You have to eliminate variables. The only thing worth attempting to test is actual spin time from a given RPM… that’s easy enough. Generating a ‘throw’ is irrelevant, since the goal of a throw is simply to generate a maximum RPM.
To compare the -bearings- side by side, you have to assume a perfect throw, at which point actually doing that throw becomes unnecessary. You can simply build a setup to hold the bearing in the same way a string does, and spin the yo-yo up to a set RPM via mechanical means. This is the equivalent of having a perfectly straight, perfectly strong throw every time. Is that what happens in the real world? absolutely not, but that’s all you can test.
At the end of the day, a side by side comparison, as you said, isn’t all that important as the spin and play we get from our current bearings/yoyos is -more- than we need… however if you’re claiming one bearing is better than another, you have to be able to compare them.
I did this several years ago, when gold bearings appeared along side all sorts of insane claims… and when people were still convinced that an abec rating had any impact on performance.
The end result, comparing standard bearings (w/ and w/o abec ratings), gold bearings, mercury bearings (gold bearing knockoffs basically), ceramics, full ceramics, etc… showed that at the end of the day there was very little difference across the board.
Ceramics did bump up slightly over the others, but not nearly enough to justify the cost (in my opinion). I posted the full results on another board, but looking through their archive it seems that the post was lost in one of its various upgrades over the years… or that I just can’t find it anyway.
Over the years I’ve tested a few other ‘best bearing ever’ claims to find no real benefit to them. Some bearings are certainly better than others of course, but these days it seems high quality bearings are pretty easy to come by.
How the bearing handles tricks and such is mostly irrelevant as 99% of that has to do with the yo-yo (assuming a properly functioning bearing). Gap size, general design, response type, etc. are what determine how a yoyo ‘plays’. You could make the argument that some bearings can take the forces of whipping a yoyo around better than others, but a deficiency like that would likely be revealed in the original test with just the weight of the yoyo anyway.
Kyle