I always find myself returning back to my Krom Pop. The shape is just perfect for everything and the price makes it fine to thrash and drop on the concrete without remorse. It always has the best tracking and all around play-ability.
Nice! I've been thinking of getting pop as my next dama. It's insanely cheap and a lot of people are saying its a great dama!
I have a couple of jammers right now. My 2018 bonz Pro mod, a 2017 iji mod and a pop ken with an oase legend mod tama
Nice! I just wanted to ask how is the Krom 2018 pro mod going for you? I heard its a honed dama like the pop.
I love the new Krom 2018 Pro Mods, such an amazing shape and paint for lunar tricks. Also it is 1% larger, probably my favorite part. I also love the Maple Craft Slims (recent release) because they are just so honed all around. Slings, lunars, and stalls amazingly well. If I could create a banger high quality setup, I would take a slim ken and lace it up to a Rolf pro mod tama.
I really like it, but weights are Way of, so that took me some time to gået used to. Also the paint is a lot less sticky and more slippery than my other damas with lol clear
@KenWave We already had a similar thread so yours has been merged. You might have missed it when you searched because of the different spelling of "Favourite" and "Favorite" in the titles.
Lately my everyday Kendama's been a red Stitch GT-E1. It's pretty durable and my best all around kendama right now. I don't think it's my best at any single kind of trick but it's pretty good at everything.
Totally opinionated but I want to hear what everyone’s perspectives are -List brand and model -Personally my Masako Mod from ‘Deal With It’ kendamas is my favorite. The maple wood and Sticky AF make it my best controlled kendama. It even feels more solid for some reason. Just ordered the Zawa Mod from them and am completely stocked to get it. -Curious to hear about Homegrown and Crafts because I haven’t tried either but both seem amazing.
Favorite brand right now: Grain Theory Best GTs in my opinion: Aynedter Mod or Ben Herald mods Huge cups, amazing lunars, unique feel Best brand (in my opinion): Krom Kendama Best Kroms also in my opinion: Krom 1% pro mods Krom is always pushing kendama shapes and paints, amazing over all ^^^Out of these two, I would have to say crafts are better, but I have more experience with crafts. I own both but really like the craft quality and shape over HG shape. I personally own something like 10 crafts and 2 homegrowns. I have tried multiple other peoples homegrowns too though. I find Kendama USA's crafts to be some of the best kendamas in the game right now. These have some of the largest cups around, the "Craft Plus" cups are HUGE, and they play so well. The slim shape is more of a slinger kendama, and the shift shape is more of a juggles and lunar kendama based on it is more beefy. I prefer the slim shape more, but I think the Shift shape is more popular over all. Craft Plus' are probably the best, but you only can experience how good they are if you are an experienced player, have big hands, or both. All crafts are pretty amazing for stall tricks, and can lunar and sling quite well, even though certain shapes have their advantages. Overall: Some amazing kendamas I recommend you try, maybe even the "best" kendamas are: GT-KA, GT-BH, Krom 1%, Krom Slaydawg, and Craft (shift, slim, plus models). From personal experience, these all play really well, and all brands are fairly reputable. (KUSA may have the best customer service tho) Currently my top rotation kendamas are my: Legaxis x GT-BH, and Jake Fischer 1% pro mod.
As far as a brand all together GT and Terra are my favorites but Craft too for the kendama alone. I love the branding styles and aesthetics but most importantly the high quality craftsmanship and generally well balanced kendamas (specifically sarado/sword/tama weights and not just random pieces of wood stuck together). As we all know though, in kendama it’s all about the shape! There are currently so many companies/people that are creating their own take on the kendama shape. One of my favorite parts of kendama is trying new shapes and there’s some really good, innovative and unique ones out right now. With that said I don’t think I could really say I have a one absolute favorite. Right now I’ve been loving both GT legaxis (ka/bh), Craft Shift and Slim (any wood) also both Plus, and Terra prefects. Also I should add prior to the Prefect and new craft shapes, I played a lot of GT-1s, GT stodd’s and Homegrown next gens. These days I mostly buy/play “premium” damas because as I said above I love quality craftsmanship etc. but as far as shape alone i think it’s a great time to just pick a Dama and go for it. Kroms 1%, Analog’s Squab, Sweets Prime/Next Gen, DWI V2, Sol’s “Sol Shape”, Pineapples new shape, some smaller North American ones and past that to all the Japanese, European and anywhere else that have serious companies in the industry. I realize I’ve hardly given any specific direction but my point really is just do a little research based on what you like and then try as many as you can! One last thing to keep in mind is every ken no matter the shape/company (excluding Rez) plays differently because all wood is different. So I wouldn’t dismiss a company completely if one Dama isn’t perfect. This is a lot more than I planned on typeing but if someone can take something away from it then that’s awesome.
Oooohhhh. Totally forgot about Sol! How could I? Yep they have AMAZING customer service and also AMAZING kendamas! I need more sols The sol shape is really great for most tricks, a very well rounded kendama shape, but lacks a little in slings/lunars is the weights get too far off. I also love the Sol Flows, but those seem to be retiring, at least they have been on sale for a while, and have no new models. Flows have crazy wood combos and the increased size makes them so fun to play!
I’ve been on the edge of getting a craft and just after this description I think I will in the near future. Still will have to figure out what type of craft I think I’ll prefer. And just wondering if you’ve played with a ‘Deal With It’ I’ve never had a $65+ kendama and am not sure how all the kendamas from DWI are but man the masako plays really really well compared to everything I have other than my GT. If not might look into getting one I highly recommend them and they’re semi cheap at 35 for almost all of they’re products.
I am thinking if you like your DWI you would probably gravitate towards a Craft Shift or Craft Plus, because those are more similar to DWI's. The GT-E1s are actually made by the same manufacturer as "Deal With It" and Matt Rice is the owner of DWI, co-owner of GT, and pro for terra, so it seems like every company he influences has amazing products. But on the note of GT-E1's, they are made in a chinese factory, unlike the USA made GT's and Legaxis made GTs from the USA and Japan, which you will generally find higher quality control because they are made by people with kendama play ability in mind, not just random workers.
@Seth Gossett We have a number of related threads so yours has been merged to one of the longest running ones. (@ttocsic thanks for the heads-up) The Search function (a very handy feature ) turned up these as well: Best kendama shape Best kendama company Favorite Series What is your favorite company? Favorite kendama company owner? Best kendama you've played!
Lots of new shapes out there not so I thought I'd bump this to see what the favorites of these days. Here's one I've been jamming lately. Still miss my aTacks but this is pretty nice.