Hi, I’ve been out of yoyoing for over 20 years and I have no clue as to what’s good, call me old school, but back in my day a good wood yoyo was my gig, but now I’m interested getting back into it, aluminum with bearings wow! I was looking at the velocity, since it has the bearing for long sleep time and has a return, but you can make it non responsive, so I can work my way up, don’t get me wrong I saw the Dash aluminum one and was like OMG, that’s freaking kool, but I’m on a tight budget, so the more I can get out of less is a big advantage, and since my two boys are going to want to learn, it’s going to cost me even more, so any advice and suggestions are greatly appreciated! Ty, JR
YYJ Classic. Stock, it’s responsive, so it gets you started. The shape, weight and diameter help to ease catches and build confidence while still giving amazing performance.
Ready for your upgrade? While you’re at it, buy a YYJ Speed Bearing to start throwing unresponsive and your choice of YYJ silicone response pads or flowable silicone for the response. You’re looking at just under $20 for stuff some guys are COMPETING with!! Yes, it’s all plastic, but it’s all awesome.
There you go. Budget friendly. It’s what I’m recommending these days. Other choices include the YYJ Legacy II for “in the package room to grow”. 2 bearings: slim installed, Speed bearing in the box. Already has the YYJ silicone o-ring response pads in it. Better? Not sure. Both are great throws. Can’t go wrong either way.
I’m not saying the Velocity is bad, I just feel the Classic is a better overall solution.
But, if going full metal is your way to go, realize that I think only the YYF Genesis may be the only shipping and compatible yoyo with a slim bearing pre-installed. With the Classic, you can simply leave it stock if you want, then get a moderate priced metal in the the $40-60 range(more or less) when the time is right. But don’t ignore plastics either. There’s LOADS of amazing plastics that must be considered. There’s a LOT of good stuff on the market.
Watch the YYE learning videos, get the “lay of the land” and the “trends” and then start your adventure all over again.
I agree with the classic. It’s an excellent yoyo that can handle everything from rock the baby to some of my longer horizontal combos. It’s ridiculously good for it’s price, and for a plastic.
Just remember to put up some slim 19mm pads and a wider bearing. YYE Speed bearings work great.
I really love the YYF Whip. Fantastic yoyo for its price! $9.99. But that has an unresponsive bearing. But binding is very easy to learn!
The legacy is a good yoyo for the price, it comes stock responsive but if you switch it with the speed bearing it comes with it will become unresponsive.
Thanks guys, ill have to keep looking, do they make one that comes as a kit, to where you can change the bearings and or pads? Out to make it compatible for all uses? Yet you don’t have to buy five diff sets to make it complete? Bear with me all these terms and new age stuff I’m not up to date on, so I have to look them up before I understand them… I’d like something that has a nice solid feel, not hollow, so if its aluminum are they heavy and solid? Of hollow I would go to a plastic, provided there solid, what I would really love, a skateboard wheel! A SOLID poly with smooth spin! Not to huge, but open enough to land the string on the center, thanks a lot guys for any info! JR
The Duncan Pro Z has what you are describing, but I’ve never used one so I can’t speak for its quality. I believe it has an A sized bearing, so you can purchase a new speed bearing to make it unresponsive as well.
First of all, welcome to YoYoExpert and getting back to yoyoing! Regardless of material [metal/plastic], each yoyo will be fine. There are a lot of plastic yoyos that play just as well as a $100 metal yoyo. But no matter what you choose, you will still be able to do the tricks you did 20 years ago.
As for the terms hobbyists usually use, I recall there’s a thread like that somewhere. If someone can find it and link it it’d be a great help to get JR started. Sometimes we forget that not all people may understand what ‘responsive’ or how flowable silicone that’s usually used in windows have some any kind of practical use in yoyos.
Keep us updated and we love to help you all the way.
So far that duncan pro Z looks to be a good one, since it does both, its around the same size as the others but the weight is a little low, even with the spacers its only 60grams, but for some reason i keep looking back at the yyf velocity, its a little heavier, pretty much the same as the yyj classic, but the width is a little smaller, its only 36… id like one that could do both unresponsive and responsive, until i get back into the swing of things, (lol get it the swing of thing…)then i can see about getting another, anyway, thanks again for any info! JR
I’d recommend the pro z for testing the waters. They aren’t bad at all.
They are. At anywhere from $8-12, they start off in modified shape, then use the included parts to switch to a wing-shape. Even with a clean bearing, they can still be responsive, so one might have to yank a pad off the mod spacers. I find putting an A-sized centertrac finishes the yoyo into something majorly fun. At this point though, we’ve doubled the price of the yoyo(if not more) by adding that Centertrac bearing into it.
The other advantage of the ProZ is that the odds are good it’s available locally at TRU if you absolutely must start “today”.
With YYF going more mainstream and into TRU, it would be nice if YYJ would do the same thing with some of their sub-$30 models.
Here is what you need to add to your cart:
YYJ Classic: YoYoJam – YoYoExpert
I would suggest a One Drop 10 Ball Bearing or YYF/YYJ Bearing: Yo-Yo Bearings – YoYoExpert
And 19mm Pads: http://shop.yoyoexpert.com/product/725/IrPad-19mm-Standard-Pads-(Pair)
The classic is one of my all time favorites, for performance, and the price is just stupid amazing. This is coming from someone who has owned and played $200.00+ high end metal throws geared toward competition. I would do this.
Cheers,
I’d recommend going straight to unresponsive metal is you can afford it. No need to mess around with responsive - just spend your first couple of days learning how to bind.
You can get a One Drop Cafe Racer for $60:
Ok ok, so the duncan pro z and the classic, both do both sides of the fence, you just have to change out the bearings and o-ring, except on the duncan, just add the cones, unlike the velocity, just tighten up the outside… and now forget about going with anything responsive, just go to something you have to bind? how do you do some of the tricks if there’s no response? i can see some of them but others need a response, so then you need a 2nd yoyo? JR
Modern 1A play doesn’t require a yoyo to be responsive. In fact, lots of tricks are not possible if the yoyo is responsive (you will bust you knuckles).
What about the yomega dash? JR
Get the Velocity. Those things are sweet and you can change responsiveness on the fly. I dig the shape, too. Very comfortable.
For some reason i kept looking back to that one, if they made one that came as a kit were you can change everything in order to switching things out that would be great, but to have one that you can just adjust it to change your play, i would think that would be great!
Can you update the bearing? and make it a longer sleep time? for in the future? JR
Velocity without a doubt is the way you want to go.
Longer spin times are going to come with practice more than anything else. Some bearings will allow you to eek out a little bit more spin time… but if you’re just getting back into it… your technique is going to be more important than anything, and the Velocity will take all you can throw at it and more. (I love mine and still go back to it as my favorite plastic yoyo.)
Hope this helps!
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The Velocity uses an A-sized bearing, You can change it for the following A-sized bearings:
Any flat A-sized bearing.
Dif-E-Yo A-sized KK
CBC CenterTrac A-sized bearing.
You may wish to clean out the bearing and then treat or lubricate it to your preferences. Odds are this might be the only upgrade you need to do. However, I have no idea how they ship this bearing in the yoyo. It might be lubed, it might be dry.
I have a B-grade Speed Dial, which is the same price but metal. See if YYE still has them in stock. Might be another way to go. It uses a C-sized bearing.
I still think the Classic is a better starting choice.