I am dying for a Chief, but I just CAN’T afford one. Why are they so expensive??
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The demand is the reason for the high price.
Not to sound like a jerk, but because they can. And it’s not because CLYW is trying to be mean or greedy either. Its not cheap to make metal yoyos. Machining time and shipping back and forth, materials, it all adds up.
Some disagree, but after I’ve played one, I think they are worth it, but I wish they cost around $20 less. I have a 4th run and I’d like to also get a 2nd run. But I’ll wait a bit. I’m liking my 4th run a lot.
I also think the prices are jumping up a little bit because the margins have been too slim, coupled with increasing shipping costs between manufacturing and distribution to retail due to rising fuel costs. This affects all elements in the chain of supply. Plus, having the pre-made Snow Tires does add to the costs a little but at the same time lets them get the yoyos out faster than using RTV since there’s no cure time needed at this point. That means that while the costs of axles and bearings has probably stayed rather stable, the shipping has probably increased a bit due to fuel prices.
Also, I think the small runs don’t help drive costs down either. Everyone knows about economics of scale for the most part: the more you make the less it costs per unit to produce.
Don’t forget it you have to include how much a person values their time.
Yoyos are expensive when you look at the initial cost. However, if you figure out the hours of enjoyment you get from a single yoyo, and figure the cost per hour, it still is fairly inexpensive fun. Having said that, now consider how much more inexpensive a great playing 30 dollar yoyo is lol. ;D
The tricky question is, would you really want one so badly if they weren’t rare and expensive? It’s easy to say yes, but I don’t think it’s that simple. The lore, and the satisfaction of owning something that most people can’t or don’t, is worth at least as much as how well it plays. I love playing my Chief, but I’ll bet that same yoyo at $60 from YYF or a similar company would be considered just another good yoyo. In fact, I think my SB Severe plays pretty similarly…maybe even a few ways in which it’s even better, and it’s even made of more expensive material, yet no one loses their mind over a Severe like they do the Chief.
WHAT?!! You have a small bearing severe?! Which year is it? I want it so much!
I could be wrong but I believe he meant a Steve brown severe
Caan’t you just get a Chaser, Northstar, Protostar, blah blah blah or some cheap, stable metal
with long sleep times and skip along? haha
Oh… I guess I got worked up for nothing…
I can see your point and to an extent I agree with it. Not completely, but many points of it.
I wasn’t sure about the Chief. I saw the shape and was like “hmm, just not sure”. I was gonna buy, but then again, I turned away, not because of price or being beaten out, but mostly the design, I felt it was maybe a bit too unconventional.
Then I played one. Smooth, light on the string, very stable, spins like mad, feels good in the hand. It was a really good fit for me. That’s when I decided I did need to have one.
I don’t buy everything that comes along. I had a chance to get a Viszilla at a great price, but I took one look at it and was “meh”. The Anti-Yo designs simply don’t appeal to me. Don’t care that only so many are being made.
And as I say this, I spend time playing my DM2 and that’s still my go-to yoyo. What do I know, right?
Well, I guess the question in your case is still, would you have even considered whether or not you liked the Chief if not for it’s status, and by extention, it’s price, rarity, and reputation. Lots of yoyos, even those at half the Chief’s price, get overwhelmingly great reviews but you just don’t see people willing to sell their children to get those. Really, many of them can’t even sell for cash in the BST because the furthest people are willing to go is a trade.
Market positioning is everything, especially so in a market where all products are necessarily very similar from an objective point of view. The Chief may be very good, but it’s our assumptions about it that make it seem so irresistable and irreplaceable. We make those assumptions, in part, based on how the company seems to value their product. Our crazy, yoyo obsessed minds think, “Wow, if they want $145, it must be pretty darn good”, even if the logical part of our brain tell us we know better.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Collecting, and that’s what we’re doing regardless of the fact that we use our collections occasionally, is just as much about the getting as it is about the having. CLWY’s pricing and low volume production runs make the “getting” part very exciting.
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I disagree. The Chief gets tons of hype , and deserves it in my opinion. It is an incredible yoyo that, in my opinion, blows anything else by CLYW out of the water(that I’ve tried, which is nearly all.). It is as good as people say it is. It has the combination of spin, shape, stability, and weight that make it amazing. While you are entitled to your opinion, I disagree.
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Who are you addressing?
I can’t say I disagree. There’s LOTS of amazing stuff under $100 or even $80 that’s just absolutely amazing. But it ultimately comes down to preferences.
I really liked how the Chief played and performed. I was just wishing they were more readily available, more affordable and able to go into everyone’s hands. I heard good things about it and it lived up to it in my mind. A known yoyo professional felt it wasn’t worth the money, but that was HIS opinion.
I’ve played some other expensive and not so expensive stuff. I have reserved judgement based on price for AFTER I’ve played it myself. There’s a few I don’t agree with the price on. I realy like my Phenom, but I don’t feel it was worth the $120+ I paid for it, even though it is one of my favorites.
But it’s all preferences. Nobody is forced to buy anything.
I do like the Chief. It feels to me like it should sell for around $120 or so though. I paid a bit more, some of us paid a lot more. It’s all our choice.
I enjoy my chief, price is relative to what you think it’s worth. Consider comics; I collect them - I have some books worth hundreds of dollars each - in most cases I only spent $3 or less on them. I have, however, bought books at a higher price, to complete a collection/series, or because I appreciate the artist/writer, etc. Either way, the value is, in the end, based on who wants it and is it worth the cost.
When it comes to the chief, or most any CLYW, the value is based on how much do you want one + the actual cost to produce it.
That bottle of soda you are drinking cost less than. 05 to make, but on a hot day you’ll pay $2 for it at an Amusement park.
Another thing to consider is the prestige of owning something that is known to have a limited run, much like a piece of art that has a limited litho run. You can own the original, a verified limited edition copy, or print it off the internet… what’s it worth to you?
I had the 2nd run Chief and it just didn’t excite me to much.
Looked great though!
I am not saying that I don’t think yoyos are expensive today… But what I find most interesting is that back in 1998, Stores were selling the Cold Fusion yoyos for $150 and people were buying them up. Some people bought ‘multiples’. I NEVER heard one person whine or make any kind of statement about the yoyo costing ‘too much’. And back in the late 90’s, a hundred and a half was a ‘good stack a money’. And the SuperYo Samurai was about $130 bucks or so. The Silver Bullet SB was $100 bucks at Zainy Brainy. The Mondial was about $100. The list goes on. < Now I know that: 100, 130; aren’t 145, but remember this was back about 14 years ago. In 1998 Gas for cars was only $1.08 a gallon; lolol.
If … if you go back and do alittle research and form a timeline; you will be amazed at just how inexpensive yoyos actually ‘are’.
Realize again that I am not trying to justify the cost of a Chief. I am just saying if you just go back about 14 years and understand just how much just about Everything has gone up in price: Gas… food… New Balance tennis shoes… Levis… Disneyland Tickets… The cost of a New Car… Etc.
If you put things in a broader clearer perspective; yoyos like the Chief and the Viszilla are actually pretty reasonable in my opinion.
Obviously; if you are ‘short on money’ that would/could also have a dramatic effect on ‘something seeming to cost too much’.
The very very good news is literally all good. Don’t waste a minute being not thrilled at the prices of metal yoyos over a hundred bucks. Instead, be thrilled about All the very good yoyos that sell for 30 to 75 or so, bucks.
There are soo many good yoyos for sale currently.
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Not only yoyos but look at video game consoles - crazy how much people paid for an Atari 2600 or an NES
Also look at other hobbies. A low end paintball gun costs about $100 dollars but many ameture paintball players buy $500 or even more expensive paintball guns. And thats just the gun add in the cost of paint, a mask, hopper, a tank, air, and field fees one day with even the cheapest supplies could cost more than a chief which would last for years not one day. Yoyoing may seem like an expensive hobby to a kid who probably makes little to no money but it really is a cheap hobby.
this is often overlooked by most people.
time is money