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Okay, I think I get it.

for me it definitely isn’t patriotism. It’s experience, having many made in China metals get one ding and not play the same, over and over, does make it hard to view them as the same quality.
However I’ve also had many good playing, durable Chinese made products, which is why I continue to buy them.

People who don’t like stuff that’s made in China because of the fact it’s simply made in China is ridiculous.

That being said knowing the Blizzard is made in China is not a deterrent to buying one, and I’d love to get one some day!!

I just don’t think it’s fair to say people don’t like Chinese made stuff because of nationalities and borders! I know I get more excited when I hear something is made in the US only because I’ve very few poor experiences with yoyo’s made here! :slight_smile: Mostly talking about durability!

I love new balance and the made in the USA and UK stuff is always more sought after (to people who live all over the world), due to quality! This type of thing (China vs US) crosses over into many other hobbies. Yeah yoyo’s aren’t sneakers, but I think the comparison is relevant!

You can have poor quality or great quality coming from anywhere, though. You said it yourself. :wink: So when you hear that a yoyo is made in China, there’s no logical reason to assume it will be low quality. However, we’re fairly indoctrinated in Canada and the US (and probably elsewhere) to jump to that conclusion.

I have owned some of those cheap, easily-dinged yoyos you speak of. But I don’t think of it as “bah, made in China!” but rather, “this particular yoyo was designed to be sold on the cheap-cheap, so I’m not surprised by the sub-par alloy and ano.”

I have to say (and I’m sure there are exceptions) that by and large most of the “made in the USA” advocates I know of are doing it out of patriotism. It’s patriotism on on two fronts: one, just supporting their nation’s economy, straight-up; and two (the more insidious one), the indoctrination that what’s made in their country is of inherently better quality. Which we know isn’t logical even if anecdotally that’s been their experience. They’re both forms of patriotism related more to borders than anything.

The counter to my entire line of thinking is simple, though, so I’ll even hand it over: If every Made in China yoyos is of inferior quality to every Made in USA yoyo, my point doesn’t stand. But since we know that’s not the case, I’m confident that it stands. :slight_smile:

Saying that people only buy USA stuff because of patriotism when that isn’t the case is a lot like saying every made in china yoyo is of lesser quality, in my eyes! We are all guilty of generalizing too much every now and then.

I’m gonna leave it with this. I’ve been yo-yoing (in a few months) 10 years. I’m decent. I’ve also had hundreds of throws. More than enough experience to think I have a pretty good idea as to know what I’m talking about.

I’ve owned more than a couple models that are made both in the USA and in China, and the USA made throw has always held up better. Every time, not just some of the time. I can’t wrap my brain around the idea of that being a coincidence.

I think having an option for 50 dollar metals (made in China) is the best thing going in yo-yoing right now. I simply can’t dive into the fact that people are now saying it’s the same quality. Quality and play are two different things to me. They all play the same!

I’ve run into very few (none I could name) Chinese made throws that can take 4-5 dings and stay the same as it was when I bought it. Which is a lot to ask. However I’ve run into way too many USA throws that can do this to think they are of equal quality.

Because of the price difference you’ll never see me get upset that people are getting stuff made in China. If they were charging identical prices I’d be a lot more vocal about it.

I had to speak up when I saw you tell someone that’s why people only like USA stuff, because here I am, someone who likes made in the USA stuff for a totally different reason!

I really mean no offense I just feel like more than one opinion to the subject should be taken into consideration! I’m sure you can agree.

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I feel what you’re saying. It’s just not my experience. :wink:

I have felt that feel of the “cheaper” Chinese-made yoyos. One of my budget YYF that I love dearly just seems to be a ding magnet. On the other hand, I have had YYFs that were made in China and feel absolutely supreme in quality. So I haven’t had the “every single one” feeling.

The next-most dinged/scratchy yoyo I have is a Made in the USA model. And it has also gone vibey, despite those dings being nothing too serious (it just dinged easily… no major crazy impacts).

So I have counter-examples from both sides! And while my breadth of experience doesn’t match yours (only 3 years and less than 200 different yoyos), finding counter-examples within that smaller timeframe is probably even MORE indicative (rather than less) that it’s a non-starter to claim that all Made in China is inferior to all Made in USA. :wink:

Before this escapes me: my mentioning patriotism was meant to be supportive, not insulting. You’re getting annoyed at what was meant to be the friendly part of what I was saying. :wink: But I still stand by it despite it being a generalization (as you correctly point out!!)… “Made in the USA is better than Made in China” is a patriotic statement, pure and simple. There’s no way around that. Doesn’t mean it’s all “Rah rah USA, my country rules and yours sucks!” but there’s a perceived value associated with the USA that does not come from fact. It is therefore patriotic! I don’t fault people for their sentiments or their patriotism. There’s no crime in loving your country.

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I need to play more premium made in China throws as apposed the oodles of budget ones I have more experience with.

I am not sure I am getting your point. Are you saying that a US made yo-yo will be damaged less from the same impact? Is that from using an inferior aluminum? Isn’t 6061 the same everywhere? I thought the 6061 meant it had a specific formulation; and a specific hardness. How are they different from place to place? Do you have evidence of this?

Huh? All yo-yo’s play the same? Did you mean to say that? :o

If we are talking about multiple materials; which USA-made bi-metals are you throwing? I can only think of one contemporary bi-metal made in the USA. Its durability was no better (or worse) than my Japanese or Chinese bi-metal yo-yo’s. None of them “played the same” as the other.

As for the patriotism angle; I think that there is an awful lot of online marketing occurring in just about every yo-yo forum these days. As the cost of making yo-yo’s continues to tilt in favor of Chinese companies I would expect that this will become more of an “issue” to more and more people. Since there are livelihoods at stake; you can bet that they will use whatever emotions can influence buying decisions.

Patriotism? Or, just marketing?

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-.-
This is a yoyo website for gods sake… keep your feelings for facebook…nobody really cares…
(The above statement was said in the voice of snow white…so you cant say Im being rude)

Nobody really cares on Facebook, either. :wink: Doesn’t stop the talkative among us. Both are at their core discussion forums, so as long as the discussion stays civil, people should continue engaging with each other.

Regarding 6061… there’s a basic and flexible “recipe” for it, but I believe quality of the alloy can still vary.

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Now what we need to do is make the same yoyo with both basic and flexible blends and go from there. :slight_smile:

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the argument that chinese products have a record of not meeting their prescribed quality standard is unfalsifiable here. over the years there have been numerous cases in China that people have allegedly carried out impact tests with materials of different origin, but none of those dared to claim definitive results let alone accually credible ones.

there are, however, other issues to look at here that are accually practically controllable. in reality our community is so small, it means one thing: there is no detail too insignificant to set you apart from others, and once you improve people will notice and you will be rewarded in one form or another.

this is the bearing seat of a blizzard

this is a scout

The blizzard rounded off the tip of the post, which is fine (and currently preferred by a number of chinese manufacturers), but the post as a whole is much shorter, and the one pictured already has some nasty wear never seen on any other clyw currently listed on this site. How many times does a brand new piece have to be unscrewed before taking that picture?

what is even more staggering is the complete absence of constructive prospects as an answer to ‘my anodizer cant handle this, and that, and that one as well, …’ i mean you could say that once for rainbow trout, ok, but now zipzaprap out of all things really? These are also the only times i have seen them just dishing out absolute hard negatives. many more ‘requests’ that sound outright crazy were met with a ‘probably not near but cool idea that we ll consider at some point’ type response, so here what are they acting defensive for?

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Agreed that the bearing post of the Blizzard is inferior to that of the Scout.

But it’s not like there’s a genetic or national reason for it to have happened. :wink: These are all controllable and adjustable parameters, and the machinery doesn’t care what country it’s in.

at least in the yoyo industry, that very notion most likely arised originally because certain people tried to use made in china as an excuse for quality issues that would otherwise look avoidable. it does take a lot to change peoples opinions, but if someone is to do it, it s got to be our market leaders who take the initiative.
for one, i can see yyf working on their bearing seat issue with their recent runs which is always a good sign.

I miss having forums where debate was more welcomed but the other members!
I’ll agree that this probably isn’t the thread to have this debate. I’m gonna reply one more time though hahah.

When I’ve blown a few hundred dollars on yoyo’s that aren’t of the same quality as they used to be, I feel like I have some sort of a right to express that. Wouldn’t you agree?

I was fairly wrong though, I am basing my judgements off of older models, and current budget throws. As I just stated I need to try more premium made in China throws.

I specifically remember when a certain company started making more metals in China, I bought a couple (at the time they weren’t a budget price) and they weren’t the same at all. They easily developed vibe with one or two small dings, and in comparison to the exact same model that was made here in the USA they were inferior. I should have contacted the company but I didn’t because I just wasn’t going to buy that kind of stuff anymore.

There are plenty of USA made metals and plastics that aren’t great quality, play pretty poorly, and don’t handle dings well. I should have been a lot more specific in that I was comparing one companies USA models to their Chinese models. The fact that for me every time the Chinese throw was of less quality I started to form a pretty strong opinion against them. I also don’t think the USA makes the best yoyo’s.
If the topic was Japanese vs Chinese made stuff I’d say the same things.

My past experiences has lowered my confidence Chinese made (primarily) budget throws. The fact they are made in China has nothing to do with it, if all of these products were made in the USA I’d feel the same way… It could be any country.

I apologize if my experience is far different than everyone elses! I simply stepped-in to voice another opinion on the subject. I have nothing against China and have many friends from Shanghai and Beijing that have lived with me through schooling. I have no vendetta against China!
I explained it to Greg but my opinions really have nothing to do with where I live.

I really don’t think all aluminum is of the same quality, I don’t think 6061 is just 6061 no matter what.

Most metals today all play well, which is I what I meant by the same. Obviously I don’t think every yoyo plays the same lol.

Kadabrium showed what I am trying to get at with that blizzard bearing seat…When a company switches to China some quality is compromised. I need to be less definitive with my statements like that though because obviously dozens of great yoyo’s have been made in China.

Greg informed me that the premium made in China products are made with different materials and cutting tools and such. I have yet to play a Start the Riot and a Blizzard.

I shouldn’t have been so strongly opinionated! I guess I feel like my experiences have been different and I’ve wasted (in my opinion) a few hundred dollars on yoyo’s that I thought were going to be of regular quality.

Have a lovely day everyone.

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I posit that prices would scale with “something”, and that something could be the tools, materials, and machinists (and QA). You can, for example, roll new/better tooling into a contract, I would think; and that cost would be absorbed by the buyer and passed along to the consumer. :slight_smile:

I really do think there are varying grades of 6061 as well. Not a perfect set of analogies, but when you buy a steak, it’s still just a piece of cow… but there are varying grades even among the same cut of beef. When you buy a piece of maple, you can get maple of varying degrees of dimensional stability as well as density… not to mention figuring.

I first noticed (by personal observation, NOT actual science!) a difference in the aluminum with the Werrd Minute (this did NOT stop the Minute from being a favourite for a long time) but it appears on other budget-friendly yoyos as well.

I have owned high quality Chinese-made products, including yoyos, and I’ve owned poor quality Chinese-made products, including yoyos. Where they are made does not neccessarily determine quality, I agree.

Chris has stated otherwise though, and has stated China has better plastic injection molding because they have more experience with it. So sometimes, it does make a difference where it’s made.

But my qualms are not with quality. With so much manufacturing moving to Mexico and China, a lot of Americans have lost jobs. Why are Americans supporting China’s and Mexico’s economy when Americans could be supporting our own? Yes Chris pays taxes in Canada, and those taxes go to Canada’s government, great. But what about his local plastic injection molding and machine shop? They are losing business to China. I understand that it would be more expensive for the exact same product if it were made in USA or Canada.

There are those of us that will pay a premium to support local economies.

So whats next on the buffet line of primo throws CLYW?

Yes! Enough of this grumbling…

When will I get another chance for a Rainbow Trout Scout or anything else in that colorway?

We just got a small restock on a bunch of CLYW favorites - Gnarwhal 2, AC2, Marmot 2, Sasquatch, Avalanche, and a few more!  Only a couple of each so get em while they last!

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What? I thought those were discontinued!