Duncan and Yomega focus on their beginner entry level yoyos. They strive from sales from the non-yoyoing market. The people who don’t know much if anything about modern yoyoing. YYF targets the beginner audience as well but they are focusing on those who are already aware of the modern yoyoing scene. Needless to say, the former market is much greater, so they get a huge amount of sales from those, enough to trump any other yoyo company except maybe the powerhouse YYF.
As for the mid-high end yoyos, they are mostly good, it’s just that not many are great. I still believe in what I said from that quote of mine you got from 2 years ago (lol) that they are doing just enough to be relevant in the modern scene, but they aren’t pushing boundaries, and they really aren’t trying to, which is fine.
With that said, I had a Strix around the time it was released and to this day it’s one of the most fun yoyos I’ve ever played with, and it was pretty good for its price back when it was released. The torque was also very intriguing to me when it was released but I never ended up getting one. I have no doubt it was one of the better budget metals back in the day though.
I see the Torque as kind of a turning point for Duncan. Although they still aren’t as innovative as other companies, their mid-range yoyos started becoming at least competitive with others in a similar range. Origami, Barracuda, Grasshopper, they’re all pretty good yoyos for their price points. I actually prefer all 3 over the Shutter.
Their high-end yoyos are just good enough to stay relevant as well. Grasshopper X is great, and the Orbital and Haymaker X both look like they have some serious rim weight too.
In terms of performance, I think they’re fine. They’re not the best but they’re by no means bad or even mediocre “anymore.” I think part of the reason why they aren’t more popular though is because they aren’t the most attractive brand for modern players. “What yoyos do you have? What are your favorite companies?” I and I imagine most others would rather say OD, G2, or SF than say Duncan.
This is an absolute killer. When your brand is permanently associated with “the cheap but serviceable stuff”… that reeeeeeeeallly ain’t good for your long term health as a company!
That’s also why I noted that Duncan seems to do better in non-US markets where they have more “official” brand mystique I guess?
I think a lot of recent Duncan releases are excellent. They are putting in a lot of effort to release varied and great performing yoyos. Everything they are making is now far more refined than in previous years.
When a newbie enters the yoyo scene today (like I have), they basically have three places they can turn to in order to get advice on what yoyo(s) to buy to begin their journey: retail stores, yoyo-playing friends, online forums and YouTube reviews.
Retail stores that sell anything except a few inexpensive Duncan’s are a dying breed. I live in Los Angeles and I can’t find a single hobby or toy store that sells yoyos like the Recess First Base or the YYF Replay Pro, two of the most recommended “starter” yoyos in the scene today. And even if you start with a cheap Duncan that you pick up at Target or Walmart, it won’t take long before you either get bored with it and put it away, or decide to get more serious with yoyoing, in which case you are now left turning to one of the other sources for the next step.
From what I can tell, not that many new yoyoers have friends who are already yoyoers, and that limits the practical impact of direct word-of-mouth evangelism for the kinds of yoyos an aspiring 1A player should be looking to get.
That leaves online forums and YouTube reviews to do most of the heavy lifting in this area. And what kinds of yoyos get discussed by that crowd? The brands and models that you can really only find in online stores like YYE and YYRewind, etc. The “high end” stuff, as it were. That other 5% of Duncan’s revenue. And if that community of players isn’t evangelizing your brand, then your brand is effectively dead to anyone but the most casual player (who probably isn’t even aware there are brands other than Duncan out there).
I don’t have any Duncans because the impression I got from online forums and YouTube videos is that they aren’t relevant anymore. If that’s not true, then it is up to Duncan to change the narrative. From what I can tell they haven’t done a very good job of that. Are they really even trying? I mean, I know they sponsor contests and stuff, and that they are still highly active in the scene, but in terms of selling themselves as legitimate contenders in the high-end competitve yoyo market, I’m not seeing it. Which means a lot of other beginners probably aren’t either, and are getting the same enduring impression that I am, rightly or wrongly.
I saw a lot of haymaker-x’s and origami xl’s at the last contest I went to, SE regionals in Florida. Duncan was really well represented. Lot of those duncan 8 yoyo cases, too.
The whole point is Duncan doesn’t need to care about the competitive yoyo market. Their recent models are pretty decent for their price. This wasn’t really the case 5ish years ago, and if it still wasn’t the case now, it still wouldn’t matter.
The amount of money Duncan makes from selling Imperials and Butterflies at Walmarts and Targets alone is far more than almost any other yoyo company can hope to match. Honestly, I wouldn’t even be surprised if they make more money than YYF.