One Drop V4M Bearing Lubricant
Reviewed by Chris Rhoads
November 29, 2010

Ok, I have been playing with this lubricant for several weeks now and I figure it is about time I write up a few of my thoughts on the V4M. You will have to bear with me a little bit, I have never written a review for lubricant.

A little bit of the backstory on the V4M; the guys over at One Drop have wanted to offer an in-house brand of lubricant but never seemed to find a type that gave the performance they were looking for. Fast forward a bit and in steps resident mad scientist and One Drop enthusiast “dirty_birdy” (DB to his friends), an avid poster on the One Drop forums and close friend to both Shawn and David. DB contacted the guys asking what they were looking for in a lubricant and then went to task finding just the right formula. After extensive research, DB was able to source a very low viscosity lubricant that was deemed fitting of the One Drop name and the rest was history.

Now that we have a little backstory on the product, lets get to the actual performance of the lubricant. First off, I have not tried a lot of the yo-yo lubricants on the market today. I have stuck with YYJ Thin Lube since about day one of my first bearing yo-yo purchase. While I like YYJ Thin Lube I have found that anything but the smallest drop of it will degrade the performance of the bearing until thoroughly broken in. When I switched over to the V4M I was expecting a similar experience so I applied a pin tip sized drop of the lube and worked it into the freshly cleaned 10-Ball bearing from my 54. After placing the bearing back into the yo-yo and giving it a good throw I thought I had messed up. The bearing did not get instantly quiet or slightly responsive like it did after lubing with YYJ Lube. What I found was that this lube needed a good ten to fifteen minutes of play for the V4M lube to work its way around the guts of the bearing. Once properly worked in the bearing got decidedly quieter while retaining the same level of play as if it were a stock, dry 10-Ball. This is exactly what I have been looking for in a lubricant. I am an impatient person so anything that allows me to lube and then throw as if it were dry without having to break it in is pretty much the perfect product for me.

Final Verdict

This is the lubricant to beat at the moment as far as dedicated yo-yo lubricants are concerned. It gives all the protection needed for the bearings in today’s modern yo-yos while allowing them to spin as if their bearings were dry. If you like a quiet bearing but hate to wait for the lube to break in, this is the accessory you need in your case.