I think the only difference if its a really bad yo-yo or needs maitnence. Other than those there really isnt any difference.
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any yoyo with any bearing will die if you let it spin at the end of the string, because the internal torsion of the string is perpetually infusing force onto the yoyos spin axis, making it precess and lose plane. You can try this by yourself by throwing a smooth sleeper and twisting the string near the bearing to see how it makes a perfectly sleeping yoyo be knocked out of balance.
As for your question regarding bearings, i am 100% sure its just your technique being in its developing stages yet. It doesnt matter if you are using a $15 yoyo or a $100 one, even if there are big noticeable differences in performance, bad technique will override any of them.
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All this talk about bearings and if they make a difference. Easy solution fixed axle. Who needs a bearing when you got a good old wood yoyo with up to 3 seconds of marvelous spin with a good throw.
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This is where your problem is, is not about how hard you can throw but how your wrist rotate during the throw, is not a question of strenght but a more a good movement of the wrist that really give power to the throw, so work on your technique it requires time but the more tricks you learn the more your throw will become better.
At your stage I will not get worried about yoyos, bearings and similar you will not get out of it alive as there are new releases daily and instead of play all you will think is to get the next more āpowerfulā yoyo while not even able to throw a proper sleeper, all you need is a 10$ yoyo and start to practice, all the bearings are fine as you not doing competitions tech combos for sure.
I do not think those videos really prove a point, do not take it as a real example but mostly as general guideline that all the yoyos are good if you can play properly as HaruRay does, the combos showed in the videos are quite simple and the yoyo is generally āout of stringā which help for sure to do not lose spin time, if you start to do a very complicated tech string combo full of slacks and layers of string around the bearing there is no way that the yoyo will sleep for more than 2 minutes, so do not worry.
Again, I do not understand really all this obsession about spin time, usually combos are long 40/50 second to one minute being extremely large (looking at various videos around), you do not need a yoyo that spin for 30 minutes, you need to learn the tricks properly and improve your skills, also as Gingie said the shape of the yoyo is such a more important factor.
At your stage in my opinion a 100$ bimetal is a waste of money, first because you are too new in your yoyo journey to know if you will keep yoyoing for long time and second because you do not need it, as someone said a 30$ Cyber Crash 2 or a Yoyofriends Shortcut is much more than what you need (most of us started with 10$ plastic awful yoyos and make their way up without problems), I remember performing White Buddha combo and similar stuff on my Yoyofactory Velocity and also learning some slacks and whips with it.
I would say to just stick with the tricks, you have already so many yoyos, it is time to use them and do not worry about what there is around, when you will finish at least all the intermediate tricks and you know that you will keep yoyoing if you have the money than go for a bimetal, at the moment anyway you canāt appreciate the differences between all the various material and shapes.
I seems a bit harsh but itās for your own good because it become frustrating think that the fault is the yoyo instead of your because you will arrive at a point where even spend 200$ yoyo you will think āis not enough powerfulā when the fault is your and not of the tool you using.
Have fun mate and enjoying learning the tricks 
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I think I understand where youāre coming from, and I think itās not just about learning being easier. Sometimes itās fun to just get something new and niceāprobably why we see pictures of shelves with hundreds of throws on them. Iād warn you more about that.
I have two iQs (only duplicate I have), and they are fantastic. In fact, they are my top throws. That said, I routinely reach for something else, and the iQ is in and out of my daily rotation constantly. But so is my Grasshopper and Top Deck. It really comes down to what Iām looking for on that throw.
My experience is more expensive throws donāt necessarily mean better. I have a Redacted that started vibing a ton whereas my Linear is the smoothest throw I own. My 2 cents is to either get something you think youāll enjoy (I figured out I really liked the Iceberg shape) or try something new (the Koi is amazing). Thereās value in the motivation a new throw can bring, but it can get addictive.
On a related note, one of my all-time favorites in shape and performance is the Aceyo Amusing Max. Itās a wide, bimetal organic that is a smidge smaller. Such a fun and capable throw. I think it was $78. You canāt go wrong with the iQ, though, just more money.
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The point these videos are meant to show is that you donāt need any fancy equipment and that itās possible with any yoyo that isnāt faulty to get longer spin times and combos out of it. Itās not a game of upgrading and finding new bearings or yoyos, itās about honing in on technique and fluidity.
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Yesā¦but also thatās a matter of hours. Iāve certainly found that, while once I master a trick I can land it on a monometal.
Learning it on a bimetal is most of the time a much nicer stability simply beecause theyāre more forgiving.
Learning something complicated means Iām going to make misstakes, or try again and again. And itās nice if I can try three times on one throw (with less chance of it tilting while Iām trying) in stead of having to bind and rethrow it each time.
Yes, a good player can do good stuff on any yoyo. But Iāve certainly found learning on something nicer a lot more enjoyable.
At the same timeā¦ something nicer does NOT mean āmore expensiveā or āhigher endā. Iāve played $50 bimetals that donāt do much or any worse than their $120-$200 counterparts and the only real advantage to the $200+ titanium stuff is durabilityā¦which can be nice because you might worry less about damageā¦but at the same time itās more expensive so youāll worry more about damage.
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@LX_Emergency You made the exact points Iāve been trying to make. Time is a precious asset, and if I can learn a trick on a better yoyo in half an hour as opposed to spending a few hours to learn it on a cheaper yoyo, the experience becomes less frustrating and more enjoyable, I could progress more quickly, and be more sure that I do stick with yoyoing rather than get discouraged with it. Ultimately, whatever tricks Iād learn on a better yoyo I can then transition to cheaper yoyos and use them to perfect and improve my technique.
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I agree that it can get addictive and part of the reason Iām considering buying a good yoyo is to avoid buying 10 more so-so yoyos, which will ultimately lead me to getting that good yoyo in the end anyway. Sure, over time I may get more, if I get the good yoyo now then I wouldnāt rush to buy other yoyos for now, since Iād already have the best of the best, so to speak, and no excuses about my yoyo not performing well enough.
And I agree that at the end of the day itās also about getting what we enjoy, something that motivates us to progress more and more despite the frustrations that come with learning in the earlier stages.
The Aceyo Amusing Max seems pretty nice. Iāll try to watch some videos about it.
Maybe youāre right, but I think my throwing technique is pretty good. Although Iāve only recently started yoyoing more seriously, Iāve dabbled with yoyos 10-12 years ago. Back then I only did basic things like sleepers, rock the cradle, around the world, etc. I certainly understand the concept of not just throwing it straight down but rotation to make it spin as hard as possible.
I disagree that all I need is a $10 yoyo. Itās like saying that all someone needs is a computer built in 1995 to use the internet. It may be doable, but why make the process more difficult for yourself? Iād just be setting myself up for lots of frustration in the learning process.
As for the reason that spin time is important, it adds more stability to the yoyo, plus you can do numerous tricks on a single throw, or do a repeater trick more times, or even attempt the same trick numerous times on a single throw, saving yourself time and frustration.
Yo just wanna say this bc youāre new but us yoyo enthusiasts disagree all the time lol! You will almost never get unanimous answers to questions. I think you got some good answers across the board and it sounds like you know what you want. Have fun! 
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Henry I was about to write another long reply than I seen your post, I think I gonna leave it and do not post as you sums up with it.
If someone doesnāt want to listen more experienced players (so many in this post) it is fine, this person just asked help on the post already having itās mind setup and sometimes is hard to change an ingrained idea.
At the end of the day we are all here to have fun and make our mistakes, peace!
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Iām not trying to suggest that youāre wrong, but rather that there could be more than one right answer. Perhaps your way may work best for some people, but not for others. As some people here have pointed out from their own experience, a good bi-metal can potentially ease the learning process and make it more enjoyable. You can surely learn on cheaper yoyos, which is what Iāve been doing and continue to do for now, but my only question was if a good bi-metal can make the experience easier and more enjoyable, which, I think it may. Ultimately, the only way Iād know for sure is if I decide to get it and try it out. The way I see it, maybe itās worth for me to get it and learn the hard way that Iām wrong, if thatās what happens, rather than not get it, and then get it in a year or two and realize that I was right all along and could have made more progress this whole time.
Although Iām new to yoyoing, I have other hobbies that Iāve been doing for years. Iām turning 38 next month, so I have some life experience. Iāve been playing various musical instruments for over 25 years, Iāve been into twisty puzzles for 10 years, among other hobbies that have come and gone. Iāve learned that people have different approaches to learning things, and more times than not there could be more than one correct way. The question is which way works best for the specific individual. Most of the hobbies and skills Iāve learned, I learned them in non-traditional ways. I didnāt learn them by the book or in the āproper wayā, and yet with many of them Iāve still excelled.
At the end of the day, itās about having fun, and sometimes learning from our own mistakes
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Just get a Titanium with Stainless Steel rims and call it a day.
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Not necessarily defective, but of a shape that doesnāt suit your style. A lot of folks on here seem to think all bearings are the same but a five year-old with working eyes can tell otherwise. Ignore the self proclaimed experts and try a few different types. I prefer Pixels by a wide margin. Eight and a half minutes of spin time on a $45 full polycarbonate tells me theyāre better than the concave that came with my other $100+ āboutiqueā yoyo.
I actually ordered an NSK bearing last night. I figured, why not try the best of the best and feel the difference for myself? I plan to put it into one of my cheaper yoyos to see how big of a difference it will make.
Another thought came across my mind in reference to something that someone else mentioned, which is that if you hit the yoyo against the floor it could damage the bearing. At first thought it made sense, but then I remembered my skateboarding days. Skateboard wheels have bearings in them, and when you skate, you constantly do tricks where you jump with the board and land back on it with your full bodyweight, over and over, hundreds of times, before you ever need to switch out the bearings. I donāt know if yoyo bearings are made with similar durability to skateboard bearings, but if they are, Iād imagine that even if you hit the yoyo against the ground each day they should still last a good while.
Also got another thought ā if yoyo bearings really can get damaged by hitting the yoyo on the floor, why hasnāt anyone created a shock absorbing yoyo? Something where there will be a layer of partially hollow hard rubber or something between the bearing and the yoyo that will absorb all the shock from impact that the yoyo takes. Also, might as well coat the metal rims with some form of rubber, so that this way the metal rims wouldnāt get damaged. Maybe I should design my own yoyoā¦
Iāll also check out the bearings youāre talking about and might order one as well, just to get a feel for various types of bearings. I also actually ordered 4 different types of string to get an idea of what Iāll like best.
Still on the fence about getting a high end bimetal yoyo. Iām actually kind of liking my Fetesnice bimetal more and more as I play more with it, even though itās an off-brand that I bought for only $35 on Amazon, it has a very good solid feel to it, and I love its size and shape more than the rest of my yoyos. I wonder how it will play once I change around the strings and bearings.
it really depends on the high end yoyo, iād think that width. stability and spin time are your greatest friends for learning new tricks, and i can say that they definitely help me pushing through combos i keep messing up on. the real question is if youāre willing to spend $100+ on that advantage that some yoyos below that price can also give (like the jds shutter). like people said though, learning only on a bimetal will murder your technique due to how much easier it makes it, kind of like relying on autocorrect to spell for you instead of learning grammar. i recommend bringing it out as an assist for learning and use your other yoyos for consistency and perfecting tricks.
spin time for several minutes also comes from a mix of stability, spin time, the bearing, and a good throw. if youāre new, iād just keep yoyoing and eventually youāll build up that good throw that many people talk about. bearings 100% play a factor in it, but at the level that you and the majority of people are at, me included, it just needs to not be messed up for it to do a good job. clean your bearings when you start to hear a difference (trust me, youāll hear it) and make sure they all can spin for ~3 seconds minimum when you flick it. itās 100% not as important as yoyo design, though. thatās why you donāt see a super large bearing market and people splurging on bearings. sorry @mrJames, donāt mean to offend.
if youāre worried about anything else regarding spin time and such, just make a topic here with a video, many people would be very glad to help you. videos clarify a lot of stuff that words canāt. sorry for the essay, hope this helps :33
Iād be willing to invest the money if Iād know that Iād really love the feel of the yoyo. Iāll see how my yoyos play with the NSK bearing I ordered last night, and might try other bearings as well. Maybe the bearing upgrades will give my yoyos that extra spin time Iām hoping to achieve. And Iām sure my technique will play a role in it as well, but Iām sure the bearings matter as well.
Good idea, maybe later on Iāll make a short video and post it in a new topic.
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My $45 dollar recog does every thing my $125 peregrine does. The peregrine does feel damn nice though.
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Yeah, donāt even worry about that. Like you mentioned, skateboard bearings take way more abuse than a yoyo bearing and theyāre essentially the same thing. You might trash the yoyo, but youāre not doing anything to that bearing. If/when you pop in the NSK, keep in mind that it may have been sitting in a warehouse or a drawer for months or years, just festering in its own lube and stale air. I always clean my bearings before I put 'em to work, because the difference between a ānewā bearing and a freshly cleaned one can be massive.
Oh and just fyi, the centering effect you get from each bearing type goes like this:
Flat ā CenterTrac ā Concave ā DS ā Pixel
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