In January of 2021, a relatively slept-on manufacturer by the name of yoyofriends released a yoyo called the Koi. The Koi was an anomaly in the company’s resume up to this point: a design purely geared toward “flow and feel” and incorporating an organic O-shape that to date has not seen use in any of their designs outside of the Koi line.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Koi was also largely slept on at first - ostensibly for the reasons posited in my first review - but slowly gained a loyal following that swore by its well-designed features, premium alloy and finish, and pricing. I called it “the working man’s quality organic” then, and I still stand by that.
The Koi also provided me with a new perspective on in-house design.
One Drop has long been (virtually since its first release) one of the most respected manufacturers in the game of yoyo production, and for good reason. Their approach to design has involved a unique combination of “let’s build this to see what happens”, player/community input, and thoughtful innovation that has rarely been equaled over the past 15 years. The constant here that the Koi has called attention to (in my case, anyway) is the input of a career machinist, Shawn, who has a well-documented and deep understanding of the capabilities of different materials and whether or not certain features make sense when it comes to manufacturing a quality product.
yoyofriends is an in-house brand of FPM, a machine shop based in China. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that FPM is in the process of setting a new standard of quality for yoyos produced in China, given what we’ve seen of their contracts and own designs over the past several years. FPM appears to have their priorities straight when it comes to design, having managed to successfully
produce quality yoyos machined from just about every viable alloy at this point - and while we haven’t seen innovation on the level of Side Effects from yoyofriends, it’s difficult to argue that their expertise in materials, incorporation of expert feedback, and willingness to experiment is anything less than impressive.
Somewhat ironically given the context, one of my favorite features of the 7068 Koi was its pricing. 7068 Al was an alloy typically reserved for higher-priced monometals at the time, touting strength and durability superior to 7075 and - gasp - some steels. Using it in a $50 monometal that would no doubt appeal to the older crowd of collectors felt a bit like yoyofriends’ reprisal of “throwing down the Gauntlet”, which is something I’ll always appreciate.
Since the initial release, we have seen three further iterations of the Koi: a slightly undersized D-bearing steel, and now full-sized and oversized titanium variants. I’ll leave off here with the history lesson and anecdotes so I can grace you all with some crappy photography and hopefully insightful comparisons.
The Ti Koi, as you might expect, is a close relative of the 7068 Koi:
Koi 7068 | Ti Koi
Diameter: 56mm | 56.04mm
Width: 44mm | 43.52mm
Gap: 4.4mm | 4.45mm
Weight: 65.8g | 65g
These differences in specifications don’t appear to be much to write home about, but they do translate to a rather striking difference in play. The 7068 Koi is an excellent example of modern-meets-classic in yoyo design: it feels quite balanced and stable, and its slightly rimweighted design provides a level of power that is fairly atypical for the shape. The Ti Koi feels like an evolution of this design language, and the step it takes is a real pleasure on the string. The rebalance that Ti necessitated and the yoyo’s lighter weight work to push it a little closer to “floating” in play, although it does retain the overall balanced feel, power, and stability of the original Koi. The weight reduction and rebalance also result in a more maneuverable yoyo - it’s not easy to describe tangibly, but I will say that the Ti version is one of the best amalgamations of performance-oriented characteristics and comfort that I own.
For those of you with sharper eyes than I, you may notice that the curvature of the walls has also seen an update. The Ti Koi’s walls have a slightly more gradual, and overall more angled curve than the original’s, undoubtedly in part due to the reduced width and increased gap width. I can’t really speak to the increased gap in play - anywhere in this 4.4-4.45 range feels just about right to me and my YYSL Ammo string.
Finally, let’s talk about the material and machining. yoyofriends did make a design concession here in choosing to use grade 2 (or “commercially pure”) titanium as opposed to the stronger grade 5. I believe the price reflects the downgrade - most grade 5 yoyos (most of RSO’s stuff, TP’s “Grade 5” yoyos) are at minimum $100 more expensive than the Koi. The machining is where this yoyo really stands out. Bearings come off without a tool, and after swapping between multiple bearings, I was still not able to detect even a hint of vibe. These features may not matter to some of you, but I love to see precision and great QC in the yoyos I own - this one is among the best in each respect.
As far as further comparisons are concerned, the closest ones I can make to yoyos other than the 7068 Koi would be to the GWAY Saboteur and a-RT Grail (which, if you know me, means it’s in very good company) - but it’d be selling all of them short to say that any of these doesn’t deserve its own spot on your shelf. If you enjoy this shape and size, I am confident saying that you won’t regret owning a Ti Koi.
And that’s pretty much it. It’s a titanium yoyo. Try the 7068 version before you buy one. Don’t buy one if you’re not sure. I love mine, but I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting into before spending $275 on it.