Looking for a starter-intermediate Looper

I’m trying to decide on a looping yoyo to start out on. For reasons I cannot disclose, my choices are between the Yomega Fireball, Yomega Nebula, Duncan Hornet or the Duncan Pro-Z with mod spacers 2-pack.

Now, I was attracted to the Pro-Z due to the black+green/yellow color scheme and the fact it comes in 2s and is convertible to a 1A shape, however after having done a bit of research I found that the slight flair shape does not lend itself well to looping, so having 2 of them would not be very useful for moving on to 2A.

Duncan Hornet seems cool, but it says it’s for “intermediate-advanced competition” and it costs twice as much as the Yomega Fireball.

So I have been advised in the chat by Bcmaddog to get a Hornet or two Fireballs, but I’d love to hear more opinions.

Having typed all that out, I am leaning more towards the Yomega due to the fact that I had a yomega x-brain in middle-school :3

Edit: I still have my fixed axle Fast Eddie Shooter but I’m not really happy with the wide gap on that. It’s not as responsive as I’d like and I’ve taken to looping the string so I can actually practice doing loops without it slipping into a coma.

Break with tradition and open your choices.

The ProZ is OK at best. The Starburst is decent but the yoyo overall is light. The converted ProZ, with a clean bearing, is very unresponsive, which is what you want in that mode. If you’re gonna start, this honestly isn’t a bad option with loads of additional options due to the mod spacers and you can cram weight rings under the caps if you want to.

I don’t have the Hornet, not sure if I want to. For the money, get the YYJ Unleashed instead.

Fireballs are OK, but you can do better.

Raiders might be a better option, and you’re still on Yomega.

Another option might be the YYF Loop 808 and Loop 360, which I think are both around $8-11 each, making pairs very reasonable. I prefer a starburst response in my loopers, but for starting out, these are great.

The Adegle Macaron is an option I’d not feel safe with. I’ve had a lot of issues with these.

Regardless, you’ll need thick lube. Buy YYJ Thick lube or YYF Thick performance oil.

Since I do looping here and there. I find I like lighter loopers but it’s all about preference. However I tend to like my Duncan speed beetles for this reason there really smooth loopers.

Are those really your only options? They all aren’t that great… The best one out of your choices is probably the fireball, but there’s tons of better choices out there. For the same price as the hornet, you can get YYJ Unleashed, very good loopers.

If you’re really stuck between those 4 choices, you probably want the fireball, and if possible, have them modded. If you get them modded their pretty good, but still not as great as something like 1080s or Unleashed but they will loop much better.

They really are my only options.

I’m curious as to what makes the Fireball better than the Hornet, considering the Hornet is a ball-bearing axle vs the Fireball’s trans-axle.

the transaxles don’t sleep or sleep very little so it gets harder to do stuff like stuff that involves the string intertwining each other. ball bearings spin longer By physics so it will be easier to do those tricks.

Another bit of advice:

For the most part, many of the “level” recommendations can often be disregarded.

The YoYoJam Classic can easily be a pro level competition yoyo. With a clean bearing and the widest Duncan spacers in the MOD Spacers, the ProZ ain’t so bad. Add an A-sized CenterTrac and it just gets even better.

I do need to know why are those your choices? Is it because it’s in a local store? YYE has reasonable shipping rates and granted, you do have to wait, I can guarantee your wait will be rewarded.

Well I have a gift card to a certain place which shall remain nameless and that’s what they have. I don’t really have anything else to use the card for so… eh.

I think I’ve decided to go with the Hornet… The Fireball’s trans-axle seems nice in regards to nostalgia, but the Hornet just seems better overall with its ball-bearing and I think it will take me farther. Plus I’m really curious to try it out since there isn’t a whole lot of information on the net about it.

Thanks for the recommendations and stuff, guys. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Update: Yeah so I ordered the hornet. Partly because it’s so new and there isn’t much being said about it besides “haven’t tried it. Get something else.” or “its better than a fireball” so… We’ll see how it goes. I dont being a guinea pig. You all have been so helpful, here and in the chatroom especially. Hopefully getting the hornet doesn’t come back to sting me :stuck_out_tongue: