Will it STEM – Can Edition YoYo Review
Can it Stem? Can it Can? Spoilers: Can it Can, it Can!
I’ve been holding onto this review for a bit because, well, I needed to finish off all the testing materials first. Much to the confusion of my wife, who kept asking why our kitchen table was littered with empty cans… But here I am, proud to present the latest experiment for the series, some good pairs of cans!
Round 1: Large Bean Can Lids
Let’s start with the bean can lids. The moment I installed the Freshly Dirty Stem System, I realized the can walls were too thin for a snug fit. The lids spun freely like my kid at dance class, making this an oversized slimline with dreams of success. Sadly, it was a little too light to combat this. I could barely get any torque, and the spin time was short. I did manage some tiny tricks, but I had to bind it fast, or it faced extinction (which probably helped a little in preventing jagged metal can lids from flying back to my hand). The slimline high walls weren’t doing me any favors on string catches either. So, after some sad spins, I shelved it for a rethink.
Round 2: Campbell’s Soup Cans
Now this one was rough. The soup cans had indentations on the bottom that made the catch zone narrower than I expected, much narrower. This made it like trying to land a trick with the Dumpster Fire (for those that remember or experienced that gem, shout out RCS). It’s super wide, super unstable, and any tilt sent it into a death spiral. Let’s just keep these for the Green Bean Casserole at Thanksgiving instead.
Round 3: Giant Bush’s Baked Bean Can (a.k.a The Canlossus)
This behemoth was worse than the Campbell’s can. It was like trying to throw a dinner plate. The thing was very wide in both diameter and width, so getting a good throw grip was a challenge. Very heavy for a throw as well. Oh yeah, it had the weight of all those baked bean ancestors behind it when rolling down the string. Plus, with a similar tight gap to the soup cans, it slowed down to a near halt on most throws. While I love what Duke the dog has done with his bean recipe, his paws weren’t made for yo-yos, and neither are his can designs.
Round 4: Pringles Can
This one had caps! Caps = potential, at least mentally. I was intrigued. Surprisingly, this turned out to be the most stable of Cans Series (not counting the lids). Bonus points for the “clunk” sound it made on a catch, and it looked pretty awesome while spinning. Sadly, though, it still spun relatively slow because of the tight gap (though wider than the previous two) and it was difficult for any intricate based tricks because of how wide it was. It was visually deceptive, you would think you had cleared the width, then “thunk,” body hit, so it was still not crazy fun to try and navigate. But hey, caps, man. CAPS!
Final Round: Modified Bean Can Lids (feat. Rubber Bands)
After goofing off for a while, I decided I wasn’t done with the lids yet. They had promise, so I added some rubber bands as makeshift shims to give the stem a little grip and fill that space. And guess what? It worked! The halves were secure and the lid-yo spun like it was meant to, mostly. Sure, it was still feather-light with very high walls, so I wasn’t exactly nailing intricate tricks, but it was playable and had much better power at the start than before! The downside though? The gap from the rubber bands created a small little alcove near the bearing where the string liked to snuggle into occasionally instead of wrapping around the bearing. So it was persnickety, but beggars can’t be choosers when experimenting. It was the best of the pantry-grade yo-yos so far, and still fun for sure!
Specs:
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Bean Can Lids
Diameter: 86mm
Width: 21mm
Weight: 32g
Bearing: A
Material: Bean Can Lid
Colorway: “Roll That Beautiful Bearing Footage” -
Campbell’s Soup Can
Diameter: 67mm
Width: 212.6mm
Weight: 78g
Bearing: A
Material: Creamy Can-ness
Colorway: Campbell’s Classic -
Giant Bean Can
Diameter: 85.5mm
Width: 301mm
Weight: 161g
Bearing: A
Material: Can with Hints of Slow-Simmered Tastiness
Colorway: Bean Dripping -
Pringles Can
Diameter: 78.6mm
Width: 185.6mm
Weight: 58g
Bearing: A
Material: Foil-Lined Cardboard, Metal Base, and Plastic End-Caps
Colorway: Red with a Hint of Moustache
The Winner? Lids.
Will it STEM? Yes indeed!