I have to disagree, I think reviewing the response on a yoyo is important.
but it can always be changed, easily and cheaply.
Even if a review can stress possible upgrades, itâs still essential to talk about pros and cons of the product as the viewer/reader will receive it 
in the case of a yoyo, if it has a bearing and a response that need to be changed to reach a certain level of performance, it may lead the potential customerâs choice toward something that has a similar level of performance, but needs less effort
Today, I admit that most yoyos have a satisfying quality straight out of the box, especially high-end throw, as the response system are, for the biggest part, standardized, there is just a slight unevenness in pads quality depending on the brands. But it has not always been so.
Letâs go 4 or 5 years back, when you paid 200$ for a Dreadnought to find out the response pads needed to be changed almost weekly (with silicone, which was the main response system used back then) when regularly played, it hurt. Especially when even YYR or Ir pads didnât last long because they were 0.5mm thick. So yes, there were solutions, you could have the response groove dug, but that requested, if you didnât have the skills or the equipment to do it yourself, to send it to someone who had them. In this case, I think letting people know the response would probably peel off quickly is important.
It was an extremely painful and saddening experience for us, proud YYR owners. We struggled bravely to find our way through this storm, composed with our blood, our sweat, our tears, and our beloved lost money. We were often taken down, but we never lost our faith. Our people walked a long time in the darkness of our uncertainty until the Father accorded a miracle to us, the Chosen People! 1mm pads! Lauded be Thy name, Kengo!!
(the last paragraph is, of course, aiming at being humorous, there is no trace of any sectarianism within the circle of YYR owners ;D)
You do make a good point with the response. I guess I meant more or less that standard response groves can takes any pads and switching isnât a big deal.
If anyone expects high performance out of any skill toy to fit their needs, they should expect to do SLIGHT easy modifications such as sticker changes, bearing changes or response changes.
I totally agree, Iâm just saying I donât think there is any aspect of a yoyo to be put aside.
To come back to cubes, if reviewing stickers is indeed irrelevant (you know better than I do), then it would probably be wiser to compare them to something that has absolutely no impact on how a yoyo plays, as engravings, or even stickers (yeah! comparing stickers with stickers, thatâs brilliant!!)
But from what Iâve understood, stickers do have an importance (if the nuances of red and orange are too close, for instance). Even if they can be changed easily, notifying it in the review seems, if not mandatory, at least appreciable. After all, if it has no effect on the mechanical performance, it still has one on the overall performance, as it keeps this cube from being used, as it is sold, for high level speedcubing.
Or not⌠idk, itâs 4:30 a.m. where I live, and my brain is probably upside down.
At least, this will have given me the taste for trying speedcubing ^^
True! Mostly it drives me crazy when people spend minutes on reviewing stickers. Literally should take 5 to 10 seconds lol. And what r u doing up at 4:30!!! Itâs 11:15 pm where I live.
Naoki has some good points. Not everyone wants to buy aftermarket stickers for cubes, and they want them to look descent stock, especially if the cube is a few bucks more expensive than average, it could determine whether you want to buy or not. I keep aftermarket stickers around for my cubes, just in case the colors are pretty bad, but if the stock ones look good enough, I play them until they start to peel.
With yo-yos, I tend to play things stock as much as possible, with bearings and response too. I buy quite a lot of yo-yos, and if I was switching out each and every bearing and response, it would be like having a hobby within a hobbyâŚtoo much to keep up with. I would prefer to know in a review if the yo-yo performed well stock. That is likely how I will be using it until maintenance is necessary.
I agree though, that we donât need a lot of time spent on stickers, or response, in reviews, but it does deserve a mention.
Good points.
I try to get DIY kits and put my own stickers on no matter what so my color recognition doesnât get screwy.
I do start with my yoyos stock and put in different response and bearings little by little so itâs not as bad plus my collection is like 25 yoyos right now so itâs not so bad to change stuff out.
I have seen crazybadcuber reviews on Youtube, but never really took the time to watch them. I watched quite a bit of them tonight, to get up to speed on some new cube releases, and I was also curious about the reviewer who allegedly has the top cubing channel on Youtube.
The first thing I noticed, is that he asks people to click on the link in the description to buy, because it is a link to a popular overseas cube store. He gets paid when people click on the link, go to the store and buy something. A lot of the cubes he gets are given to him for free, or discounted from that same store. On one hand, it is cool that crazybadcuber has access to so many cubes, because the store will provide them to him. But, on the other hand, I question the review if the goal of the review is to help sell something in such a way that the reviewer profits directly. At the end of his cube review for MoYu Weilong cube, he admits that he gets to try cubes âearly,â and prior to commercial release.
I realize that from his point of view, if he is going to produce Youtube videos, with his own equipment, on his own time, and actually spend time trying the products to present a well thought out reviewâŚthere should be some benefit for him. He may have a point, but it causes me to question the integrity of the review. That just means that reviews by reviewers are not really for me.
As for yo-yoing, I think it would be interesting if there was a crazybadyoyoer, who had access to all the new releases. Maybe if they linked up with a yo-yo store and borrowed every new release to use for free and present a review, it would have a good audience. But, it just would not be something that I would rely on to any great degree. Manufacturers would not be pleased if the review was bad, and the audience might be deprived if the review was not objective. It seems to me a no win situation.
In one of the videos, crazybadcuber stated that he was getting âburned out,â because all of the 3x3 cubes started to look too similar. Back when I watched Pestvic, he appeared to have a good thing going, and then he seemed to burn out. Iâm not sure if he is back to producing a lot of cube videos now.
I guess weâll see how long crazybadcuber keeps things going.
Crazybadcuber had reliable reviews though. And he compares them to other stuff he has and says what he prefers. I donât think pestvic ever really had good reviews. He really did seem to boast about cubes just to get paid.
He knows what heâs talking about, and I can tell. But, I have the reviewer hang up thing anyway. But, I really dug Pestvic at one point, because some of what makes the reviews interesting is when someone injects some personality, a bit of humor here and there. Itâs the overall quality, how they work with the camera, edit and so on. Crazybadâ just hasnât really done it for me.
Are there any yo-yo reviewers on Youtube making a name for themselves? I only knew of Sniffy as a video based reviewer.
I know what u mean I did really enjoy pestvics videos but they werenât as informative with cubes as crazybadcuber. Another great one with fast accurate is cyoubx.
I really loved how sniffy did his reviews and I thought he did a great job of it but he was kinda reserved to One Drops, CLYWâs and a few smaller companies.
1 Like
There WAS Sniffy-yo.
Yeah, he mentioned that he wanted to review the smaller niche companies. In theory, they are the companies that could use the added exposure, the ILYYs and such. I guess, if he broadened it more, he would be trying to keep up with every release, and some of the big companies are really churning out the releases one after another. That would mean lots of work. When reviews arenât bringing in any money, it could turn into a burden.
Definitely. If we do want a standard for reviewing I think we may want to have a source with multiple reviewers. That way you wonât have any one person spending their money and if they get enough ground they could start getting review units like hsyy. They would also be able to spread the large amount of releases across a couple of people. The problem is making sure you have people who really know their yoyos well and can pick out those subtle differences that make each yoyo unique.