4x4 Speedsolving Techniques

[pjk]

Hello,
I did my best average the other night on the 4x4 at 1:38.xx average. I can see myself getting this down to around 1:25 rather easy. For those of you who can average right around 1 minute, what tips do you have for me? I can solve the centers sub-20, I can probably get it down sub-15 with some good practice, and I can pair up everything (and have the centers done) around 1 minute - 1:05. I need to improve my non-inspection so the 3x3 solving stage will go quicker. What other techniques do you have? Thanks
Pat

 

[AvGalen]

I average around 1.50 / 1.55 and it breaks down like this:
20/25 seconds centers
35 seconds edge-pairing (2-at-a-time)
50 seconds 3x3x3
5/10 seconds parity fix

Good solves (below 1.45) have fast centers and fast 3x3x3. Bad solves (above 2.00) have slow edge-pairing and bad transition to 3x3x3

It seems you are loosing a lot in the edge-pairing, even compared to someone that is slower.

Maybe you should describe your solving steps in a little more detail. Do you do centers like A) random center, opposite center, 4xrandom center or B) white/yellow center on bottom, second layer, third layer, yellow/white on top? Do you do edge-pairing 2 or 6 at a time?

Michael Fung told me he does centers and edges in 35 second, than 25 seconds for the 3x3x3 and parity. He also told me he did edge-pairing 1-at-a-time, but that could have been a joke. (I don't think it was)

My tip: Practise a lot on the 5x5x5. After that, centers and edge-pairing will automatically become much easier/faster.

Extra tip: Get a good cube. This brought down my times about 10 seconds lately

 

[Erik]

Hi, to be able to average around a minute centers+edges should take less than 40 sec. Make sure you have a good cube is also importand. For the 3x3 it is handy if you can solve with the cross on the left so you only have to do right handed moves, this takes some practise and is a thing I personaly like for the bigger cubes... Centers should be done in about 13/14 sec. I'm not an expert on 4x4, just giving my few cents.

 

[Gunnar]

Originally posted by Erik@Feb 21 2007, 09:10 AM
Hi, to be able to average around a minute centers+edges should take less than 40 sec. Make sure you have a good cube is also importand. For the 3x3 it is handy if you can solve with the cross on the left so you only have to do right handed moves, this takes some practise and is a thing I personaly like for the bigger cubes... Centers should be done in about 13/14 sec. I'm not an expert on 4x4, just giving my few cents.

Hi, Erik. I think, with your average, you can say that you are an expert on 4x4.

I average around 40 seconds for center+edges, but I have problems solving the 3x3-step fast on the 4x4 (it's even worst for my meffert's 5x5). Does anyone have any suggestions for how to get faster on the 3x3-step?


BTW: I dreamed tonight that I saw a video of a ~40 seconds solve for 4x4 on video. The speed was AMAZING, but unfortunately I can't remember who did it.
I think the dream was inspired by my seeing that Ron had got a 43.x LL-skip for 4x4.

 

[pjk]

Thank you all for your comments. I guess practicing the 4x4 improves 5x5 as well. I took my 5x5 average down 1 minute within 1 week of 4x4 practice. Practice makes perfect I guess.

 

[AvGalen]

That's right, just by practising the 4x4x4 and 5x5x5 you can drop your times greatly. Most speedcubers just focus so much on the 3x3x3 that bigger cubes tend to be forgotten.

In Delft (Dutch Open) I was competing against Alexander Ooms and Erik Akkersdaijk on the 5x5x5. Both are about twice as fast as I was/am on the 3x3x3, but I beat both of them on the 5x5x5. Then Erik started training and now he is way faster than me.

I only learned one alg for the 5x5x5 (parity fix) and the rest is just pure intuition + practice. Today I got a sub 3.10 average and 2 sub 3 solves using a reasonably good cube (my best cube started popping like mad, just before competition this weekend :angry: ) The 3x3x3 part of the solve takes me about 50 seconds