Buying a Cube

[Eamer]

Hi,

New here but will get straight to the point rather than introducing myself etc. etc. Unless if you'd like me to tell you a bit about myself then ask away.

I'm looking to get a Rubik's Cube... but I don't want to get a terrible one that will crack or break apart after a bit of use. I'm hoping to play with it whenever I've got free time and nothing to do really and as long as I can eventually (I know it'll take time) do it then hopefully I can work on different methods (Fridrich, Petrus, Roux, Corners-First... etc.) and then maybe get to timing myself.

Just wondering where the best place to get one is. There's a shop not too far from me selling Rubik's cubes for £5 and there's loads of eBay (obviously) so just wondering if anyone had any recommendations.

Thanks
Eamer

 

[ShadenSmith]

The shop selling Rubik's cubes should be fine. A store-bought rubik's brand cube should last you quite a while (the stickers won't, however).

 

[QB]

Official cubes at the moment are great, and if you get a can of silicone then you'll have a cube fast enough to get you up to the 30s - and by then, you'll probably know if you want to try a DIY off the internet.
Be aware you might need new stickers fairly soon though, the official cubes' stickers are terrible.

 

[shelley]

New stickers can be bought at cubesmith.com. They're much more durable and don't peel like the official cube stickers do.

 

[Eamer]

Cool. For £5 you can't go too wrong I guess so I'm going to get that one in the morning. Saw the CubeSmith site when looking through pages here so will keep a note of that.

Thanks.

 

[Hadley4000]

Go for the cube at the shop. A regular ol' store bought cube is the best way to start out. DIYs are better for once you get serious, but as far as a first cube, they are good.

The stickers on it will probably last about 2 weeks.

 

[pcwiz]

The stickers on it will probably last about 2 weeks.

What do you mean by that? Do you mean the stickers will START to peel in two weeks? Or are you saying they will peel off all the way in two weeks? I have a store bought cube, it's my only 3x3 , and I've had it for more than two months. The stickers look horrible, but all of them stay on. You might want to be more clear on the stickers...

 

[Hadley4000]

The stickers on it will probably last about 2 weeks.

What do you mean by that? Do you mean the stickers will START to peel in two weeks? Or are you saying they will peel off all the way in two weeks? I have a store bought cube, it's my only 3x3 , and I've had it for more than two months. The stickers look horrible, but all of them stay on. You might want to be more clear on the stickers...

I mean they will look new for about two weeks. Then they go downhill. Plastic stuff peels off, they get dirty, then eventually just rub off.

 

[bundat]

I think he means it becomes like this:

I only used that cube for 1 week before I switched to my white DIY (granted, I used it for many continuous hours a day, and I'm a pretty violent cuber).

It's only the stickers that are the problem though, it's still pretty good, and I can still get good times on my store-bought.
I just didn't resticker it because my color recognition with black cubes is now dead ever since I started using my white one, and I'd hate to waste a sticker set on a cube I wouldn't play often.

 

[hdskull]

I don't think the new ones peel very fast. I've had my new version 4x4 for about 4-5 months and the stickers are still going strong. I don't cube with it daily, but if it was the original stickers it would've been all white already. Don't know if the new 3x3s have the longer lasting stickers.

 

[Eamer]

I didn't buy the £5 one in the store the other day as I realised it wasn't an official Rubik's Cube so took it out of the packaging for a closer look and it was far too tight anyway. I could hardly turn it.

I bought an official cube for £9.93 in a different store then instead. I have been using it quite regularly since and can notice the stickers already.

I can solve the Cube with the instructions but can only get past step 2 without them. Anyway, with the instructions as a reference it took me 03:31:09 to complete it and that's after two days.

Is that good or no? I have no one to compare it to so have no idea.

Thanks.