When people first ask about what yoyo to buy, the most common post is “What are your preferences?” Preferences may be important, but I realised that preferences and playability might be different.
What I meant is that while some people may like a particular size of the yoyo, they might not be able to play it well. For example, if someone has small hands and he likes big-sized yoyos but dislikes undersized yoyos, but big-sized yoyos are too big for him, so tricks like ladder escape and chopsticks become difficult.
In this kind of cases, what is more important, preferences or playability?
I go with preference.
He will adjust eventually to larger throws. I used to only be able to do Ladder escape with a M1, but I hated it and didn’t want to throw, I tried to use a Black knight, it was too big but I adjusted to it.
You’ve got to almost always side with preference, IMHO. Obstacles like small hands + big throw can be overcome with a minimal amount of effort. Heck, the player might not even realize he’s working through an issue to begin with.
Now, if someone if comfortable with their equipment (i.e. throwing what they prefer) they find that the learning process is easy and fun, and not the headache is often is for new players not using (or not knowing) what they’re comfortable with. This is a matter of trial and error, and if they have no one to share the hobby with (i.e. people with different yos to test) this can get rather expensive quickly. What can you do, though?
Me? I’ll take preference over playability any day of the week.