Hey fellas. I’ve been partaking in the pleasure recently of working with the up-and-coming yoyo manufacturer, Radical Seas. I’m happy to have been part of a distribution of testers of their debut model, the Set Sail.
I was second in line to receive the yoyo, and upon arriving, it was in fine condition. There were a few expected raw marks, and also some pricks and scuffs from the previous tester, but nothing that I’d consider detrimental to the yoyo’s performance by any means. I’m going to be a bit brief and avoid the whole monotonous “IT’S GOOD” review style, and just mention things that I find particularly noteworthy from my experiences.
I want to get it out of the way right now, I’m a huge fan of big, heavy yo-yos. When I saw the dimensions of this model, I was pretty excited to try it out and see how it stacked up to some of my absolute favorites. I simply adore yo-yos with a commanding heft and paced-out attitude. The Set Sail, however, behaves strangely around these expectations. It is large in the hand at roughly 58mm by 43mm, which seems to be trendy at the moment. What’s refreshing, however, is the modesty of the Set Sail. There are very little extraneous features that exist for any other means than to work simply. The exterior profile is simply business, fitting nicely in the hand, and the hub sports just enough detail to make it distinguishable.
The spike is difficult to use for matador play, so disregard the temptation unless you really want to work for it. String rejections are a little tricky, but depend more on the kind that you are trying to perform. While I usually don’t prefer H shaped models, the modesty of this yoyo in a realm of gaudiness is one that I can appreciate.
The closest comparison I can make is to a YoyoJam Classic/Ringmaster.
The weight of this yoyo is one of my favorite features. Weighing in at almost 70 grams, most players would immediately cross this model off the list. It’s important to make an educated decision, as this number hardly has any indication on how the yoyo plays. In fact, it’s quite surprising. The way I’d describe the play of this yoyo is, you don’t necessarily feel the weight of the yoyo itself at the end of the string. Rather, you’re feeling more of the /momentum/ it carries. It’s a pleasant feeling that gives the impression of power and persistence. Direction changes are manageable and regens are a touch wobbly because of the rim weight. The Set Sail makes most yo-yos feel light in comparison, but isn’t distracting in the moment.
I’m not going to mention much regarding bearing and response, besides a few key points, because the bearing seat and response groove are completely standard. The pads included worked relatively fine, with minimal slip. Standard and open string binds were fine. The V shaped bearing felt completely unnecessary considering the stability of the yoyo, and increased sloppiness in the gap, which was a massive pain. I’d suggest trying out the stock bearing, and if you come to the same conclusion I have, switch the bearing for one of your choice; it’s not terribly hard.
A situational matter: I immediately noticed an issue with the wall between the bearing and response on the tester unit when I switched out the V bearing for one of my flats. There was a tiny burr that had risen up on this wall, and was catching on the string any time it drifted to the side in the gap. I’m under the impression that this is the result of the same damage the first tester gave to the yoyo, but I’m not majorly concerned. It did frustrate me that I was restricted to a V bearing during the majority of my testing in order to avoid this issue, but this is purely circumstantial and does not represent any other individual Set Sails than the tester unit I used. This is more of a message to the manufacturer and remaining testers.
Checking most of the boxes I look for in a yoyo, I’m happy to say I’ve had a fairly good experience with the Radical Seas Set Sail. With mind paid towards the deceptiveness of the specs, and an appreciation of a slightly slower yoyo that can still handle most of what you have to offer it, I’d wholly suggest trying out or picking up one and taking it out on a voyage.
Inertia Inverse, Radical Seas Set Sail, Big Brother CopyCat, Big Brother Wedgie
Information on Radical Seas and the Set Sail can be found in their Manufacturer’s Section thread and RadicalSeas.com