Hi, first time posting, but long time lurker. Normally, I'm too lazy to post, but this cube got me so riled up, that I felt like I had to post. I just received my V3's a few days ago. I got a black assembled, and a black DIY, both the cubic form. I'd have to put it right next to the Gans II as one of the worst cubes I have ever gotten (and most expensive as well, $65 USD for two 3x3x3 cubes including shipping).
Assembled version:
Right off the bat, 2 edge pieces were stuck to center pieces. I had to exert a lot of force to break the bond. I had to sand off the glue/lube or whatever stuck the pieces together to make it smooth.
While the center caps were not glued on, it did take me tremendous effort to pry off the caps. After taking the caps off, I found out that 3 of the 6 "screws" were rivets, thus I could only tension half of the cube. The centers with rivets are also unevenly tensioned.
Of the 12 edge pieces, only 7 of them came with anchors (torpedoes). I noticed some small pieces of excess plastic, probably from the molding. So I took a few of the edge pieces apart to sand down the excess plastic. During this process, 2 of the anchor pieces broke. So now I only have 5 of 12 anchors in my cube.
While I did not have any defects with the corners, I noticed a pretty bad design flaw. The cavity, which the corner caps fit in, are not well designed. The caps fit in, but go in too far, in the sense that the lip of the corner piece is not flush with the edge piece. This means that the edge of the corner piece is sharp.
After lubing with Lubix and re-assembling, I did about 100 solves on it. Since the tensions of the cube are not even, it feels awkward solving it. I get a sense of unbalance with it, which is uncomfortable to me. The cube is pretty clicky/bumpy and locks up quite a bit. It can cut around 1 cubie for the faces that I could tension, but only about 2/3 - 3/4 of a cubie for the riveted faces. It has essentially no reverse cutting (maybe a few degrees at most). The bumpiness is not a nice even feeling like the Alpha II, but it almost feels random. The speed is decent, nothing to write home about. However, due to the lack of all the anchors, the cube pops, not all the time, but enough to be very annoying. I got a pop about 1 every 10 solves or so.
DIY version:
It came with all the parts and a few extras:
- 2 cores
- 6 center pieces
- 6 center caps
- 12 edge pieces
- 12 anchors (torpedoes)
- 23 springs (6 of each strength and 5 extra)
- 8 screws
- 2 sets of stickers
There was a little bit excess plastic on a few pieces, which I sanded down with no problem. I lubed it with the Lubix technique (screw head/spring, core, and a few drops on the pieces). I used the medium springs. I put all the anchors in and assembled. After applying some CubeSmith stickers (I prefer them over pretty much all other types), I did 100 solves.
The DIY felt much better than the assembled version. However, it was not good enough for me to justify the steep price. The DIY performs better than a store bought Rubik's Cube, but it is not on the same level as the Dayan, Alpha, or ShengEn cubes. Since I could tension all the sides on this cube, it can cut about 1 cubie on each side. There is still no reverse cutting, though. It still feels bumpy, but a more even bumpiness. It locks up a bit less, but still pops a bit. Despite the blatant copy of Dayan's anchors, they don't work very well. I got about 1 pop every 15 or 20 solves.
Here is my thought on the drama surrounding the copyright issue. I don't really care about copying designs. Most designs of anything is usually a copied and refined from something else. The keyword here is refined. Look at Alpha. The A1 is basically a smaller Rubik's DIY, with slightly rounded edges. However, each Alpha cube is refined for the purpose of making it better. Not all designs worked, but the process can be seen. This is the same with the Dayan cubes. One may say, "well, the V3 is the first of its type though." However, the V3 looks pretty much like a GuHong beta version or something. The pieces' shapes are pretty much exactly like a GuHong's, but with sharper edges and corners. Clearly, the anchor pieces are copied from Dayan. However, instead of refining the anchors, it seems like they made them worse. They don't work as well and are flimsy and easy to break. Regardless of copyright issues, V-cube must have been aware of the refined designs of its competitors. Even if the V3 was the original V-cube design, which I think is highly unlikely, there is absolutely no point in releasing a cube that is an inferior version of someone's "copy." V-cube had a lot of innovation at first, but then just slowed down/stopped. While Dayan, Alpha, and ShengShou were making more puzzles and refining older versions, V-Cube was sitting there, twiddling their thumbs and releasing things like the Dazzler, Illusion, and Flag cubes (which are just color/sticker variations).
tl;dr
There is no point in purchasing a V3 when there you can get a better performing cube (Alpha V, GuHong II, LinYun II, ZhanChi, etc.. ) for much cheaper and higher consistent quality.
Assembled version:
Right off the bat, 2 edge pieces were stuck to center pieces. I had to exert a lot of force to break the bond. I had to sand off the glue/lube or whatever stuck the pieces together to make it smooth.
While the center caps were not glued on, it did take me tremendous effort to pry off the caps. After taking the caps off, I found out that 3 of the 6 "screws" were rivets, thus I could only tension half of the cube. The centers with rivets are also unevenly tensioned.
Of the 12 edge pieces, only 7 of them came with anchors (torpedoes). I noticed some small pieces of excess plastic, probably from the molding. So I took a few of the edge pieces apart to sand down the excess plastic. During this process, 2 of the anchor pieces broke. So now I only have 5 of 12 anchors in my cube.
While I did not have any defects with the corners, I noticed a pretty bad design flaw. The cavity, which the corner caps fit in, are not well designed. The caps fit in, but go in too far, in the sense that the lip of the corner piece is not flush with the edge piece. This means that the edge of the corner piece is sharp.
After lubing with Lubix and re-assembling, I did about 100 solves on it. Since the tensions of the cube are not even, it feels awkward solving it. I get a sense of unbalance with it, which is uncomfortable to me. The cube is pretty clicky/bumpy and locks up quite a bit. It can cut around 1 cubie for the faces that I could tension, but only about 2/3 - 3/4 of a cubie for the riveted faces. It has essentially no reverse cutting (maybe a few degrees at most). The bumpiness is not a nice even feeling like the Alpha II, but it almost feels random. The speed is decent, nothing to write home about. However, due to the lack of all the anchors, the cube pops, not all the time, but enough to be very annoying. I got a pop about 1 every 10 solves or so.
DIY version:
It came with all the parts and a few extras:
- 2 cores
- 6 center pieces
- 6 center caps
- 12 edge pieces
- 12 anchors (torpedoes)
- 23 springs (6 of each strength and 5 extra)
- 8 screws
- 2 sets of stickers
There was a little bit excess plastic on a few pieces, which I sanded down with no problem. I lubed it with the Lubix technique (screw head/spring, core, and a few drops on the pieces). I used the medium springs. I put all the anchors in and assembled. After applying some CubeSmith stickers (I prefer them over pretty much all other types), I did 100 solves.
The DIY felt much better than the assembled version. However, it was not good enough for me to justify the steep price. The DIY performs better than a store bought Rubik's Cube, but it is not on the same level as the Dayan, Alpha, or ShengEn cubes. Since I could tension all the sides on this cube, it can cut about 1 cubie on each side. There is still no reverse cutting, though. It still feels bumpy, but a more even bumpiness. It locks up a bit less, but still pops a bit. Despite the blatant copy of Dayan's anchors, they don't work very well. I got about 1 pop every 15 or 20 solves.
Here is my thought on the drama surrounding the copyright issue. I don't really care about copying designs. Most designs of anything is usually a copied and refined from something else. The keyword here is refined. Look at Alpha. The A1 is basically a smaller Rubik's DIY, with slightly rounded edges. However, each Alpha cube is refined for the purpose of making it better. Not all designs worked, but the process can be seen. This is the same with the Dayan cubes. One may say, "well, the V3 is the first of its type though." However, the V3 looks pretty much like a GuHong beta version or something. The pieces' shapes are pretty much exactly like a GuHong's, but with sharper edges and corners. Clearly, the anchor pieces are copied from Dayan. However, instead of refining the anchors, it seems like they made them worse. They don't work as well and are flimsy and easy to break. Regardless of copyright issues, V-cube must have been aware of the refined designs of its competitors. Even if the V3 was the original V-cube design, which I think is highly unlikely, there is absolutely no point in releasing a cube that is an inferior version of someone's "copy." V-cube had a lot of innovation at first, but then just slowed down/stopped. While Dayan, Alpha, and ShengShou were making more puzzles and refining older versions, V-Cube was sitting there, twiddling their thumbs and releasing things like the Dazzler, Illusion, and Flag cubes (which are just color/sticker variations).
tl;dr
There is no point in purchasing a V3 when there you can get a better performing cube (Alpha V, GuHong II, LinYun II, ZhanChi, etc.. ) for much cheaper and higher consistent quality.
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