For underrated I’m going to say the Duncan butterfly. It has its place (fixed axel as well as basic beginners). The reason I say this is mainly because I remember see a good amount of hate on it somewhere (wasn’t on this forum). For a few dollars it’s a ton of fun!
Over rated (waiting for the hate): I feel the too hot. I don’t know why but for some reason I just don’t like it that much. Plays great, feels comfortable, grinds beautifully, everything is great. Maybe it seems to perfect? I’m not sure, it just kind of hits me as meh.
Underrated:
The YYR Lilliputian. It’s undersized, but has long spin times and great stability; it’s very agile, finger spins and grinds are awesome; it makes chopsticks easy, has enough weight to make itself known on the string and gives positive binds… and it’s under $40 with a konkave bearing. I absolutely love this throw.
Overrated:
The CLYW Manatee. It’s a wide, rim-weighted throw, but I find it awkward on the string and difficult to control play speed without losing stability. I keep picking it up to try it again, but it just feels like a bad yoyo day until I grab something else, then the clouds part, the angels sing and the sunshine streams down again… I’ve seen others do some wicked cool things with the Manatee, but it just won’t speak to me :-/
The Werrd Minute. An older throw, but extremely stable and usable for an undersized yoyo. Grinds great, and you can hit a cool fingerspin with those spikes on the side. The Yoyofactory Atlas. It was used by the 2015 5a champ, yet I never hear it mentioned. Super wide like the Manetee, and to top it off, it has a awesome finger spin cup if your into those tricks. I would take that over a Draupnir any day.
Over rated, the One Drop Vanguard. Nothing wrong with it, just very highly praised by another site, but when I tried it, I wasn’t all that impressed. Kind of narrow, not super stable, not the “Ideal first metal” that it is made out to be.
I have not thrown any overrated throws but i have thrown PLENTY of underrated throws. My favorite one right now is VOSUN vanquish. It’s an off brand in the realm of magic yoyo but this is seriously the second smoothest yoyo in my collection of 25 Mostly metal throws. Second only to my banana hammock. I love my banana hammock but it is not very stable. Super smooth though. I think I paid $20 bucks for the Vanquish.
I didn’t try it for too long, but I just wasn’t impressed with the stability compared to other budget metals I own. It is also narrow, which makes me think it isn’t an ideal beginner throw. (but then again, i started out with a yomega Maverick, so it may depend)The Gauntlet, which I also tried, is much cooler and more interesting in my opinion. All modern metal yoyos these days would be a fine first metal for anyone, I just think some of them have quality’s better suited for inexperienced yoyoers.
While the Vanguard is a little narrower than many One Drop throws, the “H” profile allows for a rather large capture area for the strings, belying the overall width of the yoyo. In my opinion, the Vanguard is truly one of the most underrated, and undersold, One Drops to date, and I’ve thrown them all…
Legato. Haven’t tried many newer throws and this being my first bimetal I could completely be off, but there’s almost no noise for it and it’s redefined smooth for me and I have other general yos and ODs and even a titanium and nothing comes close to it. And it plays so amazing it can play fast or relaxed whatever you’re feeling that day such a great throw and a steal surprised they’re not sold out yet
