In honor of Fixed Axle February I thought I would do a quick comparison of the TMBRs in my collection. I’d love to hear what the rest of you think of your TMBR throws.
I’m going to list the specs that I could get, but I know some of them must be wrong. The Yoyoexpert website lists the width of the Baldwin at 41.27mm/1.63 in, but the TMBR website lists it as 1 3/8 (1.375) in/34.925 mm. The only measurement I could find for the width of the Irving Pro was at Yoyoexpert wich lists it at 34.58mm/1.36 in. I know this is wrong because it is slightly wider than the Baldwin. Just to let you know.
Lovejoy
Specs:
Diameter: 59 mm/2.32 in
Width: 34.925 mm/1.375
Weight: 54.5 g
My favorite of the bunch. This is the yoyo that brings modern string tricks to fixed axle, for me. It is everything I had hoped the Irving Pro would be, but wasn’t. You won’t be working on your stalls with this one, but you can work on anything else.
Freemont
Specs:
Diameter:58.5 mm/2.30 in
Width: 28.55 mm/1.12 in
Weight: 50.5 g
This is a great little yoyo to work on stalls and looping, as well as string tricks. I can’t get through as many string tricks with this as I can the Lovejoy or Baldwin, but for me it is better than the Baldwin for stalls.
Baldwin
Specs:
Diameter:53.97 mm/2.12 in
Width: 34.925 mm/1.375 in
Weight: 54 g
Another great throw. The Baldwin is good for stalls and string tricks. I didn’t find it quite as good for stalls as the Freemont. Something about the weight distribution causes it to fall off the string on stalls more often than the Freemont. Not really a big problem, I probably wouldn’t have noticed anything if I didn’t play them side-by-side. Still, don’t hesitate to buy.
Irving take-apart
Specs:
Diameter:59 mm/2.32 in
Width: 28 mm/1.10 in
Weight: 50 g
Now we’re getting down the list a little. It plays very similar to the Freemont, in terms of what I can do with it. However, I just don’t like the shape that much. The edges are sharp and on long sessions it can get very uncomfortable. Some people may love it, but it’s just not for me.
Irving Pro
Specs:
Diameter:59 mm/2.32 in
Width: 34.58 mm/1.36 in*
Weight: 53.4 g
*pretty sure this is the wrong measurement
Now to my one disappointment. Not really in terms of play, but in terms of feel. It plays very nicely, but again the shape is very uncomfortable to me. This is also the only one of the bunch I had to add any response to. At first it played almost completely unresponsive. I ended up adding a Duncan 12mm silicone sticker and now it returns fine. Another one you will probably either love or hate.
