I got out of yoyoing for a few years because there just was not anyone really pushing any new technology onto the yoyo market and the sport as a whole took a small dive for a while. Recently there has been quite an upturn in new manufacturers, technology and overall interest in the sport/hobbie. I owned several dozen yoyo's at one point ranging from a few dollars to close to two hundred dollars. Sold most of them off a few years ago. Recently I came across a few new yoyo's while at Bird In Hand (a gift/toy shop in Chico) For those of you that don't know Chico hosts the national yoyo championships every year in the fall.Thus making Chico a "hot bed" of yoyoing :-) in California. Bird in Hand also houses the national yoyo museum with thousands of rare and collector yoyo's from the 50's up to today. They also are the only shop north of Sacramento that carries a diverse selection of yoyos, from beginner to master level.
I am currently throwing the yoyo factory grind machine 2 as my main yoyo. I also own several others from yoyo factory as well as some yoyjam yoyo's.
If you look at the photo of the GM2 you will notice some funny looking thingys poking out from the center. For those new to yoyoing most newer high performance yoyo's use an axle that is actually a sealed ball bearing similar to those used in computer hard drives. This allows for very long spin times that are required for todays more advanced tricks. The two thingys I mentioned earlier are also bearings with a plastic cover allowing the yo to spin while being held by the thingys. Those "thingys" are actually called hubstacks and they allow for a whole new realm of new tricks :-)
