First released: March 2019

Description

The Par Avion is a very big yo-yo. The biggest we have ever made. But that’s not where it’s name came from.

It’s not easy trying to describe the subtle differences of how different yo-yos feel in play. There is some good evidence that some (not all) of how players perceive these differences is subjective. We have released over 50 different models in our history and it’s clear for each one that some people like it and some don’t. It’s clear that there are various choices for what people consider to be their favorite One Drop. There is this phenomenon where whatever yo-yo you have been playing will affect how you perceive another one. It’s probably because your muscles and your feel are all adjusted to a particular yo-yo and so you try a different one and it feels strange - you need time to adapt. This phenomenon shows how even the same person will perceive the same yo-yo in different ways depending on when they throw it. Finally, it’s difficult to get agreement on the use of terms that are used to describe yo-yo play and a solid definition of what those terms mean. We have a worked with a PhD Physicist (hi, Dirty Birdy) in trying to quantify these terms but it’s a difficult task because there is no universal agreement of when and where the terms apply.

For this reason, we tend to shy away from describing how a yoyo plays in our product descriptions. We do it sometimes and to some degree, but mostly we feel it’s better if players decide for themselves.

One of the common terms used is “Floaty”. Clearly, a yo-yo can’t float. So what does “floaty” mean? Generally it seems that the term refers to the yo-yo having a lightness of feeling but not necessarily that it simply is light on the scale. It’s likely that the weight distribution plays a big role in creating this feeling. Some have described it as being easy to change the direction of the yo-yo. And there are other possible meanings.

“Par Avion” means “By Airplane” or “By Air Mail”. We chose this name because this yo-yo feels floaty to us and we just liked the sound of it too. Will it feel floaty to you? It may or may not and it will be interesting to see. The Par Avion started it’s design life as us wanting to make the biggest diameter yo-yo we could (as limited by the size of material we can put through our machine) - 62.5mm. We had also been making a lot of organic yo-yos so we thought it would be cool if there was an angular-ness to it. We weren’t sure how well it would play being so big but so far everyone who tries is really surprised - it plays fantastic. It’s fast, agile, and dare we say it, floaty. There we go using terms. But man, this yo-yo is surprising.

We were so impressed with the play that we named it for that. We have only done this twice before: Format:C and Downbeat.

We are looking forward to hearing how you describe the Par Avion in action.