After at least 2 weeks, which felt like an eternity, of knowing that my ultimate Christmas present – the Augie Fash BOSS in blue/gold finish has been sitting in my mom’s closet, so close yet so far out of reach, I finally managed to finagle myself into a 30-minute guilt-free sneak preview while she left the house to pick up my brother from school. You could imagine my excitement when she said “I don’t know anything, I’m just putting it down here while I leave ;D!”
Before I say anything else, I should comment that prior to this, I’ve had no experience with YoYoFactory or all-metal yo-yos. That being said, let’s begin.
Unleashing the beast
When I first took it out of the box and held it for the first time, I had the classic first-metal response: “It’s sooo small!” I even held my Hitman up next to it just to make sure. And it is quite small in diameter, but also quite wide considering. Before even stringing it, I made sure to give it a thorough inspection, with next to no flaws, aside from some expected slight flaws in the 2-tone anno. And by slight, I mean maybe 2 hair-width, 5mm-long areas around the inside of the rim where the gold showed through the blue. Nothing you’d notice unless you were looking for it. Upon further inspection, I noticed that the bearing fit perfectly and firmly in the seat, a quality that was slightly lacking in most of my YoYoJams. The axle is very short, which I found to be a big convenience factor when you need to take a knot out, or perform maintenance, etc. However, it is a bit frightening at first if you’re used to a longer axle, because It seems like an easy way for it to slip off and take a nice chunk out of the finish. Another slight flaw I found is that the axle comes a bit loose, so it is possible that it could be lost if one was careless enough. I don’t think it’s come close to falling out for me, though, and it can be screwed back in by hand, so it’s not much of a concern. The YYF SPEC bearing rolled very smoothly with a flick, and the K-Pads were perfectly flush with the walls. With my inspection complete, I screwed the two halves together, it fit very securely together, I strung it with a 4-day-old Brazilian Mondo from my Hitman (I couldn’t waste any time preparing a new string :P), and I was ready to take it for a spin.
The First Throw
I walked into this with pretty much blank expectations. I’ve read plenty of reviews on th BOSS, but I always make it a point to approach something like this with a healthy amount of skepticism, and to be as objective as possible. When I first threw it down into a sleeper, what at first seemed a bit heavy and clunky almost seemed to vanish midway. It floated at the bottom of the string, and spun as quiet as could be. What’s more, I noticed absolutely none of the vibration that I regularly deal with on my Hitman. I don’t think I get nearly as annoyed by vibe as some other people seem to, but I was amazed by just how incredibly smooth it was. Binding it back was a pleasure as the K-Pads provided a quick, snappy response. So far so good. Now to really put it to the test.
The Test
Throwing it into a trapeze, I was again blown away at how the BOSS seemed to vanish as it floated across the string. The stability of this thing is just incredible. I’m not one to sit there and test sleep time, I’d much rather throw what I’ve got at it and see how it handles it. It felt like if it sat there uninterrupted, it would spin for weeks. The concentrated rim weight really makes an obvious difference. On top of the rock solid stability, the BOSS would navigate with ease to wherever I tried to put it. Combine that with the smaller size, and you see that it’s a great competitor for tech tricks. I was able to get it through Spirit Bomb effortlessly (not by any means the hardest trick I know, but the 2nd pop usually trips me up), Chopsticks were a breeze, loops held up well for suicides, and it plowed through the best Gyroscopic Flop I’ve ever done (until it spun out because I got careless from excitement :D).
What I found the most impressive of all was this thing’s ability to handle grinds. I usually don’t do much in the area of grinding, and I now realize that it’s because I don’t have this yo-yo to do them with! The finish on this thing is absolutely perfect for grinding-- super smooth, slightly matted, and absolutely no stick. It doesn’t appear to be beadblasted (I’m not sure if this varies by finish), but arm grinds and palm grinds glided effortlessly with plenty of spin to spare, and were perfectly controlled through the duration of the grind. What’s more, the “stackless, postless” design is perfect for thumb grinds. After a few of those, I checked for any anno that may have scraped off – nothing. The BOSS passed the test with flying colors. As much as I scrutinized, I could not find anything else wrong with it other than those listed above (axle and finish flaws).
More Details
Of course, a review wouldn’t be complete without some specs:
Diameter: 51 mm
Width: 42 mm
Response System: K-Pad (Standard Size)
Weight: 65.3 grams
Bearing Size: Size C (SPEC Bearing)
What this all translates to is undersized (but not uncomfortable), tight and snappy binds with no slippage, midweight (but you won’t even feel the weight while it’s spinning - it’s so hard to explain), and a smooth sturdy bearing right out of the box. What those specs don’t tell you is that it has a nice, rounded butterfly / h shape which is very comfortable to hold, and massive gap measuring in at about 5 mm, providing plenty of room for piled up strings with no snag or slowing, and a very impressive super-smooth finish perfect for grinding.
A Final Word
In short, YoYoFactory’s BOSS has changed my personal perception of what constitutes a “great yo-yo.” It’s an absolute dream for an advanced 1A player, and can take just about anything you throw at it. I would greatly recommend it to anyone looking to step up to an all-metal yo-yo. It’s a really killer throw for the price, and I believe that anyone owes it to themself to add this trophy to their collection.
Thanks for reading! Hope this helps anyone who has taken interest in this incredible yo-yo.
P.S. Sorry for no pics, like I said, it was only a 30 minute teaser, so I couldn’t get any. if you want to see the exact one, birdinhand.com has high res pics of this one in blue/gold finish.
Feedback and input welcome! (First Review ;D)
