Just got a northern rip and couldn't be happier with it! Definitely recommend northern but I can't say for any others
I'm totally down with supporting small companies as long as they maintain a good relationship with the community. Aside from quality of product, I'd like to see good customer relations from the company (hassle free returns, polite communication, actually makes an effort to be active in the local and larger kendama community, etc.). One example i can cite is our local company here in the Philippines, Philken Kendama. Unfortunately, they're currently on hiatus (Broken CNC Lathe), but the owner was a great advocate of kendama love. Not only selling did he sell kendama that had good quality for price, but he showed up at events and repped the sport to non-players (he used to regularly post "first big cup/ first spike" vids on his Company's social media accounts).
You can tell how much the small company owner(s) love kendama by the product they put out. A number of them (Sol, Analog, DWI, Pineapple, etc) have totally unique painted setups from each other and the bigger named brands (some exceptions do apply here, like @CodyGriz said buying from the same manufacturer will often end up with same/similar products as others, especially when they first start out and havent quite figured out their voice in the kendama world). I think once they hit the ground running, they start to really find their own style of paint and colorways as well as shape and size of the kens. And seeing these same companies sponsor and support many players in the community and being out in their local scenes and helping their players in their own respective scenes again just really shows the love that they have for this little wooden toy. A lot of people who know me know that I absolutely love and support Sol Kendamas, and I think that they're a great example of a smaller kendama company doing the community right by what they do for players and the community in general.
@Nitram707 had a post on his insta where he said to not buy from them. He ordered some damas from the, and IIRC (if I remember correctly), he didn't get his refund back even with two emails to them.