Thanks for taking the time to give some insight on that. My dad, who’s now retired, worked with CNC machines making parts for medical stuff. I find all this stuff interesting.
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No problem 
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I’d say quality for made in China is better than made in USA/Japan, and has been for a while. It was different a few years back when TP and YYR were machining good bimetals in Japan. I haven’t owned recent non SE One Drops, so I can’t judge the vibe, but my A-RT and Hydrangea yoyos have been less smooth than most made in China metals you could buy, especially Top Yo/ FPM made stuff. Recent non China made yoyos I have owned have had some vibe. That doesn’t make them bad yoyos, but it does mean the quality is worse. Tbh, the fake Grail I tried was smoother than the real one I owned, though for A-RT it could also be an issue with the design itself or QC. I think One Drop does way better in terms of QC than these other brands I mentioned.
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That doesn’t mean the quality is better. As noted above, tight bearing posts give smooth yoyos out of the box, but often then end up vibey because of bearing post wear.
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Yes recently I have had this issue with a YYR and a YYF yoyo. They did not survive being unscrewed well and got quite vibey. However, it doesn’t have to be one or the other. I have yoyos that are glass smooth and have survived many unscrewings. My Aster is smoother than many monos despite being trimetal and being unscrewed a lot. And I do think smoothness is one of the biggest signs of quality for a yoyo there is, even if I don’t mind playing vibey yoyos.
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The thing is that we could easily switch to a bigger tolerance range and have tight bearings most of the time. It would certainly make things easier for us and probably we could lower our price, but we aren’t going to do that. We consider that inferior quality because in most cases the quality will degrade. Our ability to be able to hit the tolerances is one of our competitive advantages. It’s a choice companies make and a choice consumers make. Obviously, lots of people like you prefer that method and that’s fine. We have our customer base who prefers how we do it. It’s subjective, but it’s nice for players that the choices of quality and price range are out there.
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I miss you guys.
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Is a loose bearing seat worth making yoyos you admit people don’t want as much? A lot of chinese made yoyos aren’t as bad as you’re saying. Some are, but it seems like you’re picking the worst of them to make your point.
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Do you know if there’s any publications related to Dirty Birdy’s work? Or maybe if he’d be down to write a blog post or something about it, sounds super interesting and I’d love to read more into the technical side. My brain needs a dose of “this yoyo will be more prone to vibe and here’s 1600 words of physics on why”.
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I also would love details on a technical side of things.
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The longevity and success of their business clearly shows how unwanted they are lol.
Loose bearing seats are one of the things One Drop is universally praised for. There is frustration with OD at the moment, but bearing seats are not the issue.
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One Drop’s always gonna have a devoted fanbase but I feel like they are becoming more and more polarizing to consumers with every passing year tbh
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In my limited time here I’ve noticed the same, but that polarization seems to only pup up in discussions about manufacturing origin (not even OD centric), and with what yoyos they release.
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i’d rather have a loose bearing seat and vibe than a tight bearing seat that will eventually get damaged even when being careful… which then leads to a damaged bearing seat and vibe. give me the vibe initially i don’t care.
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Any yoyo I’ve gotten with a tight bearing seat has since been broken in and become more vibey over time. My One Drop bearing seats are going strong after years of use. The OD’s also unscrew and screw together same as the day I bought them, unlike most of the others. Just wanted to put that out there.
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I think there are just more good options that people may prefer for their own reasons.
I can acknowledge that a tighter bearing seat will experience more wear which will cause it to loosen over time, and in an uncontrolled way that will introduce vibe.
Is that an overriding concern to every buyer? I know it isn’t for me. Partly because a small amount of vibe does not bother me. Partly because I rarely have the need to pull my yo-yos apart.
OD holds themselves to a high standard on this issue and designs accordingly. Other brands emphasize other features, price points etc. that some customers may prioritize.
I don’t think that choice in the market needs to be polarizing (though anything can be polarizing on the internet).
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I feel like yall aint giving other brands enough credit like there are a ton of other brands that also do this and make really sick yoyos.
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For the meme.
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Which brands are not getting due credit here?
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David said people tend towards wider, rim weigthed yoyos, and One Drop doesn’t make them like that. I want to be on their side, because they’re ultimately doing a cool thing. They’re making yoyos themselves with their own hands when most companies outsource that. But the claims he’s making are just silly.
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