Need help getting started - please help!

General Yo-Yo
1

I recently started playing with a couple of yo-yos that I’ve found lying around my house. Neither of them are very well made I can tell, and they are obviously designed for the yo-yoer who has no plans of being able to pull off tricks and get better. But I do aspire to those things.

I want to get better and one day be able to pull off all kinds of tricks and just be good enough where I can really have fun with it. So, I’ve looked up online and everything how to do tricks, types of yo-yos and all that kind of stuff, and from what people have been saying, the yo-yos I have aren’t very good when it comes to long sleep times and string tricks.

I’m now looking to get a new, better, higher-quality yo-yo.

Now, I have a few questions/comments:

  1. I’ve been looking around on this site and through the reviews section of these forums, and I’ve decided upon getting either the Dark Magic, Legacy, X-convict, or New Breed.

  2. What I want to know is: which of these seems the best for someone like me? I want to be able to have long sleep times and be able to throw all kinds of tricks and be able to do grinds and all of that. I know that the New Breed and Legacy are “unresponsive” yo-yos and that you have to perform a “bind” to get them to return.

  3. I do not yet know how to bind because I cannot do string tricks because my yo-yos are not butterflys, they have very narrow gaps, but would you recommend that I not get an unresponsive yo-yo because of that? Or is it easy enough to learn a bind that it would be OK.

  4. Which of these four would you prefer? And I know you all hate preference threads, but I am actually looking for your preferences because I respect you guys as yo-yoers.

  5. My budget is around $40, and if you have a better recommendation then the 4 I listed, please let me know.

  6. I am still very new, and I don’t really know how to mod yo-yos or do anything like that (yet) so please don’t say something like “Get the Dark Magic because it’s amazing after you mod it and lube it and whatever” because I don’t know how to do that, so it’s essentially useless to me.

Thanks, this will help me a lot.

2

The Legacy and New Breed will come unresponsive out of the box, meaning they will need a bind to return to your hand.

The Dark Magic is a very good, choice. i will let someone like GM use or Apetruck do a detailed post :D.

Also, welcome to the Forums, we hope that you will stay and become a great forum member :).

3

What are the pros and cons of unresponsive yo-yos?

Also, is it very hard to learn how to bind at first because I don’t know yet, but I’m liking the New Breed and Legacy…

And if you forget about the $20 price difference between the Legacy and the Dark Magic, which would you choose based purely on performance?

4

Unresponsive yo-yos allow you to have longer spins, and if you are doing complex tricks or tricks with pops and such you don’t want want it to come back and hit you. It make the yo-yo easier to use in general as a more advanced player. The tutorials here teach you how to bind, that is very helpful.

I would prefer the Legacy. I love the internal weighting system… The Legacy is actually built off of the Dark Magic.The Legacy has a much smoother feel to me and fits better in my hand than the Dark Magic.

1 Like
5

First off, welcome to the forum! Feel free to ask questions as you need, and also try out the nifty search button at the top. :smiley:

  1. The New Breed has a really large gap, so I wouldn’t recommend that to start with. Out of the other 3, you won’t go wrong. They have adjustable gaps, so you can have the gap smaller or larger by tightening or loosening it. This will make it more responsive. To pick among these 3, look at the shapes and sizes and pick one you think you might like. The Hitman is somewhat small, somewhat wide, and fairly round. Dark Magic is pretty large and round, as well as wide. X-Convict is between these two in size, but closer to the Dark Magic. It is pointy though.

You’ll also want to pick up some string, either from this store or from some people around the forum that sell their homemade string. You also might want to pick up a bottle of thick and one of thin lube. The thick will make the yoyo more responsive so binding should happen easier, as well as making the yoyo much more responsive. Thin lube is made to not make the yoyo more responsive, but to simply lubricate the bearing and keep it lasting longer. (You can watch the Learn videos on this site for “Bearing Maintenance” under the “Maintenance” section.) The lube isn’t needed, but it will help a bit.

Nowadays, people play unresponsive so they can do complex string tricks and such. That’s what most yoyos today are made for.

It’s not that hard to learn binds, it just takes some practice

The Legacy and Dark Magic are very similar. Some people like one more than the other, but I think one of the main differences is that the Legacy has a fixed gap, so you can’t make it more responsive. Also, it uses silicone, so you might want to pick up some o-rings from the local hardware store just in case the siicone ones the Legacy comes with wear out.

EDIT: You won’t go wrong with any of these yoyos. Legacy, Dark Magic, Hitman, X-Convict…All are great to go from beginner to a pro.

1 Like
6

thanks, you’ve been a big help

7

Yup. In the future though, instead of saying thanks, there is a thank you button in the top right corner of each post. This help eliminate lots of posts just saying thank you. Thanks. (:P)

8

Ok, well, here I am to write a detailed post. :stuck_out_tongue:

I’ll write the disadvanteges and advanteges of each yoyo, and add a few more, posobly.

The Dark Magic I a great yoyo for begginers to experts. You can adjust its gap, so if you con’t bind yet, it will be responsive, and once you learn binding, you can set it to unresponsive. It is also the yoyo André uses in the learn section.

The Legacy was designed like the Dark Magic, but is quite different. It should be unresponsive out of the box, so I don’t highly reccomend it to a begginer. If you want to learn binding immediantly, I reccomend the Legacy, but I wouldn’t try yet. This is why adjustable yoyos are better for begginers.

The X-ConVict is amazing as well. It is adjustable like the Dark Magic, and could work pretty well for a begginer. Also, once you get into modding if you ever do, you can silicone it, just for a furure though.

The New Breed I don’t reccomend, even if your prepared to learn binds, it takes extra binding skills to bind. Later, once you’re in to more advanced tricks, these will work well.

There are a few other yoyos that I reccomend to people just starting over metal rimmed yoyos. The YoYoJam plastic yoyos, and the YoYoFactory Velocity will work spectacular for a begginer.

The Kickside is responsive out of the box, but is also adjustable, so you can learn binds with it. It can get you really far in learning tricks also, I can do all my tricks on it.

The Lyn-Fury is great as well. It is responsive out of the box, and will break in, and it is also adjustable. Same as the KickSide, you can get very far in learning tricks. And you can also silicone it once you get into modding.

The Speed MaKer is also a great choice. The rim weight is not too great, so you have to have a very good throw to complete all the tricks on this site. And as all the other ones, it is adjustable, so you can learn binds with ease

The Journey I don’t reccomend, it is plain way too light for a begginer to do advanced tricks. It is possible, but hard.

And the Velocity is highly reccomended by everyone. Unlike the other choices, it has a dial on the sides, so you can adjust how far out the responce goes, so no matter how much it is broken in, it may still be responsive.

So you have lots to choose from. As a begginer, I reccomend picking up whatever looks coolest to you.

My most reccomended choices:

KickSide
Lyn-Fury
Speed Maker
Velocity
Legacy (If you’re prepared to lean binds immediantly)
Dark Magic
X-ConVict

1 Like
9

Hmmm… I would get a dark magic and some thick lube, DMs are great yos almost perfect in everyway.
But I started of with a Kickside, its a graet yo for only 15 bucks, but then buy some YYJ thin lube and a couple of strings and you will be set for a while
clean the bearing then add some thin lube for extra spin time.
Kicksides are perfect for learning on.
i wouldnt recomend any other except for the lyn fury
Legacys and NBs are unresponsize and learning to bind right away is no fun
Hitmans and X-Cons will turn unresponsive over time
Hmmm… oh ya dont get a journey the kind of crappier version of a KS for the same price

WEll Welcome to YYE

10

Well, a beginner could use it just fine. Just throwing that one out there.
EDIT:

Please don’t use vulgar language. Also, the Kickside and Journey are pretty different shapes. Just saying.