YoYo Discussion forum - TMBR Irving yo-yo first impressions

I'm not sure if I first saw the Irving on Instagram or YoYoSkills. in any case, I saw that an older crew of players was going for it (Ed, Sonny, Chris), and they generally have good taste, so despite being turned off by the cylindrical shape, I visited the TMBR website and it seemed pretty legit, but I'm not a big wood guy so I didn't pull the trigger.

Then came the videos. They're pretty easy to find on YouTube, and they are impressive. I mean, I'm definitely mediocre at fixed axle, but over the years I've *seen* some impressive faxle play, and seeing repeated suicides just spoke to me. So after I got my paycheck, I headed over to TMBR's site and eBay and rounded up a bunch. Three Irving's arrived yesterday: zebra wood, paduk, and purple heart.

My experience with wood is admittedly very limited. I started yo-yoing in 8th grade, and I picked up a black no jive some time in high school and messed around with it for about a week, then went back to my turbo bumble bee. In 6th grade, a classmate had a BC lightning, and I thought it was really cool, but I didn't see anybody doing any crazy tricks, so in the scheme of things it wasn't that great.

I think players are significantly influence by whatever yo-yo they learn trapeze on. The first impression of the precision yo-yoing requires. The proyo bumble bee set my expectations high, so I can only imagine what wood players expect. Despite my aesthetic preference for metal and my nerdy preference for technology in yo-yos, I have always had a healthy respect for wood players because of the inherent difficulty.

Weight. No idea. Light. The zebra wood feels the lightest. The Paduk is a tad heavier (and a beautiful reddish brown), and the purple heart is definitely the heaviest. Assuming you want to do primarily string tricks, the purple heart is probably the way to go. The other two are more comfortable for looping though, so they're definitely fun.

Knots. You will get them, and the Irving doesn't come apart. I sacrificed one string before using a jewelers screwdriver and then bending a paperclip. Knots around the axle are definitely a string trick show stopper. You have to sit down near a light and fiddle with tiny bits of string. You can call that hard core, like the original mario series with no save games, or you can call it a pain in the ----. I tend to believe it's hardcore when I'm knot free and playing, and a pain in the butt when I'm stopped by a knot. So far I haven't had anything catastrophic, but I can see it happening. I'm not sure how to use the hole in the side of the yo-yo. It's there. I guess it's supposed to be reassuring that I can stare into a little portal and see the abyss of my knot.

Performance. Well, that's the million dollar question, right? It's the best I've ever played in terms of string tricks, though admittedly all I've really played is Tom Kuhn No Jives. It's pretty easy to sleep the yo-yo, in fact sometimes I feel like I have to do a bind if I want it to return to my hand. These aren't the smoothest yo-yos in the world. There is definitely some "vibe", but you're playing a wood fixed axle yo-yo, so I prefer to think of it as rustic. The paduk and the purple heart both have straight sides. The zebra wood is warped some, but not enough to notice bless you press it against another yo-yo. I've been able to do suicides, part of skin the gerbil, boing-e-boing, and a few others. You've seen what better players can do in the videos. It can't compete with a Chief, but who cares. Playing this yo-yo is like playing the board game Operation. There's a clock, you have to be very precise, and when you get it wrong, the yo-yo will basically explode. The stakes are higher in a sense. The difficulty combined with the price (cheap) make this a pretty care free yo-yo for me. It's easy to buy another, and I know I'm going to screw up a lot, so when I do it's not disappointing. I won't trade in my bass line and sovereign, but there will be days when I'm in the mood for a change, and that's when I'll pick up the Irving.

Conclusion: Fun. Buy the take apart version (Irving Pro) or Fremont if you don't want knots to stop your play (or force you into a looping style).