The YoYoRecreation Sleipnir and the C3 Alpha Crash play almost exactly the same. I’ve spent the past 2 hours throwing them back-to-back and have noticed only two differences regarding play.
1: The Sleipnir regens slightly better.
2: The Alpha Crash requires more string to bind at lower speeds.
Other than that, the two yoyos are as close to identical as I’ve ever felt when throwing these past 4 years! Even the 6061 and 7075 Majesties, CODE2s, and DANGs I’ve thrown have less in common! Because of this, I’m going to start recommend the Alpha Crash to all new throwers in favor of other plastics I’ve been preaching about. If you can get something that plays “the same” as a Sleipnir for $20.00, why wouldn’t you do it? I’ve even thrown bootleg Sleipnirs that have more difference on the string than the Alpha Crash does when compared to the real thing!
I’m not bring this up to bash the Sleipnir or to promote the Alpha Crash. I really enjoy both of them and greatly respect their creators. I do find it very interesting and borderline hilarious that a super high-end 7075 Aluminum yoyo and a super low-price plastic yoyo can have so much in common. I guarantee that C3 wasn’t attempting to create a Sleipnir clone when making the Alpha Crash, but I do believe that the fact they succeeded in mimicking such a masterpiece in a low-price plastic yoyo is amazing and should be held in high esteem.
Anyone who owns both, please pick them up and throw, one after the other, and tell me what you think.
I ordered a Sleipnir yesterday. Unfortunately from a company that doesn’t have June 6th being a day that merits sales, but it was at a decent price so I went for it after wanting one for a while.
I think the Alpha Crash is a great plastic yoyo. However, I can’t say it will play anything like a Sleipnir. Heck, I think my Trigger plays better than the Alpha Crash does.
For $20, I’m not going to have my expectations be set to the sky. I’ll let the yoyo surprise me when I discover for myself how it plays.
Please don’t get me wrong, I do not think the Alpha Crash is as stable or long-spinning as the Sleipnir, but their feel on the string is almost identical. I’m in no way saying the Alpha Crash will perform as well as a Sleipnir, but it perfectly mimics the overall feel of the Sleipnir during play.
Because of all that, I really do think it is a fantastic yoyo, especially at a price of $20.00 USD. I find that most plastic yoyos (excluding YYJ’s metal rimmed throws) feel very hollow and “dead”, but that Alpha Crash doesn’t.
Again, if any of you have these two yoyos, play them back-to-back and tell me what you think. I’ve thrown nothing but the Alpha Crash and Sleipnir these past two days and the similarities in feel are becoming more and more clear. I remember throwing my CODE2 with the whole line of Side Effects to find which pair I liked best. I felt the difference between the Dietz Side Effects and the LEGO Side Effects more than I can feel the difference between the Alpha Crash and Sleipnir during play. On returns you can obviously tell them apart quite handily, but on the string they feel as close to identical as I’ve ever found.