Advanced Yoyo Buyer's Guide

How to Buy an Advanced, Non-responsive Yoyo: A Buyer's Guide

Let’s talk about advanced yoyos. On this site, what we mean by an “advanced’ yoyo is a non-responsive yoyo that doesn’t wake up from sleeping when you tug on the string. An advanced yoyo requires knowing a trick called a “bind” that forces the yoyo to return to your hand. Non-responsive (also called unresponsive) yoyos allow you to do advanced string tricks that are not possible with a traditional yoyo. So if you want to buy any of these advanced models, you’ll need to learn how to bind, if you don’t know already. If you don’t want a yoyo that requires a bind, there are a lot of very high end yoyos in our intermediate section that will suit your needs. Here’s a buyer’s guide to help you choose which advanced yoyos are right for you. And yes, I definitely said “yoyos” plural, because you should buy more than just one! Different yoyos play differently, and top players usually own a large number of yoyos.

Popular Advanced Yoyo Models

These are some of our top selling non-responsive / advanced yoyo models. Popular Choice!
The Dark Magic 2 yoyo from YoyoJam is one of our most popular yoyos, and has been for years. Why? Because it is a top performer that looks great. One great feature of the Dark Magic II is that it includes both a narrow bearing and a wide bearing. So you can use it with the narrow bearing for traditional type of yoyoing where the yoyo will wake up when you tug on the string, or switch to the wide bearing for non-responsive advanced play. The YoyoFactory DV888 yoyo is another extremely popular advanced yoyo. Unlike the Dark Magic 2, which is a plastic yoyo with metal weight rings, the DV888 is an all aluminum yoyo. You’ll get super long spin times, hot looks, and a great price for a metal yoyo. You can’t go wrong adding this one to your collection. Popular Low Price Plastic Choice!
The YoyoFactory Velocity yoyo is popular because it’s so good and so inexpensive. This is a plastic yoyo, so it doesn’t cost as much as metal. Another cool feature about this yoyo is the adjust-o-matic dial on the side which allows you to use the yoyo like a regular yoyo, or turn the dial and make it completely non-responsive. So if you haven’t learned how to bind yet, try this one. The Grind Control yoyo from Yoyo King is an all metal non-responsive yoyo at a great price that is also a top performer. As the name implies, it’s good for grinding. The shape and weight of the yoyo, along with the concave bearing, means that you are going to get stability on the string and smoothness. The Yoyo King Spin Control NR yoyo is another all metal non-responsive model that is designed for long spin times and great control during advanced string tricks. This is another cool looking and top performing yoyo to add to your arsenal. There’s also an R (responsive) version of this yoyo if you don’t know how to bind yet. The only difference between the two is that one has a narrow bearing, and one has a wide bearing. If you have a narrow and wide C bearing sitting around at home, you can go back and forth between responsive and non-responsive, sort of like the Dark Magic II. Metal Price Leader
The Duncan Raptor yoyo is very popular because it’s from Duncan, it’s all metal, and it is aggressively priced so that it doesn’t cost a lot. This is a top performer too, and has been used in top yoyo contests by well known yoyo players. The YoyoFactory 888x box set is a different yoyo than the DV888. It’s a different shape, and it also includes hubstacks -- bearings on each side of the yoyo that spin when you pinch the sides of the yoyo. This allows all kinds of advanced tricks that you can’t do with a yoyo without hubstacks. The YoyoFactory Pop Star yoyo sets itself apart from other advanced yoyos because of both the size and the price. It’s a noticeably smaller yoyo, which makes it a lot of fun to use and less expensive than a lot of other metal yoyos. The YoyoFactory ProtoStar yoyo is the signature plastic yoyo from John Ando, designed to perform as well as a metal yoyo at the price of plastic. Great performance and price. Plastic, Priced for Saving Money
The YoyoFactory One Star yoyo is another advanced plastic yoyo that rivals the performance of a metal yoyo, but at a much lower price. This one looks great and performs even better. The YoyoJam Hitman Pro is another popular hybrid plastic yoyo with metal weight rings in the advanced category. It’s the signature yoyo of a world champion, Johnnie Deivalle, with all the terrific performance you’d expect that goes with that. The YoyoFactory Shutter yoyo is an all metal high performer that’s the signature yoyo of up and coming player Gentry Stein. It has a terrific price point, it looks great, and performs even better. The Yoyojam SR-71 yoyo is a hybrid plastic model with metal weight rings, and a very popular choice at Yoyoplay. Long spin times and excellent on string performance are just two of the great features of this yoyo.

High End Advanced Metal Yoyos

If price is no object for you, and you only care about performance, then consider these highly coveted advanced yoyos. The YoyoFactory Genesis yoyo with Hubstacks is considered by some to be the best performing metal yoyo that YoyoFactory makes, bar none. It has a terrific shape that fits well in your hand, and the hubstacks on the side give it an additional element of play that makes this yoyo worth every dollar. The YoyoFactory Ricochet yoyo is a numbered, extremely limited edition metal model made of titanium instead of aluminum. It comes in a nice looking plastic display box and will impress everyone when you tell them it’s a titanium yoyo and then show them what you can do with it. The performance lives up to the price. YoyoJam also went titanium with the H3X (Hex) yoyo. It’s actually a combination of aluminum and titanium, and a signature metal yoyo of Andre Boulay. That’s the same guy behind the wildly popular Dark Magic II. You are going to love both the awesome looks and the terrific performance of this yoyo. One Drop is a high-performance-only niche yoyo brand, and the One Drop Format C yoyo will blow you away when you play with it. The Duncan Echo yoyo is an all metal yoyo on the high end of the scale. Super long spin times, high stability and good looks. You might also consider the Duncan Magnetude, which takes a leap beyond hubstacks and goes magnetic! The Yomega Glide yoyo is Yomega’s advanced, non-responsive all metal model. This yoyo is one of the best looking yoyos in the store, and it performs as well as it looks.

Advanced Yoyo Bearings

Most advanced, non-responsive yoyos use a wide C bearing. There are several different options when it comes to C bearings. A narrow C bearing will typically make the yoyo more responsive. A standard, flat, wide C bearing will give you non-responsive performance. A concave, wide C bearing will keep your string centered in the middle of the yoyo when you are doing non-responsive yoyo tricks. But aside from wide, narrow, flat and concave, you also have the choice of steel ball bearings, ceramic ball bearings with steel races, and fully ceramic bearings. See our yoyo bearing section.

Accessories, Trick Books and Strings

Whether you are buying an advanced yoyo or any other kind, you’ll want to make sure that you buy extra yoyo strings, and probably a trick book or trick DVD so that you can keep learning new tricks and advancing your skills. See our full line of strings, trick books, DVDs and other accessories. Strings wear out quickly, so make sure you have at least a few extras!