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[Review] Qiyi Thunderclap

Your thoughts on this cube


  • Total voters
    132

TheChaiCuber

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Joined
Sep 30, 2015
Messages
224
Location
San Francisco
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2016CHAI03
This cube needs to be in every cuber's collection, and it should be the cube intermediate cubers go for because of its price and performance. It's a budget cube by price, but it performs as a high-end cube.
1. Out of the box, it feels light. If you used to use a zhanchi or a rubik's brand or an older moyu cube you'll get the impression it's made very cheap, but in fact it's not (once you get the guanlong you'll figure out what feels cheap lol)
2. Turning is extremely smooth and fast, one of the faster cubes on the market but incredibly controllable.
3. Maintains cubic shape quite well
4. corner cutting close to performance of the gans 356
5. because of points 3 and 4, it doesn't lock or catch (at least for me)
My one con with this cube (and its a biggie) is that it feels too small for me. I know compared to my Tanglong it's not much smaller (negligible almost) but in my hands I can't turn the layers very well and I only realized this after solving on my tanglong for my first time. I don't understand why as they are pretty much the same size but this is the case for me.
But yes, get this cube if you collect or need a new cube as a sub-35 solver
 

TheChaiCuber

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Joined
Sep 30, 2015
Messages
224
Location
San Francisco
WCA
2016CHAI03
while watching Cyotheking's videos (best on youtube in terms in cubing, imo), I noticed how his thunderclap sounded incredibly buttery, almost like a click-ier/clack-ier gans 356. He did confirm this when he described his cube and he said that he just dabs a bunch of traxxas 50k (not sure if that implies he intentionally over-lubed it for the buttery characteristic) in the mechanism. I know that traxxas is thick, but what makes it different than gans lube (I got one from the 356 I bought included in the package) or cubicle weight 4/5? Could I use those instead of traxxas 50k and get a similar effect?

Total side-note for all you yuxin 4x4 users since I'm talking about gans lube: Before I got cubicle lubricant I only had that and I dabbed my yuxin 4x4 internal pieces (those little buggers that make putting back the mechanism together a pain in the butt) with it. I couldn't believe how much faster the inner layers got. They are still slower than the outer layers, but by no means does it feel sluggish like it did previously where an uncomfortable amount of force had to be applied. I bought another yuxin 4x4 sticker less and I tried using weight 4 on the internal pieces/core and weight 2 on the pieces, and it does not help enough to make the inner layers enjoyable to turn, at least for me.

Sorry if I got off-topic, I came here because I wanted my thunderclap to have the feel of a gans 356 with less flexing xD
 

Knut

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Joined
Dec 2, 2013
Messages
143
Location
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2016PETE11
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I don't know about Gans lube, but Traxxas 50k is really close to weight 5, so you could easily use that (or weight 4) instead. The Thunderclap does need at least a couple hundred solves to break it in though, so don't judge it too soon. (I did that, and left it almost untouched for few months before I got around to really breaking it in and finding out how good it was)
 

TheChaiCuber

Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2015
Messages
224
Location
San Francisco
WCA
2016CHAI03
Should I buy this to take over the aolong v2?

My main is the Meiying but I'm wondering is the thunderclap is better than the aolong

Even though lots of people say that the thunderclap is similar to the aolong V2, I concur that when broken in the cubes aren't that similar. If you had to only buy one I'd recommend the thunderclap because of the price + performance but both are great cubes.


Coolio
 

TCG

Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2015
Messages
56
Is the Gans lube the thicker one (bottle with clear sticker) or the lighter one (bottle with gold sticker)?
while watching Cyotheking's videos (best on youtube in terms in cubing, imo), I noticed how his thunderclap sounded incredibly buttery, almost like a click-ier/clack-ier gans 356. He did confirm this when he described his cube and he said that he just dabs a bunch of traxxas 50k (not sure if that implies he intentionally over-lubed it for the buttery characteristic) in the mechanism. I know that traxxas is thick, but what makes it different than gans lube (I got one from the 356 I bought included in the package) or cubicle weight 4/5? Could I use those instead of traxxas 50k and get a similar effect?

Total side-note for all you yuxin 4x4 users since I'm talking about gans lube: Before I got cubicle lubricant I only had that and I dabbed my yuxin 4x4 internal pieces (those little buggers that make putting back the mechanism together a pain in the butt) with it. I couldn't believe how much faster the inner layers got. They are still slower than the outer layers, but by no means does it feel sluggish like it did previously where an uncomfortable amount of force had to be applied. I bought another yuxin 4x4 sticker less and I tried using weight 4 on the internal pieces/core and weight 2 on the pieces, and it does not help enough to make the inner layers enjoyable to turn, at least for me.

Sorry if I got off-topic, I came here because I wanted my thunderclap to have the feel of a gans 356 with less flexing xD
 
Joined
Jan 16, 2016
Messages
193
I got the newisland lightning (samething)
Where the puzzle was purchased:Amazon.com
When the puzzle was purchased:March 2nd 2016 (arrived today)
Thoughts on the puzzle: It's amazing! Out of the box it was smooth but crunchy, which I love. I got it in stickerless and the shades are perfect. The florian cuts are quite large, which allow for great corner cutting. Almost 2/3s of a cubie reverse. And 45degrees normal though some sides differ due to uneven tensioning. The yellow side can't cut 45 (rly the side I use for LL) but blue can do 45 easy. I will need to tension. .-. I'm a beginner atm, averaging 40-50 secs and pb is 35.51. With this, i'm consistent in my averages because it is such a great cube. I thought it was almost dry when I got it, the sound was like that tho it could be pre lubed as this is me first speedcube lol. It's decently fast but smooth so my algs flow. If you overshoot a whole ton and get are going super rough you get a pop. In 83 solves I have done in 4hrs, i only got one pop when i was going super rough. No corner twists at all. It also came with a nice mesh bag. After breaking in I think it will be godly! Overall, I very highly recommend this cube. It is amazing! Grade - A+
 

TheChaiCuber

Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2015
Messages
224
Location
San Francisco
WCA
2016CHAI03
I got the newisland lightning (samething)
Where the puzzle was purchased:Amazon.com
When the puzzle was purchased:March 2nd 2016 (arrived today)
Thoughts on the puzzle: It's amazing! Out of the box it was smooth but crunchy, which I love. I got it in stickerless and the shades are perfect. The florian cuts are quite large, which allow for great corner cutting. Almost 2/3s of a cubie reverse. And 45degrees normal though some sides differ due to uneven tensioning. The yellow side can't cut 45 (rly the side I use for LL) but blue can do 45 easy. I will need to tension. .-. I'm a beginner atm, averaging 40-50 secs and pb is 35.51. With this, i'm consistent in my averages because it is such a great cube. I thought it was almost dry when I got it, the sound was like that tho it could be pre lubed as this is me first speedcube lol. It's decently fast but smooth so my algs flow. If you overshoot a whole ton and get are going super rough you get a pop. In 83 solves I have done in 4hrs, i only got one pop when i was going super rough. No corner twists at all. It also came with a nice mesh bag. After breaking in I think it will be godly! Overall, I very highly recommend this cube. It is amazing! Grade - A+

This is a great first speedcube you are lucky you picked the thunderclap. Cheap, top performance and super stable. GL and I hope u will reach sub-20 with this cube In time :D



Coolio
 
Joined
Jan 16, 2016
Messages
193
Yeh I do too. I hope to be sub 10 xD. Tensioning is weird so corner cutting on yellow side isn't great lol. I will have to do that but i got no lube T_T. Had to pull strings to get this cube and only this :p In the first 4 hours with this cube I broke my pb :D now its 34.05 secs with LBL
 

TheChaiCuber

Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2015
Messages
224
Location
San Francisco
WCA
2016CHAI03
Yeh I do too. I hope to be sub 10 xD. Tensioning is weird so corner cutting on yellow side isn't great lol. I will have to do that but i got no lube T_T. Had to pull strings to get this cube and only this :p In the first 4 hours with this cube I broke my pb :D now its 34.05 secs with LBL

My OOTB tensions were nice, so I've never touched it. However I hear the thunderclap is hard to tension because the center caps are so deep within the mechanism. Good luck fixing that side haha.


Coolio
 

TCG

Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2015
Messages
56
Hmm. My Thunderclap is rather weird. My tensions cannot be equal (meaning I cannot tighten each side by 5 turns) because if I do put equal tensions for all sides, some will either be loose or super tight, so all the sides doesn't have the equal number of turns but corner cutting is just about the same. Anyone has this problem?
 
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May 25, 2014
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2016BOUC01
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Hmm. My Thunderclap is rather weird. My tensions cannot be equal (meaning I cannot tighten each side by 5 turns) because if I do put equal tensions for all sides, some will either be loose or super tight, so all the sides doesn't have the equal number of turns but corner cutting is just about the same. Anyone has this problem?

Take the pieces off and check tensions by how far the centers pull off the core.
 

newtonbase

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Jan 4, 2014
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I also got a Newisland Lightning from eBay (only paid 49p!). I have what I believe to be Thunderclaps from Champion's Cube Store but they are called Thunderbolts on there. I've been told they are all the same but there is certainly a difference in the center piece shapes. Anyone know any more about this?
 
Joined
Jan 16, 2016
Messages
193
Maybe the newislan lightinings caps are different because they're easier to take off
newtonbase- probably just a cap difference. BAsically same thing for all 3
 
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