From what I can tell, new yoyo players can work their way through Beginner and Intermediate tricks with plastic yoyos costing less than $20. They could then do all their Advanced trick training with a monometal yoyo costing less than $50. They could ultimately win competitions, including the world championship, with a yoyo costing less than $100. And at no point would the yoyo be the limiting factor holding back their progress, or making things needlessly difficult for them.
So what, if anything, makes a premium yoyo in the over-$100 price category necessary to a player?
It seems to me that they are primarily aimed at collectors who will gladly spend lots of money on yoyos for reasons completely divorced from performance. Everything from pure aesthetics to collecting/spending bragging rights. It is impressive (and more than a little surprising) to me that there is a large enough market for these premium yoyos that manufacturers can keep pumping them out year after year.
And does this perhaps give us a peek into the true business strategy of manufacturers? Which is to get new players hooked enough to convert them into collectors?
True, but since most players aren’t–and never will be–once-in-a-generation throwers like Gentry, I didn’t think it fair in my analysis to expect them to have the same degree of success with so little.
Bimetal yoyos (most being over 100 dollars) are definitely advantageous to certain competitors - I think they’re worth the price of 100-150 at most, anything over that seems a little excessive to me personally. The small details in a player’s style make it necessary (at least for me) - combos get slightly longer which can make a huge difference, more power/stability/etc…
However - that doesn’t mean cheap alternatives are clearly worse compared to expensive yo-yos. It all comes down to preference… Gentry won on a Replay Pro, after all
This is an age old question asked numerous times on forums going back at least to the mid 1990s when Dif-E-Yo was the golden grail of yoyos. There is no definitive answer. I myself vowed to never spend more than $20 on a yoyo at the time. This precluded a yoyo like the YYJ Hitman for one ($35 at the time). I eventually bought one of those (and many more of them) and started down the slippery slope. I acquired a few Dif-E-Yos, Anti-Yos, Hspins, and SPYYs since then, but really draw the line at $80-$90 now.
So, the answer is NO, they are not necessary, but the more expensive yoyos do play nice and have a nice feel. This could be all in your head, just to justify the price. But the reality is, they will NOT make you a better player, regardless of your skill level. So don’t go buy one hoping to win Worlds next year.
Yeah, this happens in every hobby. There is a point of diminishing returns in the price to performance ratio. For yo-yos, that price point is really low these days. Someone who has the skill to win a big event could unquestionably do so with a $30 or less yoyo.
As for spending big, there are advantages. Are they “worth” it? I dunno, depends on the buyer. We’re talking about discretionary income here so for the most part, it isn’t relevant. I see guys every weekend on $5 or 6k bikes with $2k wheels get smoked by people on $1000 rides. Still not cheap, I know, but the point is we’re talking about hobbies, so there’s a lot of “do what I want” here, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Looking at the business strategies of the yoyo manufacturers, I absolutely do not think getting folks into collecting has any bearing on what they do. I’d wager that most brands we’d consider to be “boutique” or highly collectible think very little about business models. They are probably involved with this solely because it’s something they are passionate about, nothing more. I think of them more as artists than anything
Hey, if someone has the discretionary income to buy a $600 Lotus, who are we to tell them they shouldn’t!
I’m just trying to question the notion–which could easily creep into the mind of a newbie–that unhindered improvement and advanced trick success is dependent on buying into ever-more expensive yoyos. Thankfully the manufacturers themselves don’t push this myth too hard in their marketing literature, but it is awfully easy to slip into believing you really need a Draupnir in order to “get really good” based on people’s glowing praise for it.
Nope, definitely not an “if A, then B” situation. Yoyo being expensive does not equal player being good. I can speak from personal experience haha.
Also, Sleipnir > Draupnir
A $15 Replay is really all you need to win worlds. It does what you need it to do. BUT, that doesn’t mean things don’t get easier the more you spend. However, I would say the added performance you get decreases with the more you spend and $150 is probably the line where this ends, beyond that it really is just luxury aside from a rare few exceptions like the Draupnir. But below that yoyos DO get more stable and DO spin longer the more you spend. Not to mention there’s more variety to help you pick a yoyo that best fits your style.
It’s true that spending more wont make you a better player per say, but I would say it can make you the best player you can be at a given moment and it makes practice and improvement easier.
Probably not necessary to throw better. Lucky for us we live in an age of high-performing inexpensive yoyos. Someone with solid skills can probably make a Wedge to anything they could make an expensive bimetal do. However, expensive yoyos (which compared to expensive gear in other hobbies are still pretty cheap) are somewhat affordable luxuries. You get to feel like you have the very best of something for a change. Maybe that little bit of joy is necessary for some people.
If I might weigh in, I’m a serious advocate of yoyos under $10. I personally despise people who bash magic yoyo or other throws that are cheap. Truth be told most tricks you learn on an expensive yo-yo can be done on something cheaper, but the overall experience can be worth the higher price. I recently tried a slack trick that I was inspired to try after watching Takeshi from the duncan crew. (I think it was the viking tour.) Here’s the deal, the slack I wanted to do was pushing my limit. Because of this a lot of attempts went sideways (literally and figuratively.) When I tried it with my peak 2 I had more success than I did with my $5 fin hop. (I can do the trick on both now, but when I push the limits of my abilities I reach for my money throws. They don’t make you better, but you might just push a few more seconds of stability. (MAYBE)
Presumably his under-$10 advocacy implies a philosophy of “you don’t need a metal yoyo”. Gentry’s performance at Worlds ostensibly backs that up, though I’m not sure how far we can take “what Gentry can do” and extend to to anyone who picks up a yoyo.
Everyone knows you can get almost anything done on a $10-$15 yoyo at this point.
But just coming from a guy that’s tried many throws at all price ranges from $10-$200, even a few over that, I really believe things can get a lot easier the higher up that range you go. Things start leveling out a lot more after you hit $100ish but things are so much easier on a $30-$45 metal than it is on my sub $20 plastics.
With sub $20 plastics I have to focus a lot more to maintain stability and get through my tricks. After $30+ I don’t have to focus as much. Once I’m hitting $70+ that’s really close to top of the line in terms of stability, then $100+ you’re getting slightly more stability and spin time but above $100 you’re really just getting the best and there’s a ton of variety and little differences in each yoyo that caters towards individual styles.
Agreed, basically “price of TopYo Colossus 4 / Impulse 2 / Silenus” for me and IMO they are insane deals for those awesome colorways as well, not just because they are excellent all around yo-yos!
I mean, come on, thirty bucks for this??? crazy awesome deal. A steal!
Another manufacturer once told me that it’s that extra 5% performance that people pay top dollar for. It’s the same in the higher end models in other manufacturing industries.
