ILOVEYOYO Saint Eel 2011
Reviewed by Chris Rhoads
August 1, 2011

Introduction

The Saint Eel holds a fond place in my heart. It was my first micro yo-yo and the first ILYY product I ever bought. The Eel has been through many revisions in order to get where it is today. At the moment it has had three prototypes, ranging from a finger straining 68 gram version to a featherweight, ceramic blasted 59 gram version. The retail release settled on a moderate 61.5 gram, electro-polished beauty that almost hit it out of the park. At the end of that review I mentioned that I wanted it to ditch the polish for the more grind friendly ceramic blast from one of the earlier prototypes. Turns out I wasn’t the only one who wanted some changes. ILOVEYOYO, being… ILOVEYOYO, took the Saint Eel design back to the drawing board to change it up a bit for 2011. The result is the conveniently named Saint Eel 2011. After playing every version of the Saint Eel I now get to see if ILOVEYOYO has taken this near perfect steel yo-yo and finally hit a home run.

Specs

• Diameter: 42.10mm
• Width: 31.00mm
• Weight: 62.00g
• Response: Hot Red SILYYcone
• Bearing: ILYY KMK 5×11x5mm

Construction

No matter how many of these I play, I am always shocked when I take the Saint Eel out of its red, ILYY embossed, drawstring bag. It always feels like it should be bigger due to the weight of its steel composition. Once wrested from the bag it was immediately clear that this different from the previous models. Right off the bat I noticed ILYY had ditched the polished finish in the catch zone, instead going with a grind friendly satin finish. The rest of the profile is exactly the same as the first retail release. It is still a very organic butterfly shape, almost resembling a mini E1NS. The cup is where the other drastic change to the design occurred. The inner cup retains the polished look from the previous run but there is a new spiked hub in the center. The new spike adds a little more center weight to the yo-yo and allows ILYY to use a longer axle in the St. Eel. The new spike is still unobtrusive and allows for easy thumb grinds. As far as over all comfort is concerned it feels great in the hand, in fact in my hand it pretty much rests entirely on my middle finger. After playing this for a week I can honestly say that the enhancements to it have improved upon the design.

Weight

The spikes add about a half a gram of weight over the previous release, nothing to really write home about. This version is still missing that little extra thunk that the third prototype had when it hit the end of the string. The Saint Eel is stable on the string and pretty darn smooth. It feels like a midsized yo-yo on the string with a solid feel to it during play. The best thing that can be said is that the feel of this yo-yo is exactly the same as the previous run. If you like the weight and distribution of the previous generation then you will have no problems with this one.

Response and Bearing

The response is the standard sILYYcone that ILYY uses in all of their releases. It lasts forever and gives tight binds.

The stock bearing is a smaller D-Sized KMK bearing. Unlike the previous generation the bearing in the 2011 Saint Eel is shielded so I didn’t need to clean it like past Saint Eels. The bearing is smooth, quiet, and long spinning.

Playability

The first throw made me realize how much I missed the little sucker. I have owned pretty much every version of the Saint Eel with the exception of the original prototype, but I got to play Frank’s for an extended period of time. I just love the fact that this tiny yo-yo plays as well as my bigger throws. I mean it fits completely in the cup of my One Drop CODE1 but it gives me just as much fun while playing it. Now I must say that micro yo-yos are not for everyone. You have to adjust your play to meet the demands of the smaller yo-yo. While I would not recommend this for a first time metal it is a helpful tool when you want to get your consistency down. For this review I stuck with tricks I know instead of picking up a new one. I wanted to see if it was as easy to hit tougher tricks on this one than it was with say a C3 Halo or even a CODE1. What I found pretty well matches up with what I said earlier, I had to adjust to the small size of the St. Eel. I noticed during Brent Stoles that I more times than not would put the yo-yo through the triangle than land on it, causing a knot if I wasn’t careful. Eli Hops were also brutal, especially behind the head ones. Once I had my aim down I would hit them more often than not and I don’t know if it is all just in my head or not, I feel like I am hitting some of the tricks on my bigger yo-yos, especially Brent Stole, a little bit easier after practicing so much on such a small yo-yo. Now one area of weakness in earlier models was the grinds. The previous run had the electro-polish to it that had a slight satin and were ok, but it still felt off. The 2011 model has a deeper satin to it allowing for much better grinding. I don’t feel as though I am fighting it as much as I have in the past. As I stated earlier this yo-yo is still able to thumb grind even with the new spikes. Those spikes are great looking but not quite as usable as I would have liked. The polished cups don’t allow for easy grabbing of the spikes, raw metal and flesh just don’t work well together. Not really a flaw because previous Eels were never designed for matador play. If they had satined or blasted the cups then those spikes would be infinitely more usable.

Final Thoughts

As with every other ILYY reissue lately, they have taken a proven design and ramped it up. The Saint Eel is still pretty much the micro yo-yo to beat. As I said before this is not for everyone, being such a tiny yo-yo means it may end up frustrating newer players. If you are looking for a great pocket yo-yo this is the one for you, even if you are not I recommend still giving it a go. While everyone is looking for the next competition level yo-yo to hit the market it seems that the fun factor is falling by the wayside. The Saint Eel may not be the next competition yo-yo but it is a whole lot of fun in a tiny steel package.