Hello fellow slayers!! Noob here. I wanted to get a new cheap kendama, hence, kendamasyndicate. I already have a natty TK 16 and would preferably look for a tama that has some kind of sticky finish to it. Also, wanted to try out how much stripes help. I was looking at BLK, white camo. What do you say?
BLKs aren't bad. The paint is like a standard rubber kendama, so it isn't "sticky." It's grippy though. Some stickier suggestions that I recommend that are cheap are a Sweets Prime, KUSA Super Stick Tribute, or Sol Pioneer. Although they are sold out at the moment, Sweets usually has some cushion clear tamas for sale that are super grippy. The options aren't as cheap as KS, but they definitely last you a while. And yes, stripes are super helpful. I remember that I landed around USA with 123 earths after each cup within my first year of playing because of the stripes. I doubt I would've been able to track the hole that well when I first started.
I'd actually recommend the Sweets Prime over anything RN, especially if you're a beginner and are looking for a kendama that'll help you land tricks a bit easier. The paint is sticky/tacky and the cups are enlarged. They're not as cheap as BLK, but the price is still very affordable! You can get one for under 20.
I highly recommend the samurai V2 from kendamasyndicate, it has a nice tacky tama and a stripe to help you track!
If you're just looking to test it out any kind of stripe and tacky finish tama then $10 is hard to beat. I haven't had really good luck with rubber coatings however. The ones I've used get cut easily and peel off fairly quickly so YMMV. Halfsplit tama help with tracking as well so that can be a consideration also. Sweets Prime (larger cups) stripes are $22; KUSA Tribute Halfsplits (standard cups) are $20 but again it depends on your budget and what your expectations are.
I always recommend KS.com, they are awesome. That white camo BLK is a great kendama...for $15 after shipping it is really really hard to beat. I have gotten many kendamas from them and have ALWAYS been happy. That BLK will be one of the best intro jammers you can get. I also highly recommend the double stripe maple BLK...I bought three of them and they are great natty kens.
Whenever I vist KS's website they always have that $10 sale and there's always something i get, haha. Solid damas. Those kenco Girr's are dope. Kenco shenzu keyaki is solid. I'd cop one of those girrs imo. They're solid damas and KendamaCo isn't around anymore unfortunately. I have a few of their damas. all solid.
KS seems to have moderate to good damas at inexpensive prices. Well worth the purchase, especially for beginners and intermediate level players.