Chinese DIYs (cube4you, 9spuzzles)
Pros: Cuts corners well, turns easily, indentations in center caps cause them to fall out less frequently.
Cons: High shipping costs, performance varies between type and cube color.
Where to buy:
www.cube4you.com,
www.9spuzzles.com,
www.opticubes.com, eBay (puzzleproz)
Notes: Comes in three different types: (a), (b), and (c). Some cubes only available in certain types. Many colors to choose from. White and green cubes turn best, as well as some transparent cubes (WARNING: transparent cubes are NOT competition-legal)
What's the difference between DIY (a), (b) and (c)?
different type refers to type of material the cube is made of.
the general view is that type (a) is the best and type (b) is the worst.
i just happened to receive type (a) pink cube and type (b) transparent
cube and i can confirm that type (a) is super smooth, does not lock up
and in general is a pleasure to play with, it's made of softer plastic (you
can feel it).
the type (b) on the other hand is made of very hard plastic and is terrible,
locks up a lot and is making a lot of grinding noise (even after lubrication).
anyway, these are my observations. others may have different experience.
EDIT :
I should also add from my experience that pink type (a) can be assembled
much tighter to avoid pops and still turns super smooth without lock ups.
I can do the "R' U R' move" so fast and smoothly I never though was possible,
there is not even a hint of a pop
type (b) on the other hand has to be left little loose in order to be able to
work with it at all and that means that pops are more likely to happen.
it's impossible to do fast "R' U R' move" without risking all those little
cubies flying in all direction.
)
.
