Opinions run the industry, don't be afraid to try for yourself!

General Yo-Yo
1

I notice many player now will base what they buy off of reviews, but even then, they will only look for review done by people who are higher up in the community and well known, even though the other reviewer may have a perfectly good opinion.

One thing I always see others saying to kids asking what the best yoyo is “there is no best only preference and opinion”, but they tend not to take that to heart for themselves.

One of my friends is a player who always try new yoyos and often ignores the reviews of others, and he has found many yoyos that even when they recieved very bad reviews, he liked them very much and used them often.
Example was Bio Ego, Hicoo Kahn, and Shinwoo dolphin, all3 did not have very good review but he loved them.

It may be the same for you.
Dont think that a badly reviewed yoyo will be a yoyo you will hate, same as not assume that the yoyo reviewed so well you will love. Try them out for yourself, and don’t be afraid to jump on a good deal on a yoyo you may have heard is not good but is being sold cheap. use it as a chance to experiment.

I am not trying to put down reviewers, but don’t listen to anyones opinion when clearly you will have your own.

thank you for reading and I hope everyone may understand.

_Haru

2 Likes
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Agreed. That’s why i have so many yos. I look at design mostly. Don’t think I’ve read many reviews but they didn’t sway me either way. I mostly like reviews because they got close up big gorgeous pics. Hehe.

3

I mostly agree. I read reviews, then I have to figure out “how does what someone says apply to me and my situation, playing style and ability” and then decide. “Status” of a player is irrelevant.

But, I’ve also bought based on “looks cool” or “nice shape to me” or “just flat out want it”.

In the end, it comes down to preference. I could care less what people think of the yoyos I have and want. Turns out most people tend to like them, but that’s fine. All I care about is that I like them. And I am in complete support of trying and making one’s own decision. In fact, it would be great if more of us could try before they buy. It’s like you said, in the end, the only opinion that matters is your own. And if anyone disagrees with your opinion regarding what yoyos you like, it’s irrelevant.

If anyone comes to my yoyo meets, I have lots of amazing yoyos you can try out. Thinking about getting somthing expensive? Try mine first. Maybe you like it, maybe you don’t, but at least you’ll be able to form your own opinion.

4

If a review is written correctly, it will always be helpful. The goal is not to tell us how much you like or dislike a throw, which is something many people will unfortunately focus on. Whether you like it is irrelevant to me. You’re really supposed to be giving us an objective report on how that throw responds when you do certain things. Even better if in each category, you can objectively compare the throw in question to 1 or more other yoyos and how they acted in the same tests.

The biggest problem I have with reviews in this community is that people really don’t like to say negative things about yoyos. You’ll read entire, multi paragraph reviews, even on the “professional” review sites, and not read about a single issue with the yoyo. That’s impossible. I think it’s a shame because that’s where you can really tell whether or not the throw is worth your time. All the other stuff like “it feels floaty” and “it’s stable”, can help a little, but they’re not as valuable as “The finish doesn’t grind well and sticks to my arm”. If I like grinds, I know I can move right on.

5

well, the less money you have to spend on your hobbies, the more you want to make sure you will not waste it on something that is not likely to suit you.

I agree with what you say to an extent, but some kids out there don’t have the luxury to spend $100+ on something right out of the blue. there are bad throws out there, there are bad and very expensive throws out there and when you can only afford one or two high end yoyo in a year of time, you do not want to take a wild guess and hope it’ll turn out alright.

thankfully, and for various reasons, I’m not one of these persons, and I can actually afford to take you up on your advice (maybe I even will)

the responsibility lies on the reviewer to be objective. and unfortunately I don’t find many objective reviews on some throws, simply because sometimes your judgment gets altered by the price you had to pay, the effort it took to buy something. Our nature always will try to justify our spending even against reason sometimes (and more often than not).

I try to be objective on my blog, when I review a yoyo.

there’s a line between “liking something” and “assessing its qualities, pros and cons etc…”

I always take the band “the beatles” as an example. I do not like their music, but I admit that it is good music. those two can go together and reviewers have to learn to differentiate what is subjective (whether or not you like the yoyo) and what is objective (the quality, spin time, stability, finish and ano quality, play style, solid, floaty etc…, things that can be assessed, measured)

the latter is what a good review should be about, because when someone looks for information, he or she should be given just that, information, as objective as possible.

Of course, the reviewer can and should give his personal opinion, but without mixing up his personal preference and the objective quality.

Another example, the C3 darkstar and DiBase are great yoyos, but I don’t like playing with them as I find them too floaty while I prefer fairly solid throws.

perfect counter example are stuff like say the anti-yo bapezilla. it is a very likeable throw, I actually have one, paid $200 for it. it’s not a bad throw, for 2006. but it’s way behind 2012 standards, lots of things have changed in 6 years. And while many of us really loved playing with our commodore amiga, we would all agree that it was an awesome computer back then, but it’s not really relevant anymore now that we have playstation or xboxes and whatnot. even the way people play have changed since then. Same goes for stuff like the FHZ (that said I like the new version very much) and other throws.

Anyway, reviews are important, but good and objective reviews are primordial. And I still see too much biased reviews of expensive throws. I get flamed when I say that some throws are not worth what they’re going for. People fail to realize that the price can also be a sales argument (and a perfectly valid one).

Apple can also be a good example (and I couldn’t live without my ipod). Sometimes you pay more for looks and hype than you pay for objective quality or technical worth. I have no problem whatsoever with people telling me they’re buying an ipad for looks & hype, I actually respect that. But don’t try to convince me that it’s actually the most useful thing of this kind you could get for that kind of money.

truth is, looks and hype make value, and we should accept that. The value of a throw such as the bape or the YWET is not in their objective performance. But in a review, we should point that out and not hide it behind untrue performance assessments. no, the YWET does NOT play that well, but it looks good and has lots of hype behind it, it’s a collector. Same goes for 3yo3 acrylics, I love them with all my heart and they’re absolutely gorgeous, but I have yet to play one that plays like a genesis.

so reviews are important, opinions matter, but we should not let our judgment clouded by the price we paid. it’s alright to admit that we succumbed to hype, this is how the world goes today anyway and we’re no better. and it’s not that big of a deal to be a fashion victim nowadays. (well, truly it’s a tragedy, but we got to live with it, that’s another discussion).

it’s not all black or all white anyways, but we got to try our best, as reviewers, to inform as objectively as possible. IMO, there’s still lots of work to do there.

6

I keep an eye open for members that seem to have similar preferences to my own. In other words I’ve seen them post similar opinions, on several yoyos, to my own. If they post opinions on yoyos I haven’t tried, those opinions are more likely to be in line with my preferences than those of a random reviewer.

I personally enjoy reading reviews, looking at the pics, and checking the specs. The bottom line is in the end nobody can decide better for you than yourself and you shouldn’t let them.

7

On the other hand, don’t let a sugar-coated review sway your opinion until you try it either. Just like liking yoyos with bad reviews, you also don’t have to like yoyos with good reviews.
Price is basically the only factor for me for choosing a yoyo. And then I’ll judge myself if I like it or not.

8

Yeah. Good post. Aside from my day job, I’m the reviews editor for a gaming site, and I’m noticing that a big difference between a video game review and a yoyo review is that a yoyo review isn’t as dependable. And I’m still trying to find out why this is so.

One reason that I’ve been playing with in my head is that yoyo reviews are often written by people who had to go out and purchase the product. I know only a few people (read: 1, maybe) in the yoyo community who receive “review copies” of yoyos to write about. The act of buying a product with your own money makes it subconsciously difficult to not be biased. No one wants to write about how they just wasted 100 on a yoyo they hated after an hour.

I have a few other reasons that I’m still trying to formulate, but this one is a big one with me. Should there be more yoyo news sites THAT AREN’T STORES to post about news and write reviews on yoyos in a fair and responsible manner? Would manufacturers be sending out review builds of yoyos for free to those sites to review? Are there people who are trustworthy to do that and give away review yoyos to their readers to maintain journalistic integrity by not keeping free goods from manufacturers?

I dont know. But I love both the gaming and yoyo communities, and the yoyo community doesn’t seem like it’s as old a the gaming community – at least from a media standpoint. Though I’d love to see it mature and get to that point.

Anyways, I’m about to pull another Studio 42 (love ya, buddy!). My stance: BST a lot! Since I dont peruse yoyo reviews that often, I’m a huge believer in trying yoyos out for yourself. If you dont like it, you can always trade it to sunstone who will. Thats what I do.

9

I find that I don’t really have a specific preference for my yo-yos and that I like to buy many different kinds of yo-yos instead of one just specific weight or shape

I think that having a lot variety in a collection helps the person become a better yo-yoer

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Trust yourself? People can’t do that because that would make them different! No…no…relax, don’t think, be timid, don’t be different, don’t believe you know what’s best for you, just go along with the hype and the crowd. Assimilate! :wink:

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I think this is the best way … buy what you can and b/s/t the heck out of them if you don’t like them … someone is always out there who wants what you don’t want… just give it time… it will happen! Plus b/s/t is addicting … i mean you get to try out SOOOOO many products out there… i think its the best way to figure out what you really like … cus we are all different and have different tastes etc… form your own opinion … thats the one that counts

this is funny ^^^^^ … if you do end up buying something because of the hype … and you don’t like it … b/s/t lol … someone out there is also hyped up and ready to try one also.