Alright I have ordered my yoyo, so I will not need any more feedback on the choices. Thank you for the suggestions.
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Out of curiosity, what has replaced the Dark Magic (II) in YoYoJam’s product line?
Yoyojam is no longer a company sadly. They’ve closed down for a few years now.
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According to YoYoTricks (in their YouTube video on it), they tweaked and improved the shape/mold of the OneStar to come up with the Sage. Does the OneStar now use this improved shape as well?
It’s probably a little tweaked, but not by much from looking at it. I’m sure it’s a fine yo-yo, but I think there are better options for learning to yo-yo.
I don’t mean to overwhelm you with information, but this may also come down to profile shape preference. There are so many great yo-yos to start with that come with a conversion kit to switch it up from responsive to unresponsive.
There are four basic profile shapes of a yo-yo:
“O” otherwise known as “organic” (First Base)
“W” (Sage)
“V” (X Point)
And “H” (Skyva)
They all have their pros and cons, and this is one of the top deciding factors for me personally when I’m looking at getting a new yoyo. There are also all kinds of hybrids between these four basic shapes.
What would you recommend as a starter/learning responsive yoyo?
I have a Sage and a First Base, and I use the Sage because it seems to have better spin times than my First Base, which is good because I tend to go slowly when learning and practicing a new trick. I need as much spin time as I can get since I’m not yet firing off tricks at “full speed”, as it were.
I usually recommend the First base or Replay Responsive, although the Arrow is a great choice now too.
In the end it just takes practice and there’s not a yo-yo that’s going to make you learn tricks faster. Both of those yo-yos you have should be fine. If you think you need more spin time then I would suggest going over your throw and making sure you have the basic mechanics down really well.
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For $20 budget yoyos you have close to the best. Replay is probably the most stable and longest spinning one so if you want another that’d be a good choice.
Like Garrett said it’s all just practice at this point. Once you’re fully integrated to unresponsive play you can start looking at budget metals or bimetals if you’re looking to splurge a bit.
Yeah, I figure that between my Sage, First Base, and Replay Pro, I have what I need to get through the basic and intermediate stages of skill development. All three can be set up and played either responsive or unresponsive, so the quality of my “gear” is certainly not going to be my limiting factor. The weak link in the chain will be me for quite some time to come.
Hi there. I’ve been following this thread as part of my research to make a decision about my virgin purchase. I have limited experience which goes no further than the coke spinner craze in the 80’s. I had come to the decision to get a Magic Yoyo v6 Locus. But all the recommendations here are plastic yoyo’s. Is there any reason for not buying a metal one (such as the v6)? I have noticed most metal yoyo’s are unresponsive and know I don’t need one of these at this time but do the responsive metal yoyo’s differ greatly from the plastic?
Thanks in advance.
There aren’t many responsive metal yoyos to being with, and they differ primarily in that they are much slimmer than responsive plastic yoyos. If your goal is to get into string tricks (1A), then the wider catch zone of a yoyo that is at least 42mm in overall width will help tremendously.
Plastic is generally a great way to get started since they can take a good beating (hitting the ground, etc - metal yo-yos get dinged up and show wear more or even create sharp edges). Plastics are generally cheaper too.
Many times its good to start with a plastic responsive yo-yo - learn the basics fast - and you will want to upgrade to something else more advanced anyways.
I’m really really enjoying the ARROW honestly - it has a narrow bearing installed - but then wide bearing included so you can go straight from responsive to unresponsive.
This set also gives you a good one to get responsive tricks out of the way and quickly upgrade to unresponsive - both plastic, etc.
But this way once you get through the basics and can do a bind you are READY for something serious! 
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Cool. Sometimes there are questions that are so basic that they need to be asked cus if you don’t know, you don’t know right? Thanks for the responses.
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