Every time I see the Otter, it grabs my attention, I love the shape. Three things always seem to hold me back.
1- I’ve never owned a CLYW, so I don’t really have a feel for their quality.
2- The Price seems steep for a mono metal.
3- I’ve never really been able to find much in the way of information regarding how it plays. I’ve seen a little here and there, but nothing that’s really definitive.
The big questions: How does it play, how does it stack up against other yoyos in its range, is it worth a hundred bucks for a mono metal?
It plays just right. You never get the feeling through text, because people are different with different taste, but i personally can say that considering shape, size and weight - Otter is rubbing all sweet spots.
Seriously, just go and buy one, no need to fiddle around it. If you won`t like it (in what i highly doubt), sell it, there will be always guys who gladly take it off your hands to enjoy this great yoyo.
P.S. I have one, but i would buy another one or two, in different colors. Waiting for Hotter to be released again at Spinkult, and for possible future splashed versions.
I have one from the first run. For me its a solid throw in terms of quality and playabilty but I think its overpriced. I have the same „problem“ with the Borealis 2. They just don’t feel special to me but I guess I am just not enough of a CLYW-guy and their designs. Thats maybe one reason I tend to grab other monometals from my collection more.
Hey! I just got one within the last week and I may be in the “new yoyo honeymoon phase”, but I am thoroughly enjoying my Otter. It’s a bit undersized, but it plays VERY solid. Smooth as pudding, too. I’d rate it a solid 8.5-9/10.
As for whether or not its worth the price tag, that’s all dependent on you. If you make a lot of money and 100 bucks isn’t that much, then absolutely it’s worth it. If you don’t make a lot of money and are hesitant to drop that much on a monometal, there are tons of other options that will likely better suit your price tag. One thing I’ve learned with yoyos, though, is that you generally get what you pay for as far as quality goes. However, a really high-quality yoyo that doesn’t fit your style will never feel as worth it to you.
All in all, if you like slightly undersized, but very sturdy, possibly non-competition based throws, the nthe Otter is fantastic. I’ve been using it non-stop since I got it.
Dear everyone I need help, I am eyeing the Otter from months now, I like some of the colourway and I would like to buy one (maybe second hand is a good idea), but I am not super sure about it.
I am reading people very entusiast and people ok with it.
I am trying to do not buy yoyos (as you seen I am selling basically everything as I play with the same 2 or 3) or at least buy just the ones that I think really worth for me, I am not sure between this and the Wilderness, very different yoyos but both catched my eyes as something “new” that I would enjoy play, probably the Wilderness is something very very different than usual but as CLYW I had only the Klondike (which I seriously loved) and the Otter is a very very cool looking yoyos.
So once again, after time owning it, what are your opinion on the Otter?
If you also have the Wilderness, which one would you pick?
I would love something that stay in my case and get played if not daily at least couple times a week!
As someone who loves both wide and undersize yoyos, I enjoy them both, they each hit different feels for what I might be happening to play at that time.
If I had to choose though, I would lean towards the Otter. Wilderness is fun, really wide, stable, enjoyable for certain, especially for casual throwing. But I feel like the Otter, with being almost undersized, still hits that mid-range throw feel and performance with the versatility of an undersize.
They’re both unique though and I don’t think you could go wrong with either, but I tend to grab my Otter more often.
It is a great mid-size yoyo (~54mm is definitely not undersized) + 45mm width make it more catchable. Weight is little heavy for the size but hella stable. With wide gap makes it smooth on string and a great choice for tech play, multiple wrap and string layers tricks.
Sold my HOTTER not long ago due to personal preference (not a big fan of CLYW pad) but still one of my favorite release from CLYW that I wish they make 19mm pad version.
I was looking at it in all those days and I have the Zero Gravity - Qi (which is one of my favourite yoyos) which basically has the same specs and a similar shape with much less weight, idk if you have experience with that yoyo but I was wondering if I am not sort of buying a very similar yoyo to something that I have already in terms of shape and sizes (just the weight is very different).
Those kind of shapes and sizes I agree that are amazing for tech playing, they really easy to manouvre around the strings.
The Wilderness is quite the opposite a sort of beast in size but I can see how versatile it is both for tech than for competition playing
I can’t give much comparison since I tried Qi quite a while ago. Something I can draw out is, Otter the rim is rounder and thicker than Qi which is more comfortable and easy to maneuver for its W-shape. Qi to me is tech only throw but Otter is versatile in play, even throwing horizontal on it is doable but harder to control for zontal for its high pads wall.
Second is the weight, it’s a lot heavier than Qi but trick control is better, just a bit more stable and a lot more rim weighted (thanks to Jeffrey help to remodel it from Orca). So it’s way more powerful throw where Qi is more of laidback style for me.
I love the Qi as well, but the Otter hits my preferences a little more still I feel like, has a heavier feel on the string which I like and a little more comfortable in my opinion. Still a solid choice either way.
Wilderness would definitely give you quite a different selection in your portfolio, but I still think even the Otter and Qi will scratch different itches.
So I won an Otter in the Hotterpilot contest CLYW ran a month-ish ago, and tbh I thought I’d get it and it maybe wouldn’t get the love from me it deserves… but damn, I was totally wrong. I don’t think I’ve been so pleasantly surprised by a yoyo before, at least in recent memory. I never purchased one before either, because I (1) thought it was too expensive for a monometal and (2) appreciated the Orca (Harrison’s previous release) but didn’t LOVE it, and thought it might be a similar thing with the Otter.
But damn dude… make no mistake. The Otter absolutely SLAPS.
It’s the perfect mid size yoyo. At first I thought it might be a tick heavy, but nah, that weight gives it power and a nice, pleasing solid feel. It takes the spin power and weight distro of the Dune, slims down the diameter, ups the width a bit and makes it comfortable like a Chief. It really does feel like all the best CLYW monos put into one yoyo, it took me completely by surprise and it’s shot up to one of my absolute favorite CLYWs ever. I actually can’t believe how underrated it is.
Is it a performance monster? Nah. But is it at least still very capable and performant? Hell yes.
The Wilderness is cool and by far one of the best performance monos I’ve tried in the past couple years, if pure performance and catchability is what you’re going for… but if you are purely going for FEEL and comfort while still having a very capable throw, Otter is unquestionably it. They’re so unbelievably different it’s hard to compare, it’s just a matter of what you’re looking for.
Thanks for the opinions King, I can see that you all think about the same about the Otter, at second hand price I would like one for sure, in those months I feel like I do not need new yoyos but I am up to try something new and a bit different, also that blue splash colourway is awesome!
I think both the Wilderness and the Otter probably worth it as you know I am a sucker for performance yoyos in general, I still need to think what to get, I would seriously to put in my bag now only yoyos that really matter, after one year of more or less collecting and trying I do have quite clear ideas now!
I really enjoy my Otter, it’s super comfy in the hand and feels powerful instead of heavy…I got mine when there was a 20% off sale, because $100 for a monometal seems a bit steep in price…
