Intro
People that have known me on yoyo forums, knew that I wanted this yoyo badly. I drooled after this thing for so long. The shape hypnotized me, and then the anodized versions came. I had no money at that time, I thought the colored ones would sell out in short time. And they did, or atleast they seemed to. They happened to show up at YoYoExpert, my home in the community. I still thought they would sell out fast, but other things on the market seemed to keep them from doing so. Even though I didn’t manage to get my hands on a red one, so I ended up with a blue one, for a review to you guys.
Specs (courtesy of YoYoNation.com)
Weight (g) 63.40
Width (mm) 39.89
Diameter (mm) 53.85
Gap Width (mm) 4.01
Bearing Size (Inside x Outside x Width) 5x11x5 mm
http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/6714/p9170005.jpg
http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/6483/p9170001v.jpg
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/7973/p9170002y.jpg
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/3635/p9170003.jpg
Looks
This yoyo has a good list of features making it classy. Let’s start off with the shape. It is stunning, but I find it to look more significant in pictures (even though mine suck). Still nothing short of stunning though. There’s really nothing rounded on this yoyo, it’s just a series of angles ending in flat rims. Yes you heard it, there are flat rims there. Another thing adding class to this yoyo, is the serial number. There’s something special with a serial number. It tells you that the product is made by someone who cares to put a number on it. There’s a total of 99 Sky Blue pieces (I have #54). The number is pretty small, so some of you might need your reading glasses to identify your yoyo. The color is pretty neat. It’s not vibrant but it’s not dull either. A good balance. There are some anodization defects (tiny white dots). Note that these does not occur on the other colorways. The yoyo comes in a classy box consisting of foam with three departments, one for each half and one for spare parts. This tells you that this is not a toy, it’s competition level sports equipment.
Bits and assembly
Yes, you have to assemble this yourself. It’s not hard work, it’s not a big plus, but not a big minus either. Now the colored versions of the CUT comes with a pretty neat stainless steel bearing (Size HSpin/D) with a plastic cage. This bearing comes with some lube and will be responsive unless you clean/break it in. It comes with clear .555 sized silicone pads that doesn’t seem to fill out the recess like I expected it to. The pad recess is also pretty deep, and flowable silicone is optional.
Hold
The CUT comes with an approximate diameter of 53-54 mm. It hits the thumb pad without any need to curl your hand unnaturally much. One finger sitting in the catch zone while two resting comfortably on the rims. A good width/diameter ratio makes this yoyo comfortable to hold (may vary with size of hands).
Throw and play
Weighing at 63 grams, this yoyo is pretty light. This can be felt in play.The shape is piercing through the air and combined the weight it is agile and allowing for fast play. You still have total control over this thing. Even though it’s light, it will still go as fast or slow as you’d want it to. There’s no hint of anything close to sluggish here. It isn’t really big, neither that small, still nicely getting through the buckets, openings, basically anything you want it to. The gap is huge, allowing for a nice amount of layers in there.
The response is pretty good. It doesn’t give snappy binds, but they seem to be pretty tight, and the good news is that it keeps it’s binding ability at the end of your combos (good for regens). It also seems to snag very rarely, and then I mean VERY rarely. The IRG design gives it a bit of rim-weight making it nicely balanced during play and giving great thumb grinds as well. There is no blasted surface, but the anodizing is smooth and allowing nice grinds. The spikes are pretty sharp, but you need pretty weak skin if you manage to actually CUT yourself on them (just couldn’t resist). You get neat matador play though
Also no vibe or wobble for those of you interested in that.
Summary
This yoyo spawns class. It’s an artwork, but still an amazing player. I was amazed that these things are still in stock, but when I think things over, it does have certain things that make it unappealing to certain people, like the weight, size and bearing. It still delivers the play you want, leaving you wanting to play it… again and again.
Give me feedback on my first review.