To anyone who is more experienced in 4a or has a skyhawk and can compare to something else I’m curious. The skyhawk is the first actual 4a throw I got, before I was using the responsive version of the free hand pro for 4a lmao. The first thing I noticed is that it snagged and rolled back up hitting my hand a lot. Even on a normal bind that I’ve done probably a thousand times by now. I would normally immediately say that its me and not the yoyo but the gap looks tiny. On one hand its teaching me how to keep clean binds constantly but on the other hand is a bruise from getting slapped by a yoyo 30+ times a day. What do you guys think? Is it me or is the gap really small?
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I’m not a big fan of the skyhawk. It’s not the snaggiest of 4a throws, but the ridiculously high wall makes it very easy to jam up. Most 4a yoyos will have a thinner gap than responsive non-4a yoyos, since they’re meant to be able to perform slack binds and regens. Learning a clean bind is a good thing, bruised knuckles are not. I think everyone has to go through this phase, no matter what yoyo they start on (I definitely did, and I see a lot of people having this problem starting out). Might be a good idea to use thinner string for a bit. The advice I give people for a cleaner bind is to throw as little string into the axle as possible when binding, with just enough to get it to respond. This can be done by keeping the yoyo closer to your non-throw hand when you bind, since that way there’s less string between your non-throw hand and the axle to jam up the yoyo. Hope this helps!
That’s weird. Maybe I’m doing something else wrong but I’ve found that having a moderately long tail is the most consistent way for me to avoid it jamming. When I try to use a small amount it sort of doubles over and wraps around the string looping it to the axle. What 4a yoyos do you like? I don’t see much talk about them and wondering what are some good ones other than the flight. That thing is just ugly to me
@oneofthenine oops I guess I didn’t hit the reply to your message, hope you don’t mine the @
My favorites are the iYoYo SKYLiGHT, Duncan Pandamonium, and the sOMETHING JetSet EG. Interestingly, the Pandamonium and the JetSet EG actually have smaller gaps than the Skyhawk, but much lower walls.
So I think I may have found why the longer tail snags less. When I exaggerate the motion for the bind, intentionally throwing a ton of string into the axle, only about half of the string actually catches the yoyo and results in the bind, since the bind is occurring halfway up the string. The rest just kinda hangs loose, so on the next throw, the yoyo is fully unraveled by the time it gets halfway down the string (since the end of the string isn’t gripping/wrapped around the response system). The yoyo is essentially detached from the string before the end of the throw, as the only part of the string that was on the response system has already unwound.
It’s possible that the yoyo isn’t as terribly snagged as it seems, but instead you are pulling back the throw a bit too soon to let the yoyo get to the end of the string. Here’s the pickle; a good offstring throw is gonna require some force, as well as an unafraid, fluid throw. If you are so concerned about hitting your knuckles that you prepare to catch the yoyo before it leaves the string, it will come back prematurely, since you pulled your hand back or simply stopped the motion of the throw. The throw needs to be a fluid and consistent motion up until the yoyo leaves the string, or else it will snap back.
I hypothesize that what’s happening is that your throwing motion is only big enough to let part of the string unravel, so when only half of the string is wrapped around the axle in the first place, it will fully detach from the string more easily. When a greater amount of string is in the axle however, and your throw only lasts long enough to let part of it unwind, there will still be plenty of string in the axle to cause the yoyo to respond. So in conclusion, maybe try a larger, more rounded and complete throwing motion with a more consistent tempo all the way until the yoyo is fully detached, so that the full string will unwind and it won’t pop back before you are ready. Sorry for the wall, and good luck! Let me know if this helps or if I’m just full of it 
I’ll definitely try experimenting a bit. After reading that I have a feeling that I may be getting my non throw hand on the string too early and that’s causing the yoyo to pop back up. I definitely don’t think it’s a hesitation thing just because I usually throw pretty hard and don’t think about hitting my knuckles because when I throw I’m listening to YouTube or music and my mind is elsewhere. And I’m gonna look into those 4a yoyos. I’ve been getting alot of regular throws lately and I want another offstring for the collection.
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