When's the best time to switch to an unresponsive

Hey all,
I’ve had my responsive yoyo for a couple of weeks now and am currently wondering when’s a good time to switch or if I need to learn a couple more tricks before switching like the trapeze or the bind, just want people’s opinions.
Thanks :+1:t3:

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I would wait until you feel comfortable. There’s no need to rush to an unresponsive throw. You will get much more fluid and technically “better” learning as much as you can and pushing what can be done with a responsive setup. Just my opinion.

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Whenever you want :slight_smile:

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I’d say you should now

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You can do that any time you like, and if it’s what you want to do, go for it! It’s your hobby, your journey, and your learning process, so enjoy! :slightly_smiling_face: Learning how to do unresponsive can be done any time and can even help you learn some tricks more quickly that might snag or have problems with a responsive throw. However, since you’re still near the beginning of your learning process, I’d suggest that you might want to keep your responsive throw close by and try to learn the early tricks on both yoyos. The responsive yoyo can help you hone your technique and there are a few tricks that can only be done on a responsive throw.

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I learned to bind as my responsiveness began to wear out…this was in the days of Duncan Friction stickers, where the rubber coating would wear off and be left with fabric.

Get comfortable with undermounts from side throw, and front mounts before you tackle the bind.

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Opinions on this will vary drastically. From the old school guy’s perspective, you will see people recommend that you basically master the basics on a responsive before going unresponsive (like first 50 tricks on yotricks), while some new school guys will tell you that you can start on an unresponsive. The argument for mastering responsive first is mostly just to keep your technique smooth and clean, but some suggest that it has a critical effect on style development.

As far as im concerned, go out and get an unresponsive yoyo if you are itching for it. Once you get the feel of the throw, both front style and horizontal, and are able to do a couple tricks, Id say that you can move on to unresponsive. Learning how to throw smoothly along with having to learn to bind can be tedious, but if you are comfortable enough throwing down responsive, learning the bind should be cake.

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You can really switch at anytime. Some people even start day 1 unresponsive.

Ideally though I would say it’s best to switch when you have learned or at least attempted to learn most of the advanced level tricks on this site. Most of the advanced tricks are very doable and learnable with responsive and getting that far will help you develop additional control over the yoyo that you wouldn’t learn as well if you were using unresponsive.

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I think you should get one- or use one once you are comfortable with responsive, and if you have your throw right. Starting off unresponsive can delay the process of learning how to throw properly.
Good throws, and at the very least- mastering the beginner tricks and a few intermediate in the yye tricklist: would be a good time to go unresponsive. That way, you can improve way faster, as you have mastered the basics- and your play is clean.

Never forget: the basics will always be relevant, make sure you have mastered them.

-edit: even in takeshi matsuura tricks, evan nagao tricks- the basics are still relevant. They will also help ALOT in making new tricks.

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u should switch to unresponsive as soon as you hit trapeze consistently.

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depends. develop a good breakaway and everything else till you hit unresponsive. dont get too comfy with unresponsive though and going back to responsive really makes you realize how privileged and unforgiving unresponsive is

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Get an unresponsive when you feel like it, simple as that!

Personally I would say make sure you have nailed the basics on your responsive first, especially a cleann solid break away!

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If you have did all the tricks which are possible for you to perform with responsive yo-yo.The basic tricks and picture tricks, that’s the time i think you should switch to unresponsive yo-yo.

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Don’t switch - do both. Each type brings its own fun.

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First throw, I never threw responsive

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To me this is the right answer. You can get an unresponsive whenever you’d like, some people I know started unresponsive. To me the sweet spot is when you can do some sidemount tricks tightly with a responsive is a good point to try them unresponsive. As you can see above, every answer varies greatly and are according to taste, but get one whenever you want. There’s not much more learning unresponsive than responsive. There are different tricks in both that require either.

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This came up for me over the weekend. I was in a store waiting for someone, and a clerk wanted to get into yo-yos. He asked if he should start responsive or unresponsive.

I believe the right answer is responsive, but have an unresponsive handy to practice binds. Seems to be a well rounded introduction to the whole thing. Binds on an unresponsive are the first “trick,” otherwise it might be frustrating.

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As soon as you like. Plenty of great players learned exclusively on responsive, plenty learned exclusively on unresponsive. There’s no lines you have to color in, no standard for what a “good player” even is, no rule that says you can’t come back to this or that style further on down the road.

Maybe have a few with dif levels of response and see what they all teach you. It’s like yin and yang - responsive/unresponsive will inform each other, and will improve your skill with “the whole thing”. That said, throwing unresponsive will MAINLY make you solid at throwing unresponsive, and throwing responsive will MAINLY make you solid at throwing responsive.

But you get good at yo-yoing… by yo-yoing. So whatever style of play or type of yo-yo gets you more INSPIRED to play - that’s the path.

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Yep, this is true. Ive never actually “switched” to unresponsive. I love my semi-unresponsive Deep State, my wooden fixies, and metal unresponsives equally depending on my mood. But then again there isnt anything quite like modern unresponsives. That spin time just feels soo good.

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I stuck with responsive yoyos for considerably longer than I needed to, and damaged my throwing hand as a result. I absolutely hate how easy it is for a responsive yoyo to come snapping back at you while you’re trying to perform a string trick. Not only is it painful, it completely interferes with the ability to get into a practice rhythm. So the sooner you can switch to unresponsive, the happier you’ll be, I almost guarantee it.

I mean, if you know ahead of time that you ultimately want to throw unresponsive, then I would suggest practicing the two most basic mounts with a responsive yoyo (brain twister and trapeze) and then learning to bind from each of those mounts using an unresponsive yoyo immediately after that.

And don’t practice the breakaway by itself; only practice it as part of landing the trapeze. This last bit of advice is meant to help you avoid potential nerve damage to you inner thumb, which while maybe rare, can still happen (it happened to me; the yoyo will come back to your hand at very high speed from a breakaway and when you catch it, the yoyo can slam into the inner notch of your thumb and sever nerves, especially after repeated impacts from lots of practice throws).

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