If you want it to be nice and responsive for a long while, I don’t really recommend the Classic. I have one that I just can’t keep responsive and I end up binding even with the narrow bearing. It’s a beast of a yoyo for the price, but I prefer it as an unresponsive player.
For responsiveness, I had way better luck with the One, even though it wasn’t as long-spinning and stable.
I have not tried a Onestar set up for responsive play.
Here’s another vote for the YYF One yoyo. Especially in that price range of $10. Looping is a difficult technique if you’re just starting out so I would stick with a 1A style yoyo.
My grand daughter is 10 and she has a Fast 201. It’s noisey and doesn’t sleep very long. She upgraded to a Velocity and she’s really enjoying it. I, however, found that I outplayed my Velocity pretty quickly. The Velocity can be adjusted from very responsive to non responsive but I didn’t think it did either as well as a yoyo made to play one specific way. So I’d suggest a yoyo specifically made to be responsive with no gimmicks. The One fits that need really well.
Both yoyos are good, but the One DOES turn out to be a little better for an absolute beginner.
However, if you think your child will stick with it long enough to go at least to the “intermediate” section on these tutorials, I would recommend the Classic. It outperforms the One immensely.
Hmm, not sure about the price, but ■■■■■■■■■■ has much better offering of accompanying products, like recommended oil, response pads, etc. I quickly created a shopping cart full of goodies.
Personally though I’d rather buy an all new unresponsive yoyo like the speedaholic instead of upgrading your only responsive yoyo. It’s not that expensive and that way you have 2 yoyo to play with:
Personally I’d say to shop around for the best shipping option. There’s some stores that will be cheaper for you than yye or the other. We’re not supposed to mention them though since the site is run by yye and it’s not very respectful and against the rules.
That article must seriously be in need of updating. The majority of string you buy for yoyos with ball bearings is polyester. Polyester makes fantastic yoyo strings.
100 will last a long time. If you’d rather not have to order any time soon, just get 100. If you think there’s even a chance the hobby will catch on, get at least 50. You don’t want to get only a 10-pack or you’ll be ordering more before you know it.
You can wash synthetic (poly, nylon) strings, but your mileage may vary on the quality of the results.
It’s big. While not heavy compared to many other yoyos, it’s on the heavier side. As I mentioned earlier, I find it varies from unit-to-unit whether you can keep it playing responsively or not. However, an 11-year old should still be able to handle it.
The ONE is light and comfy. The trade-off is that it doesn’t perform as well as the Classic. If the hobby catches on and you have the “upgrade” kit for the Classic, it will do any trick the kid will ever want to do. The ONE is something they will eventually outgrow.
But if it REALLY catches on… let’s be honest… they’ll outgrow the Classic, too, just out of desire to have other tools. I mean, I’ve seen Koloski and Stuart White do nutty things with a Classic, so it WILL do whatever you can throw at it. But I don’t know anybody who ever got into yoyo who stopped at having ONLY a Classic.
I strongly believe starting out with a high walled yoyo is important, since it forces you to keep your throw straight and in general gives you a better idea of how the yoyo reacts when the strings rub against it.