At what point does the cube start to matter?

[chelavnzuo]

For example, cube A is a decent $20ish speed cube, cube B is the $80 GAN.

At what point does the choice of the cube really start to make a meaningful difference? Is it sub 20, sub 10 or even lower?

 

[Running for cube]

Probably never tbh. There are good enough cubes nowadays at the 20$ range that a lot of people prefer to a gan. Examples include the tornado v3, whatever the new Moyu cube that just came out is, the rs3m super.

 

[NmeCuber]

For example, cube A is a decent $20ish speed cube, cube B is the $80 GAN.

At what point does the choice of the cube really start to make a meaningful difference? Is it sub 20, sub 10 or even lower?

I would think higher, I'm pretty sure me switching from a Rubik's brand to a qiyi warrior cut off like 10-15 seconds when I was averaging around a minute. And switching from that cube to gam 356 m cut off another 5 seconds maybe when I was averaging sub-30

 

[Jorian Meeuse]

It always matters, as in that a better cube will give you (sometimes only slightly) faster times. What many people mean with 'it doesn't matter', is that the cube is not the main problem you have in becoming faster. For example, I became sub 12 with a cube that cost 3 euros. Switching to a good cube when I averaged 20 would have helped, but focussing on getting better at efficiency/look ahead/what not helped a lot more than a better cube would have.

 

[An Animating Cuber]

Your cube never really matters, at a high level it can have a slight difference but as long as your cube is not extremely bad (like a qiyi ultra budget puzzle) you cube is probably fine, just make sure to clean or lube it time to time.

 

[sDLfj]

Comparing a budget speed cube to a good speed cube, getting a better cube will cut a few seconds off your time, but the cube isn't what's limiting you from getting faster.
For me personally I averaged 30s with a budget cube, I was stuck there for months. When I got a good cube (a couple months ago), my times instantly dropped and now I average 25s (with very little practice), now I can solve the budget cube at a similar time to my good cube (about 26-27s). I think it had to do with the psychological effects of getting a different cube and removing the mental block of it being a problem with the cube.

 

[chelavnzuo]

Thanks all, I think the general consensus is that as long as it's a decent budget speed cube (such as MoYu or X-Man) and has been well maintained, it doesn't really matter.
An expensive pro cube probably will help psychologically or when you are world-class but practice (efficiency, look ahead, better algs) matters more for most of us.

 

[EngiNerdBrian]

I'd say at sub-10 the cube starts to matter marginally. It's our brain and fingers that's holding us back, not our hardware.