YYJ Dark magic and Grind machine great for Learning!!!

I’m a Concrete Cutter from Seattle and I spend my time learning yoyo tricks. It has been a long time since I saw a yoyo and it seems that they have really changed since I was younger. I didn’t know what non-responsive meant, I thought it meant when you are lame in bed. And Hubstacks were the things that spin on the rims of a lowrider truck.

But anyway, I’m learning the “Split bottom mount” and I’m most of the way through the beginner section of the learning portion of this site.

I recenty heard of this great site and I found 2 yoyo’s I could not live without.
I got the Grind Machine from YoYo Factory and the Dark Magic from YoYo Jam.

The first one is the Grindmachine from the Yoyo factory.
The Good:
—While it’s tough to get used to a non-resonsive yoyo, it really is great yoyo for the price you pay.
A quick review of how to bind and you’re set. Even if you haven’t used a yoyo in 12-15 years ( like me )
I managed to pick it up and with the help of the tutorials I was learning tricks I didn’t even know yoyos could do.

The Bad:
—The yoyo, for some, won’t sleep long enough to learn tricks. You need a long sleeper, but at the same time, the weight of the Grindmachine really helped me as a beginner. A nice heavy yoyo lets you “Feel” it much better. Also if you don’t know how to throw a yoyo ( like me) making a good sleeper is tough since it will wobble or spin sideways unless you throw it like a Pro. (not like me)

The Next yoyo is the Dark Magic from YoYo Jam.
The Good:
— One word. Wow. Crazy long sleep times and great weight for a yoyo in the $40 range. When I picked this one up I was not really into metal yoyos. But after about 20 minutes I realized that its really the better yoyo to learn on. I would suggest anyone that is totally new to yoyos will have a great time with this one. I even got my Wife to do a rock the craddle with it, and she can’t even do a gravity pull lol.

The Bad:
—If you don’t like round things that spin I wouldn’t suggest this at all.

If you know of other great yoyos for people with small wallets, please share your toughts! I don’t think you can change my mind however, I’m too happy with what I have :-).

Very good review! One of the best I’ve seen on the forums in a long time! Continue to make more!

Great review- best as a first post!

great review.

Awesome First post. Next time, make sure you note that the Plastic Grind Machine is the Plastic, and not the metal.

Unless I am wrong, and you did get the metal?

Noppers, I did not get the Metal Grind Machine. Its Plastic and its the version without the hubstacks.
Hubstacks didnt appeal to me since I got into YoYos about 3 months ago. Im really a newbie, and I guess Im not good enough yet to use hubstacks if I had them.

All in all, the Plastic non hubstack version really hit home for me since I started. A little oil on the bearings and I can have it return to my hand, and I enjoy the people I know giveing me strange looks after I pull off a Split the atom. Im not at all the type of guy that people would think would be into yoyos. Yet the Grindmachine still is my YoYo of choice.

The Darkmagic is certainly growing on me however as I get into tougher tricks. But Im too rookie yet to say that its a better YoYo or not than the Grindmachine.

You may never be able to make that call.

Both are phenomenally good players.