News:

English-language friendly kendama forum open for everyone worldwide. Welcome!

Main Menu

Sweets Naked Kendama

Started by Anthony A, 21 April, 2012, 06:34:22

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Anthony A

Hey. So I just got one of these in the mail yesterday. Does anyone have any other experience with these?

Here are my initial impressions. Keyword initial.

Out of the box the thing is sticky as hell. Paint felt like sand paper! I actually dropped a few lighthouses and one turn lighthouses because I playing it like any other glossy kendama. This crazy sticky feeling didn't last for long though. It's already much slipperier but still more grippy than my worn in 2011 Oozora. I'm interested to see if it wears in better or just gets really slippery like it's getting now.

The ken feels solid as usual but the cups are not pushed down far enough. This makes lunars pretty hard. This is an easy fix though and I plan on sanding down the ken to get the cups down further.

The spike is kinda sad looking in my opinion. Not sharp like my old Sweets UV. I plan on filing it to make it better.

The hole is also sad looking as well. My friend got one on the same day as me as well and his is pretty much the same size as the Oozora's. My hole also doesn't have a very good taper (where it starts out wide and gets smaller) It appears to be off center. I'll post a picture tomorrow so you can see what I mean.

The string is pretty cool looking. It's white with black candy cane like stripes. It seems to get tangled up SUPER easily though. I think it's because it is getting stuck in the paint in the string hole. Hopefully this will go away over time.

Overall:

I was really impressed in the beginning. It seemed too sticky to be true! After about a day and a half of play I still like it but it's not without it's flaws. I have had bad luck on finding that "sticky" kendama. Both my 2011 Oozora and non-frosted Sweets UV are super slippery. I was hoping this Naked would end my bad luck streak. Only time will tell to see how it breaks in. I'll post some pics tomorrow if I can remember.

kendamajohnny

I bought a sweets naked and a frosted focus when they first came out. They started off very sticky and nice to use, but after a week of two of use they turned into the slippiest kendamas i own. They are still really slippery, but are very good for stilts and the kens are very sturdy and don't wear down easily.

Anthony A

Quote from: kendamajohnny on 21 April, 2012, 17:54:40
I bought a sweets naked and a frosted focus when they first came out. They started off very sticky and nice to use, but after a week of two of use they turned into the slippiest kendamas i own. They are still really slippery, but are very good for stilts and the kens are very sturdy and don't wear down easily.

I was afraid that was going to happen... Oh well. I'm just glad I ordered my biggie with a glossy finish. Decided to play it safe with that one.

The Void

Cheers for the reviews, guys. If I go for a Sweets at some point, I think I'll go for a standard Focus....
If you don't want to BUY MY BOOKS 😉, then why not ask your local library to order them in, and read them for free? That would help too. Cheers!

Anthony A

Quote from: The Void on 22 April, 2012, 12:12:23
Cheers for the reviews, guys. If I go for a Sweets at some point, I think I'll go for a standard Focus....

No problem! I'm trying to get more reviews up on here. There are so many kendamas out now it's hard to figure out which ones to get. I also just got a new Sweets Biggie so I'll put up an initial review of that one soon.

kendama_River

I have ordered a couple of kens from sweets and every one i get is different.. this is really frustrating because the first one i got, i really liked but then the next two where so different and not what i intend.  I had the same problem with the cups, i did what you where talking about. just sanding them down a bit so it would ft better. overall tho, i have been pretty disappointed with sweets. alt ought there paint colors are pretty awesome.


Thorny

I've only played a first generation Focus Sweets kendama ('coral' if anyone was wondering the colour) and overall I didn't think much of it.
The string was thick and didn't feel nice, it was way too heavy duty for a standard size kendama and frayed rather easily. The ken felt dense and a bit too fat and chunky and the paint kinda sucked too.
Yes, it was the American Dream of being UBER-SUPER STICKY (and it didn't feel like sandpaper) but it would flake off in massive chunks.

I remember Sweets saying how the new focus line was incredible, and was everything a kendama player could wish for but it just wasn't haha.
On the contrary, Harry loved the thing and it's still sat at his house today haha

I assume (and hope) Sweets have improved greatly since then.

Unless, they focus (if you'll pardon the pun!) too intently on their crazy paint designs and therefore sacrifice the quality of the kens? Or possibly I just got a dud?

Either way, I've not owned another since - and won mine in an online Kensession Stand competition so I shouldn't really complain too much anyway haha. It's been a bit negative, my analysis of the OG Focus, but I can't say I wasn't being honest about my personal experience with Sweets.

To summarise - I'd choose a JKA kendama over a Sweets kendama anyday.

Anthony A

Quote from: Thorny on 28 April, 2012, 21:41:42
I've only played a first generation Focus Sweets kendama ('coral' if anyone was wondering the colour) and overall I didn't think much of it.
The string was thick and didn't feel nice, it was way too heavy duty for a standard size kendama and frayed rather easily. The ken felt dense and a bit too fat and chunky and the paint kinda sucked too.
Yes, it was the American Dream of being UBER-SUPER STICKY (and it didn't feel like sandpaper) but it would flake off in massive chunks.

I remember Sweets saying how the new focus line was incredible, and was everything a kendama player could wish for but it just wasn't haha.
On the contrary, Harry loved the thing and it's still sat at his house today haha

I assume (and hope) Sweets have improved greatly since then.

Unless, they focus (if you'll pardon the pun!) too intently on their crazy paint designs and therefore sacrifice the quality of the kens? Or possibly I just got a dud?

Either way, I've not owned another since - and won mine in an online Kensession Stand competition so I shouldn't really complain too much anyway haha. It's been a bit negative, my analysis of the OG Focus, but I can't say I wasn't being honest about my personal experience with Sweets.

To summarise - I'd choose a JKA kendama over a Sweets kendama anyday.

Thanks for the input. I want to get threads for all kinds of kendamas on here. I have a sweets focus 2.0 as well but it's kind of silly to post a review of that since they are on the 2.5 ken now. My white Sweets Focus 1.0 was my favorite kendama ever. Then all the paint came off and the ken chipped after some heavy play.

jakew1030

#8
Two weeks ago, I bought a Sweets sea foam naked. Out of box, it actually was like sandpaper. This sandpaper lasted for a few hours on the tama. The "no-chipping" part is true, but there definitely is a loss of paint to the point that you can see a significant amount of the wood in the ball. After those few hours the ball was as slippy if not more than any of my other kendamas. The ken was very durable and I did like the shape of the cups. The point on the spike wasn't very sharp, but the spike length was very nice. It was shorter than most, and the ken was a little looser in the hole of the tama. This made jumping sticks and airplane tricks slightly easier. Overall, it is a fairly good quality kendama with a few small issues here and there. If you're looking for the insanely super sticky ball then I would not recommend this because soon you'll be dissapointed. All and all though it is an average kendama, with only a few minor problems. Would I buy sweets naked over a JKA model, no.   




Anthony A

Decided to revisit this thread. I have barely touched mine since I got it. Except to pick it up and see if it's still as bad as I remember (which it is). I'm glad Sweets stopped selling this because the only thing I'll be using this for is spacewalking over concrete and to hand out to beginners to try.

I'm a huge fan of Sweets. I met them at WJF4 in Springfield, Il and they have been super nice to me every time I needed a kendama. I would even say I'm slightly biased towards them. I applaud them for all the new things they try and bring to the table but this kendama is not up to the standards that Sweets has set.

MattDeCoteau

I've never had a frost or a naked but I've heard they both started nice and grippy but then got much more slippery. I have 2.0 wood grain and a 2.5 white matte and I love them both. Also someone referred to there's as a "dud" I don't believe you are the first person when it comes to sweets kendamas to have a "dud" or "lemon" or a kendama with some minor issue....but all the ones I have gotten have been tip-top!



MattDeCoteau

One more thing the frost is gone and there is a new normal gloss finish that is Sweets best yet! Also, the marbles are great too.

Anthony A

Quote from: MattDeCoteau on 20 June, 2012, 22:13:47
One more thing the frost is gone and there is a new normal gloss finish that is Sweets best yet! Also, the marbles are great too.

This is true. Christian Fraser let me try his when he showed me around Atlanta last month. It's really nice. Believe it or not Bahama Kendama has been using a similar paint since they first showed up...