Fidget Spinner Test - What good is the anti-stress gadget

The fidget spinner in the test

Everybody knows it. You're traveling somewhere, at work or sitting at university and need to kill time somehow. So-called anti-stress gadgets are intended to provide relief and calm restless hands or simply distract them. The fidget spinner is one such gadget and, as the name suggests, is intended to be "spun" between the fingers. For this purpose, the fidget spinner usually has 3 or more ball bearings. One of them is in the middle, the others are attached to the outer ends. The ball bearings are mostly surrounded by plastic, some even from a 3D printer. However, there are also higher quality metal hand spinners.

Inexpensive or expensive

For our test, I ordered a cheap spinner on Amazon. The prices usually range from an inexpensive € 4 for a China spinner to a whopping € 70 for a high-quality spinner made of metal and with ceramic ball bearings. The shapes and colors could hardly be more different. The spinner I tested consists of a total of three 688 ZZ ball bearings and cost just € 6. The workmanship is also correspondingly high. The ball bearings are surrounded by a housing made of ABS plastic, a material that is mainly used in 3D printing. The ball bearings are tight and the case looks solid, but you notice that you are not looking at a high-quality gadget. Rather, it looks like a self-produced 3D print that has been provided with cheap ball bearings.

The best fidget spinners on Amazon

Many retailers on Amazon sell this toy very cheaply. Often times the shipment is from China and can take up to a month. By the time the weirdo arrives, the hype has certainly subsided. In order for the spinner to reach you within a few days, I have only selected fidget spinners for this list of the best, which are dispatched directly via Amazon or as a premium long-haul from one of the European warehouses! The list is updated regularly.

field test

In the practical test, the fidget spinner accompanied me for a week. If the situation arose, the spinner was unpacked and played a round with it. If you turn the gadget with a little swing and hold it in the middle, you can hear and feel the spinner turning gently between your fingers. According to the manufacturer, the slight humming should have a particularly relaxing effect. Well and good, you can hear the spinner hissing. But by relaxation I mean something else.

More interesting is the slight resistance that builds up when you turn the wheel, which makes the hand spinner feel easier to steer. Especially in the evenings on the PC, I often caught myself unconsciously reaching for the spinner and turning or balancing the gadget a few laps between my thumb and forefinger. After a few laps, the little yellow toy quickly lay on its side again. I wouldn't use the spinner at work or at university. On the one hand, no matter how quietly the hissing sound can be annoying in the long run, it can also quickly happen that the weirdo becomes self-employed out of inattention.

Of course, I also measured how long the spinner was turning. The manufacturer himself specifies a shooting time of 1 to 3 minutes. In the test, the average shooting time was around 2 minutes.

Conclusion

For me, the Fidget Spinner is a mere gimmick that you do not actually need, but which you unconsciously like to use to calm your troubled hands. Whether you should actually spend more than 20 €, everyone has to know for themselves, because in this gadget above all the quality determines the price. Of course, those who follow the hype for a long time will, as collectors, spend considerably more for a hand spinner. Who wants to grow this gadget out of sheer interest, I recommend to spend no more than 20 € for it.

Update May 31, 2017 - Syourself Titanium Tri-Spinner

Meanwhile, another weirdo has arrived. The Syourself Titanium Tri-Spinner is a compact spinner with dimensions of 6 x 6 x 1,5 cm and a weight of 141 g. The spinner makes a really solid impression and the design is also impressive. In contrast to the conventional ABS spinner tested above, the Titanium Tri-Spinner achieved a rotation time of 5 minutes in the test. The spinner is priced at € 11,99 and is available directly from Amazon.

Update June 06, 2017 - Ceramic ball bearings vs. metal ball bearings

Often the question arises whether it makes a difference whether the spinner uses a ceramic or a metal ball bearing. The answer is: yes! In the expensive versus cheap test, I let two identical-looking ABS fidget spinners compete against each other. One of them used a € 2 ceramic ball bearing, the other a € 0.30 metal ball bearing. Spun with the same force, the spinner with metal ball bearings was over after about 45 seconds. The spinner with ceramic ball bearings, on the other hand, spun much longer and lasted a whopping 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. So if you want a long spinning spinner, you should use the slightly more expensive ceramic spinner. Most dealers indicate in the product description which ball bearings are installed. If you buy your fidget spinner in retail instead, you should definitely ask before buying!

Update June 18, 2017 - Fidget Spinner Tricks!

Turning the spinner only between the fingers will be boring in the long run. However, not everyone can do little tricks with the gadget. Here are the coolest tricks for beginners and advanced!

 Hop-trick 

A simple but cool trick is to first balance the spinner on one finger and then jump on the next finger. In the beginning, you will certainly need a few tries until the spinner hops on the next finger without any mistakes. Balance is everything! Advanced players can extend the trick even further and even let the hand-spinner hop from one hand to the other!

 Throw-trick 

Give your spinner a good spin and toss it in the air. Try to catch it again without losing the spinning. As an increase, you can also try to catch the spinner with the back of your hand or balance on another part of the body. Throwing the spinner to a friend is even more fun!

 Guitar Trick 

A really unusual trick is to use spinners as a pick. Which cool songs you can play with it very easily, you can see in this video!

My favorite fidget-spinner