The very rare worst yo-yos?

Most yo-yos these days are amazing. In fact pretty much all of them are! It’s basically impossible to buy a bad yo-yo today, as far as I can tell :wink: That’s a good thing!

That said, I think it is instructive to consider the extremely rare case of yo-yos that are legitimately … not good. What happened, and why? How could these yo-yo design mistakes be avoided in the future? I have two lists for us to ponder on.

The first is @edhaponik’s truly hilarious list of bad yoyos that predate 2010 (as far as I can tell).

  1. Revolution Rev-G (1999)
  2. Throw Down Lucha Libre (2008?)
  3. YoYoJam Big Kahuna (2000)
  4. Duncan Yoffy (1982?)
  5. Yomega Panther (1998?)

Seriously read the article – Ed’s a great writer and legit hilarious! But these are old yo-yos, long gone from the market for a decade or more.

As for 2010 and beyond, the rare worst modern yo-yos someone could accidentally buy today, I gotta go with @Tvelto’s list of 5 worst yoyos.

  1. Sidekick Pro (2015?)
  2. Beboo God of Death (2016?)
  3. MagicYoYo N11 (2013)
  4. YYF DayDream (2015)
  5. YYF DV888 (2009)

Of course you should watch the video to hear the specifics of why these are badly designed yoyos – he does a great job explaining his rationale for each one, and those details are a laundry list of what not to do in yo-yo design!

He ends the video with

Buy good yoyos
From good yoyo people

… which I think is excellent advice :smiley:

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Yes, I will attest to the fact that the Yomega Panther fits the definition. Still have it on my shelf in the original box. I guess one could say it’s MIP.

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I personally love the Yoffy… it’s like some Duncan exec saw Mork from Ork on the old 80s show Mork & Mindy… where they popularized rainbow suspenders…

… and said we just gotta make a yo-yo using those rainbow suspender fabrics the kids love these days!

@dryoyo you still throw that thing?? :rofl:

Clearly @drewtetz does

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I had a prototype B!ST Tondo at one point. It was ‘bad’ in the sense that it didn’t function as well as, you know, a round yoyo. But as far as the machining goes, I was very surprised. One would expect that after repeated unscrewing and rescrewing, the alignment would get messed up. I never found that to be the case. Still pretty awful for tricks though :rofl:

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Aw geez yeah I never thought of that … round yo-yo means it doesn’t matter “how far” it is screwed in, which wouldn’t be the case for a square! :scream:

Also we could put the “lots of airhole cuts in the yo-yo” into the worst category, as a design element?

http://www.highspeedyoyo.com/reviews/a-m/innovative-yo-yo-concepts/iyyc-breathe

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the yoffy rainbow rules, it’s just a couple hundred years ahead of its time. when the world’s tricks catch up to the equipment they’re gonna be worth millions

big kahuna also holds a special place in my heart but i’ll admit that it is inherently very dangerous.

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My DayDream is pretty darn nice.

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Woah, I was just wondering if a square yoyo has ever been created the other day. that looks crazy lol

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Yeah, I still throw a Daydream once in a while. Nothing wrong with that yo-yo.

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Hey, I won my first trick ladder at BAC with a DV888 that I purchased that same day. I had been practicing religiously with an 888, so when I picked up the DV888 and found that I could easily hit everything with it (especially Eli Hops), I switched. Now, compared to today’s throws, well yeah, it’s not in the same league.

Here it is:

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I like the n11… …:flushed:

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The DV888 is soooo outdated, it’s a 2009 yoyo in a 2018 world. And it ain’t cheap, either!

They need to redesign it and put that old design to bed. :sleeping_bed:

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Ha, ha, yes, it’s dense and compact-ish, but then without it, you wouldn’t have that experience of the clouds parting and the sun rays showing through when you discovered more modern, nimble throws. Variety is the spice of life.

I have to chuckle a little about the price, because at the time, $30 wouldn’t get you a YYJ plastic with aluminum rims, much less a full “metal”. We were dancing in the streets to be able to get any metal for under $75.

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Then it wouldn’t be a DV888 would it.

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The funny thing is the regular old school 888 is still good as heck! Not to mention the “mutant” and “DNA” ones that are larger and more modern sized, those are basically modern yo-yos from my perspective!

They should be selling that (the larger DNA version, preferably) instead of the super outdated and not-good DV888.

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The DV888 is actually based on an even older design from ~2005 called the Buzz-On DV8. So it’s essentially a 13 year old design. I like it though. I like heavy, rim-weighted yo-yos so it fits me well. More info here.

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Oh right I knew that, but had forgotten somehow – note that “it never made it into production” though.

Only 100 pre-production models (ID numbered 00 to 99) were ever made and distributed throughout the United States in December 2004. The production version of the DV8, which was slated to be released in 2005, would have had rounded weight rings, whereas the pre-production units had flat rings.

However, the DV8 never made it into production, due to patent issues with YoYoJam, and the pre-production units had since become popular and sought-after yo-yos for many collectors.

The eight8eight was released in 2007; this metal DV888 was released in 2009.

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The 888 honestly has nothing to do with the DV888 besides the name. It is a completely different design and yo-yo altogether.

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I don’t mind the DV888. Mine spins pretty good. I prefer it over just about any smooth polycarbonate throw. I think the original Speedaholic is pretty awful. I guess it works ok, I just don’t like anything about it. I’m not a big fan of the new speedaholic either, but it’s slightly better.

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Oh My God, a square yoyo? @LinksLegionaire. That’s very rare.

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