Made in USA

General Yo-Yo
21

Oh you know someone is gonna come in with a borderline racist comment on how USA yo-yos are just so much better

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22

I do not underestimate the yo-yo made in China, but I pay extra for Japanese and American production yo-yo.
and the best Chinese manufacturer I think (doing OEMs) is FPM.
In my opinion, Topyo and Aceyo are a little lacking compared to them.

23

When I was last looking at packaging quotes, USA made was about 10x the price for the smaller quantities I normally need. Yoyo manufacturing was about 2x-3x and didnā€™t include anodizing. A final retail price would probably be $90-$100 for a monometal? Maybe people want this? lol

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24

Made in USA has been synonymous to Made by One Drop. No other shop in the US currently offers the same level of quality machining on yo-yos. FPM I would say is on a similar level when it comes to quality of machining. But is cheaper and more accessible to the average thrower who wants to have their design actualized. I think weā€™ve moved beyond the argument yo-yos made in China are inferior now for the most part.

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25

Agreed, no other US shop has ever managed to come close to onedrop.

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26

This is where I think people get the wrong ideas and confused. OD has being doing this a long time with people that specifically do it for a living (and have for a long time). Quality yo-yos and machining arenā€™t automatically made because of the geographical location lol

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27

Yeah Iā€™m not super excited by these America is better claims I would argue experience is what matters there are great Chinese shops and the like my only winner on American made would be keeping the logistics and the taxes lower but I would also buy Canadian or Mexican made yo-yos with that same statement. I donā€™t know of any central/South American yoyo brands though. I have to imagine they exist.

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28

Glad you replied. I actually started my yoyo company and was curious on this topic. Donā€™t get too excited I have lots of hand drawn throws but need to learn CAD a bit more to bring them to life. As well as get the capital to run production. Been watching some of your stuff @MarkD . Iā€™m currently picking out models to resell but can only get duncan and and magic yoyo to respond. Iā€™m trying very diligently to get with yoyo factory and yomega but canā€™t get any response to my emails and phone calls about wholesale.

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29

The real comparison being made here should be Onedrop (best in America) vs FPM (best in China). I personally like FPM manufactured yoyos a lot more from the ones Iā€™ve tried.

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30

Are you able to tell between Chinese and American made, or able to tell between an inferior and superior product? The two are not always the same. Of course a $70 One Drop will feel better than say a $15 Magic Yo-yo in every metric, but you are also paying for what you get. On the higher end yo-yos, if you were not already aware of the country of origin, I bet you would not be able to tell. And on the note of yo-yos stripping, One Drop uses longer axles in virtually all their yo-yos. I blame the stripping on designers not understanding you need more than 2-3 threads of engagement.

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31

I said this before in another thread: What country something is made in doesnā€™t really mean much to me, what shop something is made in does.

If youā€™re planning on using OD here, then good luck in terms of turning a profit. High costs of production for a monometal which just translates to high cost on the retail market, not interested.

Chinese manufacturing is allowing most designers to do even crazier even more challenging designs. Since from what I have heard OD wont touch bi-metals or crazy machining with a 10 foot piece of barstock.

Exhibit A: 7068 Body + GR5 Ti Rim cap made by FPM (actually in the works)
d8619831939f007b325fc1d78377de9a

Now this isnā€™t to say that OD makes bad yoyos! It is just is not accessible by the majority of smaller US brands in order to turn a profit, along with being restrictive with what can actually be done.

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32

What a great thread

My smoothest and nicest feeling yoyos were made in china. Most of the time they feel too nice and Iā€™m scared to unscrew them or use them while out and about, therefore not used as much. I know thats a rare case but still messes with me mentally lol. I think the feeling part comes down to the anodization. I have a one drop colabbed mfd yoyo and regular mfd yoyos made in china. Both anodized by ray. Both feel the exact same.

With one drop I have confidence in a perfect bearing seat almost every time and feel no fear in unscrewing one. I think 80% of my collection is one drop made and used most often. Some of my one drops made yoyos are extremely smooth but donā€™t quite stack up to a couple of my chinese made throws.

Edit: Iā€™m not sure if mfd is made in china. I donā€™t believe mfd has stated where they get them.

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33

Someone should design a monometal and then get it made at every possible factory, would be a very interesting experiment.

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34

Huh. I like the sound of that. Buying from my home country gives me the warm-and-fuzzies but conceptually, itā€™s aluminum on a lathe, shouldnā€™t be drastic as long as the designers know what theyā€™re doing and the tolerances are tight.

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35

Iā€™d say yes, Iā€™d pay some bit extra for US manufacturing. But I need to know itā€™s gonna be good. Using OD as the machine shop? Good to go. YYR, Static, Markmont, all great. But the quality of the shop is what matters.

That being said, someone in here design a super performance, hyper rim weighted, wide, bell type shape, 7075 with side effects with me. We will make a monster and we will call it Monolith.

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36

Just from the ones Iā€™ve used/emailedā€¦ thatā€™s at least 10 different yo-yo-capable machine shops and would cost like $20,000 total, and then afterwards youā€™d have 1500-2000 yoyos to get rid of

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37

This post you qouted just spelled out exactly what I realized this past week when I stripped my yoyo. The tolerances on the bearing seat that some Chinese companies use definitely wears down over time and becomes pretty vibey. It seems like FPM didnt use this process on my unprld recognition. If the rest of yoyofriends yoyos are like this Iā€™m a fan.

38

For me, yoyo Empire especially feels like a company that set a standard for exceptional machined plastics that other companies had to catch up to.

I might be biased because I just got a Tsunami (6+ year old design at this point) and itā€™s easily one of the best yoyos Iā€™ve ever thrown.

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39

As far as I am aware, the Recognition was not manufactured by FPM, but rather by Topyo.

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40

Everybody is all for made in the USA product but one drop is the only one to do it successfully, and I believe thatā€™s mostly because they own their own machine shop.

Weā€™ve seen tons of yoyos/companies made in the USA that arenā€™t one drop and they donā€™t do well because we are spoiled by Chinese prices.

I remember one new company getting blasted by people asking why their mystery box was a 7075 monometal for 120$. They were made in the USA and closed up very quickly.

There is currently another yoyo brand (yoyo kennel I believe?) That seems to be going through something similar.

Iā€™m sure everyone here believes they would like to buy/support made in the USA yoyos, but sales donā€™t lie.

Now USA ano/coating is a different storyā€¦

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