New Breed by YoYoJam

Reviewed by Jared Alperin

Introduction

Eric Koloski has been an innovator in the scene since he began competing in 1999. His constantly evolving style was pushing the limits of his first signature yoyo, the K-OS, and a new yoyo was needed to fit his quick and technical style of play. YoYoJam has been known for working with a plastic known as celcon, and it was decided that Eric’s new signature yoyo would be the first to implement this plastic with their well-known aluminum rims, while still being fairly affordable. Thus, the New Breed was born.

Specs

• Diameter: 55.85 mm
• Width: 44.14 mm
• Gap: 5.2 mm
• Weight: 67.5 grams
• Bearing: C-Sized
• Response: YYJ Silicone Pad

Construction

The first thing that caught my eye when I opened up the New Breed was how massive this yoyo is. It’s the widest yoyo in my entire collection, and also has one of the larger diameters. This is certainly not a pocket yoyo. The caps are very reflective, and give the yoyo a nice industrial feel. Everything seems very well put together and durable, although the edges of my caps have worn a bit after a hefty amount of play. A flaw I quickly noticed was in the celcon, which was heavily laden with machine marks. I’m not sure whether it was just this particular New Breed, but the marks were definitely noticeable while holding the yoyo, and gave it a feel of cheap manufacturing. That aside, it’s one of my favorite looking in YoYoJam’s arsenal to date.

The simple wide butterfly shape is very functional, although not the most innovative in today’s giant market. It’s very comfortable in my hands, which are on the larger side, and the celcon is almost soft to the touch.

Weight

The New Breed may look heavy on paper, but because of the extreme diameter and width, it actually is much lighter on the string than I originally expected. That being said, I still found this yoyo to be quite sluggish. It feels like you have to force it through tricks that require larger or more defined motions. This may be due to the large width, and the fact that even more weight is pushed towards the edge of the yoyo by the aluminum rims. In the end, this yoyo has a nice and unique feel, even if it tends to feel a bit slow.

Response and Bearing

This yoyo is one of Yoyojam’s first to sport their new YYJ Silicone Pads. I was very pleased with their performance. They seemed to have no ‘grabbiness’ whatsoever, while still providing snappy binds at my whim. With a gap as large as this, I expected to find the response to feel somewhat slippy, but was quickly reassured with a tight bind after every throw.  The yoyo was completely unresponsive through multiple string wraps, and even sloppy whips. My one complaint about these new pads, is that they don’t seem to last very long in the celcon recess. It may either be the adhesive isn’t strong enough for the plastic, or the silicone just isn’t durable enough, but within a week, one of them flew out of the recess and straight into my wall. Luckily, I had a handful of replacements lying around (which I recommend you do as well!).

The New Breed comes stock with a stainless C-sized YYJ ‘speed’ bearing. This was my first experience with their new bearings, and it is a large improvement from the ones they originally used (which tended to tarnish very easily). I found it to be long spinning and unresponsive right off the bat. One issue that many plastic bearing seats have, including this one, is they tend to create extra noise while the yoyo is spinning. I had to keep a drop of lube in the bearing to avoid it becoming extremely loud. I was glad to see YoYoJam stepping up to the standard ‘high-performance bearing’ that you’ll find with so many other companies as well.

Playability

This yoyo is extremely solid. It performed beyond my expectations of any yoyo in this price range. As long as you give it that extra ‘push’ I spoke of early, it can fly through any combo without fail. It’s very stable, and quite forgiving on throws that are slightly off center. Finger and arm grinds tend to be mediocre, as celcon honestly does not compare with anodized and blasted aluminums (regardless of how it may be advertised). I also found thumb grinds to be nearly impossible with this yoyo’s rim. Unless your thumbs are about a fourth the size of mine, you’re going to have a hard time hopping this throw onto your thumb consistently. I also want to note, that this yoyo does have the infamous “YYJ Vibe”, which I’ve found with all of their products I’ve tried. I was unsuccessfully in tuning any of it out, so if you’re looking for dead smooth, you’re out of luck.

Final Thoughts

Despite it not conforming to my usual preferences and the few put-offs, its performance is undeniably impressive. Its stability and weight distribution are both winners, and it can take whatever it is you have to throw at it. Listed at around $40, all of its flaws can be forgiven, and it truly shines in terms of affordable play. If you’re looking for a large, solid playing yoyo at a low cost, do not hesitate to try a New Breed