Crucial Half and Half
Reviewed by Chris Rhoads
July 26, 2010

Introduction

When someone starts talking about “High End Yo-Yos” I’m betting the first thing that flashes through your head is a sleek and sexy aluminum yo-yo whizzing through the air on some custom made polyester strings. I’m almost certain that the last thing that comes to mind would be a plastic yo-yo. It is a crying shame that plastics are being relegated to the bargain bin as the starter yo-yos for people just getting into the hobby. The simple fact of the matter is that high-end plastics are not getting the recognition that they deserve. Companies like Crucial and 3Yo3 have shown time and time again that plastic, in its various forms, can be used to make compelling, high performance alternatives. These are not the injection molded, mass produced plastics with press fit weight rings or custom modifications needed to play like a metal. Instead these are hand crafted yo-yos using some of the same techniques that go into producing those high-end metals. Today we are looking at the Half and Half from Crucial. Crucial, originally Born Crucial, hit the scene back in 2007 with the first Delrin yo-yo The Milk. After the success of the Milk, Crucial owner Paul Yath, went on to release several more full sized Delrin yo-yos as well as his first metal, the Heavy Cream. With this latest release, we are seeing something unique in the world of plastics, an undersized performance yo-yo. Will a yo-yo with roughly the same specs a One Drop MarkMont be able to compete at the same level or am I completely wrong about there being compelling, high performance plastics?

Specs

  • Diameter: 49.79 mm
  • Width: 41.15 mm
  • Gap: 4.1 mm
  • Weight: 66.3 grams
  • Response: Silicone Pads
  • Bearing: C-Sized, Flat, Steel Bearing

Construction

Normally, the first thing I talk about when it comes to the construction of a yo-yo is the looks. The thing is, that isn’t the first thing that you will notice with a Crucial yo-yo. First thing you will notice about the Half and Half is the feel of the materials used. Delrin has a very unique feel to it, almost waxy in nature. This texture comes from Delrin’s ability to sweat, causing it to self lubricate. My six year old summed it up best when he picked the yo-yo up off my desk, looked at it and said “Daddy, is this made out of soap? Because it feels like it is made out of bathroom soap.” Delrin does have that sort of feel. The up side to this is the fact that a Delrin yo-yo does not need to be satined or blasted in order to perform grinds. After the feel the stand out feature for this yo-yo is the color, it is solid white. White seems to be a highly sought out color for high-end yo-yos amongst the enthusiasts. I see people getting their metals painted, powder coated, or Teflon coated just to achieve this magical color. There are threads spanning a half dozen or more pages on several forums talking about how to yet a metal anodized white. With the Half and Half you get white all of its blinding glory. Moving on to the shape of the yo-yo, I mentioned earlier that this is an undersized yo-yo. It feels comfortable in the hand similar to the MarkMont that I mentioned earlier. Each half has a wide, flat rim that transition to a thin bell curve into the gap of the yo-yo. The cups have a thick rims and an equally thick hub in the center that houses the brass nut in the gap needed to attach the axle to the body. Over all, this is a great looking yo-yo that will show up on all but the lightest of backgrounds. Couple it with white string and I can see this being a sought after yo-yo for trick demonstrations.

Weight

The weight on the Half and Half is pushed into those massive rims giving it asolid and stable feel on the string. It is not a heavy feeling yo-yo, but it does hit with authority. It moves quickly on the string and is easy to control, everything you want in an undersized throw.

Response and Bearing

The response and bearing is where Crucial’s design really shines. Instead of having a response groove and bearing seat cut directly into the yo-yo Crucial has an SPR kit that fits into a recessed area in the gap of the yo-yo. The brilliance of this is that you can swap out the SPR kits to get different bearing sizes or different types of response. The SPR Kit in the Half and Half is large bearing and pad response. The stock Ghost Pads installed in this yo-yo gave great binds and did not feel snaggy. After wearing the stock pads out I replaced them with a textured Gen-Pad and a thin Hat-Pad that fit perfectly on the SPRs. The Bearing is a flat bearing steel bearing that performed as it should. Originally Paul had wanted to ship this review unit with his second generation Grooved Bearing but it was not ready in time for testing. The ETA for the second gen Grooved Bearing is August, no word yet on if the Half and Half will ship with the new bearing.

Playability

After the first ten minutes of play I can honestly say that this is not your standard plastic. It is extremely smooth on the string. It speeds through the tricks with ease and spins for quite a long time. If I had to sum up the play I would say that it plays like the metals in my collection. I really could not find a single area where this yo-yo is subpar when compared to its metal counterparts. It handles whips, slacks, and hops with ease. It moves quickly on the string and responds quickly to direction changes. Everything I would expect from a high-end yo-yo. Where the Half and Half really shines is in the grinds. Delrin’s self-lubing nature makes for some fantastic grinds, easily matching my media blasted metals when spinning on the hand, palm, and arm. One area I found lacking was the thumb grind. There is no IGR cut into the rim and the large hub made it difficult to catch on my thumb. I am guessing this compromise had to be made in order to maintain weight.

Final Thoughts

All in all I would have to say this is currently my favorite production plastic. It could be the yo-yo needed to drive home the new “Death to Metal” movement that has been growing in the community. It does not use any gimmicks like metal rims or press fit weight rings to eek out extra performance, it relies solely on a good, solid design. I cannot recommend this yo-yo enough to anyone looking for a versatile new throw that they can customize to meet their needs with nothing more than an SPR change out. Great job Paul, you have raised the bar for the world of plastic yo-yos. The Half and Half really is a compelling, high performance, competition grade, alternative.