Need Some Help with first “real” yo-yo

General Yo-Yo
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First off, I admit to knowing absolutely nothing about yoyos. I’ve already learned more in the last two hours reading this site than I ever thought existed.

That said, I want to start playing more. My daughter is 7 and I just bought her a Duncan Butterfly and she loves it. I grew up playing with a Yomega Fireball. I wouldn’t consider myself to be a complete noob; but, I’m pretty close. I can make a yoyo sleep, walk the dog, rock the baby, elevator, etc.

My daughter can’t do much and since she’s 7, it’s nearly impossible for her to get the Duncan Butterfly to sleep.

I’m looking for some advice on what throws to buy that we can both enjoy. I don’t mind spending a little money if it means we can enjoy this together. I’m assuming we’ll need drastically different yoyos right now, as well, given that she’s a seven year old girl and I’m a grown man.

I bought a Yomega deluxe set that came with a Raider, Ooch, and a Maverick. I really like the Maverick’s weight and feel in the hand so I’d like to “upgrade” to something similar to that.

The Ooch is unresponsive and I don’t know how to do a bind, yet, so it’s a one throw and I’m done! I’ll work on a bind later tonight and then know more about how I feel about an unresponsive yoyo.

Looking for advice on a good quality first “real” yoyo and I’m open to almost anything. I’d prefer something made entirely in the USA. I’ve been looking at the One Drop stuff and it looks pretty slick. I haven’t been afraid of any of the price tags I’ve seen so far, so brand/price isn’t much of a consideration. Mainly concerned with quality and something that will last, both for she and I.

I was thinking about getting my daughter a Yomega Brain for now just so she can enjoy it and it’ll come back up to her at a relatively low speed. However, I’m open to suggestions.

Thanks in advance. We’re already having fun with this so I’m really looking forward to learning from everyone here and hopefully finding a hobby that my daughter and I can enjoy together.

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Thanks for your post.
Start by just going around youtube and watching yoyo related videos to help you get started.
I recommend just watching this to start.

and this once you get a yoyo

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Thanks!

I’ve watched almost all of the beginner videos on ■■■■■■■■■■. That’s what I did most of last night and saw some good recommendations. However, it seemed to be kinda biased towards their brand so I wanted to dig a little more before committing to anything.

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If you want a ‘good quality yoyo’ for a beginner, the Yoyofactory Shutter is a good metal unresponsive for beginners.

If you want a onedrop try this one…

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Absolutely, yomega brain for your daughter. My son is 4, and that’s just about the only one that he can actually get to return to his hand.

And the topyo creator is a pretty decent starter aluminum yoyo that comes responsive, and can be converted to unresponsive.

Welcome to the family! I’m always stoked to see new people who want to give it a go. As long as you like challenges, you’re set!

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Oops, forgot all about topyo…
The selene is a great choice for beginners.

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Speaking of responsive, you guys are killing it. Thanks! I expected to have to wait a few days to get some replies!

Smileypants707 - thanks for validating my Yomega Brain consideration. Gives me a little confidence that my research hasn’t been in vain.

NoT_ATHROWER - I was looking for the Selene earlier this evening and was having a hard time finding them. Found a few in stock but didn’t like the colors… It probably shouldn’t matter at this point (for me) but I figure if we’re gonna do it, we might as well enjoy it, too!

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Yes. Any yoyo from Clyw, Yoyofactory, SF yoyos, Duncan, Unparalleled is decent at worst. So you’ll have any options to choose from. Unless the specs of the yoyo is off the charts, that any yoyo you choose from those brands should be pretty good for a beginner.

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Right on! See how you feel about your Ooch, if you think you can get the hang of unresponsive. We pretty much live in the Golden Age of yo-yos, it’s really hard to buy a terrible yoyo. Granted, some are community tested and well coveted. But there’s really no sense for you to buy an unresponsive yoyo if you can’t even use it.

When I started getting into unresponsive, I made it a point to seek out models of the four main shape profiles (W,H,O,V) to see for myself which of the shapes I generally preferred.

So maybe just get back to us when and if you ever learn how to bind successfully, and we will steer you in the right direction! Whether you want to go responsive or unresponsive, there are so so many wonderful choices!

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I watched the bind theory video from ■■■■■■■■■■ last night and feel confident I can make it work.

I’ll go grab it right now and start messing around with it and see what I can do.

To add - my god have they come a long way in the last 20 years. I thought I had the greatest yoyo on the planet as a young kid with a Fireball! This Maverick is head and shoulders above that so I can’t even imagine what some of these others are like!

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I stand corrected. It was supposed to be an Ooch but it’s actually a Pro Speed.

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I’m so stoked right now! Haha, I remember the first time I did a successful bind. It was like magic! A total game changer!

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That’s what’s called a first time go. First three tries, three successful binds. That was too cool!

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Wait, you did it?

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Sure did!!

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Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure there’s plenty of room for improvement; but, it was back in my hand wound up!

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Good Lord, we have a natural! It’s off to the races now man!

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The third time the string was kinda messy, looked like there was a big loop in it and when I threw it again it was really sloppy. I’ll keep working on it.

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I tried to upload a video but I guess I can’t.

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Well, if you want top of the line American made yoyos, I cannot say enough good things about One Drop. I’m a shameless fanboy (lol). They’ve got excellent quality control, they’re not gimmicky, excellent customer service, and you can really feel the thoughtfulness behind their designs.

Top 3 currently available One Drop throws:

Top Deck
Kuntosh (and Kuntosh QV)
Markmont Classic

They are based out of Oregon, and also do occational commissions for other brands too, like CLYW and a-rt.

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