General-Yo Ministar Purple Heart Edition
Reviewed by Chris Rhoads
July 4, 2010
Introduction
I could not think of a better way to celebrate the Fourth of July this year than by writing a review of the newest General-Yo product, the Ministar. It has been about a year since Ernie Kaiser, the brains of General-Yo, unleashed the Hatrick and set it loose on the world. Way too long to go between releases, if you ask me. For those of you that don’t know General-Yo, here is a quick history lesson. After a 34 year hiatus, 45 year old Ernie Kaiser picked up a Duncan Imperial and fell back in love with throwing. His rekindled love of throwing turned into a passion that lead to the collecting of high end throws. Being an aerospace engineer, geek speak for paid tinkerer of really cool thing, he decided to out his 19 years of CNC experience to task and build a yo-yo of his own. Toiling for several weeks on designing and machining, the prototype for the Torrent was born. After showing it to some members of a local club in town and listening to the positive responses Ernie decided to put a company together and release the Torrent into the market. The rest is history. Today we take look at the first mini sized yo-yo from General-Yo, the aptly named Ministar. Looking at the photos of the Ministar it is easy to see that this is a reimagining of the much-loved 5-Star design into a more pocket friendly package. As with any other retooling of an already established design, I worry about whether the current design will work in its newer incarnation. Especially when it is a retake on a yo-yo design that has been on my top 3 list since it was released. I guess we will have to see if my fears are warranted or if they are completely unfounded.
Specs
- Diameter: 48.26 mm
- Width: 36.07 mm
- Gap: 4.2 mm
- Weight: 62.5 grams
- Bearing: AIGR Spec C-Sized Bearing
- Response: General-Yo Hat Pads
Construction
Right off the bat I have to get something out of the way. When it comes to the looks of the Ministar, I am far from unbiased. My wife designed most of the laser etchings for the Ministar and box art. The only bit of art she did not design was the Ministar text laser-etch on the YoYoNation glossy red special edition. I am not bringing this up to brag but it needs to be said since her name is on the pack-in note that comes in each Ministar box. I also bring this up to illustrate one fact about Ernie that many may not know, the fact that he is a very generous and outgoing person. The story behind my wife doing the art for the laser-etch and the box comes from the fact that she is currently a design student about ready to graduate in September. She needed to complete an internship with a company so I asked Ernie if he needed artwork for his upcoming yo-yo and explained the situation. Not only did he offer to work with her but he also offered to fill out any internship paperwork that may be needed. All said and done he gave my wife probably one of the best presents ever, her work on a retail product and one killer entry for her resume. Everyone that has spent time with Ernie has a story like this. You can read another example of Ernie’s kindness, it deals with the dedication of the Purple Heart Edition of the Ministar that is being reviewed here today. For that just look at the pack in note at the end of the review, it goes into better detail about than I could.
Getting back on track, I am not going to talk much about the graphics; obviously I love them. I’ll let other reviewers talk about them. The first thing I noticed once I pulled it form the box was the design. It truly is a smaller 5-Star in just about every way. The only major difference between the two is that the hub in the middle of the cup is significantly wider on the Ministar than on the 5-Star. Other than that it looks like someone had placed a 5-Star on a copier and set it to “reduce”. While this is a pocket size yo-yo, the Ministar is not that much smaller than the 5-Star on paper. In the hand that all changes, my 5-Stars rest in my hand with the rims on my index and ring finger and the gap squarely on my middle finger. The Ministar, on the other hand, rests almost entirely on my middle finger with just the faintest of bleed over to the adjacent fingers. Even with this smaller size, it still felt comfortable in the hand. Better yet, it also felt comfortable in the pocket, with just the faintest of bulge when resting at my thigh while standing. Ernie states that the bead blast finish is a slightly more aggressive version of the finish than what has been on previous models. While this may be true, I didn’t feel much of a difference between it and my Hatrick or 5-Star v2. It is a hair courser, but still feels silky smooth in the hand.
Weight
The Ministar comes in at 62.5 grams, which sounds light on paper. Normally I prefer something in the 64-67 gram range, but normally I am dealing with yo-yos 50mm in diameter or larger. For a mini yo-yo, 62.5 grams is not a bad weight. It zooms around on the string quickly but retains its stability. Ernie has said that the Ministar has as much rim weight possible on a mini yo-yo made out of aluminum that he could manufacture. What that gives the end user is a mini that does not sacrifice spin time. I found that the Ministar has as much spin time as its older sibling while being just as stable.
Response and Bearing
The stock response for the Ministar is General-Yo’s custom cut Hat Pads, introduced with the Hatrick last year. They are about two-thirds the size of the Gen Pads but give just as snappy binds. I found that using the thin Hat Pads in the Ministar caused some slippy binds but the stock thick, smooth Hat Pads bind perfectly.
The bearing is General-Yo’s AIGR (Aircraft Instrument Grade Rated) bearing. These things are darn near indestructible. The AIGR is easily a drop in replacement for my favorite bearing, the 10-Ball. I have a hard time choosing between the two since they both give an excellent level of play; the only difference between the two is that the AIGR can get a little noisy after being broken in, but a drop of lube will fix that issue.
Playability
My first throw with the Ministar made me smile like a kindergartener. The thing feels like a 5-Star on the string. In fact that was the only problem I had with the Ministar, I kept treating it like a 5-Star. I kept expecting the yo-yo to be somewhere it wasn’t because of the size difference. In the end it took a little bit of adjusting to the smaller size and then all was well. Usually when a company releases a pocket-sized yo-yo they make a sacrifice here and there. Pocket yo-yos have a habit of being lumped into the budget category in most users’ minds. I have never understood that line of thought. A smaller yo-yo does not mean it is cheaper to produce, it just means more metal was cut away from the bar stock in order to make it smaller. The design dictates the cost of making it. With the Ministar, I cannot say this enough. It is a smaller 5-Star. That being said, it has ALL the features of a 5-Star. The shape is the same, the weight distribution feels the similar, and it has the same IGR cut into it. I had no problem pulling off any of the tricks that I can do with my first or second version 5-Stars. The gaps of the Ministar and the second version 5-Star are even the same size, which means the Ministar gap is just as easy to hit during whips, slacks, and hops. Grinds on the Ministar are just as flawless as previous media blasted General-Yo yo-yos. The only difference that I could feel with the more aggressive finish on the Ministar was that it generated a little more heat when it came in contact with my skin. Other than that, it still feels like the yo-yo has been dipped in thin lube when grinding. It feels like it could just spin forever on my finger, hand, arm or thumb. I have never been shy about saying that the General-Yo finish is one of the best around; the Ministar just backs this up.
Final Thoughts
I am just going to come out and say it; the Ministar is among the best in the pocket yo-yo category. You can tell just by looking at it that the design of the Ministar was approached from the standpoint of “what will give it the best play” versus “what features do I need to remove from it”. It has everything a bigger yo-yo would have and plays just as well. While Ernie may have only set out to create HIS perfect pocket yo-yo, I think he went above and beyond. He made another great yo-yo that can compete with the big boys. I will admit it; my worries were unfounded when it comes to Ernie’s retooling of the 5-Star design. Now that he has proven he can handle the sub-50mm and the 50mm size categories, I want to see what Ernie can do with a larger yo-yo. Let’s see something in a 53-56mm diameter.
Purple Heart Pack-In Note
