Beat ya to it
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Ah, okay. That makes sense. To be honest, my Raider will probably sit in a drawer for a while. Might not ever see any use. I’m sure once I figure out what I’m doing, I’ll give it a throw just to see what it’s like.
Someone else on here told me in a PM that once I start getting better at playing, I’ll start to pick up on all the subtle differences between all the different throws I have. For my hand, anyways, the Raider just doesn’t do it right now so I’ll probably stick with the wedge type throws as they seem to feel better and I feel like I’m making decent progress with them.
When the time comes, however, I’m sure I’ll dig it out and give it a throw. We just started this journey a couple of days ago and I’ve already bought 12 throws so I’m hoping one of them feels really good and becomes ‘the one.’
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The Raider was originally marketed as an all around hybrid yoyo, suitable for string tricks (1A) as well as looping. A number of other yoyos were sold on the same basis. In fact, Yomega still advocates that to the unwashed. That concept proved a difficult sell in general, but string tricks on a Raider are still easier than on a true imperial style looper. In fact, some people suggest practicing tricks on a Raider to develop accuracy.
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Now this makes sense. I can definitely see how that could help out with accuracy. Hadn’t even considered that.
Wow. I’ll admit, everything I’ve looked at so far has been 1A. These comments piqued my interest so I just went and watched Shinji Saito do a 2A competition. Mind = blown.
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You should check out some videos from Worlds this year (you can find them easily on YouTube) and give a look at all the different styles. 3A (2 yoyos, not looping) and 5A (counterweight) blow my mind. 4A (offstring) is also a lot of fun to watch. Especially when they get a 2nd yoyo going in there.
Time for a question - when you do the trapeze and then toss it back around like you’re going to do the brother - every time I do that step and land it on the sting by my throwing hand, it always binds up and stops spinning. Any tips on how to land it by your throwing hand and have it keep spinning the same way it does when you first land a trapeze?
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You can bind from any variation of a brother mount from a normal breakaway throw.
So, you’re likely hitting it a little sloppy, causing your string to engage the response pads. It’ll take practice getting it clean
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It’s like it hits and bounces back up and binds. Either way, it’s fun. It’d just be cool to get it to sit there so I can try that loop thing. Baby steps and practice, I suppose.
Is this an example of something that would be easier with an unresponsive yoyo? I’m guessing a wider gap and a design that doesn’t bind as easily might make this trick a little easier to do? All of the videos I’m watching have guys doing it with what appear to be responsive throws, so I know it’s possible. Just wondering if it may be a little easier with an unresponsive yoyo.
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There’s less likelihood the yoyo will catch and bind back with an unresponsive but honestly if you’re able to do binds, you should be able to do the brother mount without much issue.
Unresponsives generally make longer tricks and tricks that involve slack easier.
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I’ll keep practicing. I can get it over there, it just keeps grabbing the string when it lands. I wonder if my angle is wrong.
I need overhead slo-mo cameras!
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Actually it was developed on a responsive yoyo.
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That doesn’t surprise me. I see all the videos with a responsive yoyo, I’m just wondering if it might be easier for a beginner like me on an unresponsive yoyo.
You’ll find out before too long 
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Yeah, 2 years ago when I unbelievably WAS pretty good at looping with a YYF Oracle, I could not loop with a Raider or Fireball even w/ the string being triple looped.
The angle. I just can’t get the angle. Like anything we do frontstyle, if the planes are not perfect we get misses, snags, etc. and if it does actually land even slightly off plane the spin is killed so we get on the string but w/ a dead yo.
I personally would suggest getting a Replay for YOUR first real yoyo, since it comes responsive and once you learn to bind you can make it unresponsive and probably a YoYoFactory Whip or a F.A.S.T, or like you said a Yomega Brain for your daughter
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Hello RidinSpinners! Firstly, welcome to the hobby! My answer to your original post is going to be very dated. I was into the hobby a bit during the late 90s craze and was shocked at how far things had progressed when I got back into it about a decade later, but when I came back in, the yoyo people were touting as one of the best out there for bridging the gap into unresponsive play was the YoyoJam Dark Magic 2, so that was the one I tried. Ever since then, I’ve been hooked on YoyoJam and yoyos in general. I also liked YoyoJam because their yoyos were made entirely in the USA. The bad news is, YoyoJam closed its doors at the tail end of 2015, so the models you find out there are not necessarily up on all of the latest trends.
However, the good news is, YoyoExpert still has some of their most recent inventory in stock. The better news is that a lot of it is on sale, and some of them would even be good for your daughter (I’m thinking of the Speedmaker in particular as an example: it’s light, it’s quick, it’s inexpensive on sale, its design is based on what was considered one of the best yoyos ever made back in the mid 2000s, and it’s adjustable to give her the chance to ease her way into unresponsive play if she decides to go that far).
I’ve sampled many of their yoyos, so if you’d like some information about the advantages/disadvantages of different YoyoJams, feel free to ask me. YoyoJams probably don’t compare to the One Drop yoyos you’ve been looking at and some of them weren’t without their weaknesses, but if you want to try another company whose stuff was made here in the States and won’t break your bank, there are a number of fun throws to try!
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I wanted to update this thread because I got a OD Top Deck in the mail today.
I think this will help me out tremendously. It has a much wider gap and a concave bearing. The first time I threw it, I landed a brother mount. I could tell it was still spinning like crazy so I threw it back under to trapeze and then back to brother mount. Both times, and all 4 throws landed successfully.
I’m sure that with a bunch of practice, I’ll be able to do that with the Maverick; but, with that narrow gap and it being responsive, I feel like it’s gotta be just right to be effective.
Either way, I’m absolutely LOVING this OD Top Deck. I’m going to work on binds for a few days and see where it takes me. All I know is that I’m PUMPED to be playing with this thing.
Speaking of pumped, my daughter’s Brain showed up today and after a quick string length adjustment, she was having a ball. She’s a little bummed because it returns before she has a chance to do any tricks (she can’t throw it very hard); but, I told her it’ll just help her with form and technique and as she gets it spinning more and more, we’ll start moving into some tricks.
I just want to thank everyone on here for all of the advice and tips. This was a completely random endeavor for my daughter and I and now I’ve stumbled into something I truly enjoy. I was telling my wife how crazy it is; but, when I’m playing with a yoyo, it’s like the ultimate stress release. I lead a fairly stressful life and when I’m playing with a yoyo, even moreso now that I have this OD, I’m not worried about work, finances, errands I need to run, etc. I just kinda go into a trance and have a really good time.
I can’t wait to get better and keep doing this with my daughter!
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