I just recently came across this site. I love it. I used to play with a yo-yo as a kid and just recently purchased one again.
I am a relative beginner as far as tricks are concerned. I know how to do the sleeper, walk the dog, and loop.
I am wondering if you guys could help me out. I need some advice on what you guys think is a good Yo-Yo for me to purchase. I just bought the Yomega Radier from TRU and was looking at getting something better.
Questions such as yours can be tricky to answer as there are so many choices where not one is better than the next. If you have purchased a Raider at TRU you may wish to go back and see if they have a Dash or Maverick. They usually have Duncan throws such as Freehands which are not a bad place to start. So much depends on what type of play you are interested in. For me when I got back into throwing I wanted to get into 1A straight away. You will probably have a frustrating experience if you have a go at that with your Raider. Your going to want to look into a yoyo typically referred as a butterfly or wing shape and that’s the direction I’m now going to be pointing.
There are such a myriad of choices I hesitate to mention too many more names because so many are equally valid. I do wish to throw out this advice, you don’t need to invest large amounts of cash upfront. Products such as the afore mentioned yoyos like the Dark Magic II or throws like Protostar and Northstar from YoYo Factory are fantastic throws that a capable of doing anything you wish to try with a yoyo. Once you are more established and confident this is truly a pass time you enjoy you can shop for higher end throws.
I have to say the most fun yoyo you can get under $30 would be the YYF Grind Machine. It has hub stacks, which allow you to pull start the yoyo and to hold it by the stacks to do cool tricks. Also, it’s a good all-around yoyo. http://shop.yoyoexpert.com/product/519/YYF-Grind-Machine---Neon-Collection
If you want to get about as cheap as you can for a yoyo that still plays decently, get a YYF One or Whip–probably the One is better for you. YYF ONE – YoYoExpert
If you prefer to just shop at Toys’R’Us, check out any of the Duncan yoyos with a butterfly shape. It’ll say on the package whether it’s for looping or not. The Raider is a looping yoyo, so you should try a string trick yoyo instead to do other types of tricks.
Good luck, and the rest of what you need has basically already been said. Also, consider buying a 100-pack of string if you want to get serious. It should last you well over a year even if you play an hour a day.
Shadowz143…your videos were very helpful. They cleared up a lot for me.
When I was playing around with my Raider it was unresponsive. I did exactly what the guy in the video said…I thought it was not working properly.
I will check out all of the suggestions. I think that I would like to go the unresponsive route. It looks as though there are a lot more tricks I could learn this way.
Yes, you are going to have to eventually if you pursue the sport in earnest. You’ll find so much great advice and solid support right here under the Big Top with the YYE logo on top.
The dark magic would probably be the best thing for you it comes with 2 bearings one that is responsive so you can learn the basic tricks and one that is unresponsive so you can continue to grow
I disagree with the necessity of having a semi-responsive yoyo or yoyo with a slim bearing included for a beginner. Binding is not as hard as it’s made out to be. And whether or not you have the patience to learn it right off the bat is a good indicator of whether you’ll want to invest more time/money into the pursuit. I’ve had a total yoyo newbie learn how to bind with an unresponsive yoyo in about 2 hours of dinking around. Why start off crawling when you could be running with just a little patience?
