So I am in the process of starting “learn to yoyo” club at my high school, and I will likely need to order about 10-12 yoyos for the new members. The members, other than myself, are almost all absolute beginners, aside from a few that know a basic bind. There isn’t room in the budget to buy starter yoyos like the FAST201 plus a more advanced yoyo, so I figure I should order something in the $25-30 range, maximum of $35.
My question is, in your opinions, what yoyo is currently the best value on the market, that could take someone the farthest? I doubt I’ll be teaching anything more advanced than Kamikaze, if even that. It doesn’t need to be adjustable gap or have options for responsive bearings, as I’m looking to save money in the budget and have actually had a pretty easy time teaching the basics of unresponsive play.
A few other things I’m looking for in these yoyos-
-stability
-long spin times
-durability
-metal if possible (cosmetic scratches will happen, I know, but I find metal to just make a better yoyo in general)
Also, does anyone know if there is a possibility of getting a bulk order discount from YYE, or is 10-12 of the same yoyo not enough to qualify for that?
I kno u said metal but I think ur best option is the yyj Classic and u can buy bulk wide bearings for cheap. I have no clue about the bulk discount but YYE is awesome and if they’re going to a good cause I would think they would consider it
Is there anything in particular that makes the Replay Pro special? 69.2 grams is heavy, I generally prefer.
I’ve owned a Diffusion and I’ve thrown a Northstar before, and the Diffusion was supposed to be (at least according to the research I did at the time) the best plastic on the market when I bought it. How does the Replay Pro compare to those?
The Price point is low, which is nice. It’s actually low enough to possibly go half Replay Pros and half budget metals without overspending.
The Classic is actually one of the yoyos I’ve been looking at. It’s a little lighter than I would prefer.
How does it stack up against the Replay Pro and the other plastics I’ve mentioned in terms of stability, spin time, etc.?
The Replay is actually not too heavy feeling on the string, but it is heavy feeling for a plastic. It almost feels like a metal if you really use your imagination. Plus it comes with a Centertrack bearing stock, which will definitely make it a little less discouraging to learn since it will keep spin time and tilt as high as possible for their skill level.
IMO, it is the best value for money in any market for any play level.
I don’t know how new you are in the scene, but this past nationals, Gentry Stein actually took 1st place using a Replay Pro.
As far as the Classic, I’ve heard that they can be a bit touchy when played as a responsive throw, but are fine if you go unresponsive. BUT I’ve also heard that a lot of people prefer the Surge to the Classic in terms of bottom cost YYJ unresponsive yoyos.
You’ve just about sold me on the Replay Pro, it seems like a great yoyo. It’s cheap enough to possibly leave extra room in the budget and some people may want to order one for themselves at the start (a few people have told me they would be interested in buying yoyos for themselves)
Speaking of members buying their own yoyos, if they want to spend a little extra and go for a budget metal, any suggestions on a value budget metal with similar qualities? My default would probably be a shutter of dv888, but if you know of a better buy in the $30-$40 range I would appreciate the advice.
MagicYoYo N12 Shark’s Honor, M001 Silencer, or M002 April
in order of perceived weight on the string (IMO) Heaviest-lightest
Those are by far my favorite cost:quality budget metals. There is better for more money if you’d like, but those are the best value considering you can get them in two days with amazon prime. The base price for the M00x line is around $22 from MYY’s official Amazon page, and I have found N12’s stateside for $16 before, but that was a bit of luck, as they usually go for a few bucks more and I had to settle for olive green. BUT the N12 and M002 are blasted for grinds, the silencer I have isn’t, but I can’t speak for every color.
anything above the ~$25 mark is going to take you into YoYoFactory territory again, as the Shutter, Too H.O.T., etc… reign supreme at the $45 mark. All play differently and very well.
I always seem to forget about the replay pro for some reason but I still stand by the classic. Some people are gonna take a while to learn how to bind and it may be a turn off not being able to immediately. Maybe u should go half classic half replay.
I’m in a similar boat, I’m at a college working with a juggling club to teach people both juggling and or yoyo. Or anything else.
I ordered 2 Replay Pros. Best yoyo ever. For the price at least, but seriously they play as good as my 888x. I’m no pro either, but I love them. They also resist damage REALLY WELL. At least get one, and try it.
I also like the Freakhand by Duncan. And if you gotta have metal, the Kilter 2 is a beast. Yomega Maverick and probably Dash are solid bets if you prefer organic shapes. All of these will handle whatever you throw at them.
And keep in mind its not your job to give them a permanent throw. Just a taste of what its like. Then they can buy a yoyo. Consider selling “official club yoyos” by getting a sticker that fits the side well. (Replay does this well)
And try to find a looper yoyo or too. Maybe some lightups for night games.
Send us an email or give us a call, we always try to help out yo-yo clubs and we can offer a pretty good discount on bulk beginner yo-yos.
And now for my advice: Don’t listen to people saying start unresponsive, you want responsive yo-yos to start, especially when teaching. I always hear people giving that advice and saying how easy it was for them to learn to bind, and that may have been true for them. It may have been easy for people with an interest in yo-yoing to learn how to bind and progress, but for kids joining a club and looking to learn something fun and new it will just be frustrating. And trying to teach a group of people to bind right out of the gate will be a pain if you’re the only one in the room that knows how to do so.
Pick up some YoYoJam Classics or YoYoFactory Ones. You can always upgrade them to unresponsive when needed.
I totally agree with this. My yoyo club this year started with only 1 person having any experience at all with yoyos. The other 8 needed responsive yoyos to get started. I got a bunch of Imperials, Butterflys, and ProYos and gave them each their choice to keep. We spent the first 2 weeks (we technically only meet once a week for 30 mins) working on Gravity Pull. But, to see their eyes light up when they got it for the first time - they were super excited. Now I can’t keep them away from my room. Before school, recess, lunch, after school, they all gather outside my room to show me their next accomplishment. It has now been 4 weeks and 4 of the 8 beginners have already purchased their own yoyos. There are a couple MagicYo’s, and a couple responsive DV888’s being used (but their expansion packs are coming soon I’ve been told). I’ve had some of those responsive yoyos returned to me, but I suggested that they hang onto them and give it to friend who wants to learn.
Why couldn’t he take a Unresponsive, and make it responsive?
It is just lubing the bearing, and it seems like a smarter idea, at least to me. I mean… I already said I am not that good, but I would imagine that starting with something like a Replay Pro and thick lubing the bearing seems smarter, as it will handle tricks better off the bat. Then as they break in the lubricant, they will get less responsive, working the players into it.
In any case, the point that Garrett is making is correct. You definitely need a few responsive beginner yoyos to teach with at first. I have been starting people on a Bandalore (A Yoyo that is tied to the string, and does not sleep) That teaches them the motion. Then I move them to a Duncan ProYo, as its a fixed axle and resist sleeping, which I think teaches them throw harder and better. I let them mess with that for a while, until they can sleep it for like 5 seconds, before showing them another Yoyo of there choice, based on the style they think is best.
If people cant throw and do a trick like forward pass in 5 minutes they tend to get bored. Insuring that they can do that means a lot to them.
I find it odd that you say not to start unresponsive, because my experience has been completely different so far. About a week ago, I brought in my Shutter to do a demo for people, and a short info session for the club, as a sort of recruiting strategy. 5 of the people who signed up (only about a dozen total people in the club, by the way) asked me to teach them a bit that day, and I taught them all how to bind that day (individually, not in a group, I think it’s worth mentioning). Other than those five, I had taught another 3 or 4 of my friends how to bind (again individually). I’ve never had problems teaching people how to bind 1 on 1 before, and about half the club already knows the basics anyways. A few could even help teach others.
TL;Dr: There really won’t be any more than 5 or so absolute beginners and a few members know enough to teach others, so although I see how that could be a problem, I can’t imagine it being too relevant to my specific situation.
Thanks for the help, Garrett. Do you know who I should contact here to find out about the possibility of a bulk discount?
By no means am I an expert, I just started a little under 3 months ago but in my personal experience (like I said I don’t have much) teaching kids at my school to bind has been a nightmare. I have shown them over and over how to do it (and I’m talking about the easiest bind in existence) and still only one kid has picked it up out of the 8-10 I have shown, and even that one kid is not the smoothest with it but I have to say he’s getting better.
So all that to say in my humble opinion (take it for what it’s worth) I’d buy a few responsive throws along with the unresponsives you want.
One of the overwhelming advantages of starting with a responsive yoyo is that it forces you to learn to play smoothly. I can always tell when someone started out with an unresponsive, or started using one too soon because their tricks look choppy and terrible as a result of not having a responsive bash them in the knuckles. My first 3 months of yoyoing was spent with a Duncan ignite, and i learned lots of string tricks on that thing up to double or nothing. Then instead of going straight for something nice, i picked up a YYJ speedmaker, and messed with that for another month or two. It took me a while before i went to unresponsive, but I’m glad i did it the way i did because my tricks look much smoother because of it.
TL;DR: When you start responsive it makes your tricks smoother.
I agree with this guy after playing only fixed axle for a 11 months now my yoyoing has gotten much smoother and creative. still have 2 more months to go until fixed 15 is over.