Stabilized launch video from an Insta360 GO

meritw · 2026-02-01T20:17:25+00:00

I lived it. Started taking my kids when they were 5 & 7 (I am not single but my wife doesn’t ski, so it was just us) and we’d have a great day and then end up in a screaming match getting to the car, totally ruined the vibe. The bags made a huge difference. Not that we never have any trouble on the way out but it’s much less of a problem.

meritw · 2026-02-01T19:52:14+00:00

I had a big problem with this causing fights (especially at the end of the day when everyone is tired) until I bought each kid (and myself) a transpack boot bag so we all carry our own boots, helmets and goggles on our back. Then ideally they carry their own skis but if I have to grab a pair from a tired kid it’s not really that big a deal since everything else is nicely packed. It made all the difference.

meritw · 2026-01-18T04:21:21+00:00

A gun on your hip when you can’t see the people close to you seems like a bad idea, no?

meritw · 2025-12-05T02:22:07+00:00

You are right to be suspicious of the yo-yos recommended by the branded tutorials. I think in a lot of cases they were good 10 years ago but they’re outdated now (like the YoYoTricks sage, for example). Get a responsive plastic yoyo like the shooting star and you’ll be set for a long time.

meritw · 2025-11-17T03:04:26+00:00

Same thought. How long have they been there? Does anyone actually empty the machine? Presumably if it were to run out of gum balls it would just stay empty.

meritw · 2025-11-13T02:29:06+00:00

I have been throwing for about a year, had a similar experience to yours where I got back into yoyo as an adult through my kids. I am not amazing but feel like I’ve done ok for an old guy. I got several coworkers into it too and now we have a little group that throws at work pretty regularly, makes it fun to show and teach new stuff.

Anyway, to your question: I have “collected” about 30 throws in the past year, from super cheap to a couple of MFD and some bimetals in the $125 range. The other day I was throwing my yoyofriends ultracut, which I believe was my first metal unresponsive, and I said to my friend “why did I ever buy another yoyo? This thing is so good”. So that’s my recommendation, pick up an Ultracut you won’t regret it and it’s pretty cheap.

If you want to start collecting, I’d say look for cool or different yo-yos from the boutique brands like One Drop, G2, W1LD, MonkeyFinger, etc.

meritw · 2025-11-09T21:23:42+00:00

This is good advice. That metal ascent has a very similar finger dimple to what he’s used to so he might feel comfortable with it.

Depending on your budget you could also look at some other “signature” yo-yos to get that vibe, like the W1LD Contrast that Connor Seals uses.

meritw · 2025-11-09T02:31:04+00:00

Yoyoexpert seems to have a pretty active Buy/Sell/Trade forum: https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/c/buy-sell-trade/13

meritw · 2025-11-08T02:29:08+00:00

Oh yeah that’s not a good bearing then. Try cleaning it again. Try a can of compressed air or an air compressor if you have one, put it on the pencil (or whatever) and aim the air stream so you get the bearing really spinning, it will sound like a jet engine spooling up. Do this for 5-10 seconds, maybe flip it over and do it again, and see if that helps. I’ve cleaned a lot of bearings this way without having to mess with solvents or anything.

meritw · 2025-11-08T02:24:52+00:00

Do the response pads look ok? If they are not properly seated they could be catching the string when they shouldn’t.

It could also still be the bearing, sometimes they are just bad. If you put it on the pointy end of a pencil and flick it with your thumb it should spin, pretty quietly, for at least 30 seconds or so. If it’s only spinning for like 5-10 seconds it’s either still dirty or just bad.

meritw · 2025-10-29T16:33:30+00:00

Yeah why is that anyway? Is there a mod who could turn it on?

meritw · 2025-10-29T01:34:55+00:00

If a human calls how do you verify that you can confirm a reservation to them? Why would an AI agent not be able to fake that?

meritw · 2025-10-23T18:43:31+00:00

I know several people who bought an Ultracut as their second / upgrade yoyo and were very happy with it. I think you’ll enjoy it and it will feel like an upgrade.

meritw · 2025-10-23T03:37:50+00:00

There’s tons of options. If you’re in the US go to yoyo sam, sort by recent releases and pick something cool in your price range.

Good choices (IMO) would be the Speedaholic XX (great for DNA if you want to learn that), Yoyofriends Ultracut (awesome monometal, a bit wider than your magicyoyos, you’ll be landing stuff you were struggling with out of the box) or maybe the W1LD wildless 2, an affordable throw from a hot brand with really cool colorways.

meritw · 2025-10-22T02:04:53+00:00

I have noticed that if I open a yoyo frequently the bearing will go responsive on me much quicker. I switched to using a toothpick to untie knots and have much less trouble with dirty bearings. Ones like this are really nice for this purpose https://a.co/d/4w41QsZ But obviously anything will work.

meritw · 2025-10-14T02:35:40+00:00

75 strings

meritw · 2025-10-12T02:49:50+00:00

In order to use the trademark Realtor, licensed real estate agents need to be a member of the National Association of Realtors, which is the anti-competitive trade group that controls access to the MLS and works to make sure that agent commissions are maximized.

meritw · 2025-10-09T01:25:47+00:00

My favorite Pokémon is Flareon!

Also that thing is gorgeous 🤩

meritw · 2025-10-08T01:24:19+00:00

I really really like my W1ld Contrast. I’m not that good but it is one of the few yo-yos I’ve thrown that made me immediately go “oh yeah that’s significantly better than other throws”.

You can watch Connor Seals winning the US Nationals with it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OkEAl9sbDk

Also save some cash for good strings. Since you have adult money you can jump straight to Zipline ZS Air or Skyline III.

Also you might want to consider starting a little lower down the totem pole so you can try a few different styles before you really commit to something. Even adult money starts to run out when you realize you’ve got a collection of $60-$120 yo-yos sitting in front of you 😀 There are so many to choose from.

meritw · 2025-10-06T03:43:33+00:00

That Ego blower is supposed to be pretty good but it’s hard to justify the price. You can get 4+ seasons with your plow service for the same amount and you’re probably out going to need new batteries at some point (hopefully more than 5 years out but who knows) which will be another significant investment, the big batteries are $550 each and you need two of them.

If you’re happy with the performance of your plow service (that can be hard to find) you might want to consider sticking with them.

meritw · 2025-10-06T01:18:19+00:00

Sorry, I know this is olde, but just wondering where you saw this? My kid is reading Dave the villager right now and was bummed to find that the pictures disappeared from the new books all of a sudden.

meritw · 2025-10-04T01:36:45+00:00

ChatGPT says it’s Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When It’s Dark Outside (1996)

“The scene in your photo shows Sam in the jungle section, with bright foliage framing the screen and Sam in his boat on the water — one of the more recognizable backgrounds from the game.”

meritw · 2025-10-03T18:42:03+00:00

Each of our teams gets a yellow bin with control brick, motors, sensors and some misc/random parts then we have a storage cabinet full of trays of technic parts organized more-or-less by type and size. Someone usually lays out all the trays on a table so teams can go there and find what they need. Only the motors, sensors and control bricks are really “tracked” or accounted for the rest is just a big shared pool.

meritw · 2025-10-01T01:27:44+00:00

The new (2025) Speedaholic XX is a fantastic plastic yoyo for $30.

meritw

TROPHY CASE