I’ve been throwing for around 6 months. Really enjoying it when I’m not picking knots out 
. But I did want to gripe about yoyo quality. Specifically: I have a couple in the $25 range, and a couple in the $50+ range. I find that my lower price yoyos actually seem to perform better. My V13 is by far my best in terms of stability, spin time, and overall feel. I also love my N11, I just wish it was a little bigger. But I got a Shutter Wide Angle and a Spotlight Ultra figuring they would be noticeably better (being double the price) and I’m feeling very underwhelmed. My new Bullseye (~$35) was broken in and spinning great after only a few minutes. I guess I figured you get what you pay for, but with yoyos I’m starting to think that’s not the case. I wish I had an easy way to try before I buy!
The only Magicyoyo that I have is a Node, that I bought for 8 bucks. It’s ok, but it’s a little clunky. Magicyoyo is a big company in terms of yoyo and will be cheaper than, just about anything else. There’s a lot of factors that go into pricing yoyos and going up in price won’t always get you more performance. The Shutter is perhaps a classic, but it’s been around for a long time. If you’re looking for yoyos with a good price to performance ratio, Yoyofriends has a few, good models under $50.
Regardless of price, different shaped yoyos with different weight distributions will perform differently. That Bullseye’s going to be very stable due to its rather extreme H-profile. If you decided that your next throw was going to be organic, you might initially be disappointed with stability as they aren’t the longest spinning profile out there…but on the other hand they do feel good in the hand and tend to play more chill. On the other hand, an extremely rim-weighted yoyo might feel a bit too “sterile.”
As you get more experienced, you’ll begin to find shapes you prefer, and be able to work around a given yoyo’s quirks. I got a Shutter back when it first came out. That same day I also bought a One Drop Benchmark H. Both being around the same price, I found a bit underwhelmed with my Shutter and heavily gravitated toward my Benchmark H-shape throw. I was still working on my form and the Benchmark was much more “forgiving” for me.
So far I’m more impressed with my Magic Yoyos than Yoyo Factory (Shutter and Spotlight Ultra). But not everything, I suppose. I like the YYF Bullseye. I have a Crystal glow in the dark that just looks cool, but that’s about it. Lol. I guess I’ll just have to do more research.
I think I see what you mean about shape. I like the Bullseye shape as well as the MagicYoyo V13. The Shutter Wide Angle feels like it really wants to be awesome but something just isn’t happening. Maybe I should try different response pads or a bearing. It just doesn’t get the spin time as the fist two when I do rail combos. The V13 feels like I have unlimited lives when I’m practicing. It spins forever. Compared to the others, at least.
As your technique improves, you’ll find that other yoyos will “wake up” to you. Wider throws take getting used to as well. I bought a Superwide many years back (extremely wide throw) and it was tough to get a clean throw. It would end up wobbling about. Also if I’m learning a new trick, even with my years of experience, I will gravitate toward something on the extreme side of rim weight so I can get a fair shot at learning the trick at a comfortable pace. As I improve and get more consistent with it, I will try it on other throws and if I want to punish myself, give it a shot on a micro.
I’ve also had new yoyos that should have been longer spinning not live up to my hopes but after a good bearing cleaning, the yoyo felt totally different for the better. I’ve also been completely surprised by other yoyos, like a Temu throw I got Xmas 2024, plays pretty darn good (and the color looks cool) for its price.
You also need to take into account the size of the company you’re buying from. You’re going to pay more for boutique brands.
Of course, you’ll eventually find brands you dig more than others. Then you’ll end up supporting their efforts!
That makes sense. So far, the 4 from Yoyo Factory that I bought have been pretty underwhelming, aside from the Bullseye, so my thoughts are it’s time to move on and try somebody else.
I haven’t played the V13….but the N11 is very…underwhelming to me.
Bullseye is fun (I’ve got one) but I get WAY better play from a Wide Angle and a Spotlight Ultra.
With yoyos there’s also very much a “as you get better you get more out of them and notice quality better” kind of a thing.
Some lower priced yoyos are VERY good, some higher priced yoyos perform underwhelmingly.
Try to find reviews, see if you can find yoyo meet ups. Some times I think I want a yoyo, I play it at a meet and I’m like “….nope, not worth it”.
See, you’re obviously way more experienced and you prefer the Wide Angle and Spotlight. So that tells me it’s probably just a “me” problem and I should just be more patient and keep playing them.
More practise is always a good thing.
liking or disliking a yoyo is personal preference and never a problem. you like what you like and don’t like what you don’t. it’s totally fine and there’s no right answer regardless of how long someone has been playing
I get what your saying try before you buy makes sense but that is going to be complicated. If you think your yoyos are underwhelming per say as you mentioned you can always trying switching out the parts like the string and bearings. I noticed dramatic improvements this way with Yoyofriends monometals. I also own the Spotlight Ultra I think it’s more younger players who need lighter playing yoyos but yoyo is not really going to cut it with the stock bearing. Hunter mentions he recommends a NKS bearing in all his signatures.
Going to in person events, clubs, contests and such is how you get to try a bunch of things and discover your interests way faster and cheaper than buying or trading on your own
i personally think ppl have an unnecessary extreme hyper focus on gear in this hobby. honestly 99.9% of all yoyos, string, bearings and pads will work for the vast majority of players. it’s more important to just find what you like, for whatever reason, and then just play with it everyday. you will make amazing gains and you will stop thinking so much about the gear aspect. i literally couldn’t even tell you what bearing brand/shape is in any given yoyo i own. it just doesn’t matter. it spins. if you ever get to the point where your gear is holding you back, you’ll be experienced and good enough to figure out what you need to tweak without asking anyone.
also, just to be clear, I’m not being critical of the question asking. there are ppl around that can vouch for me incessantly asking these same type questions. this is just the conclusion I’ve come to after asking all those same questions
Having recently gotten a Benchmark 2013 H, I can now vouch that they’re a super solid mix of stability and spin time.
Find a yoyo club near you! Or go to contests. That will allow you to try all sorts of yoyos and find a type you like.
I have a few yoyos like you said that were underwhelming on first impression
some of them i picked up a year later and was blown away how much i liked them
others I really liked when in got them
now not so much
realistically yoyos are more purchased for variety than anything else, it gets boring throwing the same yoyo every day (even if it is a premium bimetal)
for your shutter I would suggest picking it up some other time of day, or trying fatter strings that will make it feel a bit more powerful (also vary the length) it may be that you like it more (or less) in the future
In order to get a feel for how different toys play, grind learning a new trick on a yoyo, only throw that yoyo for 2-3 days, maybe longer. Then switch to a different one, that will help you to notice differences. Sometimes doing a lot of switching numbs out particular play aspects of a yoyo. Thomas makes great points, most of the time gear doesn’t matter, with the disclaimer (like he mentioned) to use something that’s interesting to you, whether it be color, shape, brand, whatever. Do what’s fun.
There are more good yo-yos out there than bad yo-yos, and a better yoyo will not make to a more talented player.
In my experience, a trick is harder to hit because of a misunderstood micro movement/ element that has to be executed in a certain timing. My understand now is 90% of the time in the past where I tried a yoyo and hit that new trick faster was because I handled the new yoyo differently that the first, which resulted in me hitting the unnoticed element in the perfect timing. That’s how magic drop was for me, now I can hit magic drop/shockwave with 90% accuracy, but that’s because I thought an organic yoyo was what I needed to get the string to reject at the right time. Now I can do it on a h shaped yoyo, but that’s because I grinded and practice that trick over and over and over.
Oh I didn’t mean to infer it was a problem with you. There is as much as “taste” thing with yoyos as there is performance.