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I’ve been on a plastic kick lately and the Grind Machine 2.0 has been on the radar for quite some time. And now that the Neon Series has come out, I just had to try one.
Look: The Grind Machine is a thick and chunky looking yoyo. It has an interesting composition of features; the thick weight rings on the side as well as the hubstacks and thick rims. It has a “BUSY” look. This one is the Neon Green Grind Machine. It has a frosty, and matty, near translucent look on the topside of the rims and is transparent behind the weight rings and inner gap. It’s really striking in any kind of light, be it sun, flourescent, or tungsten. It’s a rich and vibrant color that just leaps out at you. I love this green and have since called it my Pocket Kryptonite! hehe.
Feel: The surface of the GMs rims are quite textured. The texture feels like micro fine polycarbonate dust… It’s meant to reduce surface friction on the skin or clothing. It’s not smooth feeling like the YYJ Lyn Fury or Protostar for example. This texture offers you a nice grip prior to your throw. The GMs form is also quite comfortable to hold. It feels thick solid and full in the palm.
1A Play: At just 64 grams I had doubts about its stability and smoothness. However I was WRONG! On the first throw you feel the power, stability and balance of this throw. For such a lightweight I can’t get over how stable this is! I also thought I would not get much spin time out of it, because of the center weight it carries. But I was WRONG! hehe. What a surprising machine.
The heavy rims and weight rings really produce a lot of momentum. I got spin times beyond my expectations. I own the Northstar, Protostar, and Starlite, and GM is better than I had imagined. It’s lighter than all those and still produces excellent, comparable spin times. I can’t seem to put it down! Its like you go make and eat a sandwich with this in your hand… ya know? In case u need to throw in between bites.
Commensurate with your experience, the GM easily handles whatever you got guaranteed. Intermediate to Master level easily! It’s completely unresponsive out of the box meaning you’ll need to bind return it. The Catch zone makes landings quite easy. The float on this is awesome too. You can hop all about the string as much as you like. The gap is nice and slick, so there’s no string friction to worry about during side style play. All binds are tight and the returns are soft. Its play tempo can be slow or fast, however you like it. The hubs offer the same kind of play action that I get from my 888x, as they are the same size hubs. This is also a rather quiet player. I am surprised as I thought the hubs would be as loud as in the 888x, but they’re not.
The GMs grinding power surpassed my expectations. I mean I had my doubts about it but it really does the job! This is a great palm and finger grinder! I got it to go for about 6 seconds today. Pretty amazing! I can’t get it to do an IRG though because I can’t get my thumb in there. Maybe if you have small fingers though. A note of observation is that as you grind, there is a tad of heat friction there, I feel it getting warm underneath the grind. but it’s nothing to worry about. On the whole, I find it the next best thing to the Delrin grinders.
One minor pet peeve is that I could not switch out the bearing. Its bearing and spacer set up is almost like its one piece. I could not get the spacer away from the bearing no matter how hard I tried to. Even with tools. I did not want to damage the spacer so I let it be. It’s a great spinner anyway, but I always like to switch bearings from time to time in all my yoyos.
5A Play: I like the feel of this for 5A. It has a really good weight for counterweight play. Some heavier throws seem to sink too easily but this one stays in its place. The GMs shape makes it easy to hold and throw 5A style. Your finger will fit nicely in the catch zone to get a nice solid throw with it every time. It’s overall smoothness and stability make it easy to practice all your 5A tricks. Plus it won’t get hurt if you drop it. It’s Tough as nails. I consider it a good 5A option.
Conclusion: The Grind Machine has been around for a long time and is still going strong. It’s smooth, stable, light, long spinning and offers great grinding capacity. When you’re playing it, you really do forget you’re not throwing a metal, just like the description says! So If you’re looking for a great plastic performer, check out the Grind Machine! I’m happy I did. Oh yeah, and the neon colors are AWESOME.