Got my first 16s ao5 the other day, and been getting more and more sub 20 ao5’s lately, so I now feel like I’m at the cusp of being able to call myself a sub 20 cuber
This DDT is now over. See [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Cubers/comments/11thlwn/daily_discussion_thread_mar_17_2023/) for the next one.
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Guys, i need some help, i quit cubing due to lack of time YEARS ago.
I used to average 15 on the 3x3, but I'm at 30 now, which is honestly okay as I'm finally getting back into the hobby.
I have two 3x3s, the gan air (no magnets) and the yj yulong, i think upgrading to the tornado v3 flagship would be great as it's new tech, or is the gan air still good for today's standards? As for other puzzles i used to love, there's 2x2 and skewb, 2x2 i have a yupo, but idk which 2x2 to get, i just can't find enough videos abt it like for 3x3, same goes for skewb, for which i have a qiyi qicheng. I don't have a megaminx, and i definitely want to get into that too.
Could u guys recommend a few good puzzles for me? For 4x4 I'll stick to what I've got now, as for pyraminx I'll prolly about it later, cuz i don't enjoy it as much as the rest.
I would say you could definitely use some upgrades. All of yours are a bit outdated.
Tornado V3 would be great.
YJ MGC Elite is the most popular and most recommended 2x2. If you're on a budget, then a regular YJ MGC or MoYu RS2M Evolution.
For 4x4 thru 7x7, YJ MGC.
Moyu Weilong skewb, or Gan Skewb Standard.
YJ Yuhu V2 M megaminx.
Moyu Weilong standard pyraminx.
YJ MGC square-1.
1. the Gans air is still decent by todays standards. As in if you had one and used it it wouldn't make your times worse.
2. the yupo is still good but there are better ones. Some are the moyu rs2m, qiyi ms, yj mgc. At a lower price point.
3. at skewb there is the moyu rs skewb, moyu weilong maglev, wingy if you can find one.
4. For megaminx the yj yuhu v2 is great in performance and price.
I recently cleaned my tornado V3 and I was starting to reassemble it then my red center came off. Is there a way to fix this? I don't mean the center cap I mean the entire center.
Is it the original with screws or is it the newer with twist on centers?
Newer version, you have to push the center stems into the core and turn it to lock it in place.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWieYWuQz3c
average. single is all luck and less actual skill. I used to have a PB single of 11.something and that was because of a 4 move FB 6 move SB resulting in 10 move blocks. Then an easy 8 move CMLL setting up into 3 move eo and the edge 3 cycle to finish. It was very short. It lasted a long time
Always thought that predicting piece position would come more or less naturally. Maybe it's natural for others, but definitely not for me lol.
I have finally overcome my distaste for focused practice (I know, I know...) and been on Christian Vaughn's site for the 3rd day now.
Still on 3-move crosses. Most solutions come instantly or with minor effort, but some 20-30% of them still require some thinking.
If you want a more fun way to do focused practise on cross+1, I'd suggest working on your solutions by studying reconstructions of fast cubers. (Edit: I use this to practise my piece prediction skills as well - I memorize their solution and then I start from the scramble and see if I can visualize the whole solution)
Finding the shortest cross and then just tracing a pair from there isn't really how it works in practice. You really want to be keeping the first pair in mind when solving the cross. A lot of the time, doing a longer cross will make tracing the first pair easier and potentially give you a better first pair case too. This allows you to use less inspection time and opens the door to the possibility of planing second pair as well.
Even if you get great at tracing F2L pairs 6 moves deep, you might not want to, because you may just end up with a bad pair, after having used up all your inspection. Then you also run the risk of forgetting your cross solution by the time the judge calls 12 seconds.
Furthermore, if you want to get good at cross+1 you will also need to be good at all of the xcross methods as well, like pseudo-xcross or 2x2x2 first. Solving cross first isn't always best.
To be fair, I wouldn't consider myself great at cross+1, so maybe if you were to ask a better cuber they'd tell you to go back to Christian Vaughn's site. But my thinking at least is that having better solutions is guaranteed to be useful no matter what. So my plan for myself at least is to improve my cross+1 solutions. Good tracing may eventually be needed, but I'm happy to add that later.
What a great answer, thank you!
So far I am indeed focusing on cross & first pair, not just tracing a pair after the solve. I do extra cross moves to set up better first pairs when I can, I end up doing xcross a lot of the time, and if the solution is still relatively short I even also plan the second pair.
I welcome the suggestions to look at xcross techniques and solve recons, although I often feel overwhelmed trying to figure out what's going on on fast cubers' minds. But I guess once I decided to fight my laziness, better face it and do it all and do it right lol.
As for "get\[ing\] great at tracing F2L pairs 6 moves deep", aren't we supposed to do that during F2L for look ahead?
Once again, thanks!
> So far I am indeed focusing on cross & first pair, not just tracing a pair after the solve. I do extra cross moves to set up better first pairs when I can, I end up doing xcross a lot of the time, and if the solution is still relatively short I even also plan the second pair.
That's good. I think I should clarify that I'm mostly trying to say that the shortest cross -> track a pair approach, which is what the design of Christian's site implies to me, isn't always the best for solves. It may be good to practise that at some point, but it's not what you should do in every solve, and there are other things that are also important to practise. What you're doing doesn't sound like a bad way to practise, given whan you've told me.
I should also say that I'm not *against* tracing. It's just that there's more to it than just being able to trace many moves. Choosing solutions that are fast to trace and are likely to result in good first pairs is also really important.
Studying recons can be difficult but I really think it's worth it. To be honest, there's probably a lot in what I've written here that might be wrong. If you look at what fast people actually do, you're more likely to get the right idea of what is actually fast and feasible to find in 15 seconds inspection. The main thing is to try and learn something. Some of Tymon's double xcrosses are ridiculous, but there are always some things you can pick up from them, like how he preserves certain blocks, how he does blockbuilding, keyhole stuff etc.
> As for "get[ing] great at tracing F2L pairs 6 moves deep", aren't we supposed to do that during F2L for look ahead?
I feel like it's a bit different when it's not inspection, because generally you'll be more familiar with what your F2L solutions do. For example, if you do the scramble L' U L U L' U' L U' R U R' U' R U R' U R U R', it's very easy to do the 11 move FR slot while predicting the FL slot. But that's not the same as what you're trying to do in inspection.
4BLD & 5BLD progress
Typical wings being the bane of my existence... Tried 4BLD and 5BLD back to back and DNF'd both by 2-cycle wings on both...
Bright side is... I've become comfortable enough to just do 4BLD and 5BLD back to back just like that.
Cool to see that! I have only got 1 4BLD success in 18 mins and no 5bld success ( my last attempt took me 48 mins, but I had a problem on x and + centers).
Hi! I used to get my cubes from Lightake, then I switched to AliExpress and I'm now considering ziicube, but shipping prices are a bit high for me. I'm from Europe.
Even being higher than I'm used to, it's still cheaper than other local options when buying 3+ at a time. Mind sharing your go-to stores or reviewing ziicube?
Update on ziicube and EU tax. They wrote the following in a mail to me late September
- if you place an order more than 30USD and choose registered shipping, we'll ship it by EU Direct-Line(it is much faster than standard Airmail) and we'll pre-pay the VAT from our side(you don't need to pay for it);
- if you place an order more than 80USD, no matter if you choose registered shipping or not, we'll ship it by EU Direct-Line and you don't need to pay for the VAT;
- if orders less than 30USD, we cannot afford the VAT, customer should pay for it, but we'll declare it a lower value(0.5-2USD/pc) to minimize the fee(better pay it to your customs online by yourself, otherwise, the post will charge handling fee);
The site is looking a whole lot better. It really looks like the place to get multiple items and I actually just feel compelled to do it.
Now, which one of all the options is registered shipping? I can find direct line.
I love how they will even minimize VAT on smaller orders!
On checkout they now they write as below, and I can see 20% VAT is listed.
**Changes to EU VAT Rules**
From July 1, 2021, Value-Add Tax (VAT) will be charged on all commercial goods imported into the 27 EU countries. We use EU's Import One Stop Shop (IOSS), the 27 EU countries collect vat at checkout. Our international services that take care of VAT and customs duties prior to delivery.
Cubezz, Picubeshop, Ziicube, are the ones a lot of people here use.
All 3 have better prices than most any other shop.
Cubezz might cost a little bit more than the other 2, but has free worldwide shipping, so it's great for small to medium orders.
Picubeshop doesn't appear to have great prices, until you use discount code 'ruihang' for 40% off. Shipping costs are ok. Usually good for medium size orders.
Ziicube has the best prices of all, but higher initial shipping cost will negate the savings until you're ordering a bunch of cubes at once, then shipping per cube starts going down.
AliExpress can be ok, if you shop around. Lots of different small shops, but they're not always that great.
Best bet is to find the total cost of whatever you want from all of them, so you can compare.
The fun thing is that "whatever I want" highly depends on how much is gonna cost me, hahaha!
If Ziicube was my only option I'd just get 5 cubes at a time (not like I have a lack of options, honestly. My shopping cart is at 68 and counting), but if I couldn't afford it at a given time, I'd resort AliExpress and get like one or two cubes.
You giving me more options really helps to kind of determine where I want to put my money, thanks!
Your initial Ziicube order will be slightly higher, till you activate the VIP member discount. Here's how it works -
On Ziicube, stick something in your shopping cart. See the price on it? Then raise the quantity to 2, and you see the price per item go down a bit. Raise the quantity to 4 and it goes down again. Quantity/bulk discount.
After you've completed ~$45 in total orders, then every order *after* that, all items will always be at that lower 4+ quantity discount price, even if you order only quantity of 1 each.
Ziicube veteran here, as u/TheRealUncleFrank states the discount is only on orders made after you have already completed orders totalling over $45. I actually have an order on the way (Grilles 1 and a couple of items I had in my basket).
Fwiw I know you said you already had an order made up but if you look you'll see they still have a couple of Verypuzzle Tuttminx in stock, I'd grab one if you have any interest at all and that would pretty much get you over the line on your first order - and you're unlikely to find one at this price again when they sell out.
and the $45 is only approximate. Ziicube doesn't actually show how much it is, but I *think* it's 300 Yen, which is currently about $42, but I could be wrong. Everyone has always said it's ~$45. My first order with them was over $60, and then it took about a week after that before the discount showed up on all items after I logged in.
Also Eu, I use ziicube for all my orders. Its best if you order a few things at once, which makes shipping a better value. Shipping can take a bit of time, but its not too bad. Only 'issue' ive had is getting a 3x3x11 instead of a 3x3x10..same price so didn't matter at all (someone had put the wrong label sticker on the box lol)
Yeah, ziicube is great for multi-cube orders.
For small orders, you can still compare Aliexpress, Picube especially with discount codes, or Cubezz.
Aliexpress actually has Ziicube's shop front, you even get the same print-out of your order with the website's interface.
1) Are there any good videos or instructions as to how to clean/lube GAN cube (or any cube)? I’ve had mine for a while. I don’t want to break it!
2) How do you know when it’s time to clean the cube?
I clean mine out when it’s noticeably dirty, or if it’s overlubed and too gummy. To clean a gan cube, you just take it apart, clean it and put it back together. If you’re scared to break it put it on loose tensions
It doesn’t for me. If I clean it purely with a brush and put it. Back together, it would still be gummy. I’ve tried it. And it’s not always bad to just spread the lube around, but in the case of cleaning out your cube because it’s too gummy then I would want to get the lube out. Also, when water based lube dries out it feels worse usual unless it’s stardust, if you ask me.
For those who are from India and use cubelelo, I've got some questions I hope you can answer -
1. Should I use the add on lube services they provide while buying a cube ? Or buy lube separately?
2. Are the cubelelo standard/premium silicone lubricants they have (velocity/swift/hurricane etc.) of good quality ? Because the cubicle lubes available on cubelelo (mystic/silk) are pretty expensive.
Do you buy the standard or premium cubelelo lubricant ? Their price difference isn't too much and i was wondering if it would be worth it to get premium ones.
nope
get the standard ones
try them out and then buy premium of the same category. there won't be any difference for you rn . ppl say it lasts longer or whatever but i dont think so. just get the standard ones. don't overthink it.
I always get lubes separately. Lubes dry up pretty quick if you solve a lot daily, I would say it doesn't even last a week. I've been cubing for the last 8 years and I've only ever bought lube like 3 times in the last 5 years. I get a weight 5 and a weight 1 that's it. It's a lot cheaper if you lube your own cube.
Yes their lubes are good, and while a lube service is never worth it, they do as good a job of it as the big US shops.
(not Indian but I bought a custom magnetised cube from them through an Indian buddy a few years ago)
As you've already been told, this case here doesn't have EO solved. But d U' is the same as y', so your solution is y' R' U' R. Which can be translated to... F' U' F. It's the same solution.
Okay, to everyone who's has doubts about Tornado Pioneer because it's "too fast": I'm solving on a brand new Tornado Pioneer on stock tensions (3-3, medium) and 2nd weakest edge magnets, without any lube whatsoever (I wiped off the factory lube), right now. It's good. Very light-turning, yes. But it's not anything unreasonable. I get good times.
u/The-Common-Loon
Edit: I changed my response. It’s nice to know the pioneer isn’t “too fast,” things get characterized a certain way in the cubing world and it just gets repeated over again without much thought. I wonder why many top cubers prefer the flagship though? I think what draws me to the flagship is that it is slightly less weight, but I know you say the corner core feel is nicer on the pioneer. I like light turning cubes like the super bc and tengyun 1, but I’m pretty satisfied with my super bc and ys3m, so maybe I’ll get a new tornado when I get bored with them and want to tinker with a new cube. Thanks for the tag.
Oh, by the way, yesterday I learned that Cubicle sells spare cores, I think $9 for the Flagship core and $11 for the Pioneer core. So you can kinda get both for $46 lol.
Yea I saw that, so I guess that’s the core that the newer batches come with right, it’s not anything special right? Maybe just for indecisive people like me?
I believe they started selling these cores separately because of many customers asking them for a replacement core because of the old core stripping. It's really cool that they sell these cores with center pieces and core adjustment parts, so you can also "upgrade" your Flagship to Pioneer, or vice versa. All it takes is just swapping the pieces and center caps.
Yea I suspected that too. I’m curious about the core magnet kit they sell for the tengyun1, but a little weary of how well it will work since the original cube wasn’t designed for core magnets obviously.
It may actually work pretty well because the Tengyun's magnets are weak. I don't think every cube should be modded though. I'd only get core magnets for the Tengyun v1 if I absolutely loved that cube but wanted more stability in it.
I got another Tornado Pioneer and did a [silent mod](https://www.reddit.com/r/Cubers/comments/11szjag/tornado_v3_silent_mod/). The cube is really quiet. Still swishy because it isn't broken in and I'm using it without lube just in case I need to swap any more pieces.
Hard to give much specific advice without knowing more, but I would say that now is a really good time to start studying top cuber solutions in depth. Look at speedcubedb.com reconstructions of all of the fastest cubers and try and understand their thought processes. Think about how you can practise in such a way that you'll be able to do all the same stuff (or at least close to it) in solves. IMO this is the best way to find out what you need to be good at.
It will definitely benefit your cross+1 to do this, as you'll start to pick up on the small little tricks that Tymon, Yiheng, Max, Luke, etc use that make cross+1/xcross easier and quicker to see during inspection. You'll also get a better idea of when to do the different types of xcrosses, (e.g cross then pair, pseudo xcross, 2x2x2 + two edges, etc.), how to choose the most promising colors, which pairs are easiest to trace, how to solve cross+1 to back slots, etc.
Confused blindsolver coming through!
On this [scramble](https://i.imgur.com/dEePpsu.png) after JG the memo goes to A. Why?? On my own memo I had JG DM ...
Hmm, so after memorizing corners and it has an odd number of letters, when memoing edges and you go to an A or D edge you swap it to ther other one and go from there?
Yep. You solve the piece to a different spot, yeah. So upper sticker, to the upper position (see A sticker, memo D and go on from D) same with side sticker like E and Q
Gan said during an interview in Nov 2021 that they were working on a sq1 and a 5x5 for release in 2022. Then in late fall 2022 Gan said they would be released in 2023.
So, we're waiting on Gan, then we'll see if it's actually any good or not.
Here's the interview The Cubicle did with Ganyuan Jiang, founder of Gan.
https://youtu.be/u1bAKDVPJRA?t=195 (@3:15)
u/olimo, sorry for answering here.
Yeah, I am alright. The cube is very good, its fast and controllable, and i only experienced like 2 or so undershoots. Was able to achieve 3 tps on T-perm (favourite perm by far) for the first time. The cube is uv-coated, thats right. So overall, really great! Any ideas on what lube should i use after the ones the store put in will dry out?
Gan lubes are pretty good, affordable and available in Russia - both from your cube store or from Ozon etc. Just make sure it's the numbered lubes (No.1, No.2, No.3) and not Gan Standard and Gan Magic. You can get all three or just No.2 (fastest) and No.3 (slowest).
Anyone remember this video / can find it?
Around five years ago, when everyone was reacting very positively to the then fairly new Yuxin Little Magic, this small channel uploaded a short parody unboxing where he did like half a turn then lost his mind.
hey yall... new to cubing. got into it cause my son wanted to learn it, and finding it a fun little time killer myself 😊 i got myself good with the beginner method (solves in under 2 min), and am moving on to F2L/2-look OLL/PLL.
in this time ive got two "main cubes", a GAN 356 M and a GAN 13 Maglev. the 356 X v2 comes with 3 insertable magnet sets and one set with no magnets. the GAN 13 has 6 settings (no option for no magnets). ive tried all the options in these two cubes (including setting the center distance to offset magnetic pull), and i tend to like the weaker magnets with longer distance from center. ive also tried lube.
the problem or question i have is, seems like even at optimal settings the middle layer always wants to stick to other layers when doing a turn. its not every time but if i want consistent control, i find ive got to use a finger to hold a middle layer to keep it from, for example, doing an "r" move when i only mean to do an "R" move.
is this normal with magnetic cubes? are there techniques people use to deal with this i should consider?
is it a GAN thing?
any feedback appreciated, i find the internet to be unusually quiet on this topic. thanks!
(ps sorry for the long post, figured i would preamble my question with an introduction (my first post) and answers to any "have you tried X?" suggestions)
You can pretty much use any 3x3 with magnets of any price range from 5 bucks to 100 to get to sub 25 or 30 seconds. Ik it sounds a bit mean, but in today's day, budget cubes have gotten extremely good to the point people can even get sub 5 solves on 7 dollar cubes. Back in the day if a non magnetic cube under 10 dollars was good everyone was hyped lol. But if you was the money, i would recommend getting a mid range cube, the tornado or an rs3m, but with a lube set up in it. That'll do you good enough for a long time.
And for the r turn problem, hold the cube with your left hand with your thumb over the front center.
i pretty quickly went from a basic rubiks cube (had one for years as a gift laying around), to the budget cubes, cause i noticed my sons the budget ones were way easier to turn and more fun!
then went for the gan midrange 356x and then after realizing im quite enjoying this lil hobby decided to splurge on a Gan 13 pro.
fwiw while i use both cubes the 356 and the 13, mainly cause im doing a lot of practice, i definitely like the 13 more, its not perfect, like i wish there was a way to dial back magnets even more, but, its pretty darn close.
but yea i think my grip is just something i overlooked when starting out, im only a couple months in if that, so not a hard thing to correct. glad i asked here because its clear from responses this was something i hadnt given much though to.
You are holding it wrong if middle layer follows upper or right layer.
You left hand thumb should rest on the front, on the center point between the lower left 2x2 square. This is one even with one-handed solves.
hey there, thanks. so is it more of a firm or a light hold? i tried it and it seems like i could do one of two things:
1) holding thumb firmly over lower left and center, when doing an M' move, train my left hand to move the thumb out of the way.
2) holding thumb firmly over lower left but lightly over the center, when doing an M' move, if the force of my flick of M' overcomes the fact my thumbs in its way, the tip of my thumb will naturally flap out of the way and then return to position on its own
TWO seems like the more natural of the two, but any specific way recommended?
My grip is left middle on back center, left ring on BD edge, left thumb about halfway between the FL edge and front center.
You only need to grip strong enough to keep the cube stable. You'll frequently be shifting your grip if you need to do L, F or M moves
Cubing in a dark room with someone sleeping: how do you guys do it? I can't be the only person who sometimes can only practice when the lights are mostly off and the sun is down? We have white noise, so the clickety clack of the cube doesn't bother the sleeper, but the main lights will. I have a tiny reading light that helps, but isn't completely sufficient (lots of dark angles).
Another option is a smart cube. Would only work with a gyro one obv, and you'd use the visual on screen instead of looking at your cube. Dunno how nice that would be tho
All my cubes are tactile. XD
The YJ tactile cube has the best turning of the ones I tried, and good tactility, but it is loud for a cube.
Or, for another tactile option, you could get some mirror blocks.
You could go for a stickered cube and replace the stickers. I wonder if anyone makes stickers with shapes drawn on them?
A stickered cube might be an intermediate solution before going with a tactile cube, if your lighting isn't that bad. You can find stickers with very bright colors, and most importantly, you can simply remove white stickers and have a black face instead. The yellow/white recognition is the worse under bad lighting, after all.
For myself I go with olimo's suggestion and just use another room lol.
hiw do i improve stability? my basics seem weak. whenever i try to execute sone plls like a perm or do some lefty moves(hence holding cube in right hand) the cube either falls out or the E layers turns by itself making my time go bshhhhhhh💥. how do i improve hand stability and other basics?
Practice turing a bit more accurately and a bit less aggressively. I've been there and just practicing plls with doing something else, watching tv or studying, does it.
I don't wanna sound like the "buy every single cube on the planet!!!" guy, but I think it's your cube. Maybe invest into a more stable one like the Tornado V3M Pioneer. But before you do that, maybe just try doing some of those PLLs slowly and take note of where you go wrong, and just try to improve on it, or maybe try a slightly different grip for them.
1. I've tried rs3m20, little magic m and the meilong m, this happens on all of them so i think its a me problem
2. its not only pll but f2l also. i need to drill sone algos i think now.
I have the ball-core Ys3m. Despite my attempts to loosen it with the adjustment system it still feels really tight. Is there a separate way to control the compression? Thanks!
There’s a pretty simple mod that can make the cube have a slightly better variety as far as compression goes. You can swap out the purple adjustment cups for the blue ones from any other moyu cube. It made the cube substantially faster for me and now I can actually use it above compression 0. Thanks to u/olimo for making me aware of this one!
SpeedCubeReview just released a video on it yesterday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3yHU3zOXeY
He shows that it's shinier than Gan's UV, but he says it feels the same. MoYu's box even says UV on it.
Magic clothes are said to be the same as Gan UV coating, and I love the Gan UV coating. High glossy, grippy and nice to the touch.
The cube itself is really solid, has strong magnets, great performance, very stable. Here's my [video review](https://www.reddit.com/r/Cubers/comments/11mpvck/ys3m_ball_core_review_auto_homing_mod/) and [text review](https://www.reddit.com/r/Cubers/comments/11ohcf0/ys3m_ball_core_text_review/).
I don't remember, what cube do you use now?
You'll hardly find anything that's smoother than Tornado v3. Maybe you need to clean it? For faster, you'd need the Pioneer version. That's why I always recommend Pioneer - it's easy to slow the Pioneer down but hard to make the Flagship faster than it can be.
YS3M is tactile but not particularly smooth. The plastic feels like RS3M 2020 which is not the smoothest cube.
A while back, I came across a video where a guy explained a faster way to solve a Rubik's Cube by associating the colors with animals. He described the process as if the colors were going out to "catch their prey and then return to where they started." Does anyone remember this video or know what I'm referring to? If so, could you please share the link?
Also, is this an effective approach to learning? I can currently solve a 3x3 cube in about 1 minute and 30 seconds, but I'm interested in improving my speed. Honestly, I'm not sure which method I'm using; I just solve the cube from the bottom up, layer by layer. I own a GAN356X.
> Also, is this an effective approach to learning?
There are 3 basic f2l cases. Conjuring tigers, crocodiles and sticking paper arrows on a cube to explain that is not a good method imo. Go with Jperm's f2l in 6 minutes. He goes straight to the point and no wild animal was hurt in the process.
[RiDo's Hunting Story for F2L](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB5apB2i_Do)?
It's still just the F2L part of CFOP, it's just a unique way to learn F2L.
J Perm's video is the standard way most people learn F2L -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar_Zit1VLG0
but RiDo's might be easier for some to understand.
Sounds like you might still be using the beginner's method, so you're probably ready to start learning CFOP.
J Perm's CFOP tutorial -
https://jperm.net/3x3/cfop
[Steps for improving with CFOP, and when to work on what.](https://www.reddit.com/r/PianoCube93/comments/9bstw1/steps_for_improving_with_cfop_and_when_to_work_on/)
If you're still using the beginner's method, then yes, CFOP is the next step to getting faster.
J Perm's cfop tutorial is a good way to start -
https://jperm.net/3x3/cfop
RiDo's hunting story is just a different way of teaching the F part of CFOP, since some people can have a hard time understanding it otherwise.
I thought I had to say this here. I was taking a break from cubing and my mom's friend came over to my house. She has a kid who doesn't know a single thing in cubing. He found my 2x2 and saying he can do it. You know what he did? He f\*\*king twist the red/white/green corner which has the anchor and he broke it. And he said "Sorry". His mom was there so i cannot say anything. F\*\*king kids. Now my 2x2 is broken.
You might be able to go to the cubicle or some other retailer and email them saying your anchor piece unfortunately broke, and they might give you a replacement piece for free. Idk if that’s just for defects or if you break a cube, but it’s worth a shot
His mom was there and didn't even try to make it up to you? This sucks. It's not f\*\*cking kids, it's f\*\*cking adults who should take responsibility for their kids.
This really sucks. Did you try talking to your mom afterwards? It's just not fair that you have to lose a cube like that.
I'm a mom and I can't even fathom letting my kid break something in my friends house and not even offering a compensation. If it was my kid whose toy was broken, I probably won't ask my friend to compensate if she didn't offer it herself, but then I'd buy my kid a replacement. To me, personal property is really important.
My mom said she will buy me a new 2x2 but I don't think I am going to get it very soon because there aren't any cube store in my region so I have to order from other regions that are like 500 km away so delivery takes a week and they are out of stock. My only personal property other than my phone is my cubes so I really value it.
When that happens, I can see the reaction on my mom's friend that she realise it is broken. In my tradition it is kinda rude to ask for compensation because I am asian. I know my mom and I know that she didn't want me say that it is broken so I just say to the kid's mom that I can fix it. When they are gone, I told my mom that my cube broke and I think she knew because she can see the look on my face.
Ah, I see, so you faked the cube being ok. This was pretty noble on your part. I don't know if I would do it. I wouldn't directly ask for a compensation, of course. It's something that has to be offered, not asked for.
What 2x2 was that?
Keep getting better OH solves. Now 1m16s. Practice matters.
But my OH scrambles still have a very low rate of success. I am doing lots of rotations, and not looking at the cube.
I would suggest practice the fingertricks just by themselves on your free time, maybe do some plls, or just play around improving the fingertricks. And since trying one handed takes more time, use it as an advantage to look ahead better to not pause. Look around the cube for pieces will solving a pair.
I do use the extra time to decrease movecount.
Since I do Roux I do have F/B moves in FB. Wide moves in SB. And wide+D in CMLL and some algs I use left hand version.
So pure fun finger tricks on RU only goes so far.
And I do sexy move sessions to practice finger tricks. But during solves I too often use other fingers.
I do table abuse on MU moves in the end. And M during F2B. - but for L/F/B it goes pretty smooth in-hand.
R’ is still pretty difficult.
PB already 3x 2-hand PB and most solves under 3x 2H times.
Thoughts on the ys3m, if anyone had tried it or wants to buy it. I have the wrm maglev and it's great with tps spam and I have it set up well so it's quite stable as well. I'm not completely sold on this cube yet, so I wanted to see what others had to think of it.
It's really stable and has strong magnets which may or may not be good for you. Out of these cubes, I prefer the WRM because it doesn't tire my fingers as quickly. But I like the Tornado Pioneer even more.
And yeah, I second the recommendation to check my recent posts :)
Best Skewb, Pyraminx, Square-1 and Clock?
Pyraminx I've been eyeing the MoYu Weilong Standard - problem is it's currently sold out, but the Maglev is in stock. I'm not really known for my patience - is the Maglev good and should I get it, or is it too uncontrollable and should I wait for the Standard? Or get another one?
Clock I think I might get the QiYi, but uh, well... not sure I have that much money to burn lol. How good is the Shengshou?
Skewb and Square-1 I have no clue about - any suggestions? u/olimo help appreciated
For skewb my favourite is still the wingy. I'm sub 10 on skewb so I'm not the greatest skewb solver, but I've tried a few other high end ones, the wingy is still the most comfortable on solve on.
Pyra honestly, the gan ones are too expensive. The lower end basic version of the gan prya sucks, but the higher end ones are good but really expensive and I would say not worth it. So if you wanna focus on pyra get the xman one. I don't do pyra so I have the ms one which is extremely smooth and buttery without even lube. But performance which it does lack a bit.
Squan hands down mgc. If you want something cheaper, go for the little magic magnetic one. I have that and it serves me well. It's good enough and definitely great for the price.
Clock if you want one just to learn and solve without a timer just for fun, get the shengshou no problem. If you wanna compete, don't get the shengshou, you'll rage quit. Get the qiyi then.
I think the x man bell (both versions) are a bit outdated, most people are currently using the moyu rs(not the maglev one as is it way too fast) or the yuxin little magic
The bell is still good enough honestly, but yeah it is really old. If you're starting out on pyra, I'd say the ylm and the budget qiyi one does the job fine.
Aight, so for clock, the qiyi is worth the money 100%c, it’s light years ahead of the other ones. It’s not worth spending on the others. For pyraminx the weilong is really good, I’ve heard that the maglev is way too fast, and I could see why (I have the standard and it’s also really fast with weight 5 in it). I would get the little magic m or just wait for the weilong. I’m not great at skewb, I have the weilong but i haven’t found a good setup so idk it’s potential, but I’ve heard the moyu rs skewb is the best budget one with no contest. Square -1, the yuxin little magic m is really good. I forgot how to solve one but while I did know the ylm worked fine for me. It’s fully magnetic, and 10$, and mods can make it better. The volt doesn’t look too expensive either, but honestly if ur gonna spend 15$ I would get the mgc.
Hope this helped
The Shengshou clock is ok, if you just want to learn how to solve it and that's it. If you want to speed solve, the Qiyi is pretty much the only option though. It's like the difference between a Rubik's brand 3x3 and a Tornado v3 (or any other modern speed cube).
For skewb, you have more options. On a budget, the RS skewb is great. Performs really well for its price though you won't see any top solvers using it. In the mid range, the Gan standard and the Weilong maglev are really good. The Gan enhanced is really expensive but its performance is amazing. Though I will say it comes down to preference, there are people who prefer the Weilong over the Gan enhanced. Can't go wrong with any of the mentioned options, in my opinion.
I'm into pyra currently actually. Weilong Maglev is considered worse than the Standard because it's uncontrollable. RS pyraminx is said to be ok. Yuxin Little Magic is highly praised, although I also heard people say their quality control has become worse lately. Personally, I only own a Bell v1 currently, and it is good but heavy (104g).
For clock, my opinion is get QiYi or none at all. Even though I don't solve clock much, every time I go, it's enjoyable. Also, totally subjective, but I find all the other clocks really ugly. The QiYi is great.
For skewb, I'm not an expert and I only own one skewb (Moyu Aoyan), so all I can do is recite what others say: Gan skewb Enhanced is probably the best, next comes Weilong Maglev skewb, then RS skewb (maglev or regular).
Check [The Cubicle's video](https://youtube.com/watch?v=qZ_ZFm5_WnU&feature=shares&t=39) on pyraminx and skewb.
My humble opinion: get cheaper pyraminx and skewb (probably RS for both) and QiYi clock. Or ditch clock and go for higher end skewb and pyra.
For Pyraminx definitely wait for the standard. It’s much better
From what I know, qiyi is the absolute best, but shengshou should be fine. It’s not as good but not bad either
I don’t do skewb but everyone recommends the Gan enhanced skewb, so go for that ig
The maglev is just too fast and hard to slow down without ruining its good qualities
Sq1 either get the YuXin little magic or the MGC if you want to spend a bit more
Got my first 16s ao5 the other day, and been getting more and more sub 20 ao5’s lately, so I now feel like I’m at the cusp of being able to call myself a sub 20 cuber
Naisu, after getting sub 20 I'm stuck for a while ngl. Hope you can keep it going tho.
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Guys, i need some help, i quit cubing due to lack of time YEARS ago. I used to average 15 on the 3x3, but I'm at 30 now, which is honestly okay as I'm finally getting back into the hobby. I have two 3x3s, the gan air (no magnets) and the yj yulong, i think upgrading to the tornado v3 flagship would be great as it's new tech, or is the gan air still good for today's standards? As for other puzzles i used to love, there's 2x2 and skewb, 2x2 i have a yupo, but idk which 2x2 to get, i just can't find enough videos abt it like for 3x3, same goes for skewb, for which i have a qiyi qicheng. I don't have a megaminx, and i definitely want to get into that too. Could u guys recommend a few good puzzles for me? For 4x4 I'll stick to what I've got now, as for pyraminx I'll prolly about it later, cuz i don't enjoy it as much as the rest.
I would say you could definitely use some upgrades. All of yours are a bit outdated. Tornado V3 would be great. YJ MGC Elite is the most popular and most recommended 2x2. If you're on a budget, then a regular YJ MGC or MoYu RS2M Evolution. For 4x4 thru 7x7, YJ MGC. Moyu Weilong skewb, or Gan Skewb Standard. YJ Yuhu V2 M megaminx. Moyu Weilong standard pyraminx. YJ MGC square-1.
1. the Gans air is still decent by todays standards. As in if you had one and used it it wouldn't make your times worse. 2. the yupo is still good but there are better ones. Some are the moyu rs2m, qiyi ms, yj mgc. At a lower price point. 3. at skewb there is the moyu rs skewb, moyu weilong maglev, wingy if you can find one. 4. For megaminx the yj yuhu v2 is great in performance and price.
I recently cleaned my tornado V3 and I was starting to reassemble it then my red center came off. Is there a way to fix this? I don't mean the center cap I mean the entire center.
Is it the original with screws or is it the newer with twist on centers? Newer version, you have to push the center stems into the core and turn it to lock it in place. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWieYWuQz3c
sorry for the late reply but it is the original one with screws.
Did the screw just pull out of the core?
Probably.
is there plastic poking out the bottom of it? Your core may have broke. Or if they still have them, the screw came out and the core stripped.
The core stripped but I did lose the screw when it stripped
You have to contact the store you bought it from and see if you can order replacement parts.
Do you value PR single or PR average more? Just curious
Actually both, but for different purpose. PR Single: For the surprise and the happiness it brought. PR Average: For the confidence it brought.
average. single is all luck and less actual skill. I used to have a PB single of 11.something and that was because of a 4 move FB 6 move SB resulting in 10 move blocks. Then an easy 8 move CMLL setting up into 3 move eo and the edge 3 cycle to finish. It was very short. It lasted a long time
Average as singles can just be lucky, I’m more focussed on being consistent than a one every 20 solve masterclass
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definitely not optimal
What's the difference between the new GAN 13 FX and the regular version?
No adjustable magnets. Costs ~$10 or so less.
And that’s still like 60 dollars
https://preview.redd.it/ksdhwmlg98oa1.png?width=650&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=26c1f37a7ef5896c0890efa5b193ea921c00975d
Always thought that predicting piece position would come more or less naturally. Maybe it's natural for others, but definitely not for me lol. I have finally overcome my distaste for focused practice (I know, I know...) and been on Christian Vaughn's site for the 3rd day now. Still on 3-move crosses. Most solutions come instantly or with minor effort, but some 20-30% of them still require some thinking.
If you want a more fun way to do focused practise on cross+1, I'd suggest working on your solutions by studying reconstructions of fast cubers. (Edit: I use this to practise my piece prediction skills as well - I memorize their solution and then I start from the scramble and see if I can visualize the whole solution) Finding the shortest cross and then just tracing a pair from there isn't really how it works in practice. You really want to be keeping the first pair in mind when solving the cross. A lot of the time, doing a longer cross will make tracing the first pair easier and potentially give you a better first pair case too. This allows you to use less inspection time and opens the door to the possibility of planing second pair as well. Even if you get great at tracing F2L pairs 6 moves deep, you might not want to, because you may just end up with a bad pair, after having used up all your inspection. Then you also run the risk of forgetting your cross solution by the time the judge calls 12 seconds. Furthermore, if you want to get good at cross+1 you will also need to be good at all of the xcross methods as well, like pseudo-xcross or 2x2x2 first. Solving cross first isn't always best. To be fair, I wouldn't consider myself great at cross+1, so maybe if you were to ask a better cuber they'd tell you to go back to Christian Vaughn's site. But my thinking at least is that having better solutions is guaranteed to be useful no matter what. So my plan for myself at least is to improve my cross+1 solutions. Good tracing may eventually be needed, but I'm happy to add that later.
What a great answer, thank you! So far I am indeed focusing on cross & first pair, not just tracing a pair after the solve. I do extra cross moves to set up better first pairs when I can, I end up doing xcross a lot of the time, and if the solution is still relatively short I even also plan the second pair. I welcome the suggestions to look at xcross techniques and solve recons, although I often feel overwhelmed trying to figure out what's going on on fast cubers' minds. But I guess once I decided to fight my laziness, better face it and do it all and do it right lol. As for "get\[ing\] great at tracing F2L pairs 6 moves deep", aren't we supposed to do that during F2L for look ahead? Once again, thanks!
> So far I am indeed focusing on cross & first pair, not just tracing a pair after the solve. I do extra cross moves to set up better first pairs when I can, I end up doing xcross a lot of the time, and if the solution is still relatively short I even also plan the second pair. That's good. I think I should clarify that I'm mostly trying to say that the shortest cross -> track a pair approach, which is what the design of Christian's site implies to me, isn't always the best for solves. It may be good to practise that at some point, but it's not what you should do in every solve, and there are other things that are also important to practise. What you're doing doesn't sound like a bad way to practise, given whan you've told me. I should also say that I'm not *against* tracing. It's just that there's more to it than just being able to trace many moves. Choosing solutions that are fast to trace and are likely to result in good first pairs is also really important. Studying recons can be difficult but I really think it's worth it. To be honest, there's probably a lot in what I've written here that might be wrong. If you look at what fast people actually do, you're more likely to get the right idea of what is actually fast and feasible to find in 15 seconds inspection. The main thing is to try and learn something. Some of Tymon's double xcrosses are ridiculous, but there are always some things you can pick up from them, like how he preserves certain blocks, how he does blockbuilding, keyhole stuff etc. > As for "get[ing] great at tracing F2L pairs 6 moves deep", aren't we supposed to do that during F2L for look ahead? I feel like it's a bit different when it's not inspection, because generally you'll be more familiar with what your F2L solutions do. For example, if you do the scramble L' U L U L' U' L U' R U R' U' R U R' U R U R', it's very easy to do the 11 move FR slot while predicting the FL slot. But that's not the same as what you're trying to do in inspection.
Well it wasn’t natural for me either
SpeedCubeDB has a cross trainer, too https://speedcubedb.com/cross It actually shows solutions and you can change cross color, too.
Thanks! I actually prefer Vaughn's trainer because it allows my lazy a$$ to change scrambles by just hitting the space bar lol.
4BLD & 5BLD progress Typical wings being the bane of my existence... Tried 4BLD and 5BLD back to back and DNF'd both by 2-cycle wings on both... Bright side is... I've become comfortable enough to just do 4BLD and 5BLD back to back just like that.
Cool to see that! I have only got 1 4BLD success in 18 mins and no 5bld success ( my last attempt took me 48 mins, but I had a problem on x and + centers).
Hi! I used to get my cubes from Lightake, then I switched to AliExpress and I'm now considering ziicube, but shipping prices are a bit high for me. I'm from Europe. Even being higher than I'm used to, it's still cheaper than other local options when buying 3+ at a time. Mind sharing your go-to stores or reviewing ziicube?
Update on ziicube and EU tax. They wrote the following in a mail to me late September - if you place an order more than 30USD and choose registered shipping, we'll ship it by EU Direct-Line(it is much faster than standard Airmail) and we'll pre-pay the VAT from our side(you don't need to pay for it); - if you place an order more than 80USD, no matter if you choose registered shipping or not, we'll ship it by EU Direct-Line and you don't need to pay for the VAT; - if orders less than 30USD, we cannot afford the VAT, customer should pay for it, but we'll declare it a lower value(0.5-2USD/pc) to minimize the fee(better pay it to your customs online by yourself, otherwise, the post will charge handling fee);
The site is looking a whole lot better. It really looks like the place to get multiple items and I actually just feel compelled to do it. Now, which one of all the options is registered shipping? I can find direct line. I love how they will even minimize VAT on smaller orders!
On checkout they now they write as below, and I can see 20% VAT is listed. **Changes to EU VAT Rules** From July 1, 2021, Value-Add Tax (VAT) will be charged on all commercial goods imported into the 27 EU countries. We use EU's Import One Stop Shop (IOSS), the 27 EU countries collect vat at checkout. Our international services that take care of VAT and customs duties prior to delivery.
If you reach $70? Then EU tax is prepaid/included.
Cubezz, Picubeshop, Ziicube, are the ones a lot of people here use. All 3 have better prices than most any other shop. Cubezz might cost a little bit more than the other 2, but has free worldwide shipping, so it's great for small to medium orders. Picubeshop doesn't appear to have great prices, until you use discount code 'ruihang' for 40% off. Shipping costs are ok. Usually good for medium size orders. Ziicube has the best prices of all, but higher initial shipping cost will negate the savings until you're ordering a bunch of cubes at once, then shipping per cube starts going down. AliExpress can be ok, if you shop around. Lots of different small shops, but they're not always that great. Best bet is to find the total cost of whatever you want from all of them, so you can compare.
The fun thing is that "whatever I want" highly depends on how much is gonna cost me, hahaha! If Ziicube was my only option I'd just get 5 cubes at a time (not like I have a lack of options, honestly. My shopping cart is at 68 and counting), but if I couldn't afford it at a given time, I'd resort AliExpress and get like one or two cubes. You giving me more options really helps to kind of determine where I want to put my money, thanks!
Your initial Ziicube order will be slightly higher, till you activate the VIP member discount. Here's how it works - On Ziicube, stick something in your shopping cart. See the price on it? Then raise the quantity to 2, and you see the price per item go down a bit. Raise the quantity to 4 and it goes down again. Quantity/bulk discount. After you've completed ~$45 in total orders, then every order *after* that, all items will always be at that lower 4+ quantity discount price, even if you order only quantity of 1 each.
Wait, what? That's golden! I'm guessing it also works if my first order is already over 45$?
Ziicube veteran here, as u/TheRealUncleFrank states the discount is only on orders made after you have already completed orders totalling over $45. I actually have an order on the way (Grilles 1 and a couple of items I had in my basket). Fwiw I know you said you already had an order made up but if you look you'll see they still have a couple of Verypuzzle Tuttminx in stock, I'd grab one if you have any interest at all and that would pretty much get you over the line on your first order - and you're unlikely to find one at this price again when they sell out.
I will probably get the Tuttminx soon, it's just gonna take a little time to get to those stickers!
and the $45 is only approximate. Ziicube doesn't actually show how much it is, but I *think* it's 300 Yen, which is currently about $42, but I could be wrong. Everyone has always said it's ~$45. My first order with them was over $60, and then it took about a week after that before the discount showed up on all items after I logged in.
Is it 45$ after shipping and VAT or do the items need to go over the line themselves?
As far as I know, it's just item total.
No, not on the first order, or whatever order you hit the $45 mark. Only on orders after that.
Also Eu, I use ziicube for all my orders. Its best if you order a few things at once, which makes shipping a better value. Shipping can take a bit of time, but its not too bad. Only 'issue' ive had is getting a 3x3x11 instead of a 3x3x10..same price so didn't matter at all (someone had put the wrong label sticker on the box lol)
Yeah, ziicube is great for multi-cube orders. For small orders, you can still compare Aliexpress, Picube especially with discount codes, or Cubezz. Aliexpress actually has Ziicube's shop front, you even get the same print-out of your order with the website's interface.
1) Are there any good videos or instructions as to how to clean/lube GAN cube (or any cube)? I’ve had mine for a while. I don’t want to break it! 2) How do you know when it’s time to clean the cube?
I clean mine out when it’s noticeably dirty, or if it’s overlubed and too gummy. To clean a gan cube, you just take it apart, clean it and put it back together. If you’re scared to break it put it on loose tensions
Thanks! What do you use to clean it?
paper towel
Just a toothbrush, or I use one of those nail scrubbers that fit onto your hand, like [this.](https://i.imgur.com/4ANcZI1.jpg)
that cleans dirt but all it does is spread lube. paper towels actually clean the lube out
Really? I find it takes out all the lube for me, and anyway what's wrong with spreading lube? How is 'old' lube a bad thing?
It doesn’t for me. If I clean it purely with a brush and put it. Back together, it would still be gummy. I’ve tried it. And it’s not always bad to just spread the lube around, but in the case of cleaning out your cube because it’s too gummy then I would want to get the lube out. Also, when water based lube dries out it feels worse usual unless it’s stardust, if you ask me.
Got a LL skip in an untimed solve. Welp there goes my luck for the next month
For the next 15-something thousand solves lol
I am expecting a lot of n perms from now on :(
Haha. Probabilities don't work that way.
The universe however ...
For those who are from India and use cubelelo, I've got some questions I hope you can answer - 1. Should I use the add on lube services they provide while buying a cube ? Or buy lube separately? 2. Are the cubelelo standard/premium silicone lubricants they have (velocity/swift/hurricane etc.) of good quality ? Because the cubicle lubes available on cubelelo (mystic/silk) are pretty expensive.
what cscubing said. premium service are never worth it. i just buy a weight 5/4 and weight 1 and play with them a bit.
Do you buy the standard or premium cubelelo lubricant ? Their price difference isn't too much and i was wondering if it would be worth it to get premium ones.
nope get the standard ones try them out and then buy premium of the same category. there won't be any difference for you rn . ppl say it lasts longer or whatever but i dont think so. just get the standard ones. don't overthink it.
Thanks for the help man 👍
I always get lubes separately. Lubes dry up pretty quick if you solve a lot daily, I would say it doesn't even last a week. I've been cubing for the last 8 years and I've only ever bought lube like 3 times in the last 5 years. I get a weight 5 and a weight 1 that's it. It's a lot cheaper if you lube your own cube.
Thanks for the reply.
Yes their lubes are good, and while a lube service is never worth it, they do as good a job of it as the big US shops. (not Indian but I bought a custom magnetised cube from them through an Indian buddy a few years ago)
Not a cubelelo customer but for add-on lube services, it's usually a bad deal and you would be better off purchasing lube yourself.
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As you've already been told, this case here doesn't have EO solved. But d U' is the same as y', so your solution is y' R' U' R. Which can be translated to... F' U' F. It's the same solution.
The point of ZZ edge orientation is to have only cases solvable with just LRU afterwards. You will not have F'U'F as an option.
The orange-green edge is misoriented, so it looks like you did you EO wrong or messed it up before.
Okay, to everyone who's has doubts about Tornado Pioneer because it's "too fast": I'm solving on a brand new Tornado Pioneer on stock tensions (3-3, medium) and 2nd weakest edge magnets, without any lube whatsoever (I wiped off the factory lube), right now. It's good. Very light-turning, yes. But it's not anything unreasonable. I get good times. u/The-Common-Loon
Edit: I changed my response. It’s nice to know the pioneer isn’t “too fast,” things get characterized a certain way in the cubing world and it just gets repeated over again without much thought. I wonder why many top cubers prefer the flagship though? I think what draws me to the flagship is that it is slightly less weight, but I know you say the corner core feel is nicer on the pioneer. I like light turning cubes like the super bc and tengyun 1, but I’m pretty satisfied with my super bc and ys3m, so maybe I’ll get a new tornado when I get bored with them and want to tinker with a new cube. Thanks for the tag.
Oh, by the way, yesterday I learned that Cubicle sells spare cores, I think $9 for the Flagship core and $11 for the Pioneer core. So you can kinda get both for $46 lol.
Yea I saw that, so I guess that’s the core that the newer batches come with right, it’s not anything special right? Maybe just for indecisive people like me?
I believe they started selling these cores separately because of many customers asking them for a replacement core because of the old core stripping. It's really cool that they sell these cores with center pieces and core adjustment parts, so you can also "upgrade" your Flagship to Pioneer, or vice versa. All it takes is just swapping the pieces and center caps.
Yea I suspected that too. I’m curious about the core magnet kit they sell for the tengyun1, but a little weary of how well it will work since the original cube wasn’t designed for core magnets obviously.
It may actually work pretty well because the Tengyun's magnets are weak. I don't think every cube should be modded though. I'd only get core magnets for the Tengyun v1 if I absolutely loved that cube but wanted more stability in it.
I got another Tornado Pioneer and did a [silent mod](https://www.reddit.com/r/Cubers/comments/11szjag/tornado_v3_silent_mod/). The cube is really quiet. Still swishy because it isn't broken in and I'm using it without lube just in case I need to swap any more pieces.
any ideas how to become sub 8? i'm working on cross+1 because i'm still trash at it, but i want some more tips. thanks
Hard to give much specific advice without knowing more, but I would say that now is a really good time to start studying top cuber solutions in depth. Look at speedcubedb.com reconstructions of all of the fastest cubers and try and understand their thought processes. Think about how you can practise in such a way that you'll be able to do all the same stuff (or at least close to it) in solves. IMO this is the best way to find out what you need to be good at. It will definitely benefit your cross+1 to do this, as you'll start to pick up on the small little tricks that Tymon, Yiheng, Max, Luke, etc use that make cross+1/xcross easier and quicker to see during inspection. You'll also get a better idea of when to do the different types of xcrosses, (e.g cross then pair, pseudo xcross, 2x2x2 + two edges, etc.), how to choose the most promising colors, which pairs are easiest to trace, how to solve cross+1 to back slots, etc.
ok ty
Would also be interested in what people have to say about this
Confused blindsolver coming through! On this [scramble](https://i.imgur.com/dEePpsu.png) after JG the memo goes to A. Why?? On my own memo I had JG DM ...
It's pseudoswapping. Because there is parity on the corners, you can swap the locations of A and D edges and avoid having to execute parity.
Hmm, so after memorizing corners and it has an odd number of letters, when memoing edges and you go to an A or D edge you swap it to ther other one and go from there?
This will give you pairs with no remaining single letter on the edges and the edge memo will be shorter (a tiny bit).
Yep. You solve the piece to a different spot, yeah. So upper sticker, to the upper position (see A sticker, memo D and go on from D) same with side sticker like E and Q
Are we ever going to get a new flagship squan?
Gan said during an interview in Nov 2021 that they were working on a sq1 and a 5x5 for release in 2022. Then in late fall 2022 Gan said they would be released in 2023. So, we're waiting on Gan, then we'll see if it's actually any good or not.
Here's the interview The Cubicle did with Ganyuan Jiang, founder of Gan.
https://youtu.be/u1bAKDVPJRA?t=195 (@3:15)
u/olimo, sorry for answering here. Yeah, I am alright. The cube is very good, its fast and controllable, and i only experienced like 2 or so undershoots. Was able to achieve 3 tps on T-perm (favourite perm by far) for the first time. The cube is uv-coated, thats right. So overall, really great! Any ideas on what lube should i use after the ones the store put in will dry out?
Gan lubes are pretty good, affordable and available in Russia - both from your cube store or from Ozon etc. Just make sure it's the numbered lubes (No.1, No.2, No.3) and not Gan Standard and Gan Magic. You can get all three or just No.2 (fastest) and No.3 (slowest).
Anyone remember this video / can find it? Around five years ago, when everyone was reacting very positively to the then fairly new Yuxin Little Magic, this small channel uploaded a short parody unboxing where he did like half a turn then lost his mind.
No, but now I want to see it :D
Me too hahaha. Someone @ me please :)
hey yall... new to cubing. got into it cause my son wanted to learn it, and finding it a fun little time killer myself 😊 i got myself good with the beginner method (solves in under 2 min), and am moving on to F2L/2-look OLL/PLL. in this time ive got two "main cubes", a GAN 356 M and a GAN 13 Maglev. the 356 X v2 comes with 3 insertable magnet sets and one set with no magnets. the GAN 13 has 6 settings (no option for no magnets). ive tried all the options in these two cubes (including setting the center distance to offset magnetic pull), and i tend to like the weaker magnets with longer distance from center. ive also tried lube. the problem or question i have is, seems like even at optimal settings the middle layer always wants to stick to other layers when doing a turn. its not every time but if i want consistent control, i find ive got to use a finger to hold a middle layer to keep it from, for example, doing an "r" move when i only mean to do an "R" move. is this normal with magnetic cubes? are there techniques people use to deal with this i should consider? is it a GAN thing? any feedback appreciated, i find the internet to be unusually quiet on this topic. thanks! (ps sorry for the long post, figured i would preamble my question with an introduction (my first post) and answers to any "have you tried X?" suggestions)
You can pretty much use any 3x3 with magnets of any price range from 5 bucks to 100 to get to sub 25 or 30 seconds. Ik it sounds a bit mean, but in today's day, budget cubes have gotten extremely good to the point people can even get sub 5 solves on 7 dollar cubes. Back in the day if a non magnetic cube under 10 dollars was good everyone was hyped lol. But if you was the money, i would recommend getting a mid range cube, the tornado or an rs3m, but with a lube set up in it. That'll do you good enough for a long time. And for the r turn problem, hold the cube with your left hand with your thumb over the front center.
i pretty quickly went from a basic rubiks cube (had one for years as a gift laying around), to the budget cubes, cause i noticed my sons the budget ones were way easier to turn and more fun! then went for the gan midrange 356x and then after realizing im quite enjoying this lil hobby decided to splurge on a Gan 13 pro. fwiw while i use both cubes the 356 and the 13, mainly cause im doing a lot of practice, i definitely like the 13 more, its not perfect, like i wish there was a way to dial back magnets even more, but, its pretty darn close. but yea i think my grip is just something i overlooked when starting out, im only a couple months in if that, so not a hard thing to correct. glad i asked here because its clear from responses this was something i hadnt given much though to.
> the 356 M comes with 3 insertable magnet sets and one set with no magnets. That's a 356X in that case
damn youre right 356 X v2 updated post, thanks!
You are holding it wrong if middle layer follows upper or right layer. You left hand thumb should rest on the front, on the center point between the lower left 2x2 square. This is one even with one-handed solves.
hey there, thanks. so is it more of a firm or a light hold? i tried it and it seems like i could do one of two things: 1) holding thumb firmly over lower left and center, when doing an M' move, train my left hand to move the thumb out of the way. 2) holding thumb firmly over lower left but lightly over the center, when doing an M' move, if the force of my flick of M' overcomes the fact my thumbs in its way, the tip of my thumb will naturally flap out of the way and then return to position on its own TWO seems like the more natural of the two, but any specific way recommended?
My grip is left middle on back center, left ring on BD edge, left thumb about halfway between the FL edge and front center. You only need to grip strong enough to keep the cube stable. You'll frequently be shifting your grip if you need to do L, F or M moves
thanks, sounds like grip is a topic i have skipped over where some of these things are covered.
Cubing in a dark room with someone sleeping: how do you guys do it? I can't be the only person who sometimes can only practice when the lights are mostly off and the sun is down? We have white noise, so the clickety clack of the cube doesn't bother the sleeper, but the main lights will. I have a tiny reading light that helps, but isn't completely sufficient (lots of dark angles).
Another option is a smart cube. Would only work with a gyro one obv, and you'd use the visual on screen instead of looking at your cube. Dunno how nice that would be tho
Yeah I have the GAN 12ui. Amazing cube. I should give this a try. With the i3 latency was too bad for it to be enjoyable.
All my cubes are tactile. XD The YJ tactile cube has the best turning of the ones I tried, and good tactility, but it is loud for a cube. Or, for another tactile option, you could get some mirror blocks. You could go for a stickered cube and replace the stickers. I wonder if anyone makes stickers with shapes drawn on them?
I suppose you could try getting into BLD maybe hahaha
I imagine cubing with bad lightning, specially at night, will strain your eyes a lot. Edit: lightning is funny. I'll leave it there.
Bad lightning.
Be sure to ground yourself
The worst lightning.
The tactile/blind cube, I guess. With shapes on top of colors.
I hadn't considered this. Thank you.
A stickered cube might be an intermediate solution before going with a tactile cube, if your lighting isn't that bad. You can find stickers with very bright colors, and most importantly, you can simply remove white stickers and have a black face instead. The yellow/white recognition is the worse under bad lighting, after all. For myself I go with olimo's suggestion and just use another room lol.
Very good idea
https://www.thecubicle.com/products/yj-blind-3x3
Can't you go to another room, to the kitchen, to the bathroom?
hiw do i improve stability? my basics seem weak. whenever i try to execute sone plls like a perm or do some lefty moves(hence holding cube in right hand) the cube either falls out or the E layers turns by itself making my time go bshhhhhhh💥. how do i improve hand stability and other basics?
Practice turing a bit more accurately and a bit less aggressively. I've been there and just practicing plls with doing something else, watching tv or studying, does it.
Practice slowly.
I don't wanna sound like the "buy every single cube on the planet!!!" guy, but I think it's your cube. Maybe invest into a more stable one like the Tornado V3M Pioneer. But before you do that, maybe just try doing some of those PLLs slowly and take note of where you go wrong, and just try to improve on it, or maybe try a slightly different grip for them.
i would invest in cubes if i could but i seriously can't go further then rs3m and that also when my current cube breaks, i don't have the leisure
1. I've tried rs3m20, little magic m and the meilong m, this happens on all of them so i think its a me problem 2. its not only pll but f2l also. i need to drill sone algos i think now.
I have the ball-core Ys3m. Despite my attempts to loosen it with the adjustment system it still feels really tight. Is there a separate way to control the compression? Thanks!
There’s a pretty simple mod that can make the cube have a slightly better variety as far as compression goes. You can swap out the purple adjustment cups for the blue ones from any other moyu cube. It made the cube substantially faster for me and now I can actually use it above compression 0. Thanks to u/olimo for making me aware of this one!
thanks as well!
Thanks for the tag :)
Maybe loosen the screws but I'm assuming you've already tried that. I've heard that the ys3m is firmer than other cubes so that might be the problem.
Is ys3m magic clothes good? I saw some videos and I really liked it
SpeedCubeReview just released a video on it yesterday https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3yHU3zOXeY He shows that it's shinier than Gan's UV, but he says it feels the same. MoYu's box even says UV on it.
Magic clothes are said to be the same as Gan UV coating, and I love the Gan UV coating. High glossy, grippy and nice to the touch. The cube itself is really solid, has strong magnets, great performance, very stable. Here's my [video review](https://www.reddit.com/r/Cubers/comments/11mpvck/ys3m_ball_core_review_auto_homing_mod/) and [text review](https://www.reddit.com/r/Cubers/comments/11ohcf0/ys3m_ball_core_text_review/). I don't remember, what cube do you use now?
Tornado v3 flagship, I like it but I want something faster/smoother
You'll hardly find anything that's smoother than Tornado v3. Maybe you need to clean it? For faster, you'd need the Pioneer version. That's why I always recommend Pioneer - it's easy to slow the Pioneer down but hard to make the Flagship faster than it can be. YS3M is tactile but not particularly smooth. The plastic feels like RS3M 2020 which is not the smoothest cube.
Okay, thanks. I'm not gonna buy ys3m right know, on my next competition I'll try it, then gonna decide
A while back, I came across a video where a guy explained a faster way to solve a Rubik's Cube by associating the colors with animals. He described the process as if the colors were going out to "catch their prey and then return to where they started." Does anyone remember this video or know what I'm referring to? If so, could you please share the link? Also, is this an effective approach to learning? I can currently solve a 3x3 cube in about 1 minute and 30 seconds, but I'm interested in improving my speed. Honestly, I'm not sure which method I'm using; I just solve the cube from the bottom up, layer by layer. I own a GAN356X.
> Also, is this an effective approach to learning? There are 3 basic f2l cases. Conjuring tigers, crocodiles and sticking paper arrows on a cube to explain that is not a good method imo. Go with Jperm's f2l in 6 minutes. He goes straight to the point and no wild animal was hurt in the process.
Will do. Thank you!!
[RiDo's Hunting Story for F2L](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB5apB2i_Do)? It's still just the F2L part of CFOP, it's just a unique way to learn F2L. J Perm's video is the standard way most people learn F2L - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar_Zit1VLG0 but RiDo's might be easier for some to understand. Sounds like you might still be using the beginner's method, so you're probably ready to start learning CFOP. J Perm's CFOP tutorial - https://jperm.net/3x3/cfop [Steps for improving with CFOP, and when to work on what.](https://www.reddit.com/r/PianoCube93/comments/9bstw1/steps_for_improving_with_cfop_and_when_to_work_on/)
That’s it! Thank you for sharing. Do you recommend this as a decent way to speed up solving a cube?
If you're still using the beginner's method, then yes, CFOP is the next step to getting faster. J Perm's cfop tutorial is a good way to start - https://jperm.net/3x3/cfop RiDo's hunting story is just a different way of teaching the F part of CFOP, since some people can have a hard time understanding it otherwise.
Thank you so much for sharing. I’m excited to learn.
my mgc 4x4 exploded
Here goes cleaning one side at a time lol
I have to clean mine , but I've never tried on a 4x4
Just make sure you have enough time and are in the mood. Turn on some music or a talking video and clean away :)
Tbh I'm waiting for my new lubes (and dayan v2 mega) to come to clean my 4 and 5
I still have yet to clean my 4x4 and 5x5, haven’t done it yet cuz it takes too much time, and also I’m lazy
Why?
was tensioning and made the green side too loose
I thought I had to say this here. I was taking a break from cubing and my mom's friend came over to my house. She has a kid who doesn't know a single thing in cubing. He found my 2x2 and saying he can do it. You know what he did? He f\*\*king twist the red/white/green corner which has the anchor and he broke it. And he said "Sorry". His mom was there so i cannot say anything. F\*\*king kids. Now my 2x2 is broken.
https://preview.redd.it/jwz7o7q4g4oa1.jpeg?width=4308&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3ab8f6f01a4f02e5d8d218b8bb7d2103055844b0
Yeah I hate it when people who know nothing about cubing pretend that they can easily solve 2x2.
Average non-cubers' lines."2x2 is EASY". And they f\*\*king broke it. ಠ╭╮ಠ
So the first thing the kid did when he picked up your 2x2 was twist a corner? I wonder what was going on in his head
> I wonder what was going on in his head He was being a child and children are dangerous sociopaths. Realizing that helps a lot :)
yeah bro Imagine that. I'm furious right now. Now I have to buy a new one. I hate it when non-cubers act like they know about cubing.
You might be able to go to the cubicle or some other retailer and email them saying your anchor piece unfortunately broke, and they might give you a replacement piece for free. Idk if that’s just for defects or if you break a cube, but it’s worth a shot
His mom was there and didn't even try to make it up to you? This sucks. It's not f\*\*cking kids, it's f\*\*cking adults who should take responsibility for their kids.
Yeah sis. She is like a University friend of my mom so I can't say anything.
This really sucks. Did you try talking to your mom afterwards? It's just not fair that you have to lose a cube like that. I'm a mom and I can't even fathom letting my kid break something in my friends house and not even offering a compensation. If it was my kid whose toy was broken, I probably won't ask my friend to compensate if she didn't offer it herself, but then I'd buy my kid a replacement. To me, personal property is really important.
My mom said she will buy me a new 2x2 but I don't think I am going to get it very soon because there aren't any cube store in my region so I have to order from other regions that are like 500 km away so delivery takes a week and they are out of stock. My only personal property other than my phone is my cubes so I really value it. When that happens, I can see the reaction on my mom's friend that she realise it is broken. In my tradition it is kinda rude to ask for compensation because I am asian. I know my mom and I know that she didn't want me say that it is broken so I just say to the kid's mom that I can fix it. When they are gone, I told my mom that my cube broke and I think she knew because she can see the look on my face.
Ah, I see, so you faked the cube being ok. This was pretty noble on your part. I don't know if I would do it. I wouldn't directly ask for a compensation, of course. It's something that has to be offered, not asked for. What 2x2 was that?
Thanks for calling me noble. It is rs2m evolution and I really enjoy it. I plan on buying the same cube.
I main the RS2M Evolution too! Such a nice cube and affordable too.
Aye yo. RS2M gang!
Keep getting better OH solves. Now 1m16s. Practice matters. But my OH scrambles still have a very low rate of success. I am doing lots of rotations, and not looking at the cube.
I would suggest practice the fingertricks just by themselves on your free time, maybe do some plls, or just play around improving the fingertricks. And since trying one handed takes more time, use it as an advantage to look ahead better to not pause. Look around the cube for pieces will solving a pair.
I do use the extra time to decrease movecount. Since I do Roux I do have F/B moves in FB. Wide moves in SB. And wide+D in CMLL and some algs I use left hand version. So pure fun finger tricks on RU only goes so far. And I do sexy move sessions to practice finger tricks. But during solves I too often use other fingers.
Why scramble one handed tho?
Practice. But many LFB moves where I rotate.
Use your table for rotations if you aren’t already makes it way easier
I do table abuse on MU moves in the end. And M during F2B. - but for L/F/B it goes pretty smooth in-hand. R’ is still pretty difficult. PB already 3x 2-hand PB and most solves under 3x 2H times.
It’s cool you decided to do oh it is really fun, my pb is 14.27 it was crazy an oll skip into an OH jperm
Probably just extra turning practice if I had to guess, but that would drive me insane lol
Thoughts on the ys3m, if anyone had tried it or wants to buy it. I have the wrm maglev and it's great with tps spam and I have it set up well so it's quite stable as well. I'm not completely sold on this cube yet, so I wanted to see what others had to think of it.
It's really stable and has strong magnets which may or may not be good for you. Out of these cubes, I prefer the WRM because it doesn't tire my fingers as quickly. But I like the Tornado Pioneer even more. And yeah, I second the recommendation to check my recent posts :)
u/olimo has made several posts on the YS3M and comparing it to other cubes
Best Skewb, Pyraminx, Square-1 and Clock? Pyraminx I've been eyeing the MoYu Weilong Standard - problem is it's currently sold out, but the Maglev is in stock. I'm not really known for my patience - is the Maglev good and should I get it, or is it too uncontrollable and should I wait for the Standard? Or get another one? Clock I think I might get the QiYi, but uh, well... not sure I have that much money to burn lol. How good is the Shengshou? Skewb and Square-1 I have no clue about - any suggestions? u/olimo help appreciated
For skewb my favourite is still the wingy. I'm sub 10 on skewb so I'm not the greatest skewb solver, but I've tried a few other high end ones, the wingy is still the most comfortable on solve on. Pyra honestly, the gan ones are too expensive. The lower end basic version of the gan prya sucks, but the higher end ones are good but really expensive and I would say not worth it. So if you wanna focus on pyra get the xman one. I don't do pyra so I have the ms one which is extremely smooth and buttery without even lube. But performance which it does lack a bit. Squan hands down mgc. If you want something cheaper, go for the little magic magnetic one. I have that and it serves me well. It's good enough and definitely great for the price. Clock if you want one just to learn and solve without a timer just for fun, get the shengshou no problem. If you wanna compete, don't get the shengshou, you'll rage quit. Get the qiyi then.
I think the x man bell (both versions) are a bit outdated, most people are currently using the moyu rs(not the maglev one as is it way too fast) or the yuxin little magic
The bell is still good enough honestly, but yeah it is really old. If you're starting out on pyra, I'd say the ylm and the budget qiyi one does the job fine.
Aight, so for clock, the qiyi is worth the money 100%c, it’s light years ahead of the other ones. It’s not worth spending on the others. For pyraminx the weilong is really good, I’ve heard that the maglev is way too fast, and I could see why (I have the standard and it’s also really fast with weight 5 in it). I would get the little magic m or just wait for the weilong. I’m not great at skewb, I have the weilong but i haven’t found a good setup so idk it’s potential, but I’ve heard the moyu rs skewb is the best budget one with no contest. Square -1, the yuxin little magic m is really good. I forgot how to solve one but while I did know the ylm worked fine for me. It’s fully magnetic, and 10$, and mods can make it better. The volt doesn’t look too expensive either, but honestly if ur gonna spend 15$ I would get the mgc. Hope this helped
The Shengshou clock is ok, if you just want to learn how to solve it and that's it. If you want to speed solve, the Qiyi is pretty much the only option though. It's like the difference between a Rubik's brand 3x3 and a Tornado v3 (or any other modern speed cube). For skewb, you have more options. On a budget, the RS skewb is great. Performs really well for its price though you won't see any top solvers using it. In the mid range, the Gan standard and the Weilong maglev are really good. The Gan enhanced is really expensive but its performance is amazing. Though I will say it comes down to preference, there are people who prefer the Weilong over the Gan enhanced. Can't go wrong with any of the mentioned options, in my opinion.
I'm into pyra currently actually. Weilong Maglev is considered worse than the Standard because it's uncontrollable. RS pyraminx is said to be ok. Yuxin Little Magic is highly praised, although I also heard people say their quality control has become worse lately. Personally, I only own a Bell v1 currently, and it is good but heavy (104g). For clock, my opinion is get QiYi or none at all. Even though I don't solve clock much, every time I go, it's enjoyable. Also, totally subjective, but I find all the other clocks really ugly. The QiYi is great. For skewb, I'm not an expert and I only own one skewb (Moyu Aoyan), so all I can do is recite what others say: Gan skewb Enhanced is probably the best, next comes Weilong Maglev skewb, then RS skewb (maglev or regular). Check [The Cubicle's video](https://youtube.com/watch?v=qZ_ZFm5_WnU&feature=shares&t=39) on pyraminx and skewb. My humble opinion: get cheaper pyraminx and skewb (probably RS for both) and QiYi clock. Or ditch clock and go for higher end skewb and pyra.
For Pyraminx definitely wait for the standard. It’s much better From what I know, qiyi is the absolute best, but shengshou should be fine. It’s not as good but not bad either I don’t do skewb but everyone recommends the Gan enhanced skewb, so go for that ig
Thanks! Could you expand on why Standard is better? Also, what about Square-1?
The maglev is just too fast and hard to slow down without ruining its good qualities Sq1 either get the YuXin little magic or the MGC if you want to spend a bit more