The Falcon by ILOVEYOYO
Reviewed by Chris Rhoads

Falcon 1

Introduction

ILOVEYOYO is at it again. It seems like you cannot turn around without seeing a new design come from their studios. The team of Dom and Frank have been churning out unique designs for quite some time, each one different. That is their true secret weapon, the diversity in their product line. If you cannot find an ILYY product to suite your particular style or tastes then you just haven’t looked hard enough. Today I am looking at their latest production release, the Falcon. The Falcon is filling the void of wide profile yo-yos in the ILYY catalog. Let’s see if it is a raptor ready to soar or a pheasant ready to be meet the business end of a hunting rifle.

Specs

  • Diameter: 54mm
  • Width: 44.20mm
  • Weight: 66.90g
  • Response: Hot Red SILYYcone
  • Bearing: ILYY KMK 6×13x5mm

Falcon 2

Construction

This is one wide yo-yo. With a width of 44.20mm, it is wider than my Bearing-Gull Peak while having a slightly smaller diameter. This exaggerated width makes it look almost unwieldy, but that could not be farther from the truth. It fits well in my large hands and hits well when returning from a bind. The inner walls could use a little more of a taper. Currently, it does have a pop can feel to it when holding it in the hand. The small spikes are quite sharp and more than just flash. They can be used for some rudimentary matador tricks. The spikes could be a little longer, they require a large hand if you want to hold the Falcon by the spikes. As for the finish, it looks phenomenal. The red is vibrant and the Candodize has a brilliant shine to it. The only change I would make to the color scheme is that I would drop the titanium. I have said this to Frank in the past, ILYY needs to embrace the bright colors they use and ditch the dark titanium that they have become a fan of. The Falcon would look absolutely stunning in all red. As for the Candodize finish, there is a lot of controversy on this new finish that I will talk about that in a special editorial at the end of this review.

Weight

This may look like a large yo-yo but it does not feel like one. The Falcon is a svelte 66.9 grams and is nimble on the string because of it. The relatively lightweight gives the Falcon a floaty feel on the string and a fast reaction time. All the weight has been pushed to the rims, giving it an impressive spin time. The wide profile aids the yo-yo’s stability. All said this is a forgiving yo-yo with great spin and not a lot of junk in the trunk.

Response and Bearing

ILYY has changed things up in the bearing department. Starting with the Falcon, all ILYY products will use a factory deshielded KMK bearing. I cannot stress how happy this makes me. I have an immense dislike of deshielding KMK bearings. The shields are press fit into the bearing so you have to destroy the shield just to get it out. I have stripped the shields out of several KMK bearings and even though I have a system down, I still feel like I am going to damage the bearing every time I do it. Shipping deshielded means saves me time and makes it easier for me to clean. Thank you ILYY for this little bit of added convenience.

The response system is the standard ILYY Red Hot sILYYcone. This stuff provides some extremely snappy binds while adding a little bit of flair to the yo-yo. I liken it to the sports car nuts that paint their break calipers; only this has an added benefit of being functional.

Falcon 5

Playability

On the first throw I was taken aback by how smooth it was. There is no thunk, no vibe, and it is very forgiving. It moves through the air with ease and can turn on a dime. Definitely living up to its avian heritage. After the initial throw, I began to put the Falcon through its paces. When popped into the air it seems to hang there for a second, giving ample time for cross-armed catches. The gap is large enough to handle many wraps before it begins to lose speed. The grinds are good, it can handle arm and palm grinds well but it excels at thumb grinds. I can stick my thumb in the cup up to the first knuckle. There are very few yo-yos in my collection that can cover my entire thumbnail. As stated above, the spikes are a little on the short side. They can be used for matador tricks but it will take some practice. It took me a couple of tries before I could get my thumb and index finger around the yo-yo to tilt it. Once I did, the Falcon balanced on my thumb for a good ten seconds. Matador aside, there is really nothing that this yo-yo can’t do.

Falcon 3

Final Thoughts

While I may have some aesthetic issues with the Falcon, there is no denying the shear performance of this yo-yo. It is a beastly performer on par with some of my most trustworthy yo-yos. The Falcon lives up to the high standards that ILYY puts on all of its products. Any fan of ILYY products, scratch that, any yo-yo fan will surly love taking this one out for a spin.

Special Editorial

Ok, lets talk Candodize finish. A lot of people seem to have a bug up their posterior about this new finish and most of them have yet to try it. I have never seen something as arbitrary polarize a community so thoroughly. ILYY has their reasons for changing it up a bit, first and foremost being that they wanted a change and wanted something that they liked and believed in. I am going to try and hit a couple of the issues I have seen on the boards in regards to the new finish.

First, those of you who think it looks cheap, how many of you have seen it up close? Personally, I think it looks great when they are not using a dark color like black or titanium. The red shine of the Falcon and the orange glow of the Fury are amazing. Far from the cheap finish I have seen on some yo-yos.

Now, on to the grind ability of the new finish. Everyone who reads this site knows I love grinding, it is my favorite thing to do. This finish will still grind quite well. The small bearing, Candodized Rocket that I have been play testing grinds just as well as some of my blasted yo-yos. Believe me, if this new finish sucked at grinding I would be the first to raise holy hell on the forums.

Now that we have gotten those points out of the way, let me say that I too miss the Candy Blast finish. It is an extremely unique finish that catches the light in amazing ways and grinds better than most. While I personally think that ILYY should offer their yo-yos in both finishes and let the end user decide what they want, I will respect the decisions of the company. In the end the anodized finish is just one part of the overall package. ILYY still makes some of the most unique and diverse yo-yos on the market. The only difference is that now they make a yo-yo that THEY can be proud of. No matter how much I love a certain finish, I cannot, in good conscience, ask a company to continue using a finish that robs them of the enjoyment of their own product. Doing that could cause them to do the one thing none of us wants. It could cause them to get fed up with making new yo-yos and call it quits. Do we really want a community without ILYY?

Falcon 4