My friend asked,
- What are the advantages to starting 3a with plastics vs metals, give pros and cons
- Are gold plated bearings really worth it?
if you 3A with plastics they won’t scratch each other as much I guess?
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Your yoyos are going to be knocking each other and, probably, the ground. You do the math…
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Electroplating gold on the bearings acts as a “lubricant” sort of. It reduces friction against the rotating members and, may, last a little longer. Plus, they look cool.
Have your friend sign up for the forum.
1: The advantage of plastic is cost and less prone to dings and nicks and scrapes that metal on metal will do. If you can rock it with a pair of PSG Gems for $25, that’s a darn impressive way to start. Don’t let plastics discourage you, there’s a lot of good plastics out there.
You can always upgrade to metal/plastics and/or full metals later on when you get better. But, at the same time, it’s not my money, use it how you want to.
Josh Yee took 3rd in 3A at BAC in 2012 using PSG’s. If it’s good enough for him, it’s way more than sufficient for me.
Yoshi used YYJ Speeder 2’s at CalStates and BAC 2013.
2: I’ve heard negative things about the flat gold bearing provided. However, the new gold centertrac has me interested and would probably work investigating. However, I can’t seen any real reason why the bearings are gold or look gold. Most likely the just look gold due to some treatment on them. I don’t understand the reason for this right now.
Personally, I could care less what color the bearing is. People ain’t looking at my bearing inside the yoyo. Unless there is a performance enhancing reason behind it, then I’m interested. If not, then I could care less.
K… my friend said he’ll sign up in a few days, he had a few more questions,
- Would you that have different colored/switched halves help?
- Would different colored strings help?
- What makes a good 3a yoyo?
I don’t play 3a, but based completely on reading some stuff, it seems stability is a very desirable trait for 3a play. Based on this, I’d get a pair of Stealth ogres. Most stable throw I have ever tried, and my collection is getting decent sized. You have to deal with the fact you might ding the brass, but they will be so stable to be even a little self correcting.
Otherwise, get a pair of classics to start if money is an issue.
When u start, get classics. Responsive left hand, unresponsive right. When you get better, mod the left hand to be unresponsive.
I play some 3a and use classics.
1: I find having different colored halves for 2A yoyos a big help because it helps to ensure you’re doing it right. Of course, you use matching yoyos but different colors and swap halves. You can do this with any type of yoyo, provided you have two of the same thing, be it 1A, 3A, 4A and 5A as well. I personally prefer same/same on everything but my 2A yoyos. Let’s put it this way, it can’t hurt and it might help. The yoyo should do a half flip each time you throw, mostly because you catch and flip, or in the case of 2A, loop it back out.
2: Do colored strings help? Maybe. I think they do. I find white too bland. I prefer neon green and yellow, as they are bright and easier to see. Pink too. For styles like 2A and 3A where you are using more than 1 yoyo at once, this is also a good idea as well. However, any string can get the job done as long as it’s a quality string. Even the low-cost items like YYE 100% poly and Kitty String are also great strings.
3: 3A? I don’t do 3A yet, but I know that from what people say, you want lots of rim weight. Most yoyos are stable and long spinning, so you want to look for something with more rim weight for further stability on longer spins and a large catch zone. Those seem to be the general recommendations. You can use stuff like PSG’s, Classics, Surge, Alpha Crash and Protostars for 3A. YYJ even makes some models oriented heavily around 3A if you’re inclined to get those. Whatever you do, get TWO of the same thing, but I suggest mixing up the colors. I have a PSG and a PSG GEM and I intend to get another one of each for 3A. I also have a pair of Classics for 3A when I get to it.
Again, for 3A, I recommend matching up everything as best you can. Same model, same bearing, same response, but I recommend different colors to keep track of things. Same BRAND and variation of string, but different colors to keep track of things if you want to go that route.