Around 2 months ago, I got a heavily beginner oriented yo-yo. It played pretty well (and it still does!), but I was thinking of moving onto some more advanced throws. I’ve currently narrowed my search down to 5 options: The Sage, The AoE, The Arrow, The Freehand One, and the First Base. The thing is, I have absolutely no idea which one to choose! Could anyone give me advice one their respective characteristics, which one to choose, or even a better option?
Edit: Search has now been narrowed down between 3 throws! The AoE, The Speedaholic XX, and the First Base.
Responsive or unresponsive? Freehand 1 is a must have at some point imo and my favorite responsive Yoyo. aoe I hear is good and can be both responsive or unresponsive. The yyfr team has been shredding on the aoe so it’s capable of handing really crazy tricks.
I will also throw the Speedaholic XX into the arena as a good option. A bit more expensive than the others but definitely an intermediate yoyo with a more deluxe feel while still fitting within your budget, costing 28 bucks. That being said the AoE is a great throw. Also @GTDropKnot is 100% correct in that the FH1 is a must-have in any self-respecting yoyoer’s collection.
I love the First Base because its an organic shaped yoyo that doesn’t play like an organic at all. I’d go for that or an AoE. I don’t have one yet but it looks really good and capable and it seems to be getting positive feedback around here.
I don’t like the FH1 (sue me) and the Sage is fine for beginners but quickly runs out of steam once you get into more advanced tricks.
Alr, I’m looking through the comments and I’m really tempted by the AoE, First Base, and Speedaholic. Could someone give me the characteristics and differences between these yoyos?
Speedaholic XX is unresponsive. Regular speedaholic is responsive. The other two can be both responsive or unresponsive by swapping the axle and bearing. honestly cant really go wrong with any of those picks but the speedaholics arent going to be able to switch.
Speedahilic xx is great.
Area of effect is like the speedahilic but isn’t made of machined plastic and has more stability and weight on the rim.
Both are totally worth it. Almost got a second of each
You can also go for a yyfr shortcut if you want one of the best monometals at an affordable price (it is unresponsive).
I don’t know if the aoe is actually any more powerful than the shxx bc of how it also uses a bunch of material in the cup tho it is a little bigger and wider. Shortcut def a huge step up in performance from those two
The speedaholic is more powerful than the area of effect.
The area of effect however in my experience is more resistant to tilt and has a higher focus of weight near the rims.
They’re all going to be pretty close in performance. The AoE might have the edge there based on what I’ve heard but I don’t know for sure since I haven’t tried it. I had a First Base and Speedaholic XX as my main unresponsive plastics for a while. SHXX is good at finger spins and grinds but aside from that the amount of spin time I was getting between the two was pretty negligible.
I ended up trading the SHXX because I found myself grabbing the FB every time I was in a plastic mood. SHXX just felt more sterile and standard where the FB feels more unique and fun to me while still being perfectly capable of anything I can do.
The speedaholic xx is unresponsive. There is a responsive version available at some stores and is around $10. The responsive version doesn’t seem to be as good as the speedaholic xx
Edit: there are some speedaholic xx that come with the responsive set up. There are a couple on yoyoexpert but it looks like it is sold out. You can just put a responsive bearing and shorter axle to get the speedaholic xx responsive