Might I recommend the Zenith trainer from Flytanium. It is a $60 7075 aluminum balisong trainer with bushings and speed channels. It's a little on the heavier side, but not Squid Trainer v4 heavy. Plus, it has the absolutely legendary zenith blade from Flytanium as a base, so it looks like a stick dagger. Hot take, I enjoy this far more than the Vulp.
honestly yeah but similar with some squid products, outside of the US it doesn’t make sense since it’s got $34 shipping to me and i’m not paying $100 for the zenith even though i agree the blade is fantastic and it looks like a solid flipper. american makers don’t really ever account shipping costs for international buyers since they mostly use USPS which is very inefficient for international use since the volume of the box is much larger than what’s being sent and so so much wasted space just artificially inflates the shipping cost. i’m not paying $80 for a basic squiddy classic (that’s roughly the rate here) cos that’s more than you can get a mako for in the states. so yes i agree zenith trainer is a fantastic option it’s one of those that really is only truly recommended if you’re somewhere where the shipping isn’t gonna bite you. i’m sure some people would stomach the $34 shipping but i’m not paying nearly 60% of the price of the product extra just for shipping
also i don’t consider that much of a hot take. vulp is average at best since it’s not trying to be incredible. it’s very good value for an original design especially with all the little trinkets it comes with but it’s hardly a very performant flipper for someone who has been flipping for more than a few months
not really you can spend as much or as little as you want in this hobby. i think i would recommend spending a little les on your first bali just in case you find out that you don’t really like the hobby and want to leave it
super low budget would be amazon trainers, but if your budget is $40 or over, there are a bunch of good clones on aliexpress like i mentioned check out my review on thr $15 squidgy clone that flips really well
i think it’s a great travel balisong, but financially only makes sense for US buyers. a squiddy in the UK costs more than a mako in the US simply because of shipping and inflated prices to cover sales taxes and what not. i also think there are flippers at the same price range that outperform the squiddy. however if you want a travel safe flipper the squiddy is for sure a solid recommendation.
if you want an original design i would say maybe save up a little more and get the LDY Orion, or if you want to get a clone, armed shark make a really good kraken trainer and nautilus, there is also the theone g10 orca which is really good as well
I'm sure I'm pretty late by now, but I kinda disagree with taktyc in that I don't reccomend getting the orion unless they have just the trainers in stock/trainers secondhand. If you buy a stock orion period, it will typically come with a live blade on the handles, which is one of the worst things you can do nowadays as a beginner in this hobby with how much it's evolved, especially since that the blade is razor sharp and beginners won't know anything on how to swap to the trainer blade that comes with it with the default live blade. That said, I think the vulp is a good choice but if you end up wanting to invest more into a hobby like this, be prepared to be a better balisong pretty fast, as the vulp isn't "bad" at flipping but you will outgrow it very fast. If your morals align in that you don't mind buying clones because (watch will hirsch's video on clones, pretty much covers what most people who don't like clones don't like about them), then I'd say go ahead and get the armed shark kraken; g10, or the material used on the nautilus handle faces and the entirety of theone orca clones isn't very beginner friendly because when your fingers aren't adjusted to flipping, g10 will 9/10 times feel super rough and make you not want to flip pretty much at all, while a satin aluminum finish feels nice to pretty much anyone
I have a tip recording, so you should use a higher shutter speed it will make the flipping look more crisp and clean
I just got a armed shark squidtrainer yesterday very close to the real things it’s great
Prisma Pro comes today!! Vulp Pro was supposed to come yesterday… but USPS…. More excited for the Prisma tho
Just ordered an CF AS rep and CF spacers off of aliex, super excited for it to come in
the CF spacers sound incredible. like bamboo
Might I recommend the Zenith trainer from Flytanium. It is a $60 7075 aluminum balisong trainer with bushings and speed channels. It's a little on the heavier side, but not Squid Trainer v4 heavy. Plus, it has the absolutely legendary zenith blade from Flytanium as a base, so it looks like a stick dagger. Hot take, I enjoy this far more than the Vulp.
honestly yeah but similar with some squid products, outside of the US it doesn’t make sense since it’s got $34 shipping to me and i’m not paying $100 for the zenith even though i agree the blade is fantastic and it looks like a solid flipper. american makers don’t really ever account shipping costs for international buyers since they mostly use USPS which is very inefficient for international use since the volume of the box is much larger than what’s being sent and so so much wasted space just artificially inflates the shipping cost. i’m not paying $80 for a basic squiddy classic (that’s roughly the rate here) cos that’s more than you can get a mako for in the states. so yes i agree zenith trainer is a fantastic option it’s one of those that really is only truly recommended if you’re somewhere where the shipping isn’t gonna bite you. i’m sure some people would stomach the $34 shipping but i’m not paying nearly 60% of the price of the product extra just for shipping
also i don’t consider that much of a hot take. vulp is average at best since it’s not trying to be incredible. it’s very good value for an original design especially with all the little trinkets it comes with but it’s hardly a very performant flipper for someone who has been flipping for more than a few months
should i get an armed shark mako it looks cool
i think go for it they are going to be pretty good quality if the rest of AS lineup says anything
@@taktyc cool thx
is a tsunami clone armed shark too expensive for first balisong?
not really you can spend as much or as little as you want in this hobby. i think i would recommend spending a little les on your first bali just in case you find out that you don’t really like the hobby and want to leave it
what if you have a low budget?
super low budget would be amazon trainers, but if your budget is $40 or over, there are a bunch of good clones on aliexpress like i mentioned
check out my review on thr $15 squidgy clone that flips really well
Thank you
Im not new but this is a pretty good guide
thanks although i think it can be a bit better, i’ll put together a slightly better one in the fiture
what about squiddy ?
i think it’s a great travel balisong, but financially only makes sense for US buyers. a squiddy in the UK costs more than a mako in the US simply because of shipping and inflated prices to cover sales taxes and what not. i also think there are flippers at the same price range that outperform the squiddy. however if you want a travel safe flipper the squiddy is for sure a solid recommendation.
I’m think of getting the vulp cuz I only 500 HKD for budget, any recommended ?
I’m a beginner too
if you want an original design i would say maybe save up a little more and get the LDY Orion, or if you want to get a clone, armed shark make a really good kraken trainer and nautilus, there is also the theone g10 orca which is really good as well
I'm sure I'm pretty late by now, but I kinda disagree with taktyc in that I don't reccomend getting the orion unless they have just the trainers in stock/trainers secondhand. If you buy a stock orion period, it will typically come with a live blade on the handles, which is one of the worst things you can do nowadays as a beginner in this hobby with how much it's evolved, especially since that the blade is razor sharp and beginners won't know anything on how to swap to the trainer blade that comes with it with the default live blade.
That said, I think the vulp is a good choice but if you end up wanting to invest more into a hobby like this, be prepared to be a better balisong pretty fast, as the vulp isn't "bad" at flipping but you will outgrow it very fast.
If your morals align in that you don't mind buying clones because (watch will hirsch's video on clones, pretty much covers what most people who don't like clones don't like about them), then I'd say go ahead and get the armed shark kraken; g10, or the material used on the nautilus handle faces and the entirety of theone orca clones isn't very beginner friendly because when your fingers aren't adjusted to flipping, g10 will 9/10 times feel super rough and make you not want to flip pretty much at all, while a satin aluminum finish feels nice to pretty much anyone
first