I been wanting to expand my play styles for a while, I was thinking about picking up some budget plastics for 3A is this a bad idea? Should I go straight to metal?
Bonus points if you show me your set ups lol :.)
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I love my DD Monarch for 5A. It’s the most comfortable non-organic throw I’ve played, and its stability, pacing, and spin time are well suited for the style. It’s also held up remarkably well considering how many times it’s went flying across the room & got smacked by the counterweight.
I haven’t tried any 3A yet, but I think in terms of playability it would do decent there as well. Durability would be the biggest question. I do know some people prefer hybrids for 3A for the noise reduction, though.
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Yeah Imo. Metal is going to be more stable, spin longer, and is more durable than plastic. You’re going to want those features at first. N12s are like 15$ or some other beginner recs are like cyber crash 2s or nodes or uhhh schwimmpanzers are amazing for the style and 40$ for a bimetal but youre going to have to reset the rings decently often like after a hard collision push them back on.
Here’s my pairs
Fh1s (responsive), ions, n11s, hades, anions, hades, newts, crescendos
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I grabbed two gravitation 8s I believe while I played 3a, I had some issues with one, then one became my 5a, it’s been super beat up but it works for now!
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I haven’t tried 3A so I’m not going to be any help in that department.
5A on the other hand is a different story. I love 5A even though I’m complete trash at it. I was in a sling for about a month recently due to a broken elbow and played a lot of 1 hand 5A.
Honestly almost any set up can 5A. My personal presence is something organic minded. My biggest advice would be to start out with an old yo or something here that’s second hand. It makes it easier to justify it hitting the deck when you drop it. String length is going to help your skills a lot. My biggest advice is to find a counterweight that you enjoy.
Current set ups:
Jake Bullock Slam Dunk (used with son scuffs so it’s been sacrificed to my patio) with a 3D printed weight (good option for DIY but can be more fragile)
Jake Bullock Slim Dunk (slim makes it harder to be accurate but a nice option for hitting the park with the kids) with a DedHed Designs CW (they’re durable, look cool and remind me of the Crazy Bones I lived as a kid)
Jake Bullock Chunk with a Jake Bullock x Gunny Weights - Gunmy Dice (softer/ gummy CW makes learning new things more forgiving plus the texture allows for a little more grip which is nice)
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Some nice stuff you got here!
I only have one 3A set and it’s the Colossus VI Max. Been trying a bit more 3A again lately and I love these things. Stable and long spinning, takes hits great, and I also went with them because I could get them in pink.
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The few times I attempt 3a I steal/borrow some freshly dirty protos Arthur has been working on at club.
5a I usually toss the throwback canon or whatever that’s been beat to all heck
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I don’t play 3a, but I am getting into 5a. I use a throwback cannon and lots of different counterweights. Most of them are DIY, and sometimes I think part of the fun is just making them 
. I have a friend who plays 5a a bunch so I give most of em’ to him so he can play around with them.
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I don’t know if Rain City has any left but the Punk is Delrin with aluminum hub and bearing seats are aluminum. It’s a great 5A and they are closing out everything.
I’m also practicing 5A on a Mod44 D bearing.
But I’m not any good yet so take my thoughts with a grain of salt.
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I’m pretty terrible myself. I’ve slammed my knuckles a good many times..
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These are my dedicated 5A throws
Duncan Barracuda - Freshly Dirty Orchid - Mowl Vigilancia
Barracuda is a no brainer. It was designed by a 5A player and has been used to win 1A and 3A titles. It’s just a damn good yoyo.
Orchid is made from Teflon so it absorbs impacts really well and makes almost no noise. It is dented to all hell because of this but they just add character. It has a great organic feel while still being pretty capable. It’s my safety/experimental 5A throw.
Vigilancia is the heavyweight of the bunch. I use it when I need a little more power and spin time at the expense of being a little less agile than the others.
I don’t play 3A but i think any of these would work. If I ever get a second of any of these, I’ll give it a try.
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I don’t do a ton of 5A so I have…3 yoyos set up for it - Docpop Bolt, Yoyofreaks Sharp, and RCS Punk.
I don’t really do 3A.
I’m kinda just gonna say what Henry said about 3A and relate it to 5A.
Skip mono plastic and go straight to metal, use something low walled with minimal chance for string contact in the gap. Bimetals are nice if you can afford them. Plane keeping during 5A is a bit rough and you want all the performance you can get to make it easier. Metal yoyos are just going to spin longer and be more durable. Also use a real counterweight, just get whatever from porykon or some other competition focused brand. Using random objects as counterweights actively will make 5A more difficult as rebounds and general movement become a lot less predictable due to weird complex shapes and potential to get stuck on the string and inability to easily pull free from tangled string.
Wide is the trendy wave but don’t put any thought into it more than you already do for 1A. I do really like the Ghost IX but I think without a good baseline level of control you’re going to be limiting your trickset or actively making 5A harder by using something extremely wide. Consider that if you miss the string when trying to mount the yoyo, your yoyo doesn’t instantly die, but if the cw swings into the gap when you don’t want it to, you’ve got a high chance of having the yoyo snag and respond. Also consider that your hand is only so wide when keeping parallel planes between the yoyo and cw. Wide has benefits but comes with serious drawbacks that I think are harder to overcome for newer 5A players with less control.
Obviously you can do whatever because you can use any yoyo for any style, but if you’re really interested in learning and progressing with 5A I’d definitely just keep this in mind. 5A is hard and using a setup that makes it harder/less consistent isn’t going to be fun for everybody. Some people might enjoy that, but at least for me with 5A it’s just more fun when I’m not fighting my yoyo/cw to land and learn tricks.
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how would you rank them from favorite>least favorite
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Hmmm!!!
Hades is 1
I forgot schwimmpanzers for the photo but those are 2 then
Ions
Crescendos
Anions
Then newts and fh1s but those are kind of a sub category
Then n11s those suck lol
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Nobody mentions my pick for 5A so here goes nothing: Yoyofriends graviton:y. Under 50 euros, 7068, amazing performance, 48 mm wide. Low price won’t make you cry yourself to sleep if it drops, premium metal has a nicer feel, width will help you knd your tricks easily.
I use porykon and Gummyweights as counterweights depending on my mood.
Dunno jack about 3a though.
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I would love some gummy weights to play with when families and friends are around but I always miss drops