Hey all, this is another post asking for recommendations. I’m happy to wait for items to get restocked, and so please don’t shy away from recommending yoyos that might be currently sold out. Many thanks for any and all input - it’s greatly appreciated!
Do you know how to bind the yoyo?: No
-Do you have a yoyo that you own or played with that you have liked very much? As a kid I had a Duncan Butterfly that I enjoyed, but it’s basically my only yoyo experience to date, and that was 20 yrs ago.
-Do you have a preferred shape of the yoyo? No preference.
-Do you have a preferred weight or weight distribution? No preference.
-Do you have a price range? I’m happy to spend up to $200, though ideally that would be spent on at least two yoyos.
-Do you have a certain amount of yoyos narrowed down? List them. Recess - First Base (currently out of stock, though happy to buy when it eventually restocks) IYoYo - SHOOTiNG STAR
-Do you prefer a certain brand? No
-Are you looking for a yoyo that specializes a style? Like looping, off string, freehand, etc. No
-Do you prefer a certain response system? Probably responsive to start, and an unresponsive for when I get the hang of things? Is it best to have one of each instead of changing the bearings regularly on a single throw?
-Do you want hubsstacks or z stacks? Unsure what this means!
-What trick are you currently working on? N/A
-Do you want a yoyo to Thumb grind or arm grind good? I don’t know enough to have a preference!
For a yoyo that can convert from responsive to unresponsive, my favorite is the DocPop BoltXP:
But since you mentioned the Duncan Butterfly, that is still a valid option for a beginner. I think that modern responsive play is a great place to start. The tricks are accessible and a $5 plastic Butterfly won’t hold you back.
get yourself one of the recent Duncan Freehand One’s. it blows my mind how great it is for beginners, but its known for being an absolute monster of a yoyo. if you want an unresponsive to go with iit i’m super impressed with the Yoyofriends Shortcut. Don’t spend $200 yet. you’re gonna ding yoyos for a long time, and unless you’ve got money to burn theres no reason to jump in that deep into a new hobby.
Yoyo Factory Arrow x2. Keep one Responsive and make one Unresponsive.
Yoyo Factory Confusion.
This set up is around $70.00.
Get some decent string.
In my current development; I practice Binds, Brain Twister and now trying Split Bottom on the unresponsive.
Once frustrated with that, I go to the responsive arrow. I reinforce and practice what I have completed.
I “feel” having the same Yoyo both responsive and unresponsive, and easily change between the two, aids in my muscle memory amd overall development.
More recently, I have found the Modern responsive. The confusion is just a chill and throw yoyo at this time for me. The Arrows are my development yoyos.
I have had a severe case of YAD “Yoyo Acquisition Disorder” lately. The down side, I am not at a point to play with them reliably, nor develop a personal preference for shapes or styles.
I do have several on the shelf, I guess as motivation to keep moving forward.
So basically 3 yoyos. 1 fixed axel/Modern Responsive, 1 Responsive for modern tricks, 1 Unresponsive.
For just coming back, I recommend one of those yoyos to be the RBC. It is perfection in a responsive yoyo. The shape lends to such a comfortable feel in the hand. The way it responds is perfection.
As far as unresponsive goes, it’s hard to find a bad unresponsive yoyo nowadays.
Also, try and get yoyos that are good at doing everything. When you get a responsive yoyo, get one with a good catch zone so you can still do string tricks while practicing looping ones.
When you go unresponsive I second the shortcut, its amazing cuz you can do finger spins and basically any trick in the book.
Basically don’t shoot yourself in the foot like I did by buying a cool looking yoyo lol.
At the very beginning strings are even more important than the yoyo, you will literally destroy them because not able to control the tension, they will get bad in a very little amount of time.
I would say to buy a starter kit (also to see if you would like to keep yoyoing), take a starter with a responsive and unresponsive bearing in it and then you will change the bearing once you learn to bind, once done that start with all the string tricks.
I would say that 200$ to start is really a lot probably you can sort it out with 40$ and buy at least 200 strings.
Check on Yoyoexpert the starter kit, at the beginning I wouldn’t recommend metal because you will gonna drop it a lot and metal seriously start to vibe and mess up after lot of hit on the ground
Other than that good luck and have fun mate, there is always time to buy new yoyos but start with the right tool is most important now
I started on a magicyoyo v3 which comes responsive but includes everything you need to make it unresponsive. It’s also very cheap.
I suggest you pick up one of those with a bundle of 100 strings (which is a whole other discussion but the yoyoexpert bulk poly is good and it’s also cheap).
This will leave you with a lot leftover in your budget for your next purchase if you’re into it or it will make sure you didn’t sink too much cash into a hobby you don’t really like that much.
A good starter yoyo is the YYF Replay. Its really powerful and can handle some of the advanced tricks.
Once you are ready for some more advanced tricks you can try the Duncan Yoshicuda It will be a really good 1a and 5a, and its power and stability will help you learn more complex technical tricks.
If you are going to try out 4a get the Yoyo Factory Flight, its a good offstring yoyo with enough power to learn some harder tricks.
And if you are going to to try some 2a my favorite looping yoyo’s are the Oracle, Match, and Loop 720
Just get bulk polyester. I like kitty, Sochi, twisted stringz. To start I’d probably recommend the yye bulk poly or topyo strings or something cheaper than kitty. You can never have enough strings so play around and buy some 10 packs of random brands and see what you like
I started unresponsive with a Replay Pro, but I’d recommend the Topyo Mojo over it. The Mojo is a bit cheaper, good for learning fingerspins and after you outgrow it you can use it as a loaner/beater with no remorse.
On that same basis I’d recommend a YYF Whip for a responsive.
Whatever you learn on will almost certainly get dinged, so I wouldn’t spring for anything over $40 at first.
I started up again recently with a yoyofactory whip and it surprisingly can handle a lot. Also, just got the shooting star. I like both. Been working on perfecting the Matrix. Both can handle it well. Whips spin time isn’t as great but for $6 it really surprised me.
Magic K2 Crystal ($14-$15); comes with a responsive bearing out of the box that you can change out to the included unresponsive bearing when ready. Bearing tool included.
Kitty String 100 pack ($20-$30); you’ll get the most out of this with the amount of practice I assume you’ll be doing.