Yoyojam Phenomizm Bootleg Champion Yoyo Review

Yo-Yo Reviews
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First off, I will NOT tell people where to buy this yoyo for respect out of YoyoExpert and Yoyojam, nor will I give out the company’s name. Don’t even bother sending me a pm. I will not reply. After the review, I will also post a guide in this thread on how to tell the difference between the bootleg and the original.

Now on to the review:

Introduction

There have been many bootleg companies. One company I noticed stood out. 3 of their yoyos are exactly alike to the yoyos they copied, including the Phenomizm, the Supernova, and the 888x. They looked way too much like the originals for comfort. The Champion even has the same bronze weight rings and the mirror caps of the Phenomizm. And it also has Yoyojam’s Solid Spin system. I had to try this, so I ordered one for almost 1/6 of the price of the Phenomizm. I received mine in translucent blue, a color the Phenomizm also comes in.

Specs

Same as the Phenomizm
Weight (g) 67.70
Width (mm) 39.05
Diameter (mm) 56.10
Gap Width (mm) 4.48
Bearing Type: C Size 10 ball Concave

Construction

Man oh man the Champion looks a lot like the Phenomizm! Sporting the weight rings and the mirror caps, one couldn’t tell them apart at first glance. Looking closer, the mirror caps have a star and “Champion” printed on them. The Champion has a v shape with the string only hitting the response. The wide shape and large catch zone makes the Champion easy for sideways play and for landing string tricks. The plastic feels very tough and strong, not like the cheap plastic you would think that comes from bootleg companies. With the caps off, you can see the bronze weight ring is a huge load of metal. Most of the weight from the yoyo comes from the rings. The caps are also very hard to remove. I had to poke a hole in mine to remove them.

Weight

The weight on this yoyo is right where it needs to be, all in the rims. This design from Yoyojam causes this yoyo to be stable yet fast and light on the string. The Champion’s spin times last forever, easily being able to pull off 1 minute combos.

Response and Bearing

Right out of the box, the Champion was quiet and unresponsive. The bearing was a 10 ball. I’m pretty sure the bearing is stainless steal. The response is probably a CBC pad. Slippy sometimes but still gives tough binds. Overall, the response and bearing are great.

Playability

On my first throw, I LOVED the feeling of the Champion. Floaty, stable, and fast. I haven’t been able to but this down since I received it in the mail. There is a vibe, but it isn’t enough to take away the performance. Eli hops were never easier to perform. I was able to hit every string I wanted to with the Champion. This yoyo can spin for DAYS. It’s too bad you can grind with the polished bronze rings. Throws are very easy to mess up on the Champion. The slightest problem in your throw can cause this yoyo to wobble, but that can be easily corrected. The Champion also doesn’t tilt very much.

Final Statements

For 11 dollars, I dare you to find a better playing yoyo for the price. I don’t like the fact that it is exactly a Phenomizm, but I can’t deny that the Champion plays quite well. I guess you could call it a b grade Phenomizm. The Champion is DEFINITELY worth it. If the bootleg plays this well, it makes me wonder how well the original plays.

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Now for the guide.

The main difference you can see is the cap design is different. But a scammer could easily switch the caps from a real Phenomizm or sell it capless. So here are other ways to tell the difference.

The bearing seat is a huge factor.

The real Phenomizm has a slightly shorter bearing seat so you can switch in a slim bearing. If you are suspicious, ask the seller to show you pics of the bearing seat. Another difference is the axle size. The Phenomizm uses a 8-32 size, the Champion uses M4-0.7 size. I doubt someone would purposely re-tap the yoyo. Those are the only differences I could find. Hope this helped!

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I thought this was yoyo expert :confused:

other than that, great review!

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Whoops. Just fixed that. Thanks!

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lulz :slight_smile:

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Yep, they look interesting. I did some research, and I found them. I’ll do like the reviewer and not say where. I did go a tad crazy and ordered 3 though. I have a phenomizm, and if these play anything like it, I can’t have enough of them :smiley:

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Also, since I have just seen 2 other threads about Aoda and Auldey get deleted, i would prefer you guys don’t post anymore info about this company or other yoyos they make.

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Great review.

I almost order one… But many things drag me down.

These china made yoyo are indeed very appealing.

Great review by the way.

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Great review !!!
I use my friend`s Phenomizm a lot, but never tried a bootleg yoyo.
It really sounds like a good yoyo.
Not like the original, but still good.

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is this the one from that company that a few people have been talking about on fb the yoyo that McKenna Bren Zentner posted then i started a page called (unnammed website) disscusion?

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11.20 with free shipping… I’m disgusted with myself. I love YYJ but that was too good to be true…

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0.0

STOP DONT TELL MEH!!! I MIGHT GET IT!

oh wait, you already told meh…

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I hunted this one down and was able to find it. Out of respect to YYE, YYJ and the OP’s requests, I’m also “keeping it to myself” and am not going to address PM’s regarding this item.

I’m looking to get a few of the Hiroyuki Suzuki models, the Phenomizm being one of them. I got the Speeder2 and I like how it performs. For this kind of money, it’s hard to pass it up. But at the same time, I really do like YYJ products and would prefer to own the “Real deal”. Still, at that price, I might have to just get it anyways, then buy the real thing down the line.

It’s a mixed world we live in. I’m afraid I’m going to succumb and buy this out of impulse since it’s so inexpensive, and then since it takes like 3 weeks to get to me, it should be here in time for my vacation. Hey, I’m only human!

Still, I think I will have to buy the “real thing” as well. As I said, I really do like YYJ products(as well as other brands) and DO prefer to support the proper companies by buying their models. Plus, the Phenomism is on my list of yoyos to get, and I’m not changing my list! So, it’s just a matter of time. That just means I’ll probably buy the Phenom first instead when it comes to checking off items from that list as opposed to the Phenomizm being first.

Oh, gods of yoyo, please forgive me. I’m gonna go order one now…

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they dropped the price to $9.22

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I know!! I was going to order one earlier, but then I am up late and I figured, OK, go do it now and noticed the price drop on the BLUE one. Purple is still same price. Sorry, I could not resist. It’s paid for. I got an order number and a receipt and everything. Now I just got to wait for them to get around to taping the heck out of it and dropping it in a mail slot or something.

All I can say is I promise to buy a real Phenomizm soon! But chances are I’ll get a Phenom first. And you know I’m gonna buy it from YYE!

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Lol I feel the exact same way Studio. I almost bought the phenomism a while ago and still want a legit one super bad. IMO it is a beautiful design. BTW i got a purple one. I think i’ve only boughten one yoyo from a site that wasn’t YYE ( Didn’t have my precious HALO at the time), and they still, and will forever, have a link straight to my wallet lol.

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i kinda wana buy like 12 yoyos from that site and one of there yoyo cases and just have a bootleg collection to beat up and lend to friends ect…

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Can you guys please stop talking about the price and that website? I just wrote this review to show bootlegs can play good too.

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I agree that bootlegs can play good too. After all, they are pretty much copying dead-on someone else’s design.

I mean, let’s look at a few things:

The Asian mindset, in general terms, has little to no respect for copyright, trademarks and patents. You bring something over, they’ll copy it and then sell it on the cheap. The mics being sold there are Shure knock-offs, made by the same factory that makes Shure mics, but since they got busted making extra runs under the Shure brand, they are avoiding it with whatever the knock-off brand name they came up with. CD and video piracy is out of control there, with absolutely NO respect shown for copyrights. ELectronics made over there are then “made over there” under a different brand name and sold at cheap prices. Granted, they’ll use parts that are within spec but not the preferred quality parts the company wants for the name brand product. I was walking down this tent covered market place in Saigon in 2002, and from like 100 feet away, I have a vendor yelling at me “POLO SHIRTS 3 for 10 dolla”, because I was wearing a polo shirt. Similar to Shure, the same factories that make Disney trading pins disregard Disney’s numbers and frequently do over-runs in the tens of thousands and flood the Ebay marketplace with them. It’s one thing to purposely do an over-run to ensure sufficient items to meet the contract after doing quality control examinations. It’s impossible to tell a fake from the original when the original when they are perfect in every way because, well, it is.

So, it is of no surprise that they’ll do that with yoyos too. And since it’s a dead-on copy that was reverse engineered from the original, it should be expected to perform great.

So, yeah, the bootleg plays great. The illegally produced DVD’s I got from shady Ebay dealers of a couple of Disney films(since have been replaced with legit copies) play just fine(mostly). I’m sure all the illegal copies of the albums I worked on that have been released in Asia are working fantastic as well, especially considering they were never released in Asia. Not to say I don’t want the stuff in the hands of Asians, because that’s not true. It’s just there was no need to release it in Asia because once one copy hit the shores, that was it. Sales have EXCEEDED product created. How is that? Duh!

From one point of view, I’d like to think that “hey, great minds think alike” and two independent companies came up with a similar product, but individually. I think we can agree that due to the similarities, I don’t think that’s true. Plus, this is a copy of a signature model that is used by an Asian. So, clearly we can say that the model in question as the template is over there in Asia and in great numbers. Considering it’s a YYJ copy, and YYJ says their products are made in the USA would have to say someone somehow got one for the purposes of copying it. Who? Impossible to tell. Who sold it? Irrelevant.

What is the point you were actually making? Are you saying that bootlegs are fine?

I also don’t believe that ALL designs are being copied. I think these companies do have some original designs, but they are based on more safer, simpler designs. Also, it is entirely possible that there are licensing agreements between the companies that are producing the products for larger companies(such as the factories in China making many of the products for YYF for example) that may allow them to release a very similar product. Or perhaps, dare I say it, they came up with an original design and are licensing it to a larger company for production?

Yes, a copy should work as well as the original. When you consider they are trying to make an exact replica, one should expect similar to identical performance.

In my case, I’m not willing to spend the money on a YYF Monster or SuperWide, yet I want and need a superwide example. The Aoda Miracle fits that need nicely. I needed a seriously undersized yoyo, the Aoda Little for me is way more playable than my Mighty Flea for now until my skills get way better. The Magic Pear Ball, I got no idea what that is a copy of, but hey, for the money, it serves the task well. Now a Champion by another brand… but in this case I know what it’s a copy of, and I do intend to purchase the real deal later but for now, I can’t ignore that price. I also don’t see how they can make money selling them at that price after shipping, but that’s not my problem. But I also have to admit I’ve violated my own code of ethics by buying one now that I KNOW what it is a copy of. This was an item I spotted a bit ago on my own and was thinking “gee, this looks familiar” but was still leaning towards buying it anyways. But for the money, I can beat it up, not feel bad about it, and when I get the real thing, enjoy the real thing that much more.

A better point might be that:
An inexpensive yoyo shouldn’t just be disregarded because it is on the inexpensive side.

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My point is that just because it’s a copy made in China, doesn’t mean it will play like crap. Some Aoda and Auldey yoyos can play just as well as Yoyofactory yoyos.

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