Opinions on Terrapin bearings?

Hi everyone. Hope you all are having a great throw day.

If you’ve read any of my threads, you’d figure I’m much older than most of you. My throw technique is perfect (ha!) but I don’t really have the torque that all you youngsters can generate. I’ve changed all my bearings to Center Trac ones and they are working out great, but I’m curious about these Terrapin bearings. They aren’t cheap so I was curious about everyone’s experiences with them.

Thanks!

I have a friend who put a terrapin bearing in his summit, and the thing spins forever, we both love it. you should try it out

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Its a bit noisy, but it is proven to spin at higher RPM’s. I honestly feel that the Buddha Bearings serve me better and are a lot more wallet conscious.

I like mine a lot

I haven’t been fortunate enough to try a Terrapin, but I can second YoYoJordan on his thoughts about the Buddha Bearings. The regular 10 ball, and 8 ball concave (which is more like a Centre Trac) Buddha Bearings aren’t anything special. They are both very loud. However, the Buddha Bearing Ripple that has 10 balls, concave structure, and a groove in the middle are the quietest bearing I have ever owned in my life. They spin just as long as any of my other bearings, but the real plus is in the quietness. I can throw in the middle of the night standing right beside my sleeping son and fiancée and not bother anybody. You can’t even hear them spin unless you put the yoyo up beside your ear. I have heard good things about the Terrapin Bearings and I hope to be able to try a wing cut ceramic Terrapin one day.

It is my understanding that the bearings themselves are quite good. The lack of businessman-like conduct will keep me far away from them however.

I will also third Buddha Bearings. I’m pretty impartial to my type of bearing so anything works. You can find Buddha sampler packs at a discounted rate, and the Buddha 10-ball can be found for $3 a piece online as well.

I have tried the flat and wing shape terrapin bearings a few different times and they were ok. Not worth the money to me though, didn’t see a big difference in play for me to invest in a few of them.

I got one, it played great for a week, went responsive…i cleaned it. Its still responsive. I even contacted the manufacturer, and he sid snd it back to him. Its still responsive. Ive kinda given up on these bearings :-\

My bearing that I got from him went responsive in the first week, but I cleaned it, and it has been perfect ever since. I really like it. One of the best bearings I own, and spins longer on a flick than any other bearing I know.

Man. You people are awesome. Thanks for all the replies!

I’ve order the Buddha Buffet Sampler pack and look forward to trying it! They are very wallet-friendly so I hope they work out.

Or just get the Terrapin dry play treatment for $5.00- then all your bearings can be “terrapin x” bearings

No, the terrapin x bearings are different.

Ill give my view, but you might not like what you hear.

I have played with many bearings over the years as many know, and of those, the terrapins have found their way to me.
On two occasions, I had terrapins downright lock up on me. They made a terribly horrid sound, and they felt like they were rubbing on the inside walls instead of actually getting a smooth action.

Just like most other bearings, I consider them to be another “gimmick” bearing, and frankly, a waste of money.

You asked for my opinion.

Wuff

Haru

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Cleaned Centre-Tracs are my weapon of choice.

Ditto.

Yuki

Do you love the sound of it nearly as much as I do?

It’s the official sound of yoyos as far as I’m concerned.

Yuki

My experience was like A Soviet Locust’s. Went responsive, then came back to life after a good cleaning and have been fine since.

Sounds like an eerily common theme. I’m not sure that can be sorted out, or if it’s just the nature of the beast for Steel/Ceramic bearings.

In any event, I find all dry bearings too loud. And for optimum performance, Terrapin X bearings are meant to be played dry. But a dry bearing in a can somewhere or a lubed bearing in my yoyo is an easy choice, so I went ahead and put some lube in mine. It’s playing just fine! Frank Difeo advocates oil even for ceramic bearings, so I’m in good company at least.

At the end of the day, if you have any interest in bearings at all, I think it’s worth trying them out to see if they work for you. I don’t have ANY bearings that I hate, and I’ve tried’em all. If you held me at gunpoint and made me choose one bearing for life, it’d probably be the Gen-Yo AIGR. Simple old steel 8-ball flat bearing. If you let me choose a second, it might be a Center Trac.

I like the bearings. I am using 8-ball steel Wing Cuts in my 4 DM2’s.

In my Royale, it was the stock bearing and works great.

I got a Ceramic 10 ball, it’s in my Code2 with disc side effects.

A wing cut D is in my Beysick and ine is about to go into my Rex.

As soon as the steel wing cut 10 ball came in, that went into my H3X and that really opened that yoyo up.

I just got 5 8-ball ceramics. They are a bit gritty right now so I’m cleaning them in acetone. I am sure they’ll pass my flick tests after being thoroughly cleaned.

I’ve been pleased with them.