I’ve been quite impressed with the Galaxy Time. It is super comfortable, light and quick/nimble, but still has all that outer-rim bi-metal stability. And it binds like a champ. I like tight, snappy binds and the Galaxy Time feels good in this respect. It’s not going to out-pace a speed demon like the Hummingbird or Draupnir, but that’s not what an H-shaped yoyo is for anyway.
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Overdrive Draupnir but even wider and feels lighter on string.
I find it goes hella quicks and NSK bearing makes it that you can see the moves you make.
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Sounds like what you’re looking for is my favourite yoyo, the OpYoYos Spright.
If you want a lighter, faster playing and more nimble hummingbird with pretty much the same amount of stability, you want the Spright. The binds are great and the rims are rounded so they won’t cut your hands. It’s also wider than the hummingbird and fits nicely at the tail end of your width preference and doesn’t feel too wide. The actual weight is 57 grams.
Also, you might want to take a chance on the very new LiV by Free2Throw.
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Thanks, very interesting perspective on the Surveillance. That’s actually quite a bold statement you’re making: it plays light at 66.5g and wide at 42.5mm!
I can also vouch for the Surveillance playing as described by @mable. I love light, fast and nimble yo-yos but yet the Surveillance is my second favourite after the Spright, which tells you all you need to know really.
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WOW that is an awesome comparison and ranking of weight-feel that I wish could be stickied! I have 4 of the yoyos on your list and I couldn’t agree more with your ranking. This gives me hope that I’m going down the right path even though feel is a subjective thing.
You’ve got me really intrigued on the Orbital GTX… how does the comfort compare to say the Peregrine?
Regarding binds, have you tried playing the Krown Ti and Chopsticks back to back? With the same string, I think you’d notice that the Krown Ti is slippier and harder to get that satisfying crack-of-a-whip sound. Maybe try Kitty Fat or Zipline Alphaline if you have those around.
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Thanks I was indeed intrigued by the Spright but got a little unnerved by its advertised weight of 55g 
I’m guessing it plays even lighter than the Float which, I didn’t think I would say this, may be a little too light for what I consider maneuverable.
The fact that you have the Spright and Surveillance as one-two is quite shocking! Can you compare the weight-feel of the Spright and/or Surveillance to any other yoyos?
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Orbital gtx lol
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There is literally a disclaimer saying the rims are really sharp so like… don’t hit yourself
I love the Surveillance. It has incredible spin power and stability, but I would not call it light or nimble or floaty or anything that you get from a 63g yoyo.
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I’m going to partially disagree with this statement, I definitely wouldn’t describe it as a floaty yoyo, but it definitely wants to play like a light and nimble yoyo. I think the Surveillance achieves such a light and fast feeling because of the super thin walls combined with the inner rim lip that actually pushes a bunch of the outer rim’s weight back towards the center. I think that mid rim lip pushing a lot of weight back towards the center is the key to its nimble feel, in the same way other companies will use dual rims to achieve that effect.
I’d say the Surveillance is geared towards speed focused players who want an extra level of control that comes from the added presence on the string. As well as having the extra power to get through tricks and movements that are especially taxing on the spin of the yoyo.
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Has anyone tried the Paladin? Specs seems in the ball park.
Would love to hear more about the Converge (specifically binds) and Asteria Star Trail too.
To everyone who has contributed in this thread so far, thank you!
I just got a paladin in the mail today. I have maybe 10 minutes of play time with it. My quick impression is that I prefer it to the peregrine, it compares very favorably with the krown ti. It feels plenty fast to me, not as fast as the hummingbird but also not nearly as twitchy. I didn’t notice any problem with binds with whatever string came in the box, it seems like a pretty normal width string, but pads are still breaking in so it will take some time. Disclaimer, I’ve always been a huge fan of 2sick yoyos, and this one lives up to my high opinion of them but I may have some bias. I’d be willing to bet the paladin goes on to be a mainstay in my collection.
Disclaimer #2 I’m not very particular about binds, so unless its actually slippy or snaggy and binds reliably, I won’t pay much attention. Seems to me you might want to look at any clyw bimetals that fit your other preferences, those snow tires definitely bind tight, a bit too tight for my taste so I often prefer my clyw with silicone. Speaking of pads, you can probably get the bind you want out of more yoyos by trying some really soft pads like RSO pads. A simple pad change can really change the way a yoyo responds, and it’s way cheaper than chasing the dragon by buying yoyos. Or learn to pour silicone exactly to your preference, monkey snot slightly concave usually suits me. Pads and the right choice of night moves, draken, dragon, copernicus or cumulus foam is enough to get any yoyo playing to my preference. I prefer dragon/draken, that’s what I typically use.
The Chopstick is one of my absolute favorite yoyos, I don’t really know of another that feels like it, the others you mention don’t really compare in my mind. I also really love the surveillance, and it binds very well with dragon, I doubt draken would be a problem, it feels fast for its weight and plays wider than its specs, I don’t think of it as one of my really fast yoyos but it certainly goes as fast as I can push it.
I also have a converge, gtx, gtr-js, hummingbird and a spright. I haven’t picked any of them up recently enough to be able to make an accurate comparison. I definitely think of the converge as being very performance oriented lots of power, speed and stability, every time I pick it up I love it. I remember the spright surprising me with how well it performed for its weight, but a bit too sensitive for my taste. Same for the hummingbird, too much of a good thing and its overly jumpy and sensitive, I struggle to do long combos that I can easily do with any other performance oriented yoyo. I haven’t thrown the gtx much at all, it stands out in my mind as being uncomfortable and a handful to manage – maybe too flighty/sensitive. I don’t really have any lasting impression of the js, I got it fairly recently and I need to spend more time with it.
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Which ones are the ones you have? Float, hummingbird, peregrine and Chopsticks Gorilla? That might be helpful for context.
How much are you willing to compromise on your requirements?
When you say you want “ease of movement,” am I correct to say that you want something light, quick, nimble and responsive with minimal float? Also what level of speed and weight is acceptable? Most would consider the peregrine fast and light. Is that performance envelope acceptable, or do you need to go a step further into the super light territory with the hummingbird and gtx?
How important is your width requirement?
I’ve noticed that most new models have gotten wider and heavier over the last 3 years, I guess in response to what is popular for competition. The hummingbird and draupnir for example would be in the ultra speed category but are a bit on the narrow side. If you are willing to sacrifice on the width and are willing to hunt for older models on the BST forum, then that might open up some possibilities.
Unfortunately, if you don’t like the shape when catching the Peregrine, you will absolutely hate the Orbital GTX. If it weren’t for that, the GTX is probably hits everything you want performance wise. But I do think the sharp rims are a deal breaker sadly. Personally I don’t mind the shape but I suspect I’ve been subconsciously holding back and not throwing it as hard as I can out of fear that the angled rims will take my head off.
I did try out it earlier and you are right, the Chopsticks is quite snappy when binding. I’m guessing that’s thanks to a narrow gap width at 4.5mm and grippy pads. Maybe you can find something that fits the bill performance wise and mod the response to your liking. I’d try using the YYR chopstick’s response pads or others on your other yoyos, like the peregrine, to see if that improves the response. If that doesn’t work I’d then try using silicon from a tube.
Most of the YYR line is very power oriented opposed to speed. There is the YYR Skyfish, fairly light and may have the same binding qualities as the Chopsticks. Has anyone tried the Skyfish?
The other yoyo I was wondering about was the C3 Hydrogen Crash. Lighter overall than the Krown, but it looks slightly more H shaped with bigger rims. I’m wondering how it plays and if it would fit your criteria. Can anyone comment on the Hydrogen Crash?
Let us know what you decide!
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Funnily enough, the Spright, in terms of its presence on the string, is actually more “present” than the Float. You’ll feel the weight of the Spright more on the string compared to the Float, which is very surprising. The unique thing about the Spright is that it isn’t your typical light yoyo, like the G2 GBP, that plays super light and floaty, it has a weight to it that makes it much more controllable than you would expect. It is why it is such a huge hit when it was first released because I think a lot of people would not have liked it as much as they did if the Spright just played like a typical light yoyo. You can search through the mail day thread and you will find a lot of people saying the Spright is actually surprisingly stable and powerful for its weight. It’s all thanks to the massive rims, each weighing 23g.
Oh yeah, you should know the Surveillance I am referring to is the new one released in 2020, not the original released in 2017. The new one is slightly lighter than the original at 65g, with the original being 66.5g (which the specs on the YYE page refer to).
The Surveillance is another oddity that defies your expectations. I’ll compare it to the Chopsticks Gorilla since you have that yoyo. At first sight, you might expect the Surveillance to play pretty similarly to the Chopsticks Gorilla, maybe with more power since it has a larger diameter and is H shaped. I’m not a fan of how the Chopsticks Gorilla plays, it is not nimble enough for me. Changing directions on it takes a lot of effort and it doesn’t go all that fast either. It is built for tech, so that is to be expected. You would think the Surveillance would play even slower than the Chopsticks Gorilla, since it’s H shaped and is pretty much the same weight as the Chopsticks Gorilla. (H shapes have a reputation for being extremely powerful but also being extremely reluctant on the string due to the sheer amount of power they pack. The iYoYo Firrox 7075 is a great example of this as even at 64.1g [lighter than the Surveillance, mind you], it still moves pretty reluctantly on the string.) But no, the Surveillance gives you all the power of an H shape, with none of the reluctance that is typical of most H-shaped yoyos. The OneDrop Aitch also does this, which explains its popularity, but the Surveillance was the first yoyo that I know of to achieve this feat which is probably why it is considered legendary. The Surveillance has the same kind of presence on the string as the Chopsticks Gorilla, in that you can really feel its power, but you find that moving it around and changing directions to be a breeze. It is definitely not as nimble as yoyos with V shapes like the Hummingbird, but the Surveillance is pretty close behind the Hummingbird in terms of manoeuvrability, while providing a ton more power and stability to blast through even your most difficult horizontal tricks. Furthermore, you might find that its presence on the string gives you more control and hence more confidence to execute your tricks, which is not usually the case for the light and fast yoyos like the Hummingbird. You can find a lot of people here in this thread preferring the Peregrine, which is more solid and has a bigger presence on the string, to the Hummingbird because the Hummingbird just goes faster than they’re able to handle and it’s really easy to mess up even the simplest tricks when you can’t keep up with the speed of the yoyo. All in all, the Surveillance packs the same amount of power as the Chopsticks Gorilla and is just as stable, but it is far more responsive to your inputs and changing directions doesn’t take much effort. It really feels like wizardry when you have played with a lot of hard H shapes and expect that extreme power and stability would almost always come with quite a lot of reluctance.
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It’s funny you say that. The Chopsticks is in a class of its own IMO. It’s actually the yoyo that made me realize how important binds are. It’s almost like I can tell when a knot is about to happen before it does. That quality goes beyond just binds to the point where I feel like it just cleans up my entire play style.
The only thing is I wish it played lighter and faster. It sounds like you’ve got a preference for more solid feeling yoyos. If that’s the case, I’m very jealous because it sounds like you may have found your holy grail in the Chopsticks, or at least very close to it!
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Yep I’ve got those yoyos and the Krown Ti. Your comparison was really spot on.
That sounds right. I’d be happy with anything like or between the Float and the Peregrine. So it doesn’t have to be in the ultra speed category. I can’t really comment on float though, because I’m not sure people (including myself) really agree on what it is.
Width is important, I can certainly feel the difference. This is what makes it difficult. Lots of older throws would make the cut if it wasn’t the case!
Thanks for the heads up on the Skyfish and Hydrogen Crash. I think I saw someone comment that the Skyfish is uncomfortable to catch. @KirbyRobot has a Hydrogen Crash IIRC, but it left wanting in stability and binds. Would love to hear more opinions though!
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Orbital gtx is one of my favorite throws when it comes to play feel… Gotta be careful with it though… That’s a dangerous yo-yo. Def an all time fave of mine
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It sounds like you’ve got the Float, Spright and Hummingbird. How is the Spright versus the Hummingbird in terms of weight-feel? Does it feel like a bimetal Float?
It’s really surprised me how many people are suggesting the Surveillance. Somehow it’s giving me Galaxy Time vibes too. @zslane how would you compare the Galaxy Time with the Surveillance?
Are they equally easy to maneuver? They’re both H-shaped but the Galaxy Time looks like it may have a smaller catch zone given its rims. They both sound like they could be a faster playing Chopsticks.
The overall size and shape, including catch zone, of the Galaxy Time and Surveillance HPF are virtually identical. The Galaxy Time appears to have larger (SS) rims and is ever-so-slightly rounder in places, but this difference is very subtle. They play very similarly. I would say they are basically equivalent except the Galaxy Time is perhaps a tiny bit more comfortable in the hand due to those slightly rounder touches.
There are much bigger differences with the traditional Surveillance, however. That Surveillance has a sharper, more angular design, a narrower catch zone, and a considerably heavier feel in play.
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