Monkeyfinger Evil Yo
Reviewed by Jacob Gross
June 21, 2011
Introduction
Evil Yo is the first return top from the Canadian yoyo company Monkeyfinger. The first yoyo can often dictate how the company will do in the future and the “hype” they will have in the community. The Project, Torrent, and Peak were all great yoyos that started things off for three of the top yoyo companies. One Drop, General Yo, and CLYW all have produced many great yoyos since then, but many players still consider them to be some of the best yoyos of all time. I think that Monkeyfinger went through all the stops to try and follow in line to have their first yoyo carry this great praise with it.
Specs
• Diameter: 52.5 mm
• Width: 42 mm
• Gap: 4.25
• Weight: 66 grams
• Response: CBC pads, accepts flowable silicone
• Bearing: Center Track C-Sized
Construction
The box that the Evil Yo comes in is very similar to the ones that CLYW uses, but once you open them you quickly realize the vast difference between the two companies. There is not just a yoyo waiting for you but a Smorgasbord of goodies; stickers galore, a yoyo pouch and custom string from G-String. The shape of this yoyo is what first caused me to be interested in it. It has a wide h-shape design. Not a flat h-shape design that you see with the Hspin Envy or the YYF Genesis. This is curved from the rim all the way to the response, much closer to the CODE1. The anodizing on this yoyo is not the common, two-tone splash you see from companies. It is more of something you would see when someone gets a custom ano job from Not Fail Anodizing or Loaded YoYos. I personally am not a big fan of the way it looks while not spinning as it is just to busy looking for me, but when it is spinning it makes for one of my favorite looking yoyos. The way the colors blend to form an orange-pink hue looks great. The Evil Yo does have a nice blasted finish and is soft to the touch, which is something I always look for when I am getting a new yoyo.
Weight
The Evil Yo comes in at 66 grams. I see a trend starting with players liking light yoyos but 66 grams is not heavy by any means. Much of the weight is pushed out to the rims, but it is evenly distributed making for a stable yoyo. While this yoyo does have a nice float to it, it is not what I would consider floaty just because there is this slight tugging you can feel when going through faster tricks and when you catch a suicide.
Response and Bearing
The Evil Yo comes stock with a Center Track bearing and CBC pads. The Center Track is the only concave bearing I actually like since it is flat in the middle and plays very closely to a flat bearing. CBC pads are easy to buy and change which is always nice. The Evil Yo will also accept flowable which is what I consider to be the best response in a yoyo. The combination of the Center Track and the pads will cause some slippy binds. Not many but when you are nearing the end of your spin time and you do a lazy bind it will slip. I switched to a flat bearing and that fixed the problem. I also think that you could keep the Center Track and just put flowable in as the response and it should work great.
Playability
First off the shape actually is very comfortable in your hand. I think the width of the gap where your throw finger lays is pretty much perfect. I find it to feel more comfortable on the catch than my CODE1, which is the closest thing I have to this Evil Yos shape. The best way to describe its play is agile. It can play fast and has a nice float to it, but it is not in the floaty category. It also is not something that plays like a rock on the end of the string like a BvM where you can feel it tugging away at all times. This is similar to the Gnarwhal, where it can play fast but doesn’t have to, which gives it the perfect playability for someone with similar style to mine. It can still be pushed faster if you want to compete, and has the huge catch zone for the tech tricks. My favorite part about this yoyo is its ability to grind for days! Its blast is less noticeable than the ones of General Yo and ILYY but this thing beats then both in grind time. I like to mess around a lot with grinding, and this thing gives you all kinds of time for that. It grinds longer than any yoyo that I have used before. I am not sure if it is the blast or the shape, but it was meant to grind.
Final Thoughts
The Evil Yo is a great first yoyo for Monkeyfinger. With that being said I don’t think that it is going to fit in the category with the Peak, Project, and Torrent. The main reason is the shape; the other three are pretty classic shapes with the partial exception for the project. While I think that the shape feels great on the catch others may not. Also the ano job on the Evil Yo is hit or miss. I know that many people like the way solid colors look, or something with just a simple splash. The Evil Yo is a very nice yoyo that I think most people should try, but I think some people will be scared away by the looks. Only time will tell, but I think Monkeyfinger did a great job with their first yoyo and can’t wait to see what they have coming up next.