Planet 9 by Yomerica Spindutries
Reviewed by Chris Rhoads
2/28/2010

Introduction

Everyone keeps asking if we are at the beginning of a new yo-yo boom. Depending who you ask we are either currently in a boom, a boom is coming soon, or there is no boom. Honestly, I have no answer for this question. What I can tell you is that a good indicator of a boom is when the new guys start to come out of the woodwork. Some come because they think they can revolutionize the industry, others come because they think they have a quality product to offer, and then there are those who do not care about quality, they just want to make a quick buck. In the past few months we have had a slew of start-ups begin to show their wares, including the company that I am reviewing today, Yomerica Spindustries. They have recently debuted their freshman effort, the Planet 9. This is their shot at making a lasting impression on a community that has more options than ever before.

Specs

  • Diameter: 50 mm
  • Width: 42 mm
  • Gap: 4.9 mm
  • Weight: 65 grams
  • Bearing: C-Sized, Large Bearing
  • Response: Ghost Pad Silicone Stickers

Construction

It is hard not to notice the playful laser etchings when you first open the box. On one side is the Planet 9 planet logo surrounded by a field of stars, on the other side is an atom with smiley face electrons. I am glad someone is taking a more playful approach to the laser etching on their yo-yo, there are too many grim, gruff, and or serious etchings on the market. The only thing that could have upped the looks of this yo-yo would have been if they had used a color other than black. I have never been a fan of black yo-yos. They are a toy; let them look like a bright, playful toy. This just goes with what I have said in the past; you will never look hard while playing with a yo-yo, so why bother trying.

The shape of the yo-yo is extremely similar to others on the market. This isn’t a bad thing as long as it plays well, which we will talk about later. The Planet 9 is a very rounded yo-yo with few flat edges to be found on it. One of the flat areas that you will find is in the gap, the yo-yo has a small high wall added to it, which is necessary in order to accommodate the pad response. In the cup, the center is almost completely flat, with just the slightest of pointed spike rising from the center. This spike is solely aesthetic and does not allow for any type of matador tricks. Moving out from the center of the cup, we have a thick lip adding coveted rim weight and a nice area for IRGs. All-in-all the shape of this yo-yo feels great in the hand and the yo-yo itself looks great as well.

Weight

The Planet 9 weighs in at 65 grams, which is on the light end of what I consider the perfect weight range of 65 – 67 grams. The lightweight gives it great reaction times and fast play while those thick-lipped rims give a great amount of spin time. The weight distribution makes for a fairly smooth yo-yo that recovers well on a bad throw.

Response and Bearing

The bearing is a generic C-Sized, eight ball bearing. I found that it needed a cleaning and light lube to get it spinning well. Out of the box the Planet 9 played a little responsive due in part to the stock bearing setup. After cleaning, the bearing played spectacular.

The other reason the Planet 9 played slightly responsive out of the box was because of the Ghost Pad response setup. On the first few throws, Ghost Pads are extremely grabby. They need to be broken in before they truly begin to shine. After about a half hour of play, the Ghost Pads began to play like they should. They gave killer binds without accidently grabbing the string and subsequently shooting the yo-yo back to the hand. If you are not a fan of Ghost Pads, there are many others on the market to choose from and Yomerica is working on a pad of their own as well.

Playability

The Planet 9 is one fine playing yo-yo. It isn’t vibe free, but the vibe it has is very small, just enough to let the player know that it is spinning. I personally do not mind a hair bit of vibe, it lets me know when the yo-yo is losing rotation and needs to be brought back to the hand. As long as there is not a major vibe or wobble, it really make no difference to me, a fun yo-yo is a fun yo-yo and the Planet 9 is a fun yo-yo. It flies around like a mad man on the string while still being completely controllable. The 4.9 mm gap allows for plenty of string wraps and the rounded gap makes it easy to catch the string.

While it does not look like it has a grind finish on it, the Planet 9 grinds like a dream. If I had to guess I would either say it is a fine soda like finish or it was satined before being anodized. Either way, the end result is a finish that glides like silk on the hand, arm, and palm. IRGs are also a blast. The fat rims easily catch on the thumb and there is no real center hub to impede large thumbs like mine from catching the lip.

Final Thoughts

Yomerica may not revolutionize the industry, but they are by no means trying to make a quick buck at the expense of quality either. The Planet 9 is an extremely solid yo-yo and a fine first effort from this latest start-up company. Fans of light, pad response yo-yos will have a hard time not picking one up. For those of you like me who don’t like black yo-yos, you are in luck as well. Yomerica has plans for special runs of the Planet 9 in new colors. Great job Yomerica, I look forward to seeing your sophomore effort.