Hey everyone, this is my first review here so go easy on me…
Introduction
This summer was a very successful one for me for many reasons. Mainly, I worked a rediculous amount of hours and as a result i was able to put back some money for certain ah… amenities. I decided that i wanted to broaden my knowledge of certain Yoyo manufacturers, having only tried, YYF, YYJ, SPYY, One drop, CLYW, Yomega, and Duncan, i figured it was time to move on. One of the first Foreign companies that caught my eye was I LOVE YO YO. They caught my eye for many reasons: Their extreme shapes, beautiful finishes, just to name a couple. So after much review reading and deliberation I decided the 2011 falcon was the one for me.
ILYY Falcon Stats:
Diameter: 54.00 mm / 2.13 inches
Width: 44.20 mm / 1.74 inches
Gap Width: 3.94 mm / .16 inches
Weight: 67.50 grams
Bearing Size: ILYY KMK Bearing (6x13x5 mm)
Response: Red-Hot sILLYcone
Description
First thing i noticed when i hastily ripped open the yoyoexpert shipping box and dumped its contents onto my bed was the sweet packaging ILYY decided to use: A velvet drawstring pouch. Cool! I delicately pulled the pouch open and dumped its contents too: a piece of paper, a sweet button (rad!) and oh my god… A freakin Gorgeous yoyo! The picture on YYE in no way gives this beautiful throw justice in my opinion. The sunlight filtering through my windows onto it caused almost a sparkle on the candy blast finish… Wow… Now i see why they decided to bring it back on the second run. ( i never had a chance to try the first run, which as i understand only had a slight weight difference, but was finished with what they call a “candodized finish” which isnt quite as grind friendly i hear.) Its gotta be one of the most beautiful finishes i have EVER seen. Even in just the minimalist half red/ half black color scheme. It comes adorned with no laser engraving or lettering. Just the red and black. Which i think suits it. Upon unscrewing it and inspecting it, i discovered it has semi deep recesses filled with ILYY’s signature Red hot sILYYcone. It gives nice tight binds with no slippage. It comes with a a metric KMK bearing which is just slightly bigger than a “C” size. Which honestly was kind of a drawback to me, but its play more than made up for it. Its shape is pretty much a standard butterfly shape. It starts with nice rounded rims that gradually curve down to the highwalled gap. The highwall was also kinda a drawback for me, but i dont do many suicide related tricks so it doesnt bother me too much. It doesnt close suicide loops too much, after slight adjustment i was able to nail them consistantly. The cup has a nice thick IRG and is smooth all the way in to the kinda small, yet deceptively sharp spike (which i have been able to pull start and matador with ease) Now the guts, inside the walls just outside the recess there is a smooth area where the finish was smoothed out, im guessing to prevent string breakage. Its actually kinda nice. On the instructions it came with it says:
“Blasted surfaces may fray through strings at first but will break in after intense use. This process can be accelerated by sanding the gap area with fine grit sandpaper. Nonetheless, make sure to change the string frequently to prevent unintended off-string play.”
Thanks for the heads up ILYY, really a stand up thing to do in my opinion. I’ve been playing with this yo non-stop for hours now and have not had any string breakage. I have been checking for fray also.
playability
From the first throw i knew this baby was a keeper. I threw and it uncoiled as smooth as silk, spinning at the bottom of the string like a dog waiting for its master. The first bind was smooth also, it caught and came right up with just the right amount of snap. I would use One word… Or really. two words to describe this yoyo’s true nature: SMOOTH, and STABLE. Its able to easily glide through any trick or maneuver that I, of modest skill level am able to accomplish. I have truly had a hard time getting it to tilt. I attribute that to its width, a little wider than most, and its ample rim weight. When i did the first gyro flop there was a slight hesitation before it started to roll, and when it did it rotated slow and smoothly. This yoyo fell almost exactly into my preferred size and weight in a throw, the only thing that outside my preferred specs was its width, which now iam glad for. at 67.5 grams, its solid but still has a decent amount of float when doing tricks such as black hops and other pop tricks. It reacts to direction changes quickly and without lag. A true pe rformance yo-yo. She can be quick and agile, but also graceful and smooth.
Grinds are a dream with its candy blast finish, (now i understand why it’s called candy blast: Candy for your fingers hehe) When popped onto your palm or finger she spins smoothly and without vibration. You can barely feel it on your finger. The best grinding yo-yo i have tried yet definetely. Even a touch better than a CLYW ( I know… It’s blasphemy to say, but its true.) IRGs are super easy due to the nice IRG lip.
Conclusion
ILOVEYOYO has done it. Usually 2nd runs are really hit or miss but ILYY has definetely hit it out of the park with this one. This yoyo truly is a great all around yoyo. It caters to someone in every category i think. Grinding, Speed, Smoothness, stability, size, You name it. Aside from the highwalls, which i know alot of people wont like, and the odd bearing size, shes a winner. I have definetely been rewarded for striking out blindly into unknown territory. If im not careful it might bump my 54 out of the top spot. This is definetely more than initial infatuation. I KNOW that ILYY has done something great here. If you are like me and are looking to try something new. Try a Falcon. You wont regret it!!
