I’m sure he has performed with a flat before. He was sponsored by onedrop back around 2010
I know what you mean. I have this on 2 yoyo’s that both use CLYW snow tires. I don’t know if that’s coincidence or not.
I still think it’s definitely a noticeable difference though.
From how jake put it too it seems like he implied it as more than just a minuscule, unnoticeable or barely noticeable difference
Not as minor as you’re making it out to be. If I recall correctly Gentry won by a significant margin that year. It wasn’t just a difference of 1 point or 1 percent, if he had lost because of a flat bearing that would’ve been like a 10 point, 10% difference. That is quite significant
Nah i’ll continue saying because it is true.
That’s because there is no argument. Centering bearings perform better. Anyone who says otherwise is lying. People debating that here are just (consciously or unconsciously) trying to justify their preference for flats and don’t want to concede that their favourite nostalgic bearing is in some way inferior because that hinders their own sense of ego.
Got news for everyone. You can use flats and accept centering bearings have better performance without that meaning flats are inferior or outdated.
Great response, I agree with everything you said 100%
Most people don’t know this but it’s actually pronounced “vih-bey”
Actually, it’s “voy-buh”
I know what you’re saying! It’s not that the yo-yo has vibe @da5id. It’s that with a non centering bearing the string may rub against the pads sometimes if they aren’t recessed. This isn’t a vibe that is felt on the yo-yo though. The vibe is felt through the string, but the YoYo is still spinning smooth. Anyways I think that’s what he’s trying to describe. 
Yep! Thank you! Didn’t know it’s because the pads weren’t recessed
This problem is greatly reduced with recessed response. I find it crucial if the yo-yo has vibe and a flat bearing. Otherwise the string drag you’re referring to can even be a spin killer and amplifies the vibe.
Yeah, it actually happens with some of my general yo’s with hat pads. I’m going to have to put in flowable or get the thinner hat pads.
I also don’t think it’s as major as others are making it out to be. I still stand by the fact that to a great player, the bearing isn’t going to matter. Is there a performance difference? Yes, there is. Are flats outdated, no they’re not.
It’s like the speed skater I mentioned earlier. With their suit on they can do a 500M in 1:10.25, without the suit on they can do the 500M in 1:10.26. Roughly 1/1000 of a second is what they say the suits help with. I feel that is what a centering bearing does for a great player. Just gives them a little performance “boost”.
For your average hobbyist yoyoer a CT is a big deal, a lot of players these days don’t want to deal with learning to correct tilt, which is ok, play for the reason you want to play. But your “Gentry level” players, or even players that came up only using flats, I still feel that it’s not going to matter (outside of competitions) that much to them.
The fact that you said you need to better be able to correct tilt with flats proves that centering bearings do make a meaningful difference in stability, at least for beginners.
And I was just trying to state that if Ben is correct in his assumption(which Jake didn’t deny either) that Gentry wouldn’t have won in 2015 if he used a flat that would’ve been much more than a .1 second difference or .1 point difference
If Gentry lost that would’ve been an 11 point difference. That is HUGE. For that specific contest, that could’ve meant the difference from 7th place to 14th. For other contests where scores are closer, that could mean not just the difference from 1st and 2nd or 3rd but the difference from 1st to outside the top 5.
I know this is all speculation but it seemed to be a strong assumption from Ben and personally I would believe it too. It may not be as big of a difference if he was using a more stable yoyo like his Shutter but I definitely still think it’d be more than a tiny .1 or so point difference.
@ColinBecko @Evan_Nagao would you guys mind giving us your opinions on flat vs centering bearings?
How well do you think you would be able to do your typical competition routines if you were using a flat bearing vs a centering bearing?
I mentioned this as regards beginners, or average hobbyists 
I agree, after hearing from Jake also, about Gentry using the Replay with a flat. But with a Shutter, it’d be interesting to see what the differences would be. That’s why it’d be neat to hear from seasoned competition players.
Yeah, that’s why I stated “at least for beginners”
But like, if you’re a competition player you said centering bearings can be useful because they help give you that tiny edge that may make a difference.
Then for the beginner or average hobbyist it helps with fixing tilt and stability.
Doesn’t that mean centering bearings are beneficial for pretty much everyone?
In any case, I think we’ve both got our points across, I understand your perspective now and I think you understand mine. Let’s hope Colin or somebody else that’s more skilled can chime in 
Centering bearings are pretty huge to me, I don’t think I can perform my tricks with flat bearings nearly as confidently as I can with centering bearings.
That does seem like the most logical conclusion to all this. The one exception might be “those players who need the string to move around the bearing more easily because of all the string layers they are going to wrap into the gap”?
That all depends. There are a lot of benefits to a flat bearing. For me the majority of the time a flat is more beneficial, as I play responsive most the time, and centering bearings don’t work that great.
Where has @Markmont been in this discussion? 
He’s got some thoughts on flat bearing more than most 