[Member Intro] I'm HydraPrism, and I'm New to Speedsolving

[HydraPrism]

Hello there! I'm HydraPrism, but call me Sam.
I'm relatively new to speedsolving, having only started trying in October/November of 2015. I have, however, been able to solve a Rubik's cube for several years, albeit not very fast.

I currently average around 50 seconds on 3x3 with beginner's method. My PB is 33.52 with a very lucky, entire last layer skip (however, I have since come close to this time, at 33.98, without being so lucky, so I think I'm improving). As much as I'd like to learn CFOP, I simply don't have the time or discipline.
On 2x2 I average around 15 seconds, with my PB at 5.65. On 4x4, I haven't tried all that much, but I tend to solve it in around 4 minutes, with my PB being 3:30.88.

Others puzzles I own, if you're interested, are Rubik's Snake, Rubik's Magic, Rubik's Void cube, a 3x3 mirror blocks cube, a 3x3 fisher cube, a 3x3 ball, a few 3x3 sticker variations, and a Hoberman Brain Twist. Also, I have ordered a 5x5, a 4x4 ocathedron, a 3x3 mixup cube and a megaminx. There are several others I'm tempted to buy too, but will probably hold off on those until my others arrive.

If you have any suggestions on how to improve my times without necessarily learning a whole new method, I'd love to hear them! Also, I'm currently using Rubik's brand cubes for 2x2, 3x3 and 4x4, and do plan to buy better ones at some point. Any suggestions for which would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[LyrikTech]

Hi, Nice to have you join, For 2x2 Anything Moyu will be great, for 3x3 the amount of 3x3s these days are endless, so what I would do is watch a lot of reviews on 3x3s on youtube (MAKE SURE THEY ARE NOT OVER A YEAR OLD!!!! CUBES THAT WERE GOOD LAST YEAR, MAY BE CONSIDERED BAD THIS YEAR) But generally the QiYi Thunderclap is amazing and it just so happens to be cheap, but the Guoguan Yuexiao is even better if you can afford it for the $16. For 4x4 I would recommend the YJ Guansu or YuXin. And you didn't mention the 5x5 you ordered but the YuXin is the best on the market. You can email me at [email protected] if you have any questions at all, and I'll be glad to answer them.

 

[HydraPrism]

I'll definitely start watching some reviews for 3x3s. I've already seen a few, but I'll probably try to watch some more all in one sitting so I can make comparisons. If I remember correctly, the 5x5 I ordered is a YuXin, so hopefully I chose well.
Thanks very much for the recommendations!

 

[TDM]

Hi, welcome to the forum! I don't think you should look at full CFOP yet; instead, look at 4-look Last Layer. This doesn't require many algorithms but is still a huge improvement from the beginner's method.

 

[shadowslice e]

Welcome to the forums! I'm surprised I found you in the spam of bots we seem to be having right now! ;P

Anyway, I would recommend you look at other methods first such as Roux, ZZ and SSC before you set your mind to CFOP

Really any cube which has come out recently is a huge improvement on the Rubik's brand cubes. I would recommend the Yuxin cubes personally as they seem to be universally of pretty good quality though most Moyu, Dayan and QiYi cubes are a good choice as well.

I hope you enjoy your time here on the forums!

 

[Jbacboy]

Welcome to the forums!

 

[HydraPrism]

I don't think you should look at full CFOP yet; instead, look at 4-look Last Layer. This doesn't require many algorithms but is still a huge improvement from the beginner's method.

Thanks for the tip, I'll look into it!

 

[HydraPrism]

I would recommend the Yuxin cubes personally as they seem to be universally of pretty good quality though most Moyu, Dayan and QiYi cubes are a good choice as well.

Thanks for the recommendations. After reading suggestions from people here and on reddit, I think the first few speedcubes I'll buy will be a YuXin, a Thunderclap and an Aolong GT, just so I at least have some flexibility.

 

[Seanliu]

Thanks for the recommendations. After reading suggestions from people here and on reddit, I think the first few speedcubes I'll buy will be a YuXin, a Thunderclap and an Aolong GT, just so I at least have some flexibility.

I've tried all 3, and I don't think it'd be the best choice. In my humble opinion, I'd go for an AoLong V2, a ZhanChi, and a Thunderclap. The YuXin pops, and the AoLong GT has a weird, block feel which is even worse than the WeiLong (The WeiLong was fine, but this isn't). If you really want the AoLong GT, you should still get the AoLong V2 and the ZhanChi. Keep in mind that the ZhanChi does take a little bit of tinkering to get right, but then the ZhanChi will be right up there with the AoLong.

However, feel free to disregard this. It's your own cubing path, after all!

--Sean

 

[HydraPrism]

I've tried all 3, and I don't think it'd be the best choice. In my humble opinion, I'd go for an AoLong V2, a ZhanChi, and a Thunderclap. The YuXin pops, and the AoLong GT has a weird, block feel which is even worse than the WeiLong (The WeiLong was fine, but this isn't). If you really want the AoLong GT, you should still get the AoLong V2 and the ZhanChi. Keep in mind that the ZhanChi does take a little bit of tinkering to get right, but then the ZhanChi will be right up there with the AoLong.

Well, I've already ordered the YuXin cube now, but I'm still open to buying new ones if people recommend them more. I'll have to check out some reviews of the AoLong V2 and Zhanchi, but who knows - I could end up buying all of the cubes that have been mentioned.
Since you say you've tried all 3, I'm more inclined to listen to your recommendations, but I'll wait until the YuXin arrives before I decide on buying a new one. Thanks