Is 2.5 grams in weight significant to you?

General Yo-Yo
1

In another topic, someone mentioned 2 very similar yoyos. Said one weighed more and he preferred the heavier throw.

I was curious and checked the weights. One weighed 67 grams, and the other 69.5 grams.

That seems pretty insignificant to me, but (obviously) to the person who wrote that, it seems to make a difference.

What about you - is 2.5 grams significant to you, or would you even notice it?

(the throws discussed are the Protostar and the (heavier) Northstar. I love the Protostar, and kicked around the idea of getting a Northstar, to compare, but had always thought the weight was so insignificant it wouldn’t be worth the trouble…but I’m an on/off thrower).

2

I can see it and even from two month of yoyoing but i guess it differ from poeple to poeple

3

I’d say 2.5 g is quite a large difference. When the ODxCLYW Summit was being created, the crews debated on two versions that were only 0.5 g different.

In the end, it’s preference. There won’t be a huge difference in play between the protostar and northstar, because they are essentially the same shape with different weights. But the northstar will play heavier and slower, which might be somebody’s preference.

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4

2.5 grams is very significant when it comes to yoyos actually…

For most people 66 grams is a good and average weight for a yoyo with anything above 67 grams becoming heavy and anything less then 65 being light.

I like a yoyo in the 65-66 gram range but I find 68 grams too heavy for me, and like very few yoyos above that weight.

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5

The weight of a small paper clip is about one gram.

I just moved from a 47 gram yo-yo to a 64 gram yo-yo, and not a whole lot changed. I did have to adjust how hard I threw by a little bit, especially on Around the World’s where the newer and heavier yo-yo (which also spins much faster than my old one - this contributes to the force the yo-yo has when it returns) would smack the crap out of my hand if I did a triple loop and then jerked it back the way I did with my smaller yo-yo.

But really… No. That’s a considerable change in weight. My new yo-yo is a butterfly as well, and the old one an imperial, so it’s not just that the weight changed. It’s that the weight distribution also changed.

A) The new yo-yo outweighed the old by 20 grams or so
B) The new yo-yo spins at least twice as fast as the old one, if not more.
C) The new yo-yo is a butterfly, and the old one is an imperial. The weight distribution has changed completely.

But none of this caused me to have any extreme change to any of my motions.

I strongly suspect that a lot of what people who take yo-yos seriously do is psychosomatic, meaning that for whatever reason it creates a psychological comfort, but doesn’t actually affect outcomes in and of itself.

A person might get more used to any given component of their yo-yo (the shape, weight, string, bearing, pads, etc) and subsequently might commit some very subtle nuances to muscle memory, but to actually be of a significant impact on a yo-yo?

Anything within a few grams is going to be completely undetectable to most people. Even if someone is used to 65 grams of a yo-yo, and it suddenly changes to 60 grams, it might, mildly, somehow, some way, make some minor difference in how fast or hard the smaller yo-yo returns, which might consequently require a small adaptation for someone’s traditional motions.

But in all honesty, that small of a difference is probably not going to affect anything. I suppose some of it matters if it changes the weight distribution considerably - for example if the weight of a yo-yo is balanced between axle and rim, and suddenly 4 grams of weight are removed from the axle area and this doubles the ratio of weight on the rim to the axle, this might make a difference in behavior for the yo-yo. If we then couple that with the inert weight of a yo-yo in motion (small differences in weight can be amplified while spinning or throwing), under the most extreme of circumstances this might become reliably detectable to a person who is well attuned to the behavior of yo-yos.

But that still doesn’t mean one weight is better or worse. It just means they’re used to one versus the other - even among those who are ultra-cognizant of such things.

But if a person was as used to the new weight as they had been the old weight, they’d be fine.

In the vast majority of cases, especially if yo-yos are shaped the same and otherwise equipped the same, I strongly suspect that the weight is entirely psychosomatic.

I could be wrong, but my guess is that even among exceptionally good yo-yo players, if we conducted a double-blind “weight test” on two identical looking yo-yos, even professional yo-yoers would guess the heavier one about 50% of the time - perfectly on par with a random sample, and comparable to what you’d get if both yo-yos actually were identical (including their weight).

It’s such a small difference that it would really only be noticeable to the very most perceptive yo-yo players, and even then only under an extreme set of circumstances.

That’s my take on it. Apologies for the long post.

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6

It all depends on how it’s distributed, but in general, it is not noticeable.

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7

Well said - and you didn’t require a page long post to say it. Nicely done.

8

2.5 grams is definitely a noticeable difference when it comes to the feeling during play, especially if you have much experience with other yoyos or a lot of tricks. will it make a difference in the actual quality of your play? no. but the difference is noticeable and will affect personal preference

1 Like
9

Yes it is.

10

Thank you - I appreciate the responses (and hence, the learning process) very much.

11

Yeah it also depends on the size a lot, but generally it is rather noticeable.

12

Yes. If you ever get a side effect yoyo you can see for yourself.

13

And again, that’s because all the weight is focused in the center where it won’t be distributed as much while spinning.

Distribution is key.

14

yes.

mgodinez

rain…

15

Well duh. A 75 gram 60 mm throw will feel lighter than a 72.5 50 mm throw.

16

I used to think such a small difference as 2.5 grams in relation to 67 or so grams would be pretty insignificant. Maybe noticeable side by side, but that’s about it. However, I did find I had a preference for slightly heaver throws, but not too heavy. The range between a lighter and a heavier throw is surprisingly small.

It is true that you can run a wide range of weights through most all of your tricks and the general performance is similar, but the feel and speed difference is more than you would imagine given the small change in terms of percentage.

What really opened my eyes about the difference a small change could make (which was hard to really determine given the different designs I had) was when I purchased a Di Base. It comes with two thin rubber o-rings that fit in the outer cups, just under the very outer rims. They are optional and can be used to adjust the weight of the yoyo. The difference with and without them is definitely noticeable in how the yoyo feels when throwing and in tricks. The weight of the yoyo without the rings is 67.1 grams and the combined weight of the rings is a surprising 1.5 grams!

17

1-2 additional grams in the middle makes difference, 1-2 additional grams on the rim makes huge difference.

18

I don’t necessarily notice much of a difference, but my hands sure do. There’s a line, somewhere between 66 and 67 grams, beyond which, my hands get sore. And weight distribution doesn’t seem to fool them; a heavy-feeling 65 won’t make me ache, but a light-feeling 67 will.

19

I definitely notice the difference when there is 2.5g difference in similarly-sized yoyos. Sometimes even 1g is noticeable.

20

I don’t really care too much about a 2.5 g weight difference. 5 g isn’t even that much. 10 g is large though.