I’d say my max for a monometal would be $70 and around $120 for a bimetal. There are so many great performing throws under $50 now though, and I usually find myself picking up my cheaper yoyos more often than my expensive bimetals. I would rather have four $30 yoyos than one $120 yoyo.
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To add to what I said, I don’t pay extra for rarity, there’s too many cool yoyos out there. I’m probably in the minority here, but I only buy new yoyos and then I keep them. No selling or trading.
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Uh… I guess am odd man out on this subject.
I have no limit…
I have no budget.
I am not saying there is anything right or bright about that.
That’s just my honest answer.
I would not encourage anybody to take the same path.
Almost all yo-yos nowadays, and in the past few years exhibit very good to excellent performance, regardless of price point.
I must have 30 titanium yo-yos. Why? I seriously don’t have the slightest idea? Not one of them came with tricks included.
I have just as much fun for more fun playing with a $30 Godspeed or a shutter. Most of my favorite yo-yos I pretty much got for peanuts.
Take some free advice from old Mo. It’s really pretty simple. Whatever your budget, never buy a yo-yo thinking that you’re buying happiness. You may be buying some fun. And you may be buying a new adventure. But you’re not buying happiness. You’re just buying a yo-yo.
Unless you qualify for the no budget category, this is a better view of happiness. A $50 yo-yo in your hand and $300 in your pocket.
This is where you don’t want to be. A $350 titanium yo-yo in your hand in lint in your pocket.
Choose and spend wisely. Don’t be me.
I think the average person should spend no more than $100 on a yo-yo. All the performance you ever need in your life is available in yo-yos that cost under $100.
If you buy a yo-yo that cost 200 300 400 or 500 or more dollars, only do so if you can actually afford it.
Reality check.
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I’d drop $300 on a Peak or a Magnum if I could find one in that range, which would likely be a stars align scenario.
Being those two, I normally cap out around $120
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My limit so far is 888$ for a mint One Drop Lab Experiment.
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I don’t really set caps for myself, but functionally, I’ve never been willing to spend much past $100. My nicest CLYW throws were about $130. If I were to spend $200 or more, I feel like I’d have to want that Yo-Yo really, really bad. Some sort of insanely perfect design and color for my taste, I don’t know. I do believe there are Yo-Yos that are worth higher prices (Like titanium models) but I’ve never really been enticed, personally.
If all my favorite Yo-Yoers were placing at contests consistently with titanium or $250 bi-metals, I might want to at least see what all the fuss is about. I don’t like feeling as though my tools are holding me back. But I don’t currently feel like adding a few hundred more dollars is going to make a Yo-Yo’s playability blow me away, cementing it as a must-have staple. If these things had a significant advantage, sponsored players wouldn’t be betting worlds routines on more typical bi-metals and mono metals. I’d own a titanium Yo-Yo for kicks, but $400 is a bit steep for a kick.
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Typically $125-150 seems to be my upper limit. This includes Ti’s with exception of the Palpitation ES
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i typically buy used, $80 has been my limit so far. i could see myself spending $250~ on a full sized mono steel performance yoyo but outside of that there isn’t much that makes me want to go north of $100.
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My limit is $40, but that goes up exponentially with the amount of drinks consumed.
Ivan
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Although I am new to the scene, I am treating throws as I would acquiring any gear related to my other hobbies. I have spent some serious money on titanium EDC gadgets, camera equipment and certified coins. All of those things bring me joy, and the harder the item is to get my hands on the more I want the chance to grab one…the power of exclusivity. That being said, I wouldn’t necessarily overpay for something that hasn’t dropped in awhile unless it was a model I had been searching for in a color that I would be satisfied with. Lets say $100 mono, $150 bi and $350 titanium.
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Push it to the Limit !
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Great thread. Wish I had thought of it…
As someone who has bought quite a few yo-yo’s over the years I can say that I have never had a “limit”. To me the question has always been price/performance. Over the years I have found that like sports cars; you get what you pay for.
Consider your basic Porsche 911. It is $110,000 and excels in most all categories than pure HP. Now consider your basic Toyota Camry. It sells for $25,000. Is the Porsche 911 five times better than a Camry?
This is where you begin to realize that you can buy five Camry’s, Accords, Kia’s etc; but you will never get the experience you get from that single 911 ripping into a corner and powering out. My yoyodoc-point here is that limiting your price limits the experience that you will get from your purchased yo-yo. If you want the best; buy the best.
My experience from years of buying yo-yo’s is:
Do not buy junk. Buy the best. One $200 yo-yo is 100 times better than a bunch of $70 throws.
As I said before: You get what you pay for.
*NOTE the above rant only applies to manufacturer-production yo-yo’s. ‘Boutique’ yo-yo’s are for ‘collectors’. To me; they are just a waste of money…
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I don’t have limits so much as I have… guidelines. Anything over $75 requires serious consideration and justification. Anything over $150 has to be an exceptional case. I think I’ve only gone over that once, for a Ti of a model I love.
That being said, while there are plenty of decent $30 yoyos out there, you might be better off getting one that costs more that you really like instead of yet another $30 monometal that you don’t find compelling.
Unrelated, is anyone interested in trading their Ti for a bunch of my cheap monometals (all NMTBS)?
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Haha. Good point.
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What ever I can get away with paying, to get what I am hunting for.
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Hard to say, because hobby $ is different than real $.
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So far $200. But it’s gotta be something exceptional for me to spend over $70. I’ve cut way back in buying lately. I’m getting a little more picky. You can get amazing yo-yos all day long for $50-70 so it needs to be a color shape or size I don’t have or a really impressive engraving.
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I’m afraid I disagree. To use the car analogy: I’d never spend that on the Porsche because I wouldn’t appreciate it. The Camry would provide all the performance I need, and I wouldn’t have to worry about the occasional scratch or ding, and would be relatively cheap to replace if I ruined it, and I could drive it everywhere without much concern.
With the Porsche, I’d have to be careful where I parked it or drove it so as not to get it damaged, and worry about environmental hazards and only bring it out when the weather allowed. I’m not a high-speed driver so I’d never use it to it’s intended potential.
Basically I’d end up having a lot more fun and enjoyment with the cheap car/yoyo because it does everything I need it to do.
This has been my exact experience with yoyos. My Speedaholic Max, Triple Point, etc. lives on the rack and gets played and enjoyed on special occasions in controlled environments while my Topyo Null, Speedaholic XX and other cheaper throws travel everywhere, get played everywhere and can still do every trick I’m capable of and much more. Are they as nice as the Max or the Triple Point? No way. But I’ve had much more fun with them.
If I had amazing skills and lots of money to blow, sure I’d daily a $100 yoyo. But I don’t have either of those so I cherish the few expensive or rare throws that I am fortunate enough to own and go on adventures with the cheaper yoyos that can still do everything I can.
Ivan
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Yoyogeezer, you have a Most interesting viewpoint… Only a few problems validating your take on this.
Fist of all, I never said a person should set a $limit$ in order to ‘limit’ their experience.
I suggested that people should focus more on buying yo-yos they can afford.
Your car theory falls flat with a quickness. I’ve spend a half century in Automotive Collision Repair. I spent over 20 of those years painting Exotic cars. I was always fascinated by the number of people I met that bought cars they couldn’t afford. I could have run a BST from the Bodyshop. Because after the Exhilarating experience of a Porsches roadworthy attributes, comes the enlightening adventure of the cost of Service Maintenance. Uh… yes, get out the crypto, because they don’t just charge you for spark plugs.
The ‘Only’ people that should buy Porsches…… are the people that can ‘afford’ not only the car, but the cost of keeping the car maintained.
A more logical and reasonable person should just buy a Camry and drive to an amusement park and just spend the day riding Crazy rides. Exhilaration with zero maintenance.
You can put 100,000 miles on a Camry just changing the oil and going through a few sets of tires.
You stated>
That falls flat in regards to yo-yos. Wanting the best has nothing to do with ‘affording the best’.
There are plenty of yo-yos sub $100 that play very well and make a strong case for ‘why spend more on a yo-yo’?
Me? I can afford to buy a Porsche. Not only can I afford to buy one, I can afford to buy it Ca$h. I can just go into a Dealership and say, I’ll take that one… I don’t even want a discount.
….But I don’t want to pay for the periodic servicing. I don’t want to pay for the insurance. I don’t want to deal with car thieves or vandalism. Etc…
I would not have even posted this except you decided to put my screen name into your reply.
There is a difference between Spending money and Spending Stupid.
I just feel people should spend within their budget. Not get cheap because I want them to limit their experiences.
Example> A new Titanium yo-yo comes out. People are already talking about how magically good the yoyo is.
It costs $350. You are ‘there’ for the drop. Credit card in hand. Ready to hit the button. Wait>>>>>
Obviously you are using a credit card because that is convenient for internet sales. But, do you have the cash to pay the bill when it shows up on your statement? Because buying yo-yos on credit does not necessarily mean you can afford them.
That’s what I am getting at. Every week or so, you will see a BST saying, ‘bills to pay’ or ‘I have to fix my car’ or unexpected medical expenses’ etc…
If a person can genuinely afford their yoyos, they would not have to cash them out to pay bills.
And…. Back to the Camry/Porsche analogy. I am not going to disagree about how much better a Porsche is than a Camry.
But I will say, I can’t even think of a single several hundred dollar yo-yo that is ‘5 times better’ than a really good $100 yo-yo. I can’t even think of one example?
One other thought. Take a break from other more important things and try the following>
Get a piece of paper. Standard copy paper will do. Draw a vertical line down the paper about 2 inches from the right edge. That will leave about 6 something inches to the left.
Now, spend several hours watching the most incredible yo-yo trick videos you can find. If the video gives credit to the yo-yo used or you can visually identify the yo-yo, put an X on the left side of the paper if it’s an inexpensive yoyo or an X on the right if it’s a very expensive yoyo.
You will see a whole lotta X’s on the left side of that paper.
Highly doubtful any will be on the right.
Follow All the major Yo-yo Contests in the World. The best players playing at the very top of their game. How many use ‘’Expensive’ yo-yos?
…. We all know I can go on and on. But why bother.
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Most expensive I’ve paid for one yoyo is around $200. My actual limit is $450-ish, but I never encounter one worthy enough for me to grab it at that price. Above that I probably wouldn’t even consider it.
Also I agree with Doc, buying something with credit card doesn’t necessarily mean you can afford it, even if you can make the payment.
Heck even being able to pay it cash still doesn’t necessarily mean you can afford it.
For example if I make $300 a month, then spending $250 on yoyos is absolutely and utterly unwise even if I can pay it “cash”. It is more about how much dent it makes to your net worth.
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