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 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.
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.
Sidekick Pro (2015?)
Beboo God of Death (2016?)
MagicYoYo N11 (2013)
YYF DayDream (2015)
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!
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
That’s a good thing!
