Brief review of the Yoyojoker Perceptor - the plastic that absolutely no-one is talking about.
Ok, let’s get the stats out of the way, as always shamelessly stolen from a store site.
Release Year 2013
Weight (g) 68.7
Diameter (mm) 55.00
Width (mm) 47.89
Response Joker-Pad Small
Bearing - Up to you! C or D; I went with D (HSpin)
Price point $55
So I couldn’t possibly do the yoyo justice without including the promo vid, which will tell you more about the concept of this throw than my words ever could.
Now comes the crucial factor that this review will hinge around - if you’ve watched the video, calling this a plastic is a bit of a lie! Normally I’d go through all the usual stuff about packaging and all that other jazz, but in this instance I’m going to dive right into the build and play. Really because in all the places that matter this yoyo is a metal. And that seems to make a big difference.
First off, this yoyo uses a side-effect like system, providing an o-ring system to support the inner hub and the axle threads. There has been talk that side effects cannot be used in a plastic throw, but using a larger o-ring to support the threads as in this throw seems to work incredibly well. Aside from that the bearing seat and the response area is also aluminum, and is held in place simply by the pressure of yoyo, sitting in a slightly recessed area on the inside of the throw. It is these aluminum parts that afford interchangeability between C and D bearing sizes. The yoyo arrived disassembled in a vacuum-pack esque bag, and is not the easiest to put together. But once you get it all together it looks dreamy!
In terms of play, the fact that this has some serious metal in it makes it play like, well, like it has some serious metal in it. The precision with which the axle and threads are made, coupled with the neat bearing seat and good response pads mean that it plays really well. The vibe is there but small, greatly reduced from other plastics that I’ve played, and the spin times are really quite good. The heavy weight is obvious on a throw, in my opinion this is not floaty in the least - it can be pushed to be quick, but only in a flat way, it’s not hoppy. And it also is prone to a little bit of tilt. It’s quite wide given the diameter, which I think is really where the tilt issue comes from, but this is not uncommon in all types of yoyo. Whether this will be better or worse with a large bearing I can’t really attest to, but what I can say is that as in metals of a similar shape I find a string centering bearing to be of considerable use. In fact once I switched out for a 10 ball concave, this thing is really pretty sweet, massively outplaying the other plastics I’ve tried in this price range. The response is superb, and the catch zone easy to hit, despite the narrow area leading into the bearing.
The ‘thing’ to do at the moment for both the Rally and the Yeti is to say that they play like a metal. Well so does this. And at $55 it really is a steal. Especially with the degree of customizability that can be achieved. I don’t have a Rally or a Yeti but I can safely say that I can’t imagine them outperforming this. I have had nothing but fantastic experiences with YoyoJoker throws, and this only continues that trend. Why more people don’t buy these yoyos I really don’t know, but at such a good price perhaps this can be your way into the YoyoJoker world. It won’t be a bad way to start.