Should one of the big brands try to release a competitive plastic for under $10?

By competitive I mean more like the Replay Pro than the Whip. Would you like to see that and should that be a goal?

No.

Plastic costs so much to manufacture.

I’m frankly surprised companies can sell them for $14 and make money off them.

I don’t think so either. This whole race to the bottom is crazy. I’d rather a company put out a real quality product and spent more on it, that buy something that they had to skimp on something to keep it cheap.

The other thing is, who is really looking for a plastic competition yoyo? Outside of Gentry, Erik, maybe a couple others who has used a plastic in competition in the past few years? It would pretty much just be a gimmick yoyo.

Skyva, Replay Pro, First Base are all really good. Can’t imagine someone making something that would be better than those and cheaper.

My first read of the OP’s question started me down a different path – should the big brands try to make a plastic to compete with the under $10 mass market yoyos. However, after reading the other responses, I think maybe the OP was asking for a sub $10 Skyva, ReplayPro or similar.

My initial answer was “yes, the responsive Whip and the One compete nicely against the Butterfly and Imperial. They are superior yoyos, good enough to let anyone learn most responsive tricks and they won’t break the bank.” The answer to what was probably the question, should the big brands make a competition yoyo for under $10, is probably ‘no’. I’m sure they could, if they leveraged inexpensive materials, volume of scale and reduced QC. However, no one would feel good about paying $9.99 for a ‘competition’ yoyo that had visible and feelable pulsing vibe. As AaronW said, Gentry and Eric seem to be the only pros competing with plastic (Gentry winning nationals with the Replay Pro does put an exclamation point on 'its not the yoyo that wins the contest). For competition plastic, the $10-25 range seems reasonable.

just my $0.02

I think they want you to take your $0.02 and make one

if competitors are will I get to compete with 30gm yoyos

As many people have clearly put it, something needs to give. We pushed it once with the original replay. It performed at the standard we desired and would have been sub $10… it was built to perform but it wasn’t… ah to put it delicately, ‘fool proof’. How can you explain to someone they can’t drop, throw into the floor, even slightly over tighten their sub $10 yoyo. At that price 1st day beginners would buy it and that yoyo was not designed to last a day in hands who didn’t show it as much respect and care as they would if it was $100.

Looking a few years into the past, I would say no. At the time YYJ, Duncan, spintastics and a few others put out some good quality plastics, but their low end price was in the $15-$20 range. I’m guessing that given inflation and such those same yoyos would be in the $20-$30 range today.

The yoyojam classic would be a decent example of one that is under 10 (9.99 I believe). We all have spare bearings around so throwing that in would cost nothing. I would say they are great for that price!

I feel like there should be a better beginner yoyo under that price, but not a competitive yoyo necessarily.

and then sell it for $9.99

I think that All the major yo-yo Manufacturers should release a full Titanium yo-yo for under 2 dollars.

It should come with a self lubricating Platinum coated Konkave bearing. It should come stock with a Kevlar infused Cloud string with a Lifetime guarantee.

On each Ti yo-yo half; a 1-800 number should be laser etched. In the event the string should lose correct tension; you could call 24/7 to have a Technician come to your house and change the string out for you.

The competitive level yo-yo should not be subject to Tax anywhere in the World. And the yo-yos should be shipped Worldwide by Next Day Air with signature confirmation.

It should come with a personalized serial number and a GPS chip in the event it falls in the ocean while on the 2 week Alaskan sea cruise you were awarded for the purchase of each 2 Dollar yo-yo.

And I think the Federal Government should set up a Nationwide Financial Subsidy program to assist all the poor saps that can even afford the 2 buck toy.

And the United States and all other yo-yo producing Countries’ should allow All Major yo-yo Makers to file for Non Profit status. Because they don’t need the money as much as we need to have fun.

And a Galactic Tribunal should oversee any instances of 2 Dollar Yo-yo defect complaints. Any Maker found guilty of producing any defective product; should cease to exist. Vaporization in an acidic utonium hydrovac should be initiated immediately following a guilty verdict. And all traces of the Yo-yo Company should be erased from the history of Mankind…

Obviously producing your receipt of purchace at any Major event should allow you to compete in the top five finals with no prelims necessary.

… But to actually answer the OPs’ question; I would say ‘No’.

Period…

Could I get said yoyo with copper plating? I’d be down to paying $2.50, MAYBE $3 for that extra.

Interesting thoughts from your perspective. I was wondering what kind of issues a company wanting to do this might have to wrangle with and whether it was seen more broadly as a goal in the industry. I wonder if the drive to push the limit, get a yoyo in everybody’s case, become the most-recommended like the Replay Pro became, could lead to a more competitive-oriented sub-$10 yoyo market in the future. I don’t think it’s necessarily the right goal, since most people just want a yoyo that looks nice and performs well, and don’t absolutely need it to cost less than a pizza.

The Classic is quite close, but as you know it was marketed toward beginners much more than something like the Replay Pro and didn’t come set up for unresponsive play out of the box. Still one of my favorite plastics regardless of price, which is really, really something.

Competitive is subjective.

Subjective is subjective

.

And subjective could be defective if your perspective isn’t particularly effective. But if you focus on subjective from a posture that is corrective; that would assist in reality based clarity.

Considering that 95 percent of All people that have or will even touch a yo-yo to those that will throw for hours a day; will Never compete at any level… The question that initiated this thread is of little concern or consequence.

As long as your corrective posture is objective in order to be effective in evaluating the the subjective to determine that it is, in fact defective and not simply reflective of the subjective.

Well considering you’ve replied to this thread multiple times, I guess I just wanted to give you something to do.

That first paragraph sounds like a song from Willy Wonka when they got on that scary boat

Considering today’s market I am happy that there are so many choices of good playing plastic yoyo’s under $20. Equally I am please with so many metal throws under $40. So many choices and many play well.

I totally agree with hobbyman101. Manufacturers need to turn a profit, and I don’t think much profit is there to be made past 15 or so dollars, particularly with a full sized bearing. I do think every maker should have an under 30 dollar model, as it can be helpful to have an affordable way to introduce people to brands that might otherwise be out of reach.