We all have a dud here or there in our collections, what is your worst? Objectively speaking of course. I am going to give the dumpster fire a pass here because while it may be the hardest to play I have, it certainly is well made.
For me its this cool cat!
A few years ago I needed about 40 bearings for a project I was working on and precision wasn’t super paramount for them. So after some digging I found this sweet bearing protector at .10 a piece. Which was a tad cheaper than I was able to find any centering bearings.
When it was all said and done one survived because well its a freaking tiger! It has a tin can type feel to it. Spin time is… well I can almost do some picture tricks before it wobbles out. I was going to get crazy and try some Eli hops but my pads fell out so maybe a later time for this tiger.
Its not all bad, the bearings are actually a pretty typical centering bearing with decent performance and balancing. So all in all completely served purpose as a shipping vessel for my bearings, and it kind of is a yoyo too. Go get em tiger!
For the originally designed purposes, it’s the Metal Racer for me. I wanted a yoyo that would play unresponsive on the cheap, but the high walls, narrow gap/width, and relatively low spin times made tricks hard. Now, it did make my accuracy better, and now I use it for 0a, but for the longest time, it was a heartbreaker. That being said, if someone dared to take it away from me, I would fight them to the death.
My first unresponsive throw from 2002, I learned all the basics with it, no starndard size bearing (I wonder…) no silicone pads (only this plastic groove), but for today standards, it’s a bad quality plastic yoyo…P_20201120_141644|500x500
Worst FOR ME. Duncan Counterpunch. I want to love it so much but despite trying different strings and pads I find it laborious to operate. It snags at weird times and is just completely unenjoyable. Every few months I take it out of the case to have another go at it but it just goes back in the case. I WANT to love it but there’s just something about the way it behaves that makes it a complete turnoff.
EDIT:
I took out the Counterpunch again. Ugh! I took out one of the response pads to see how it played. A tiny bit better but the string gets all caught up at times and even with a lot of spin left it is very finicky getting a bind with just one pad. I think it’s 7075 or 7068 and I love the weight and all the specs say I should LOVE this yoyo. Back in the case. Do I need a thinner string? Geez, I’m not gonna spend money to find out. I know I’m not perfect with every single throw but I have never had a yoyo give me such a hard time. I have yoyos that cost $10 that play like a dream. I can’t figure out what the deal is with this Counterpunch!
Does anyone else have a Counterpunch???
Try doing recessed silicone. I had the same issue with the Counter Punch. I replaced the pads and it was much better, but I think I would have loved it if I did a nicely recessed silicone response. I used YYSL Venom string with it, which was thinner than the other strings I was using at the time.
For me, it was the Throwback Arcade (YoTricks’ new brand). I threw it back indeed. Other people seem to like it and I started to think I just didn’t like organics… I’ve since found organics I adore, so I dunno what it was about it.
I’ll be that person. I don’t have a “worst” yoyo. Every one is a little treasure for different reasons. The Replay Pro that I love throwing, or the orange Butterfly I stress-bought in May that restarted this hobby, or the blue Imperial that was in my pocket the day I was a pallbearer at my mother’s funeral 27 years ago… Each one is a story in one way or another. Some get thrown more than others, but each and every one is the best yoyo I have. YMMV.
Mighty Flea…it pales in comparison to similarly-sized yoyos including the Kun and even to some degree, the mini panzer (which unfortunately has some faults of its own, being too light). Also the Mini Panzer “Secret Prototype” that’s more fun to look at as it’s impossible to even play. I need to look at it more as that I bought some “spare parts” for the Mini Panzer that came with 2 yoyo halves to put an optional microscopic yoyo together
Also my b-grade bimetal YYF Genesis…unplayable, essentially bought some response pads, a basic flat bearing, and an axle…with some bonus paperweights. For some reason, the metal rings were cut wrong and were thin on 1 side, thick on the other…made the yoyo wobble out of control within seconds.
Not exactly the worst yoyo but maybe my least favorite in my collection is the CZM8. It’s stable, yes… but it really didn’t do much for me so it sits in the back of my yoyo drawer.
