Back to the cube, memory problems and cube advice.

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conanthewarrior

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Mar 21, 2017
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Hi everyone, I am new here, and hoping you can help me with some advice.

I enjoyed solving the rubiks cube many years ago, and managed to get to around 50 seconds at best using the beginner method.

Since then, many years have passed, and I became unwell in 2014 on my 24th birthday, and was left with some brain damage, which has led to memory problems for me.

Yesterday, I found my old rubiks cube, and thought it might be a good thing for me to try and learn the algorithms again, as it may help with my memory. Even if it doesn't, I can have some fun still. I was surprised that I remembered a fair bit, first two layers solved, but am having trouble remembering past there.

Onto my main question, which cube should I get? I live in the UK, so the name of a cube would be ideal so then I can order from in the UK. Price doesn't really matter, as long as it is not made from solid gold or something silly like that lol.

I just want a nice, fast cube to practice on, as at the moment I just have a standard Rubiks brand cube, and even at my very slow speed, the cube gets jammed (I take this to be a 'lock up'? It is very annoying when this happens).

I have read the FAQ section, but realise that was written around 7 years ago so there is probably many different and better cubes on the market now.

Thank you all for your help, Conan.
 
muchacho said:
Welcome, any of this cubes should be fine:
Valk3
Gans 356 Air
Yan3
Weilong GTS
Thunderclap v1

You can order from http://thepuzzlestore.uk/ or http://www.corner-twist.com/

Have fun!
Click to expand...
Thank you for your advice :).

I notice those cubes vary in price from just £6.49, to around £20.99. That is much cheaper than I expected, which is great.

This may be a silly question, but say I went for the cheapest, which is the thunderclap, would this be much worse than say the more expensive cubes?

I was thinking of going for the Weilong GTS as it is only £11.99, kind of in the middle of the price ranges, that is unless the more expensive cubes are a lot better and more worthwhile.
 
There is not much difference (or so I think, I only own the Thunderclap and the GTS) between the best cubes, mainly is personal preference, although the Thunderclap may be the more outdated (but I prefer it over the GTS) of those.
 
muchacho said:
There is not much difference (or so I think, I only own the Thunderclap and the GTS) between the best cubes, mainly is personal preference, although the Thunderclap may be the more outdated (but I prefer it over the GTS) of those.
Click to expand...
Oh I see, that is cool then. I used to enjoy collecting and playing unresponsive yoyo's, and you could get cheaper metal Yoyo's that performed as well as ones 4-5 times the price, and it was really personal preference, I guess the same thing is here then.

I will go for one of the cheaper ones to start with and see how I get on from there.

Thank you for your help, Conan.
 
As a cuber who also is pretty new to "good" cubes, having only had a Rubik's Deluxe for the last 35 years, I think you'll find pretty much any cube works well for you. And the one that works best for you will come down to feel and turning style.

For me, I have a sloppy, undisciplined, slow turning style. I'm old (44) and the fingers simply don't work as fast for me as for others. So a super-fast, uncontrolled cube doesn't work for me. Like the Weilong GTS, for example. I had one and didn't like it so I got rid of it.

The other cube I've had is the Aolong V2. I have one that's unlubed or adjusted and another that's had some tensioning and lubing done to it. Both are fantastic and fit my style very well.
 
Two of my favorite cubes at the moment-- and it's constantly changing-- are the Valk3 and the MF3RS, which are on opposite ends of the price scale for regular 3x3s. So you really can't gauge how much you'll like a cube just based on price. I'm still a big fan of Thunderclap V1s too, I find them to be very adjustable puzzles with some patience for setting up tensions and lube. Coming from a Rubik's brand you'll find any of the popular modern cubes are major improvement; hard to go wrong. You'll be getting a dozen more before long so no need to sweat whether or not you find the one to match your personality right off the bat :D. Welcome back to the hobby, it's a great time to be doing it with all the research and information available on the internet.

Tabe said:
I'm old (44) and the fingers simply don't work as fast for me as for others.
Click to expand...

You should make an appearance in the Older Cubers thread! (just turned 49 here)
 
I love the Thunderclap. It's easily the best value cube I have tried and is nice and controllable. Some of the others are a bit faster but it wouldn't really help at your stage.
I hope cubing can help with your memory issues. It certainly won't hurt and at worst you'll just have fun.
Have a look at blindfold solving. It's an enjoyable challenge and you might learn some memory techniques that help you get around the issues you are having.
 
Welcome to the Forum. I hope cubing does help with your problems, it certainly has the potential to challenge you, as it requires concentration, memory skills, quick decision-making, plus the competitive aspect makes you want to improve, and better yourself.
UK puzzle stores you should know about are:
http://thepuzzlestore.uk
http://www.corner-twist.com/
http://ukcubestore.com/index.html

Here's the ThunderclapV1:
http://thepuzzlestore.uk/qiyi-thunderclap-version-i/
And because it's cheap, fun, a bit more challenging, but still a 3x3x3, consider adding one of these to your order:
http://thepuzzlestore.uk/shengshou-3x3-mirror-blocks-bump-cube/
It can be solved unsighted by touch alone, for an added challenge.
 
In my opinion the best is the ball but all of them are good cubes, hand air is less stable but good for fast solvers, MF3RS is a brilliant cheap one but don't really know about gets or thunderclap. However delivery is £3.50 on cornertwist last time I checked
conanthewarrior said:
Thank you for your advice :).

I notice those cubes vary in price from just £6.49, to around £20.99. That is much cheaper than I expected, which is great.

This may be a silly question, but say I went for the cheapest, which is the thunderclap, would this be much worse than say the more expensive cubes?

I was thinking of going for the Weilong GTS as it is only £11.99, kind of in the middle of the price ranges, that is unless the more expensive cubes are a lot better and more worthwhile.
Click to expand...
 
Thank you all for your advice, it was payday today for me so I went for the Thunderclap V1. With shipping it was only about £9.50!

I got the stickerless version for now, as my old cube looks a bit manky with the old stickers. If I ever improved enough to want to go to competitions I understand I would need a stickered cube, but I probably will own a lot of cubes if this is anything like other things I am into- I collect vapourisers, and have 49 mods and many more tanks and RDA's lol.
 
Stickerless cubes are legal for competition purposes! They used to be illegal, but have been allowed since mid-2015.

(But if you prefer the look of stickered cubes, that's fine too! Modern stickers are extremely durable compared to the stickers on old Rubik's brand cubes.)
 
@xyzzy beat me to the punch on stickerless being comp legal.

The stickerless Thunderclap has a slightly different feel from the black version, I have both. I like the feel of the black plastic a little better but my recognition generally seems better on stickerless cubes (that's a different story from person to person). It's a great cube, I think you'll like it.
 
Thanks everyone for your help, about 35 or so minutes ago the postman turned up, with a lovely stickerless Qiyi thunderclap for me :).

Upon getting the cube out of the box, I was shocked how different it felt to a standard Rubiks brand cube, as these are all I have used before. For the price I am very pleased, and know this will keep me occupied for a long time.

I probably will add a fair few more cubes too, I tend to collect things I enjoy, for example darts and vaporisers. Seeing as the thunderclap seems so good (To me anyway), I know I don't need to spend too much money for one that works well- I have 49 vaporisers/e-cigs in the collection and these can cost £130+, so it will be much more wallet friendly for me seeing as the thunderclap was just £6.50!

I do wonder why the actual Rubiks brand hasn't improved over the years though, I understand its target market is mostly kids, and we are essentially talking about a plastic toy, but I would still of expected them to improve over the years.

Today will be spent doing lots of solves, I am still using the beginner method at the moment, but have remembered the algorithms again, so I will focus on improving my speed, then move onto CFOP soon.

How soon would you recommend learning CFOP?
 
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