Must Have Yoyos

S.Y.C. Spontaneous Yoyo Combustion. its a real thing man, look it up. Its horrible. :wink:

Well, when someone comes after you, sometimes they blow up the things you love… like your yoyo collection. Luckily he keeps a Kilter 2 on him at all times.

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I’d have to say Chief, eh, Dark Magic, Peak, Wooly Marmot, and Project. Just my opinion

Tundra, Evora, Draupnir, Leo Sniper MKII, a smooth OG Yeti that doesn’t eat strings, something Anti-yo, Sovereign, Markmont Classic, Markmont. Next, Masamini, SPYY Addiction v2.

I really want to eventually try a TiWalker and an OG Peak, but unless somebody owns one in Minnesota and I ever met up with them at a future MWR, it’s unlikely I’ll ever get to. Hoping the rumored/planned anniversary Peak is really, really close to the original with modern guts.

The ruined Tundras are a damn shame. It has the potential to be an iconic titanium IMO, just so few of them that’s it’s unlikely they’ll ever exchange hands much.

There seems to be two threads of thought here.

Are they “Must have” because of play? Or, are they “Must have” because they are collectible?

Models like the Peak or the Sovereign fall into the collectible category. Tons of history, but the play is probably better on more modern designs.

In terms of play, then the YYR Draupnir seems a no-brainer. While the Ti-Walker is still a favorite, it falls somewhere in between. Even though the Ti-Walker still can play with the best; I would rather have the Japan Technology Rebira or the YYF Ti-Dream; all day long.

I think both trains of thought are fitting for this. Some are must have/play because they’re iconic. Some are because they’re incredible performance-wise. A couple I mentioned were personal picks, but might not be for somebody else.

For example, I think the Sovereign fits in just fine. Sure, its profile and size aren’t exactly modern, but it still showcases the abilities of titanium plenty well IMO. If you play cleanly, it has a ton of spin power thanks to the ridiculous weight distribution. Plus, it has the added collectability of being the first OD titanium. I dunno, overall I just think it’s a neat representation of that time frame in yo-yo history.

What about the Tundra, which is stupid hard to get, making it collectable, but is such a killer player that its my been my only EDC since day one. If I had to choose ONE yoyo, it would be Tundra without hesitation.
I got it for play, so I would say its a “Must Have” but its scarcity makes that literally impossible, so i didnt want to bring it up. But it really is THAT good. Its my perfect yoyo.

A must have yoyo can’t be one out of reach for almost everyone. Otherwise, it leaves the rest of us stuffed.

I can’t consider a Draupnir a ‘must have’ at that price. ‘Nice to try if you can borrow one for a minute’ ? sure. But I don’t think anything over a $100 should be considered ‘must have’ in the sense that, you don’t know what yoyoing is about unless you own this’. $100 should be a luxury, never the basic level to be conversant in the hobby.

I’d say a Benchmark is a must have for all around beauty, competence, and performance, and anything more expensive than that is a luxury / nice to have if you can afford it. I don’t know what the plastic equivalent would be. . . Replay Pro? Skyva. To me must have means you could have just that, and that’d be all you need. If you can’t distill it down to one yoyo, then I’d go for 1 metal & 1 plastic.

I would agree to that. I guess I would say a Shutter needs to be in most players collection. The earlier you get one in your yoyo “carreer”, the better.

A responsive yoyo

An unresponsive up to date designed yoyo

An Offstring yoyo

To me, Everything else is not must have, but “prefer to have”

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I have a list for you. Titanium Dream, TooHOT, Genesis (any, especially 2014 or 7075), Space Cadet (new and amazing), Replay Pro, Dark Magic II, Nine Dragons (game changing and super fun), Ricochet (best undersized for stability and power). I also like the Chief, Cliff, and BVM2. I’ll come back with some more, because there are a lot.

*YoyoExpert App

Best answer right here (outside of the offstring part ;D ) Everything else is subjective.

I’m reading through some replies thinking “I’d never use that…nope no desire at all for those.” Yet the above I can agree whole heartedly. :slight_smile:

Must have really is hard to define because it’s a very long list if you’re someone who wants to experience the scope of yoyo design and history, but I’m a firm believer in the yoyo being a tool for the player, meaning all a person really needs is one decent yoyo that allows them to express themselves on the string. With my list I’m instead going to focus on iconic, memorable bearing yoyos that no one should forget and anyone should be happy to add to their own collection.

YoYoFactory 888 - It was the yoyo and the one everyone needed to own for a long time. Kind of peerless.

YoYoJam DM1 (and DM2) - The first “serious” yoyo purchase for a lot of throwers. One of the most recognizable yoyos out there and the face of YoYoExpert after all these years.

Hspin Pyro - One of my favorites, like the DM. An amazing, beautiful yoyo that had huge hype and delivered. At over 45 mm width, people thought it was comically wide, but 43-46 mm width has become pretty standard today.

YoYoFactory ProtoStar - The plastic that played as good as its metal peers and cost only $35. Still a great choice for anyone who wants a nice plastic.

CLYW Chief - The yoyo that reminds me of something Lester Bangs wrote on the occasion of Elvis’ death in 1977. “We will never again agree on anything as we agreed on Elvis. So I won’t bother saying good-bye to his corpse. I will say good-bye to you.” Everyone who tried one agreed upon how awesome the Chief was and still is.

Honorable mentions: FH, Draupnir, Genesis

I know the list of must have yoyos could cover an entire sheet of copy paper. There are just so many excellent yoyos available.

I almost hesitate to mention my choice because everyone cant ‘must have’ a $300 yoyo.

Understandable🤓 You can easily buy 3 or 4 other less expensive must have yoyos for about the same total price.

But if you run into some money and you must have a simply Amazing playing, looking, feeling yoyo; than I would seriously suggest a Titanium Shutter.

Outstanding in my opinion👍

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I’ll say Chief, Genesis & CODE 2. Though I don’t own a Genesis or Chief. :’(

Id recommend the superstar. it has a long sleep time, the ones with hubstacks are fun to play with. really liked it. too bad it was died do to a failure while trying to remove the bearings…
the 2016 one is good too. the bearing REALLY does not want to come out. bearing remover recommended.

and depending on where you live, id recommend the zen 2. really comfortable shape, good sleep time, good for grinding. cant do finger spins though…

I think the most important “must have” yoyos are actually not “must keep” yoyos. In other words, a “must have” yoyo is one you’re willing to part with, when you run across someone who gets excited when you let them try out a modern (or modernish) yoyo for the first time. I try to keep some of these “must haves” on hand.

I used to believe there were must have yo-yos before I watched the YYF team hit every trick imaginable (to me) on ten dollar yo-yos. Now I see there are just must have tricks.

Must have yoyos are the ones I carry in a pouch when I go to the beach:

Expensive competition throw: Draupnir or Palpitation
Chill throw: Markmont Classic
Plastic throw: Skyva
Responsive throw: Moonshine
Fixed axel: eH
Loopers: 2 x YYF 360s.

If these were all I could have, I’d be content.