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SethisBRONZE Member
Pooh-Bah
1,762 posts
Location: York University, United Kingdom


Posted:
Recently I was asked to spin staff at a student party. It was in a college main hall, so was big enough to do stuff in (including throws! Yay for high ceilings!).

Thing was, I only have a fire staff at Uni with me, which is fine for practice and fire, but it sucks monumentally for performance without the burning-ness.

So, I would really like to get a Glow Staff. BUT I have a couple of questions before I go out and spend money (c'mon, I'm a student... biggrin )

Aerotechs are bloody expensive. Prohibitively so.

Yoni gave me the URL of flowtoys.com which do 5'5" staffs for about £40.

What is the difference between the two?

Why do 'Techs cost so much more?

If anyone has bought a Glow Staff and is incredibly pleased with it's performance, can they tell me where they bought it and how much it was?

The purpose of the post is for me to gather information, because I don't want a rip-off price, nor do I want a staff of poor quality. Is there some balance between price and value?

Thanks for your time. ubbrollsmile

After much consideration, I find that the view is worth the asphyxiation.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I may disagree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.


jcrsGOLD Member
the floor is a sea of tigers...
404 posts

Posted:
they break easy... i've had 2 staves and one of them broke within a week and the other broke the same day... having said that, on both occassions, they were being spun by inexperieced spinners.

entheogenGOLD Member
member
173 posts
Location: Berlin, Germany


Posted:
Hmmn, personally I think having a heavy glowstaff for contact style is incredibly stupid, considering the blinky lights completly distract from the contact moves-ex. a matrix and a behind the back transfer horizontal while ducking look nearly identical. Personally I would much rather light weight 1m staffs so high throwing/ juggling and fast spinning are easier, since these are the tricks that compliment LED staffs the most.

I also have the theory not adding unnecessary weight at the ends would make them less likely to break when they fall down.

'There are two mantras in life, yum and yuk. I choose yum.'


*HyperLightBRONZE Member
old hand
1,174 posts
Location: Great Malvern [UK]


Posted:
Adding unnecessary weight seems like a foolish idea to me. You might as well use the extra weight to add extra batteries.

If your toys are re-programmable, they need not be blinky. It could be a really slow colour fade if your toys support that wink

Cake or Death?


Helen_of_PoiSILVER Member
lapsed spinner
412 posts
Location: Dublin, Ireland


Posted:
Hmm, good to be aware that they break easily - I'm not a very good staffer, so that could be an issue. I wasn't really thinking of contact, more of doubles spinning - I figure if it's dark enough for glow toys, you can't really see the body anyway, so the impact of contact is lost.

Thanks for the feedback. Reckon I'll give them a miss.

Helen_of_Poi

EJC Ireland 2006 Organisational Team


entheogenGOLD Member
member
173 posts
Location: Berlin, Germany


Posted:
Exactly, unless your planning on covering your costume with LED wire or blacklight, doing contact tricks is just stupid. And even if that, when you would do clean contact in a blacklight suit, the majority of the audience would probably the whole thing is faked anyway, I mean, I would, thats the cool thing about black light, its so easy to fake crap.

I mean, when you consider how fantastic MCPs antispin doubles stuff would look with programmable LED staffs to how incredibly unspectacular her contact routine would look with LED, the ideal staff construction size and weight should be clear. Do you need a stupidly heavy staff for contact? Yes. For antispin/juggling? No

By the way Hyperlight, if you ever need anyone to test out the durability for LED juggling style staffs (which would probably require a stupid amount of trial and error), Id LOVE to help out.

'There are two mantras in life, yum and yuk. I choose yum.'


LazyAngelGOLD Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
2,895 posts
Location: Cambridge UK


Posted:
*bump*
just bought a couple of the yoho staves:
A quick review:

Price: £15 each

availability: I found them in the kiddies section of Borders

bendiness: lots in the light up parts

weighting: not too bad: the batteries are in the center but the ends are weighted, meaning the weight comes out in the center of each half.

grip: only in the center, quite grippy foam

light options: colour phase, 1 colour or fast strobe cycle (rgb) aka 'disco mode'

other notes: takes 6 AAA batteries/ staff, staff unscrews into two sections, each end seperately programmable by a switch. Turns off when dropped. Have managed basic contact with it (SNES/wraps/conveyor belt) but the matrix could be a bit of a pain to manage

I'll update when they break

on a side note, the yoho glowpoi also broke for me when being used by inexperienced people

Because ActiveAngel sounds like a feminine deodorant

Like sex, I'm much more interesting in real life than online.

'Be the change you want to see in the world around you' - Ghandi


LazyAngelGOLD Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
2,895 posts
Location: Cambridge UK


Posted:
Ok: so exposure to a monkey caused breakage at sheffield PiP



subject to further evaluation, here is my rating of these staffs, according to the smiley rating system:

1/10= censored

2/10= angry

3/10= ubbcrying

4/10= frown

5/10= umm

6/10= rolleyes

7/10= smile

8/10= biggrin

9/10= cool

10/10= sunny



*Disclaimer: this is completely subjective and people may find the inappropriate use of smilies offensive*



Prettiness: smile 7

as they're quite short and have mirrors in the end to reflect light, they have a decent level of brightness, also the options between slow phase, strobe and single colour are quite nice



durablilitycensored 1

the weighted end broke off when dropped on a hard wooden floor: however, it survived numerous drops on grass and several onto tarmac beforehand. Also, the ends turn off they hit something. Also, don't lean them against a wall for any length of time!

Recently, I discovered problems with the contacts inside the glow staff, which mean that the end may turn off at the least little bit of vibration or just not turn on at all. This means I'm taking off an extra point and giving a zero as toys should at least have functioning battery contacts. I'm looking at a way to rewire around this with a mate though.





Value for money: umm 5

at £15, the cheapest glow staff I've seen on sale. However, loses points for not being rechargable and taking 6 AAA batteries (although yes, you could use rechargable batteries) also for being waay to unreliable (see durability), a problem which increases with time



portability cool 9

unscrews into two main parts, but doesn't completely fit into my rucksack as such, unless I unscrew the handles (which contain the batteries as well) thus creating 4 parts from one staff



ease of use: smile 7

different modes are easy to select via buttons (1 press= change to different mode, hold down = off) on handle, but not so easy to change mid spin. Also battery insertion requires a fairly tiny philips screwdriver



suitability for contact: ubbcrying 3

although the foam grip makes it possible to pull off some contact moves, and the weight distribution isn't too bad, the vibration/wobble in the ends and fragility of the staff makes it unsuitable for contact, although I can manage some basic stuff with it, which means it can't be that bad.



suitability for technical spinning: biggrin 8

given the price, its a cheap route to a set of glow doubles and they do look quite pretty: also being able to seperately program the ends allows for some nice effects, and they are short enough to play in inside planes with ease (for me at least) On the other hand, the central location of the grip and weighting makes them a bit wierd to grab in places other than the center, and the turning off when you hit something can be annoying



other features: smile 7

comes with a CD with footage of people spinning the staffs at UberOz and a bunch of video tutorials with Kyle McLean. Gains bonus points for having a) somebody who can actually 'do' staff giving tutorials and b) mentioning the word isolation and c) showing people how to link a bunch of stuff together into a 'freestyle' rather than just saying: 'spin the staff clockwise, throw the staff'.

Also the two parts of the staffs can be seperated for use as clubs, and also for guiding in any local airplanes.



overall rating smile 4

for the price a very reasonable staff. good fun to play with, particularly if you like techincal doubles. However, it is severely let down by some poor design elements: the weakness of the plastic light tubes and the sketchiness of the electrical contacts



Any comments/agreements/disagreements?

Also rating system: does it work/is it useful/easy to understand?
EDITED_BY: LazyAngel (1199285971)

Because ActiveAngel sounds like a feminine deodorant

Like sex, I'm much more interesting in real life than online.

'Be the change you want to see in the world around you' - Ghandi


ElectricBlueGOLD Member
Now with extra strawberries
810 posts
Location: Canberra, Australia


Posted:
I have had bad exeperinaces with the yoho staffs and poi breaking. The poi would break where the string attaches to the ball and the staff just plain stoped working.

But it seems that they have changed the poi design, it looks a lot stronger and would be easyer to fix if the little strings broke beacuse the are attached out side the ball rather than in the un reachable battery case. So maybe they have changed the staff design some what too?

I {Heart} hand me downs and spinning in the snow.<br /><br />


LazyAngelGOLD Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
2,895 posts
Location: Cambridge UK


Posted:
where did the staffs break for you?

Because ActiveAngel sounds like a feminine deodorant

Like sex, I'm much more interesting in real life than online.

'Be the change you want to see in the world around you' - Ghandi


ElectricBlueGOLD Member
Now with extra strawberries
810 posts
Location: Canberra, Australia


Posted:
Basicly the one end would just not turn on one day even with battery change and a bit of TLC. I managed to pull it apart and fix it up a bit but not may people would have the time/equipment to do that.

I think most of there gear is not designd for seriouse use mostly just kiddy stuff. But the actuall light unit of the poi seem to be fairly sturdy it is just the rigging that fails.

I {Heart} hand me downs and spinning in the snow.<br /><br />


mparkerSILVER Member
member
70 posts
Location: Houston, Texas, USA


Posted:
Ok, I have a question about the Flowtoys flowstaff, if anyone can help me.
Does anyone have one that they can tell me about? It looks like it has a solid center, rather than the usual clear polycarbonate tubing. I'm not overfond of the clear tubing as it's rather bouncy, which I do not like (at least on the one I have). I like a firm, solid staff. Does this have a good feel, and is it difficult to see the staff to catch in the dark with the ends on, because since it seems to be a black grip I'm worried about missing it on throws.

Though I was very interested in the Concentrate staff when it was announced, as the lighting features sound great...but I am just NOT a fan of the polycarbonate tubing, and really have my heart set on a solid grip area. The lit-up ones mess with my depth perception something fierce. So I'm looking for a good alternative.

This all comes about because last night my 67 year old mom played with my current glow staff and now desperately wants one. (GO MOM! Rock that stick!) and I see this as a great opportunity to upgrade AND make mom happy.

mcpPLATINUM Member
Flying Water Muppet
5,276 posts
Location: Edin-borrow., United Kingdom


Posted:
if you email flowtoys / sean, he should be able to provide you with a solid metal center piece for the 3 piece flowstaffs. He did for me. It dampens almost all the bounce out of the polycarbonate. And the rest is good training.

"the now legendary" - Kaskade
"the still legendary" - Kaskade

I spunked in my friend's aquarium and the fish ate it. I love all fish. Especially the pink ones. They are my bitches. - Anon.


mparkerSILVER Member
member
70 posts
Location: Houston, Texas, USA


Posted:
That sounds absolutely perfect. Thanks so much Meg! I'll give him/them a chat





Michelle
EDITED_BY: mparker (1193937532)

-sandy-BRONZE Member
old hand
716 posts
Location: Bristol, United Kingdom


Posted:
Has anyone actually played with the concentrate glow staff? im thinking of getting one (maybe two) since they come in nice lengths.
Hop says that its a good weight for contact too, i just want to know if it will break in no time or bounce all over the place.

"Don't do it naked!"


LazyAngelGOLD Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
2,895 posts
Location: Cambridge UK


Posted:
just updated the review on the yoho staff

Because ActiveAngel sounds like a feminine deodorant

Like sex, I'm much more interesting in real life than online.

'Be the change you want to see in the world around you' - Ghandi


sean_flowtoysBRONZE Member
stranger
14 posts
Location: Berkeley, CA, USA


Posted:
regarding rechargeability, I would say anything that takes common rechargeable batteries, like AAA, just add on the price of your batteries and charger and consider it rechargeable! I can tell you from the development side, that you will still have saved money over what it would have cost with built-in batteries and charger, and when they die, you can just switch them out! effectively making your run-time unlimited.
on the other hand, it is nice to be able to just plug in your prop without fiddling with batteries...
which would you prefer? replaceable batteries, or just plug and charge?
btw, we are most likely making our next poi product with internal battery (plug to charge) but it can be replaced when it reaches the end of it's life (500-100 charge cycles).

and yes, spread the word, if you have any questions about flowtoys, just email me!

find your flow...


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