The H2O by hspin yoyo LLC and Oxygène
Reviewed by Chris Rhoads

Introduction

Ok, I should get this out of the way. I am a comic book geek. I have been reading them for year and I sill do to this day. They are a nice way to escape for a while, kind of like throwing a yo-yo. Some of my favorite story lines have been the intercompany crossovers. They are a comic geek’s dream. We all wonder what would happen if the Avengers met the Justice League or if Batman and Daredevil partnered up. My personal favorite was the crossover between Batman and my indie comic anti-hero, Grendel. The problem with these crossovers is that more times then not they end up being a train wreck. The company politics come in to play and the story just falls apart. Today we are going to look at a yo-yo crossover between two beloved European companies, hspin yoyo LLC and Oxygène. Hspin has been producing yo-yos for years and is the brains behind the much-loved Pyro. Recently they took the yo-yo community by storm with The Cut. Oxygène, on the other hand, has been on hiatus from producing yo-yos, with their last release being the Oxy 4 in 2005. Oxygène has not been resting on its laurels and recently release the Oxy Ti, an all titanium yo-yo 4 years in the making. While both companies have been working on their own lines, they have also been secretly collaborating on a remake of the venerable Oxy 4. Hspin was tasked with machining the halves of the yo-yos, bringing Swiss engineering and their unique finish to the mix. Oxygène brought their titanium, fully adjustable, axle system to the party and installed them into the halves in Italy. Lets dive right in and see if this is Superman meets Spider-Man or if it ends up being Archie meets the Punisher. (Yes that is a real crossover.)

Specs

• Weight: 65.70 grams
• Width: 40.13 mm
• Diameter: 53.87 mm
• Gap Width: 3.43 mm (adjustable)
• Bearing Size: 6x13x5 mm
• Response: Silicone Pad

Construction

Pulling the yo-yo from its mailer, I noticed the interesting packaging that the H2O came in. The yo-yo is divided in to two halves and each half is contained in its own compartment in the foam packaging. Between the two halves is a smaller compartment for string and spare rubber o-rings. More on those o-rings later. After assembling the yo-yo you begin to notice the design. The color is one of the deepest, richest blues you will ever find on a yo-yo. In a dark room it almost looks black. The finish is smooth to the touch but feels great on the grind. The H2O is very rounded but looks to be slimmer than the Oxy 4 that it was modeled after. This curvy shape gives the yo-yo a very comfortable feel when resting in the hand. Speaking of comfort, taking one look at the H2O and you begin to see that the designers drafted this from the ground up to be one of the most comfortable yo-yos while in action. All the edges that come in contact with the hand are smooth and rounded. There are no flat rims or sharp edges that can cause pain when it returns to the hand, or the occasional hit to the shin. The curves even extend into the IGR making for smooth thumb grinds. All in all, this is probably one of the best feeling yo-yos on the market today.

Weight

This is one of the floatier yo-yos in the full size category. Not surprising considering the Oxy 4 had a similar float to it. There is no boat anchor thunk that most full sized yo-yos have on the end of the string. It is very smooth when it travels down the line and gives a nice little bounce when it hits the end. Even though it is floaty, the rims of the H2O are beefy enough to give it a great spin time. The heavy weight titanium axle in the middle of the yo-yo adds center weight, giving the H2O unparalleled stability, while maintaining the rim weighting. There is nothing much to add about the weight, it is well thought out and gives this yo-yo incredible performance.

Response and Bearing

If there is one negative about this yo-yo it is the factory installed response pads. The pads are textured silicon, which I found to be a little too grabby for my tastes. They also just sit in the gap without an adhesive to keep them down. I found one of the pads wanting to eek its way out of the gap causing even more grab. This is not a huge issue and is easily fixed with recessed flowable silicone. Once siliconed, I found the H2O to be dead unresponsive with snappy binds. If there is a future run of the H2O, I would recommend to hspin and Oxygène a thinner width pad with an adhesive back or just bite the bullet and put some flowable in the gap.

The designers did not skimp on the bearing that came in the H2O by using a plain Jane steel bearing. Instead they sourced a quality ceramic bearing for this yo-yo. The bearing used is a long spinning bearing that requires very little in the way of cleaning or lubing when you first take it out of the packaging. Hspin went the extra mile with this bearing; they removed all the shields for the end-user before sending it out. This was a nice bonus for me since I always deshield my bearings. I have also found that most metric bearings use press fit shields that are a pain in the rear to remove.

Playability

I would be remiss if I did not mention the “controversy” surrounding this yo-yo. There have been some posts around the community about the vibe in this yo-yo. The problem comes from the fact that it is modeled after the Oxy4, arguably one of the smoothest yo-yos ever made. The inevitable comparison between the Oxy 4 and the H2O caused a little bit of an uproar on the forums because these two yo-yos do not play the same. Lets put this to bed right now. The H2O is not an Oxy 4; it is the spiritual successor to it. There are design changes, some more noticeable than others. Yes, there is a hair of vibe in the H2O, so minute that it is almost unperceivable. It can be completely tuned out with the axle system on the H2O. For those of you that don’t know, the Oxy axle system uses rubber o-rings and an adjustable gap, allowing the player to dial in a gap size they are comfortable with and can easily tune out the vibe without the need for things like Teflon tape. I like a hair of vibe in my yo-yos just so I can feel it spinning, but that is just me. Does this vibe mean that it is not worth the money? That is your call. I can say that it would not stop me from picking one up.

Now that the vibe issue is put to rest, lets talk about play. The H2O is a joy to throw. It is very fast on the string. It just seems to glide through all the tricks like a bat on a red bull. The floaty nature gives it excellent hang time when you pop it up in the air, allowing you to move the string around with ease before it lands. The fat rims mentioned above give you more than enough spin to string together some insane combos on a single throw. Just about the only thing this yo-yo is missing is hubstacks or spikes for matador play and ripcord starts. I am fine with this omission, but others may care.

The grinding surface does not feel like it should work, but it does quite well. I would say it feels like a cross between the new Candodize finish from ILOVEYOYO and the soda blast finish from One Drop. The advantage of this finish is that it is very kind to your strings. There is little fraying or pilling to my string after extended play sessions with the H2O. As for the grinds themselves, they are fantastic. The thumb grinds spin forever on the nail. Palm, arm, and finger grinds just seem to hang there with no grabbing. If I didn’t know better I would swear that this yo-yo was coated in Teflon. I know I talk a lot about grinds, that is because they are my favorite trick to do. If Brett were reviewing this yo-yo he would probably talk about the yo-yo’s ability to pull off a GT.

Final Thoughts

I rarely say this, but I consider this a must have yo-yo. It has become my daily carry since installing silicone in the response system. Some will have a problem with the weight and the response, to them I say give it a throw. You will be hard pressed not to like the feel of the H2O. If you are worried about the vibe, don’t be. I was able to tune it completely out on mine but I tuned a hair back in because I like feeling the yo-yo spin. As I stated above, the only thing that needs revision is the response system. Make sure you have some flowable on hand. After playing with the H2O for a couple of weeks, I just can’t seem to put it down. I hope hspin and Oxygène collaborate again in the near future. I am also excited to see what other companies come up with when they work together. If it is anything like this, the players are going to win out.