Dayan 5 ZhanChi some pictures

The first thing I noticed was the plastic they used for the test is a dark gunmetal blue-gray, not black, and it is very soft - you can bend the center pieces by squeezing them which causes the caps to pop off a lot. It is superbly moulded, very clean with flush joins and no defects I could see, DaYan do make very high quality cubes. It came assembled with some form of spray silicone lube on the pieces, which I left - I took the centers apart and lubed the screws, spring and washers with a tiny amount of Traxxas 50k to make it spin. Normally I would change the core in DaYan, but this one looked very good and I checked for alignment and it is fine so I left it. I kept the factory tension too which is fairly tight, although with the T pieces in you could have it much looser. Because it is a prototype I am not going to mod it, I didn't do the 48 point edge mod or round the corner stalks or anything, so it is quite clicky and crisp turning. It doesn't feel like a LingYun though, it is much closer to a GuHong, it just sounds like a lingYun when you are turning - there is no gumminess, it feels fast and light. Corner cutting is ok, I think it is a bit tight to go to 45deg and the T pieces I think also reduce how far it can cut, but it will happily cut line to line. Reverse is just under a full cubie, but both forward and reverse could be improved if that's your thing. On the prototype hard cutting, either forward or reverse, deforms the center and so causes the caps to fly off, but I expect that won't happen with the production model. With the Tpieces in it is a tiny bit grabby, not locking but you can definitely feel them. There will be debate about whether it is better with or without for sure. It came in a GuHong box with LingYun stickers, but that was to be expected. Overall a very great cube, and one for those who haven't left their GuHongs for any other DaYan yet.