Hi All, looking for some help on my next yoyo purchases. Just came back to throwing after a 16 year hiatus and am looking to start rebuilding my collection with modern throws. I have quite a few yoyos from back in the day such as the Freehand 2, throw monkey, flying panda, and a lot of proyos (bumblebees, pro ace II, x ray bee, etc.) but they are obviously not up to par anymore.
Have recently bought the clyw metal yeti, OD virtuoso, duncan grasshopper GTX, koolau edge, antidote, unprld recognition, and throwrevolution trident. I am a fan of all these except the unprld recognition as the shape is not very comfortable for my hand so probably am not looking to purchase something of a similar shape.
What I am currently looking at are the yoyos below:
Clyw wildfire
Clyw boy
OD legendary terrarian
Mowl Nocturnal
YYF Blade 2.0
YYF Edge ultimatum
Any idea on which of these I should get? I understand that these are mostly W/H shaped yoyos apart from the wildfire, a V shape, which I do not have one in my collection yet. Am open to other yoyo suggestions as well if they are in stock (am interested in SF yoyos as well but these seem to never be in stock).
Further concerns are that the bimetals seem to be less durable than monometals. Have managed to ding both my bimetals (Grasshopper gtx and trident throwrevolution) and they both seem to have some vibe on the rings now.
The Edge is really good, and I believe the wildfire is also supposed to be really good. The blade 2.0 isn’t out yet, just the prototype which I’m sure it will still be great. If you want a cheap non bimetal that’s really good, I would just buy the edge ultimatum. But aAll of these are great yo-yos.
Im about to get the blade 2.0 in an hour i will give an update.
As for the ultimatum, its a big one, but its so good. I had to do a double take when i first tried it. I thought it would be heavy but it was light, really movable. Imagine a tank with wings and an insanely powerful engine. Really satisfying yoyo, sounds good, feel incredible.
My favourite V right now is the YYR Sleipnir.
My favourite H/W shapes are SF Movement, OD VTWO, Duncan Freehand AL
My favourite Organic/modified organic right now is MikeMonty Memento and A-rt Grail.
I would also consider getting yoyos that have been significant/influential in the evolution of the current yoyo scene/climate. Shutter/Wangle, OG Edge and Edge Beyond, OG Draupnir, to name a few. Alternatively, I’d focus on the community’s “greatest hits” like the OD Top Deck, 2018 Banshee, TiVayder, TiShee, Deep State, etc.
Your current want list looks pretty solid but it also looks really “right now,” if you catch my drift. What’s hot changes so quickly that I personally, if I had to go back in time and redo my collection, would probably skip a lot of what I bought as the new hotness and focus on influential throws and the community darlings. That’s not to say that that’s the be all and end all—I would’ve missed out on gems like the Machination or Vindicator or Ting line if I hadn’t indulged my whims—but the vast majority of my collection goes unloved because I bought solid performers that just didn’t stand out/were redundant with what I already owned. Just a thought.
That said, pure personal preference, I’d probably go with the Wildfire and possibly the Blade 2.0 proto. Nocturnal is a 3rd place but I feel like that shape’s been done a lot already.
There are literally no yoyo that you SHOULD buy. And there are a sea of yoyos that you COULD buy. Since you are building a collection, maybe you would like to take a bunch with all different shapes to obtain some variety for all kind of play styles. In that case, just lean on your visual taste and put in a cart what you prefer.
Or maybe you know what you are most comfortable with, and want to stick with that feeling, then maybe you would like to look through some familiar tech specs and shapes when you choosing.
Current yoyo manufacturing offers some high quality products, even if they are pretty cheap, so most of yoyos that in stock of stores are perfect in terms of spining smoothly and not falling apart on slightest knock. Taking this into consideration, you cannot go wrong with almost anything. But, of course, it is always better to try what are you going to buy.
To sum all that text - find a club/meeting, try a lot, buy what you like Everyone here have different tastes that differs from yours.
Or maybe i am wrong and all my post is nonsence
Thanks for the comments guys. Ended up purchasing the wildfire, bear trap, and edge ultimatum along with some markmont and sochi string.
Am liking them all so far but aesthetically speaking nothing still beats CLYW’s anodization and smoothness. The markmont string is also really good. Think I will stop buying kitty string and get those instead to play with.
As for bearings any consensus on Center Trac vs concave? Seems that all the CLYWs come stock with center tracs rather than concaves.
On another note, my view is that yoyos are kind of like phones in that the newest releases seem to be the greatest due to technological advances and development of the “trick meta”. This was most definitely the case back then but I am not sure if this thesis still holds now because many people in the community still recommend yoyos from 3-4 years back i.e. VTWO, top deck, shutter, etc. What does the community think of this?
Those are still one of the best yoyos I have tried.
I think there are advancements in yoyos but it’s not at a speed where something from half a decade ago is any more or less inferior or superior than new yoyos.
I think it’s more when big quantum jumps happen, like response pads, bearings etc so I would say the latest and greatest might be more like latest and shiniest not necessarily greatest.
I have a One Drop Legendary Terrarian on the way so I can’t say much about it yet - might arrive today though so I’ll give you some feedback then.
On the Blade 2.0 Prototype - I picked up one of these when they were first released. It’s the widest yoyo in my collection at 48.3mm. It’s not my favourite in terms of looks or feel in the hand, but it’s incredibly easy to use - it’s the one I turn to most often when I’m trying to learn a new trick. Smooth, long spinning, stable and very forgiving. It’s also much cheaper than the others you mentioned - worth picking up IMO.
There’s some much-more-recent yoyos that get recommended a lot when they are actually in stock, like the UNPRLD Recognition.
Shutter will almost always be in stock, and a lot of the One Drops are regularly restocked as well, so the best of their releases will be recommended frequently.
There’s plenty of other recent yoyos that are great, but weren’t as popular, so there aren’t as many people to recommend them. It ends up kind of being a self-reinforcing circle.
I’m not sure if I could ever say if yoyos today were better than ones 2 or 4 or 6 years ago. I still have and love my Markmont Classic, originally released in 2014. Though now that I think about it, part of the reason I think about that yoyo a lot is because @Markmont is still super active all over the place.
Everyone here have different tastes that differs from yours.