String Theory YoYos Quark
Reviewed by Chris Rhoads
October 27, 2010
Introduction
It has been almost a year since I reviewed String Theory’s first yo-yo, the Remnant. In that time Mark Mankiewicz and company have been silently working on the next two yo-yos in their catalogue, the Quark and Singularity. The silence was broken several months back when one of the String Theory team members, Leo Qin, started posting pictures of the new yo-yos in raw form in the various yo-yo forums on the net. After that, the media blitz snowballed culminating with an article about the company and the tech used to create their yo-yos in PC Magazine. If you have not taken the chance to read the article, I highly recommend you do. It is an interesting read and a cool behind the scenes look at how yo-yos are created. I have linked the article at the bottom of this article. For today’s review I am looking at the Quark, String Theory’s newest addition to the undersized category. I find it amusing that they chose the name Quark for this release, a Quark is a subatomic particle that has never been observed. Will this yo-yo live up to its name and pass on into the ether without a notice from the community or is it the next big bang for the company.
Specs
- Diameter: 50 mm
- Width: 41 mm
- Gap: 4.5 mm
- Weight: 68 grams
- Response: Theory Pads
- Bearing: Terrapin Treated 10-Ball
Construction
Like the Remnant, the Quark came packaged in a plain brown box with the yo-yo’s logo stickered to the front. Inside the box I found the yo-yo encased in a velveteen bag matching the color of the anodized finish. The Quark has a beefy H-Shaped profile with large, angled, flat rims and a wide catch zone. The edges of the rims are rounded, giving it a nice feel in the hand. Moving on to the cup of the yo-yo there is a deep recessed IGR and a small nub in the middle of the cup floor. I must admit, I found the nub to be a little bit of a disappointment. One of the features I liked about the Remnant was the matadorable spike in the cups. The nub on the Quark looks like it might have been a spike at one time but was flattened out later on in the design process. It is a shame that there is no spike; the finish of the yo-yo lends itself to easy spike catches when popped into the air. The finish on the Quark is one area where String Theory listened to the community and did some serious research. My biggest complaint about the Remnant was the sticky anodized finish. Some may have liked it but I was never one of those people. String Theory took this criticism to heart and came up with a velvety smooth, almost General-Yo in quality, bead blast finish. To keep the yo-yo from becoming a string saw, String Theory went the extra step of masking off the guts. Speaking of the guts there is one thing I should bring up. Since the Quark is an H-Shaped yo-yo you can feel the string against your finger when it is wound up. Some players hate this feeling. I don’t really care about it, when I have a yo-yo out for play I try to keep it in motion as much as possible. I am just mentioning it for those with a tactile aversion to this particular feeling. Over all the construction of the yo-yo is top notch with one misstep in the design that I would like to see fixed if there is a revision.
Weight
The weight on the Quark is rather heavy for its size. It plays solid but a little on the slow side because of the 68 gram mass being pushed around. I find that 68 grams is getting to be a little bit outside my personal comfort zone. On the plus side, with the weight distribution and the large rims it is no slouch when it comes to spin time. I never had to worry about it spinning out on me and most of the time I was finding that I had spin to spare after going though some combos.
Response and Bearing
The stock response for the Quark is their house brand of pads called Theory Pads. Theory Pads similar in size and feel to the One Drop Flow Groove Pad. Being so similar to the Flow Groove Pad, I found the Theory Pads gave the same binds that the Flow Grooves gave. An added bonus, they come in a half height size, allowing the end user to dial in the response to their liking.
The bearing for the Quark was an interesting choice. String Theory took the already amazing 10-Ball and had Terrapin treat it. This ends up giving the Terrapin 10-Ball a smoother and quieter feel than a stock 10-Ball. Terrapin Bearings require a break in period for optimal play and out of the box they can be quite responsive. In order to keep the Terrapin coating from getting damaged you cannot cheat the break in time by cleaning it in mineral spirits. Once broken in you will have a long spinning and whisper quiet bearing.
Playability
This yo-yo plays heavy and slower on the string. Not boat anchor slow but not as zippy as say an 888, a 54, or even a MarkMont Next. Basically it isn’t sluggish but at the same time I would have liked to have a little more quickness on the string for a yo-yo of its size. After getting over the need for more speed, I found this yo-yo to be a pretty enjoyable player. It is solid and stable on the string. It corrected itself on bad throws without much cajoling and it did not tilt during tricks. When I say that this yo-yo is solid on the string, I mean it. All that weight wrapped up in such a compact design means that there is no float to this yo-yo, it hits hard at the end of the string and returns with a thump when it hits the hand. The guys at String Theory must have known that the returns would hit hard because those rounded rims I mentioned earlier lend to a comfortable return even at high speeds. During my play session with this yo-yo I decided to finally tackle the trick Brent Stole. While I still suck at this trick I found that the large catch zone and long spin times allowed me to practice repeatedly without losing performance. As far as grinds are concerned, this yo-yo is smooth as silk on the hand, arm, finger, and thumb. The media blast finish that String Theory developed for their line is top notch. Add to that a deeply recessed IGR means that even a sloppy catch with the thumb will still land smooth and spin for quite a long time.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day I am conflicted about this yo-yo. I love most of the design but I am not a fan of the weight. Personally I would love to see this yo-yo shed 3 or 4 grams and add the spikes from the Remnant. If that were to happen this yo-yo would be everything that I wanted in the Remnant and more. If you are looking for a heavier yo-yo with an excellent grinding surface, incredible IGR, and a wide catch zone then this is the yo-yo for you. If you are a fan of a lighter yo-yo then I would recommend you test it out before you purchase.
BONUS:
PC Magazine article about String Theory YoYos: SMB Innovator: String Theory YoYo Bounces Back | PCMag