. I don’t really do any super technical string maze type tricks anyway, so now my focus changed to full sizedthrows, CLYW specifically. I made a determination in this time period that as far as pure numbers are concerned, the SPYY Addiction would be my perfect yoyo. It was during this time as well that I found out that 4mm gaps work much better for me than the 5mm gaps as seen on many competition-ready yoyos around this time.
Around the same time the full sized switch occurred, a switch in bearing preferences also took place. The thin gap of the Peak gave such a nice, soft landing at the bottom of the string, and I realized the only way to achieve this on my ~5mm gapped yoyos was to make another switchup to flat bearings. By then my throw was good enough to not have to worry about the benefits of centered bearings, and the soft landing just feels so much better to me than the heavy thunk that centered bearings tend to cause.
Fast forward to just a few months ago. On my quest to own one of every CLYW model, I came into possession of a second Bassalope. It was a very refreshing throw, and the mid-sized 52mm diameter seemed like such a nice compromise between full and undersized – minimal precession like a fullsized, but with that bounce at the end of the string that I’ve always liked about undersized. In this category we have the Bassalope, Ti Walker, and Gnarwhal that filled the niche nicely. This was probably my shortest lived phase.
And then we have the present time. Up until now, I’ve always liked a nice rounded profile anywhere from 50 to about 55mm, and hadn’t experienced much anything that would make me change my mind. That is, until I dove head first into my YYR experience. Now it’s all about oversized YYR for me – KK bearings and all. It’s to the point where I’ve actually said aloud that they’re so good, it really doesn’t make sense for me to own too much else. My previous conception of what I thought were my preferences have since been completely turned upside down. Over a year and a half’s course of time, my main players have gone from 50mm rounded to 57mm(Sleipnir) to 62mm(Dreadnought) angular, and everywhere else in between.
There are a couple things though that haven’t changed amongst all this turmoil. I’ve never liked highwalls (though I’ve been open to give them a chance on throws like the Peak), and I’ve always liked to keep the weight of my throws at or around 65g.
TL;DR (if you’re still awake by now :P): Plastic -> BiMetal -> Undersized, Center Trac Bearings -> Full Sized, Flat Bearings -> Mid-Sized -> Oversized
So what do you guys think? How have your preferences changed and how have they stayed the same?
;D