Yo-yos that were ahead of their time

Huh it is from 2009, eh? That’s legit, almost 10 years!

YYF Superwide

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I also thought about the Sleipnir. But I think the Stargazer and the Stardust predate it and are so close in design. I would put the entire Stargazer/Sleipnir/Gleipnir series as WAY ahead of their time.

I keep very few Aluminum mono-metals because modern yo-yo’s are so much better. But Yoyorecreation and Yoyomonster mono-metals are the ones I still have in my bag.

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When you say “modern yo-yo’s” do you mean bimetals?

Good question. I think the answer is both. Because bi-metal yo-yo’s have such good performance, modern mono-metals have a higher bar to clear and therefore,are arguably better. None I have played, however, out does the YYR lineup in terms of both feel and performance. They were the pinnacle for me. Some have equaled; but only Titanium is better.

It seems like the jury is still out on the superiority of bimetals, at least as compared with today’s latest competition-level monometal designs. Championships can be won with monometals, which puts the lie to the assertion that bimetals are the undisputed top dogs of the yoyo world.

I think for the rest of us (who aren’t competing in contests), a really good monometal can perform just as well as almost any bimetal out there. Especially for those just getting into unresponsive play and even for those of us working our way through the YYE intermediate and advanced trick ladder. I have a pretty decent collection of bimetals, and yet I still find myself throwing monometals most of the time.

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If bimetals do have an edge, it’s small enough that competitors can choose to use monometals for price or sales reasons without impacting their results very much. It doesn’t mean bimetals aren’t better for competition - it just means there’s a limit to how much they help, and variance in competitor and performance are still much more important.

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I’m 100% on the boat that bimetals are better and have a higher performance ceiling than monometals but I will agree with what Mark said. The difference especially nowadays is small enough that players can afford to use monometals over bimetals and that individual skill may override the slight increase in stability and performance, for the most part.

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The question I have regarding such comparisons is, how do we even measure for “better performance” (or a higher performance ceiling)? Is there an objective method for doing that?

That’s a great question and I’m not sure there’s a good measurement other than rim-weighted-ness. You can get a really rim-weighted yoyo in mono-metal but it’s generally going to be heavier and have a higher diameter than an equivalently-rim-weighted bimetal.

If you compare these two yo-yos:

They have a very similar shape, but the meta is heavier by 2 grams, and is also larger in diameter by 1mm.

Championships are won by the player. Kimmit won with a Northstar.

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Indeed. That’s why I wonder if maybe we tend to place too much emphasis on the yoyo’s performance, rather than on the player’s.

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Perhaps it is because most of us are not championship players. The extra spin-time from superior performance can mean being able to practice more vs. regenerating the yo-yo. For those of us that are learning, this can result in longer time learning.
It seems that the only people who can claim that performance is not important are championship caliber players. Unfortunately, that is not me.

Yeah, but I don’t notice significantly greater spin time between my top bimetals and my top monometals. I mean, I don’t think the difference is so great that it will hugely impact my ability to practice or learn tricks with one versus the other.

I kind of agree with geezer and I believe there are two extremes to the spectrum. There’s the newer players that won’t be able to tell the more minute(and major ones if they’re a complete newbie) differences in performance and play from various yoyos. That’s why beginners don’t really learn much better at the early stages with a high end bimetal than with a cheap plastic. Then there’s the “championship” level players that can break down the tiniest nuances of different yoyos but they are skilled enough to compensate with a more mediocre yoyo.

Honestly, when comparing yoyos that are relatively close in play and performance, it’s easier for me to find out which yoyo is better in the process of learning tricks and/or doing tricks I’m not super comfortable with rather than in performing tricks I’ve already mastered and I guess that’s the difference. If you’re doing a routine you’ve already mastered, a yoyo that’s like 10/10 may feel like it plays as well as a 9/10 yoyo but it’s the process of getting to that mastery that makes the difference. I feel like the “minor” benefits of a great bimetal vs. a great monometal really shines in the process of improving and mastering, if not necessarily in the act of performing.

I look forward to the day when I’m playing at a level where the minute differences between a top bimetal and a top monometal will be significant enough to impact my further progress.

This raises, in my mind at least, an interesting statistics question: What percentage of all the yoyo buyers in the world are at that stage? Advanced enough to feel and be impacted by these minute differences, but not masterful enough to effortlessly (and perhaps subconsciously) compensate for them?