Speed Freak by SPYY, a review by Chase
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Intro:
I’m a big fan of SPYY yoyo’s. I own a Punchline, PRO, and now a Speed Freak, and I was very impressed with the Addiction 2. It’s my opinion that from the release of the Addiction, SPYY has really stepped up as far as design quality. I think out of all my yoyo’s the Punchline’s response area is one of the best in the business, with the PRO and Speed Freak not too far behind. It would be nice to see Steve incorporate the Punchline response in some of his future yoyos. SPYY is a great company who’ve released some of the best yoyos this past year.
Specs: (courtesy of spyy.ca)
Diameter: 53.9mm
Width: 41.5mm
Weight: 63.5g = speedy!
Gap width: low-walled 4.25mm
Response: CBC slim pads – accepts flowable silicone
Bearing: Large “C”, dry for unresponsive play (my limited edition came with a Center Trac)
Finish: bead blasted
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Construction:
The Speed Freak is admittedly a modified version of the Addiction. Weight has been removed from the gap profile and a little from the rim/lip area is my guess. At 63.5 grams it feels very light in the hand. I’ve owned an HSPIN Cut that had a similar weight and diameter but they play nothing alike. The Speed Freak seems to have a fairly even weight distribution, I’m sure it was designed that way to keep it’s stability since it’s such a lite yoyo. The guts have very tight tolerances. I would recommend taking extreme care while removing bearings and installing new bearings. If you try to install a new bearing and it feels too tight to screw on, I’d suggest not using that bearing. Only use bearings that comfortably fit this yoyo’s bearing seat. The last thing you want to do is moosh down the bearing seat with a bearing that doesn’t fit well, it will most likely introduce vibe into your yoyo forever. My version of the Speed Freak is a limited all red release with a laser engraved maple leave. It came with a Center Trac bearing. In this yoyo I believe the Center Trac was a poor choice because I can’t seem to bind the yoyo very well with it. After 5 days of playing it the pads didn’t break in to help make the binds better. I swapped out the Center Trac bearing for a standard flat bearing and now I’m getting amazing binds, BTW I use standard 100% poly. All the standard Speed Freaks have normal flat bearings so most people won’t have any issues like I had. Anyway, this is a very solidly designed yoyo and it was dead smooth even with the Center Trac. It’s still dead smooth with the standard bearing.
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Playability and Final Thoughts all in one!:
The Speed Freak is ultra fast with a somewhat hollow feel. It’s so light that it’s hard to tell it’s still spinning. I use a term called “Ghosting” which is my own personal slang for something that is fading in and out of existence… IE… when I’ve stayed up too long and I’m “ghosting” at work the next day. This yoyo feels like it ghosts. Let me explain…
Obviously this yoyo wasn’t designed for me and my mediocre skills. I lack the ability to control this beast most of the time. My twitch muscle memory is used to denser, heavier feeling yoyo’s. I seem to add more force than needed in a lot of situations. Don’t get me wrong, it played awesome the first 10 minutes I tried it and then I bought it. I really do like the speedy and light feel of this yoyo, but after about 20 minutes I start to lose control of it. It must be fatigue or something on my part. It’s fatigue similar to hard core FPS/Fighting games that strain the limits of your hand eye coordination. When I start playing crappy with this guy, I have to put it down. So all in all I will conclude by saying this. I’m not a top level player so I can’t say it’s for top level players. However, I do imagine a masterful player coaxing light speed magic out of it. Whatever the case, I must need a lot more time playing it to use it to it’s fullest GAPABILITES. Bravo to Steve for being daring enough to release such a niche type of yoyo. I know there’s the Pacquiao by Werrd that’s supposed to be ridiculously fast and light, but I haven’t tried it. I don’t know of anyone using a Pacquiao for competitions but I could easily see someone using the Speed Freak for competitive play. I’d highly recommend that everyone try it because some may have a totally different opinion than I do, and maybe some peep can rally this monster on first toss. I’m glad I made the purchase. I’m going to keep playing with it because it’s a challenge, it’s very unique and fun, a breath of fresh air, and I like diversity. OK that was cheesy, I’m done ranting.
Thanks for reading. I apologize for my sloppy pictures, I couldn’t get my camera to get a clear pic for the life of me.
UPDATE!!
After having this for a few more weeks, the Speed Freak has become one of my favorites, maybe in my top 3. I’m able to control it a bit more and looking back on the review, I don’t think it’s as wild as I made it out to be. I’m playing it much more than my Pro or my Punchline. I loved this yoyo so much that I traded another yoyo to get an Addiction2 because I want to test them back to back. I’ve played the Addiction2 in store before and loved it, I kinda wanted to buy it right then and there but didn’t. I’m utterly infatuated with SPYY yoyo’s right now and I can’t wait to get my hands one of those fresh as heck Ronin’s as well. I was considering writing an entirely new review, but I’m not feeling it. My initial impression stands, but I’m really in love with this yoyo and I think it’s one of the best out right now.
