Review_Freehand

Duncan Freehand

Ooh, lots of Freehands. Well, this is MY review and various tips on the Freehand. If you see any errors, or have any problems with my review and tips, email the error to me. TTYL -sicyo

Intro: This is Duncan's best yo-yo. Of course, some Bearing Wheels may be better. It is also one of the best yo-yos out there. Deffinately the best bang for your buck out there.

Appearance: Right out of the package, this was the widest yo-yo I have ever seen. I mean, it's so fat that.....Oh, nevermind. lol :) The caps are pretty cool looking. They come in Yellow or White. The Yo-yo itself comes in Blue, Red, Yellow, and a special edition green from Infinite Illusions. Also, I think they are working on a clear one. There are a few pics of prototype editions at The Glaas Lab. I got a blue one and it has some weird deformations in the plastic. There are some finger-print-like designs and then there are these little swirls of black. It doesn't seem to effect the play though. After a little while, the caps' design started to wear off on a set of white ones I have.

Play: The Freehand is really good for string tricks. It's really smoothe, it's forgiving, and it holds it's speed really well. The balance is pretty good, only a little wobble. It's even better with my tips below. I use it all the time cuz it's a good practice yo-yo and it's easy to land new string tricks that you are trying. IT is good for about any trick except looping. You don't feel a downgrade or upgrade in performance if you switch from the Freehand to stuff like the SF, SSF, etc. The adjustable gap isn't the best, but it is helpful. If you tighten it all the way, the cap buldges out sometimes. Oh, never, ever take a screwdriver and try and hammer out the caps. They will crack.

Maintenance: This yo-yo uses the new Duncan Friction Stickers and the longest time they've lasted for me is about 4 days. Although, these were the old ones and the new ones might last longer. They do work good though. When you first get the Freehand, make sure to take one off and save it for later, this should help with performance and help the yo-yo last longer in your pocket. :)

Feel: As I said earlier, this is the widest yo-yo I've ever seen, making it really comfortable. It's also kewl cuz instead of, in the case of the Big Kahuna, having all the force of the yo-yo coming back up being absorbed by your hand, it is mostly absorbed by the yo-yo. It also has a nice weight to it.

Injuries: Hmmmm, oh yeah. I once did cold fusion and my sister kicked me and caused the yo-yo to fly up some weird way and I didn't know it but there was a big tangle/knot way down the string. So, I just went ahead and threw another trapese and the yo-yo came back around like an around-the-world on steroids and hit me right in the temple. I'm ok though. :)

Stats:
Profile: Wide Butterfly
Axle: Ball Bearing
Designed For: String Tricks, Freehand
Material: Poly-carb
Price: Nice, about 13 dollars
Weight: 8 or 9
Balance: 8
String Tricks: 8 or 9
Freehand: 9 or 10
Offstring: I dunno, prolly 7 or 8
Looping: 2 to 4
Adjustable Gap: 6 or 7
Over all Rating: 7 or 8

Advice:
#1- Go buy a Super Sleeper Bearing and some Hi-Roller oil from The Yo-Yo Store . They are 9 dollars I believe. Trust me, they work really well and are worth the money. The oil is awesome too. It helps a little with response, but helps alot with sleeping, unusually. The main good thing about the bearing is that it is sooooo smooth and it is stainless steel. The other day, I went to the pool and I ahd my Freehand in my pocket. I forgot to take it out and I jumped in the pool. It still works awesome! lol

#2- If you don't have any Slick 6, get some.

#3 Go to The Entire Universe and go to the Custom Yo-yo section.. Near the bottom, there are weight rings and performance rings. Get some Performance rings and some weight rings. The weight rings aren't essential to making the Freehand work better, but the Performance rings are. I like the weight rings mainly cuz they fit on several othe yo-yos.

#4- Ok, take one of those Performance rings and put it on one side of the yo-yo. If it doesn't stay on too well, don't worry, it will eventually. Otherwise, just put a quarter flat on top of it and push down.

#5- Now, get some of those Yomega Spacers. You prolly have some in your spare parts collection. If you don't, go to any yo-yo store and buy some.

#6- Once you get the spacers, put them on the yo-yo, put the Super Sleeper bearing on, and put a teeny tiny drop of that Hi-Roller oil on.

#7- To take off those ever-so-hard to get off caps on the Freehand, get a flat head screw driver that's really thin and put it in the little groove in between the yoyo and the cap.

#8-Get something hard, not your head, and tap it untill the screwdriver stays in by itself.

#9-Now, push the screwdriver away from the center of the yo-yo. The cap should pop off. Whatever you do, DO NOT try to pop the cap off by unscrewing the yo-yo and hammering the axle or takeing a screw driver and hammering it through the non-axle half hole for the axle.