Yoyorecreation Valkyrie review

…also posted in the YYR collection thread… since I haven’t seen a Valkyrie review, here is one… If you have questions about this yoyo feel free to ask and I’ll do my best to answer.


A bit of a Valkyrie review…

Background: I’ve been playing a 3rd run Peak pretty exclusively for the past 1-2 years because I just really like the feel of a Peak and wanted to focus on improving my technique by using a yoyo that was less “easy” than the modern competition-style yoyos. Before that I owned a lot of YYR, including Stargazer, Sleipnir, Overdrive, Messiah, DreadnoughtG, Clash. So the Valkyrie is the first yoyo I’ve bought in a long time (I only have 3 yoyos right now), and my first bi-metal.

So… I’m just gonna focus on the play of the Valkyrie…

But it looks beautiful too. I got the blue. My non-yoyo friends commented on how good it looks. And the engraving is really well done and sharp.

On the first throws I didn’t like it. Felt like the yoyo had to be pushed more for direction changes and whatnot - it seemed sluggish. But then I realized that it felt “wrong” because I got some new Kitty String and the default string length was longer than I was used to. Shortened the string a bit and it was much better. Also, this goes to show how much a cm of string length can make a difference, and how one just gets used to playing with a certain length.

Anyways…

The Valkyrie feels solid on a throw and swinging at the end of the string but in hops and maneuvers it is fast and nimble. The size is great for my preference. Super stable and gives a confident feeling, a nice presence at the end of the string. It chews through tricks with spin to spare. It’s quiet too, even after blowing out the bearing with air - is this typical of bi-metals, that they run quiet? The only thing I notice on the negative side is that the Valkyrie seems to not return to the hand at low spins as easily as I remember for my other YYR (i.e. Sleipnir) - maybe this is due to the weight and that it is a double straight bearing instead of a KK (?). Anyways, that’s easily adjusted for by doing flyaway binds or whatever, and more importantly, the Valkyrie stays stable even at low rpms.

I’m really happy with the Valkyrie, and it’s turned out to be a great yoyo for me who has been exclusively playing with a Peak for a year or so. From YYR’s description, it seems that they were trying to make a “floaty” yoyo (I mean come on - it even has a feather engraved on it!) - that it has a solid weight but “By precisely choosing the sweetest spots to distribute the weight, we’ve managed to produce a yo-yo with a special characteristic which can be described as being close to weightlessness, giving it exquisite maneuverability.” (in the words of YYR) With the Valkyrie YYR were trying to make a more “accessible” Draupnir and chose specs that fit in the middle of what is popular right now and they ended up with something close to the Peak (Valkyrie is 1mm larger in diameter, and 1g lighter that my Peak).

tldr; Valkyrie is great for my preferences for yoyo size and weight, it has great stability, is solid at the end of the string, but fast and nimble on hops and small maneuvers (so…ahem…“floaty”)

1 Like

PS the bi-metal look is quite nice, giving a high contrast between the outer rim and the yoyo body and it makes the yoyo very visible during tight maneuvers. (yeah, this is my first bi-metal) This makes it even easier to avoid hand contact during chopsticks and to clearly and quickly see the alignment of the plane of the yoyo with the string.

I rarely see any YYR yoyo review right now, maybe people who own one prefer to throw rather than writing a review.

Nice review by the way, could be using more picture. also, how exactly is the yoyo feel? how fast and stable it is?

Hey thanks : )

The Valkyrie is very stable. In fact, a problem I have had with angular-shaped yoyos before is that they can get knocked off-plane with hand contact more easily as compared to more rounded shapes. However, this yoyo is very resistant to tilting even when getting accidentally hit. Since I like to mess with chopsticks stuff I really appreciate a yoyo that can take a few knocks, due to maneuvers in small spaces between fingers, and not change plane.

And the Valkyrie can go fast if you want it, but not quite Sleipnir-fast, but that’s what I wanted - something to play at whatever speed I prefer and not just fast all the time. It feels good to play slow or fast.

Just wait a bit. I can promise some reviews coming up when I finish my finals. :wink:

Great review by the way, my opinions differ. However nevertheless, great job!

I’m actually thinking of doing a review on the Valkyrie on my YT Channel, I did other in-depth reviews there as well. I’ll probably share my thought on the yoyo as well :slight_smile:

Shameless plug----------> https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-OZ57wuVk6Dl3-Y5-XGLyw

Hey thanks! I would love to see your Valkyrie review for a different perspective : )

Do it! For such an expensive yoyo it’s good to hear multiple opinions, you know?

There’s not too much detail on how the newer YYR play so more reviews would be nice. Of course I got the Valkyrie mainly by knowing YYR’s reputation, having played their older models, and the specs… but it would have been good to get more detail before ; )