My wife got me a Duncan Groove for Christmas this year. It was my first real introduction to Kendama. I thought it was a decent kendama but after about a week the tip was completely blunted, the string had broken 3 times and the loose cups are pushed down really far. Even though it was a meh kendama and terrible yoyo, I thoroughly enjoyed it and it got me hooked. She had given me a gift card also and I wanted something better though so I got some Sweets Homegrowns (Ash, Maple/Purple Heart, and Birch Sourmash) and they really are so much better. I also picked up an aTack and the while it is a very fun kendama, it is clearly not on the same level as are the HGs. The cups of the HG kens have very defined edges that grip the tama in comparison to the aTack or Groove. The purple heart homegrown however is kinda weird to play with because the tama is 13 grams heavier than the ken. I’m now going to probably avoid those striped wood combo tamas in the future.