So I picked up and YYF One and a YYF Replay Pro and they were waiting for me in the mail when I got home from work yesterday, I quickly managed to get the beginner section of tricks down, and while it still somewhat inconsistant have the trapeze as well, stuck on brain twister at the moment, but figure I should have that soon, all of this is with my YYF One, at what point do I start trying to learn to bind and start using the Replay? I know there isn’t going to be a perfect answer, just looking for feedback and recomendations
It’s completely up to you. I started unresponsive pretty much right away and I don’t regret it. 
yea the choice is ultimately up- to you if you feel that your ready then go for it. Learning to bind will be frustrating at first but once you get it it’s awesome.
When you get tired of being repeatedly bit by your yoyo when you want it to stay down, thats when.
Like many others, I started with UR, but spent some time with fixed axle back in the day, so it wasnt really a “start” but rather a pick-back-up-after-15-years type gig.
First trick i learned was a bind so i mean really you could start now. Whatevers comfortable for you.
NO…the FIRST trick you learned was a sleeper! You can’t bind without first throwing a sleeper! ;D
If you can bind and you feel like you want to try unresponsive, do it. If you don’t succeed after you’ve practiced for a while, stop and practice with the One again. Repeat until you are truly ready.
I went unresponsive after a month. It just felt right at the time.
Not sure what would be different had I started unresponsive.
I went unresponsive after 4 years but I didn’t know about it all that time 
I’m still really comfortable with Butterflies and Imperials after that though.
I went straight to unresponsive. Might as well jump right into it if you know thats where your headed. After you learn to bind its way better than getting your hands abused everytime you try a new trick. Learning to bind shouldnt be that hard, i had it down in a couple days.
If you think the tricks you want to learn are best learned on an unresponsive yoyo, switch right away.
You don’t need to “pay your dues”. You owe it to yourself to have fun. That’s all. If unresponsive is grabbing your interest more, there’s no need to wait.
Me, I switched pretty much as soon as my Raider went unresponsive. My first binds were on an unresponsive Raider as I waited for the New Velocity to arrive in the mail. 
When I first learned how to yoyo I started out with an unresponsive yoyo. I would recommend everyone start out that way, unless they plan on getting into looping.
After a couple weeks I went unresponsive, I got tired of un intentional returns during tricks busting my knuckles. 
This is a great topic. I’m actually on the other end of the spectrum. I started unresponsive (I had no idea what I was getting myself in to…) and now I’m actually trying to go responsive, because I feel like I missed something.
Seeing peoples’ responses about getting their hands abused is making me feel like maybe I should just stay unresponsive.
As it stands, I feel like I missed something, because even trying to hit a trapeze with a responsive yoyo is crazy hard without my hands getting into a fight with my yoyo. Would seem that by keeping the string tighter makes it perform like it should (or like I want it to) and that playing unresponsive is almost cheating because a small tension mistake won’t bite me back…
Having said all that, I’d say jump on in. I’ve spent the better part of a week doing nothing but sleepers and trapezes and working on binding them and throwing straight.
Do a mixture of both. Mastering both is important.
If I were you I’d get a No-Jive Once you master that everything’s gonna be easy.
Definitely responsive fixed-axle play in the style of Kyle Nations, Drew Tetz, and Ed Haponik is incredibly fun and rewarding. In fact, I find a LOT of responsive yoyoing to bring a smile to my face. I’m going to cheer so hard the day I can land a solid Shoot The Moon with a fixie.
I’m not saying “skip responsive because unresponsive is more fun”. Not at ALL. What I’m saying is, “if you want to go unresponsive, there’s no need to wait!” If you’re having fun with responsive, no need to rush. Whichever seems more fun to you right now, that’s the one to spend time with.
Ideally, you’ll have fun doing both, but that still means “go unresponsive” can happen any time now.
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Lots of good advice to “just do it”. But I’ll throw my thoughts in the ring as well ;D
When I went unresponsive I decided to start every practice session with 10 binds from a forward throw.
It would take me 20 or so throws to get 10 good binds. Then I’d try to do 10 binds from a breakaway throw. It would start getting frustrating so I’d go back to my responsive yoyo and play for a while.
So I guess I’m saying to take it in stages. Work up to it and it’s ok to go back and forth between responsive and unresponsive. I’ve only been throwing for about 6 months and I still do practice sessions where I try to bind a breakaway throw 10 times in a row just to make my throws and binds more consistent.
You’ll get it. Don’t be frustrated if it doesn’t start happening immediately. Let us know how you’re doing.
well first attempt at bindng last night, has not gone well thus far, seems like the only times I got it to work were accidents not that I had it figured out, that said it wasn’t that much time put into it yet (had a lot going on last night) so I am sure I will get it figured out
For anyone just starting out, don’t worry about what you SHOULD do. Do that in every other aspect of life, but for the first few years at least, let yoyoing be your BREAK from that. Think about the tricks that look amazing to you and the players you’d like to emulate and let that guide you. Do whatever it takes to keep learning anything and everything YOU think looks awesome. Later on, when your interest in yoyoing is totally solidified, then you can worry about “being well-rounded”. It IS DEFINITELY worthwhile to be able to play responsive and to appreciate every era of yoyoing’s evolution, but there’s no mandatory checklist; no course syllabus. Seek out new and interesting tricks and get whatever throw you’ll be stoked to have on your finger. Whether you learn to bind on your first day or a decade later, yoyoing will take you a lifetime to truly master and there will always be something new to understand.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2FYhvarZCA)
Two important takeaways from this video:
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The part about “pinching” the loop and not just throwing it into the gap
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Watching the mechanics of how a bind works. The loop feeds into the gap until it engages on the response. Beginners typically make the mistake of “dropping” the loop and hoping it will somehow engage the response. It’s backwards. Feed the loop in and it will eventually bind and it will pull the loop into the gap with a quickness…right out of your fingers (unless you’re pinching too hard)! you don’t have to let go or drop it! Letting go or dropping it before you feel the bind is just a recipe for missing a bind.
Just to beat a dead horse for point #2, how many times have I told someone “Just wait. Keep pulling back on your throwhand and it’ll eventually bind,” only to watch people continue to think it’s a timing thing. There’s no timing. You don’t have to do anything at “just the right time”. Make your loop big enough, feed it into the gap, and a bind will happen.
Supplemental: when learning binds, do it with a decent but not incredibly hard spin. If it’s spinning like a mother, it’s going to grab that loop so quickly. If it’s spinning too slowly, when the loop engages the response, the yoyo won’t make it up to your hand. A nice medium spin is where it’s at while you’re still learning.
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