When you choose the best yoyo brand you need to know several things about this topic for buying from the best manufacturers in this industry. In this article, you’ll be presented the best options for you for being satisfied with the quality of the yoyo.
Nothing is more frustrating than purchasing a yoyo that doesn’t perform as you wish, by having a noisy and faulty bearing or having a crap weight distribution or having a poor construction. Luckily, some options will make even the most competitive and demanding player satisfied.
Contents
1.YoyoFactory
Yoyofactory is by far the best yoyo manufacturer ever. This company manages to create all kinds of yoyos for any type of tricks, from 1A to 5A.
To be more explicit,1A yoyos are the ones designed for string tricks and are unresponsive(means that they don’t come back at you when you tug the yoyo to come back onto your hands).
2A yoyos are specially made for looping tricks, these are performed by using incredibly responsive yoyos. 3A yoyos are designed to play within a pair(You use two yoyos in this kind of tricks).
4A yoyos are the so-called off-string yoyos(The string isn’t tied to the yoyo as for the other regular toys). For playing 5A, you need an unresponsive yoyo and a counterweight found separately or in a package.
It can be said that the main characteristics of 1A, 3A and 5A can be merged into a single yoyo model which can still work well. Unfortunately, 4A and 2A are two entirely different yoyo play styles that you need separate types of yoyos.
Luckily, Yoyofactory has them all, some of the most known models are the Shutter, the Horizon, the Edge, which are used by yoyo champions in performing their routines.
And that is only for 1A, there are more yoyos for other styles of yoyoing. For looping(2A) you have YoyoFactory Loop 1080 and for 4A you have the Flight yoyo.
Plus, there are some yoyos perfectly suitable for 5A such as the YoyoFactory Edge and the Replay Pro. For 3 A yoyoing, the Wedge and Yoyofactory ND go as well for this kind of tricks.
2.Duncan
Is the second and the oldest yoyo brand in the USA. You may have had a Duncan Imperial in your childhood. Do you even remember those times?
Now, they have diversified their range of yoyos entering into new grounds, especially when it comes to the professional yoyos that appear more often nowadays.
Some of the most notable examples of competition-ready yoyos are the Duncan Barracuda, which fits into your pocket and plays very solid and stable and Duncan Windrunner. The Duncan Roadrunner is very cheap compared to other yoyos of their kind at around 35 bucks whilst the average budget yoyo costs around 50 to 60 dollars apiece.
You can also get a unique 4A yoyo called Duncan Pandamonium(see the yoyo in the list of best offstring yoyos) which can deliver impressive results when used. As a novelty, there are 90 years since the inception of the company founded by Donald Duncan, now owned by Flambeau Plastics Inc.
3.OneDrop
It is another known yoyo brand that machines yoyos within the US and hasn’t tried to outsource the manufacturing process because they can provide better quality for customers by using a more skilled workforce to implement fine adjustments to the machining of the yoyos.
That’s why these yoyos cost significantly more unlike YoyoFactory or other yoyo brands which outsource the production in China for providing budget yoyos like the Shutter Wide Angle.
Until now they have produced over 45 yoyo models. Some of the best yoyo models from this company are the Kuntosh, Kraken, Gauntlet and Code 2. The most iconic one is the One Drop Kuntosh which has an angular shape emulating the overall look of the well-known Lamborghini Countach.
It has a steep V-shape catch zone that travels uninterrupted to the gap for the bearing. On the cup of the yoyo, there might be displayed a part of the above-mentioned Lamborghini, which looks cool. As for playability, this yoyo is quite agile on the string thanks to its 62-gram construction.
The shape of the cup allows for thumb grinds, as the edge lets enough space fo the finger so that the yoyo can hold on it.
When you throw the Kuntosh, you will be surprised by its powerful spins and by the outstanding stability. At the same time, it moves faster than anyone would expect from such a large performance yoyo.
4.Recess
Recess was funded by Tyler Severance, who is a National Yoyo Champion and yoyo legend. He initially collaborated with YoyoFactory and had some signature yoyos like the Space Cowboy, but in 2015 he decided to create his yoyo company.
He gathered an awesome team of skilled yoyo players that bring innovations to the yoyo scene.
The first release from the Recess was the Joyride yoyo which was a professional aluminium with a special fingerspin dimple. Recess also released one of the most popular beginner yoyos, the Recess First Base which has an organic shape and can play responsive and unresponsive.
The best yoyos from this yoyo company are the Recess Snack and the Recess Charm. The Recess Snack is famous for being the perfect pocket-size throw to get with you. The Recess Charm is known for its fancy colours and the smoothness felt while spinning.
5.C3yoyodesign
.C3yoyodesign is a manufacturer of high-end yoyos founded by Walter Wong, Ron Cham and Simpson Wong. Before launching the company, they had previous experience as top yoyo players. They already knew how to promote yoyos and used their skill to further expand the company. Not only that, but they also organize local yoyo events in Hong-Kong.
The company also started to sponsor players not only from Asia but also from Europe and America. The popularity of the company increased when they launched the C3yoyodesign BTH, yoyo specifically designed to beat the existing World Record for a yoyo spin time. The BTH manage to do that by sleeping over 30 minutes at the World Yoyo Contest!
However, don’t rush to get this yoyo. You can’t do any string tricks and looping tricks on it. You can only let it spin to break another record.
One of the most representative yoyos for this company is the C3yoyodesign Token, the yoyo that revolutionized the perception of players over small yoyos. This small design is one of the best for all kind of tricks from finger grinds to fingerspins and tech tricks. You have stability unmatched by other yoyos, and that’s the most important thing you need to know about it.
6.SF yoyos
SF is a newer company just like Recess and manufactures great throws. There aren’t many things to say about them other than the fact that the SF team grew a lot this year, bringing new famous players to join the company. Remy Baskin is one of them and he recently started collaborating with SF yoyos showing his extreme capabilities.
Let’s move on from players to yoyos! One of the most important yoyo models are the SF Cadence, which is an excellent throw with a feel similar to the YoyoFactory Atlas, just is a bit smaller.
The most famous plastic yoyo is the newly released PLSTC which has an organic shape and a fingerspin cup worthy of epic tricks performed on it.
7.iYoyo
iYoyo was created in Germany by 5 times EYYC champion and yoyo store owner Dave Geigle and delivers a whole range of quality yoyos such as the hybrid yoyos ICEBERG and iPPON that work miraculously well.
The weight distribution in the yoyos is more extreme than ever because the difference between the densities of the materials used(polycarbonate vs steel )vary significantly by a proportion of 1 to 7.
This allows for putting more metal onto the rings for prolonging the overall spin of the yoyo(the steel rings bring the weight to the outside of the yoyo, thus increasing the moment of the inertia-the ability of the yoyo to resist to changes in rotational motion).
8.Magic yoyo
Magic Yoyo manages to create fairly good yoyos for reasonable prices of around 15 to 30 bucks. The quality of the yoyos is not outstanding as for YoyoFactory, Duncan and One Drop, but the yoyos from this price range manage to do their job and you can pull out some amazing tricks.
Magic Yoyo Desperado(see it in the list of best freehand yoyos) can help you with 5A tricks due to its wide shape and large gap, the slope on each side of the yoyo is less abrupt than in others. Also, try Magic Yoyo Skyva and n series(n8,n11,n12) to improve your play and to impress everyone.
9.Yomega
Yomega was founded in 1983 and influenced the yoyo industry by releasing the Yoyo-With-a-Brain (Yomega Brain). This model makes use of a mechanical innovation patented in 1982 called the centrifugal clutch system that makes the yoyo come back when it slows down too much.
The yoyo is great for beginners, as they can learn how to do a hard throw and get a good sleeper. The clutch consists of two adjacent plastic arms, that are weighted with aluminium balls and are connected to the inside rim of the yoyo with springs.
When spinning, the arms are pushed towards the edge and the axle remains free(there is no friction between the plastic arms and the axle), thereby compressing the strings.
As it slows down the centrifugal force cannot overcome the elastic force coming from the springs, so the clutch’ arms are pushed to the centre of the yoyo, thus increasing the friction between the arms and the bearing. This whole mechanism makes the yoyo wind up easily.
At some time around 2000, Yomega partnered with McDonald’s and began distributing Yomega-S-Brain and Yomega Fireball yoyos throughout the U.S this way. Some of the most iconic models are Yomega Power Brain, Yomega Fireball, Yomega Mavericks and Ooch yoyo.
10.CLYW
Caribou Lodge Yo-Yo Works (Better known as CLYW for short) was initially created by Chris Mikulin and Paul Wallace. At one point in time, they were threatened with a lawsuit over the use of the term “yo-yo” in their name.
As a result, they had to change their company name into what it is today. The most reputable models on the market from this brand remain The Peak, the Campfire, the Sasquatch and the Avalanche.
The Peak is one of the most recognizable yoyos due to its butterfly shape which resembles a classic yoyo and brings elegance to the overall look. The cups of the yoyo are large and obstruction-free.
The construction allows for thumb grinds and the palm along with the palm grinds work as well.
The toy comes with a standard dry 8-ball bearing that has an incredible spin time. You should try this brand of yoyos for completing your collection!
11.General-Yo
Founded by Ernie Kaiser, General-Yo is a yo-yo company that first came out in the yoyo scene by releasing the Torrent yoyo. Ernie took his wide experience as an aeronautical engineer and designed his first yoyo, then tried to find on the internet more yo-yo players in his area to try his new product, as he fell in love with yoyoing 25 years ago.
The most recognizable yoyos from this brand are the 5Star, Hatrick and Magnum that are distributed around the world. The Hatrick yoyo comes in a small white box with a logo sticker on the front. It was put a lot of effort in the yoyo design even if it looks very reserved.
The shape itself resembles half of an O letter(O-shape). Ernie likes to use classic curves in his products. The flat bearing seamlessly blends with the curve of the yoyo.
Even if it looks heavy, it isn’t fo is, due to its 64-gram lightweight shape that plays fast and stable on the string .the best thing about this yoyo is that the spin time is improved by the aluminium rings at the edge of the yoyo.
12.Werrd
It was founded in Adelaide, South Australia as an innovative and fresh company and ships yoyos all around the world especially in the USA, United Kingdom, Russia, Canada, France, South Africa, Malaysia, China, Hungary and the list can continue.
The Production of Werrd yoyos began in 2006 under the guidance of Stu, AKKA Yoboyiam which wanted to develop yoyo models starting from his sketches and drawings and delivering them to players around the globe.
Stu brought a notable innovation was the implementation of Delrin outer rims on a metal-bodied yoyo as for The spit Decision, Indecision and Bad Decision.
The founder of the company desired that the yoyo player to have the possibility of changing the rims so that the same yoyo can exist in various weights and sizes.
There have been Produced some notable rims such as the “anti Superstar and “Jonny 5” and large rims for playing off-string.
However, the interchangeability of the Delrin rings is severely limited, as the yoyos may start to wobble and vibrate. Each Delrin rim has to be taken through numerous tests to meet the quality standard that makes this kind of yoyos in high demand.
The most known yoyos are the Two Fat ladies 88, XXXXL, Split Decision, Indecision and Hour.
Conclusion
The best yoyo brand by far is the YoyoFactory that produces quality yoyos for a reasonable price. The second option may remain Duncan and the third one can be Magic Yoyo for staying on budget. You should try the other brands for experimenting with different kinds of yoyos and gaining more experience related to this type of skill toy.
If you have any questions or suggestions, don’t hesitate to express them in the comments section!
Wow! Reading your post brought me to my childhood! I used to play with the yoyo when I was a kid, but the only trick that I could do that time was the triangle– not sure if my term is correct.
Anyway, I find it interesting to know, that there are different kinds of yoyo for every tricks– I didn’t know that.
I guess, if I were to choose a yoyo to buy, I would go to Magic Yoyo. Aside from its affordable price, it somewhat resembles the yoyo that I had when I was a kid.
Just a question though, Are there people who play yoyo up to these days? I hope there is… and hope that Yoyo will be popular again. It so sad to see kids these days playing with their mobile phones only.
Anyway, great article!
There are still communities of yoyo players. You may even find a yoyo club in your area! The yoyo isn’t as popular as the Kendama, but still deserves more attention! However, you may be surprised by the large number of yoyo players participating in yoyo contests throughout the US, Asia and Europe! As for the triangle, you may refer to the Green triangle yoyo trick.
I bot a Hypercluster yoyo from bandai
Pls tell me it’s good
Where i live,we don’t have any of these yoyos
It looks cheap in my opinion, but might be fun for you if you are a beginner.