The ILYY St. Eel is a micro steel yoyo sold that is sold for $95 currently here at YYE. This yoyo is my first ILYY and micro yoyo and I am very pleased with the decision I made to purchase it.
Constrution: (9/10)
Wow. When I first pulled it out of its velvet bag, I finally realized how freaking SMALL it is. Not only that, but it’s very dense, thanks to the steel composition, and actually feels like a scaled down full size yoyo instead of the way most undersized yoyos are. I personally love undersized throws, but most are lacking some sort of “feel” to it when its used. It might be too light, or might just feel different. (This affects its playability a lot) Moving on, I really liked the slight satin finish the catch zone of the Eel, and the beautiful polished steel cup together made a great look and feel to the yoyo.
Weight: (9/10)
As I said earlier, this is heavy for its size. The weight gives it enough heft to be stable on the string while still being quick and speedy. Also, I was very pleased with the way the weight was distributed so that it would be fast and have great spin times. Overall, the steel body gives the Eel enough power to compete with bigger yoyos, and I loved that. I would however, take away a gram just to see how fast it would play, as I do like yoyos playing at breakneck speeds.
Playability: (10/10)
The St. Eel is a boss. It is smooth on the string while still retaining a great speed and spin times. It is quite a bit more of a challenge to play with such a small yoyo, but after 10 (I needed 20, but most of my friends adjusted quickly) minutes of so, there is not a single trick that you cant pull off because of its size. The slim shape makes playing technical tricks quite a bit easier and its size can handle a decent amount of string wraps to assist in play. Also, its very zippy, and has a slight float to it that aids in slowing it down a hair so that it is not totally out of control when being thrown. As for grinds, at first I was skeptical because I had seen pictures of the prototypes with their beautiful electro-polish finish and really wanted that, but I quickly remembered how much of a joy grinding is, and the satin finish in the catch zone and polish in the cup soon became a great compromise. The St. Eel is overall just fun to play, a bit frustrating at first, and then just an indescribable pleasure in throwing it after the adjustments.
Conclusion:
I really recommend this yoyo for advanced players looking for the perfect pocket throw. The steel is very tough so it can stand up to the various junk in our pockets and not be scratched or marred in the process, and its tiny size feels perfect in your pocket. As for sparking, I don’t think its strong enough to survive sparking on concrete. It really just is a fun throw, unlike the ridiculously frustrating YYf Mighty Flea (seriously it has terrible weight composition and is really too small to work with). One final criticism I must mention is how all your undersized yoyos feel bigger after playing with the Eel. I have smaller hands than most my age, so full sized yoyos feel huge and undersized ones feel just right. Aside from that, this is now one of my favorite throws and is a fierce competitor against the onedrop Y-Factor for my favorite yoyo of all time
By the way:
This is in fact my first review, and I would appreciate it if viewers would comment on this post and give me some sort of constructive criticism to further improve my review skills. Apologizes for the lack of pictures, but my camera is currently not functioning properly as of right now. I will try and include pictures in future reviews.