What are people using for string, bearings, and CWs these days?

General Yo-Yo
22

More subjective info than you could ever want:

My favorites are Sochi AlphaLine for string and NSK CenterTrac for bearings.
OneDrop 10 ball is by far my favorite flat bearings.

NSK bearings are so expensive, so my second favorite is still Dif-e-yo KK.

I still use the standard Duncan dies personally, but I think most people have moved on from those. Typically people use a counterweight with a function that centers the string via an anchor point, vs a slipknot wrapped around the weight.

Some of the cheap off brand Center Trac and KK bearings are decent too, but I do find the quality of NSK and the Dif-e-yo too to generally be better. NSK especially so.

The cheap/cheaper off brand ones I’ve bought have been hit or miss. For example, I’ve bought TopYo bearings and Sochi bearings and both were more of a mixed bag than NSK/Konkave. Might’ve partially been luck of the draw though. Some played good and some grinded after only a few days. Similarly, standard CenterTracs can be really good, but the quality/tolerances can be pretty hit or miss.

On that note, for whatever reason, I’ve found the KKs Turning Points ship with to also be very good, but I don’t know who their supplier is.

They get a lot of rave reviews, but I personally really don’t like the DS bearings and equivalents (Pixel, etc). Quality on the DS bearing is really good, but I personally find that that shape bearing is very grabby with backspin in comparisons to CenterTrac, KK, or even flat. It’s probably just a style thing for how I play, though a lot of people love them.

Other strings I really dig are any of the Kitty 1st Class or Original Throw string. I think the OT string is probably the most common competitor’s choice at the moment. It’s slightly stiff for me, but probably what I would compete with if I was still competing.

AlphaLine is my favorite overall. Sochi regular is super soft and feels the best to me for bulk string for casual playing. Kitty 1st class is a good all around string. OT if I was competing. I think Zipline is still popular but I haven’t had the chance to try it. I also haven’t tried YoyoStringLab, but major s/o to Eric.

I’ve also tried some player signature string, like Phoenix, but I honestly like the regular/standard string better than the player signature strings I’ve tried in most cases.

MarkMont also makes a host of unique and rather weird strings. They’re not my favorite in terms of everyday performance, but they’re honestly so unique in how they play that I’d recommend giving them a shot if you’re looking to mix things up. And they last forever. I played with one string for months and even washed it.

Also, I haven’t jumped on the train much yet, but lots of people now play with fat string as their main string. I guess the weight is better for holding shape for slacks, etc. I don’t personally like how it feels - too chunky of a hand feel for me, but it can definitely help with certain tricks.

Last, you can find a bunch of different blends, though from what I can tell, people largely still use 100% poly.

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Thanks @fradiger @Yoyomikie @YoYoExpertEric @Augie @Exmime for the more in depth information and extra context, I appreciate it along with everyone else’s responses.

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String I generally buy zipline executive or skyline 3 for how soft and premium it feels.

Bearings I like to buy in bulk to do maintenance as little as possible so I buy CT from Hollywood modern YoYo’s as I’ve never had a bad hearing from Ross and that goes a long way for me.

Pads same thing just bulk shadow/mouse pads or whatever the clear ones are named now from Ross Levine.

CW I really love no city 3d. The G.O.O.D is just such a comfortable design.

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Zs air are growing on me. Definitely a good string.

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String: sochi XL/fat for 5a/1a, Zipline ZSAir for boutique.

Bearings: honestly whatever i have. Ive got a handful of grooved bearings that i prefer, but anything konkave or centertrak im cool with.

Counterweight: gummy weight pro or porykon for performance (gw pro are hard versions of their designs so they dont have the friction)
Normal gummy weights for learning/beaters, and anything else i have on hand for beaters

Eventually i will justify the $20+ on shipping alone for a fairy lab CW

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man i dunno what happened but i used to love zs airs and grooved bearings. lately all of a sudden i just didn’t like how thick they were and went back to exec lites. at the same time i started hating how grooved bearings felt after a couple string wraps or a dense mount. I’ve since taken my mfd tasmanians out of all but 1 and wholesale swapped all the strings out. it’s been interesting to me how much my preferences have changed over time. i would have thought that what i liked was what i liked and wouldn’t change

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String - I like ZS Air the most probably. I got some Markmont DRAGON Foam that are really growing on me. They’re thinner than ZS Air and textured and stiff. Kind of the opposite of the ZS Air lol. They resist gaining tension really well and feel indestructible.

Bearings - I love NSK DS but they’re sooo tight and I’m looking for something else.

Pads - C3 teal.

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have you tried g2 rippers? amazing bearings

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Crucial is making me consider grooved flats again with their insta posts.

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Im a fan if C3 fat string for bulk. $18 for 100 pack, and it doeent seem soo fat that it is too fat (i generally lean toward thinner string when I can).

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I haven’t but after the new year i plan to get some. Maybe with a Loadout :slight_smile:

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Learned a lot and picked up a lot of nice recommendations from this thread and just wanted to drop a thanks and what I’m using as I nose back into the hobby after decades. Budget is REAL tight due to unforeseen medical problems I won’t get into, but I’ve bought a few rounds of bulk C bearings, and as I read, they can be hit and miss and always seem to find one that just outperforms the rest. Have some flats, one that really spins fast that I’ve kept. Used acetone 100% for maintenance like back in the day and it’s been fine, I enjoy maintaining and tinkering as I did back then. Tried a few kinds of bulk strings, the 100% poly is what I’ve taken a liking to, the Duncan brand seems thick and the yyf seems much thinner, I’ve applied that according to the gap of the Yoyo I put it on with decent results. As my experience and budget gets wider I do plan to try out several things I’ve read here tonight. Thanks again and happy throwing! :sunglasses: :v:

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The patent expired a year and a half ago.

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Good to know, thanks for providing that info!

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To add to my previous comment, i have since aquired my first really “good” brand bearing, a size c konkave and it’s been mind blowing to me, especially after a good cleaning and few days of steady play. The spin time is a real game changer. I’d long believed that the quality mattered, had just been forced to play within my budget, but yeah, really loving the KonKave, making tricks I’d struggled with or written off come to life with relative ease. :v:

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