[Review] 57mm FangShi ShuangRen 3x3x3

What do you think of this puzzle?

  • Excellent

    Votes: 26 53.1%
  • Above Average

    Votes: 17 34.7%
  • Average

    Votes: 5 10.2%
  • Below Average

    Votes: 1 2.0%
  • Poor

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    49
[Video] FangShi Shuang Ren review

I'm trying to show in a little more detail why the Fangshi ShuangRen performs as it does and why in particular some cubers love it and others hate it. This is just my opinion on the ShuangRen - do not take this literally word by word, but rather use this information to base an opinion of your own. Though I do believe "my discovery" explains why the ShuangRen behaves as it does.

Personally I don't know if I'm ready for the ShuangRen yet, but I'll definitely use it as my new main once I sub 20 seconds constantly with a dayan puzzle.

Sorry about the weird accent and bad pronunciation, I've only studied chinese for half a year and I haven't had the chance to speak english for a while :P

Here's a quote of me explaining what's in the video with words:

The problem of this cube is it's flimsiness, which makes it worse than a dayan to some cubers. It forgives too much even. The reason to this are the soft springs and the fact that there is way too much air for the screw to roll within the center piece. The gap between the stem of the screw and the plastic of the center piece makes it spin a lot better and faster, but it can end in misalignments of the pieces that want to be in a cubic shape. When you turn the center caps are pivoting because there is air between the screw and the plastic, while the rest of the cube wants to stay in a cubic shape. This results in the pieces taking a form set by the core and screws => the cube is flimsy and cannot keep a cubic shape easily. This also makes the center pieces lock the rest of the cube up during some algorithms.

This extra air makes some algorithms easier, algorithms that are made with fingers that are harder to control such as H perms, Z perms and perms that use the D layer a lot like the E perm. When you use your pinky and ring fingers you almost never (in my personal opinion) flick the cube where its supposed to go, but a little off the target. The ShuangRen forgives this, because the cube is airy. The Dayan would lock up easier here. This is why people that are really fast (and accurate, their ring finger and pinky moves are accurate and move the pieces along the cubic form) are faster with the ShuangRen, and slower people arent. It's about accuracy and cubing style.

If you have any questions regarding the subject or anything else, feel free to post here :)

[youtubehd]dKgNXDKAhqo[/youtubehd]
 
Last edited:
I know a whole lot more now about the cube after this video :D

I am a semi-accurate turner, and I still don't seem to like it that much. It might be that it isn't properly broken in yet. I actually added 10k differential oil to the pieces. At first it felt really bad, but now it feels pretty good, but not even close to my Zhanchis and Guhongs. I even like the WitYou more than the FangShi. I will keep working on it though, and post updates here.

The main reasons why I don't like this cube:

Corner twists
Center twists
Lockups caused by the above 2
The dry feel
Pops
 
Last edited:
Good video. And your english is fine!

Thanks! Was a bit nervous with this being my first video where I speak and all :D

I know a whole lot more now about the cube after this video :D

I am a semi-accurate turner, and I still don't seem to like it that much. It might be that it isn't properly broken in yet. I actually added 10k differential oil to the pieces. At first it felt really bad, but now it feels pretty good, but not even close to my Zhanchis and Guhongs. I even like the WitYou more than the FangShi. I will keep working on it though, and post updates here.

The main reasons why I don't like this cube:

Corner twists
Center twists
Lockups caused by the above 2
The dry feel
Pops

I suppose this cube would be great if you're going on a vacation since it really doesnt need any maintenance like lubing. My average has actually fallen (just recorded an Ao12 of 23, what the hell) and I don't know whether it's because of this cube or me just getting worse. I can't try my guhong since my C4U core is in the ShuangRen :P
I'll just have to wait for a few packets and do a few Ao100's to see what's what.
 
I suppose this cube would be great if you're going on a vacation since it really doesnt need any maintenance like lubing. My average has actually fallen (just recorded an Ao12 of 23, what the hell) and I don't know whether it's because of this cube or me just getting worse. I can't try my guhong since my C4U core is in the ShuangRen :P
I'll just have to wait for a few packets and do a few Ao100's to see what's what.

The only thing I currently can do is break it in. It's got about 250 solves done to it currently. I'll post an update when it's up to 1000

I only use this cube for multiBLD, currently
 
Wow.. this is one of the best laid out reviews I have seen! Very well done and very well explained :) Thanks!

Thanks :) I'm surely going to make more videos since people don't seem to hate them :D

Next one will probably be about the one I promised a long time ago; ShuangRen with stock hardware vs C4U core along with an assembly tutorial on how to properly apply lubes and stickers to a ShuangRen.
 
I love that review, keep up the good work! You just earnt a new subscriber. :tu
I personally like the fangshi alot. I can preform my algorithms faster than on the zhanchi, and it doesen't pop as much as my zhanchi. The feeling is A BIT better on the zhanchi, but i think the feeling of the fangshi is okey. :-)
 
@windhero

Thanks for the review - your English is perfectly understandable (I used to teach English). Thanks for the lockups explanation - I'd been wondering about that. I too found that if the centre pieces are coming apart, it's because the cube is too lose. Did you swap to the C4U core due to misthreading the Fangshi core too? It seems a lot of people are swapping out their cores.

I just de-lubed my cube (surfaces, but I kept it on the core innards), and it turns WAY better. The 50K I was using just slowed it down, without reducing the lockups. My best tensioning so far (with the C4U core, and original Fangshi springs/screws) is with the screws screwed in precisely to the point where the thread is no longer visible. It seems more balanced now. I'm only slightly sub-30, so I guess I have to work on my accuracy now...

Thanks again for the tips!
 
@windhero

Thanks for the review - your English is perfectly understandable (I used to teach English). Thanks for the lockups explanation - I'd been wondering about that. I too found that if the centre pieces are coming apart, it's because the cube is too lose. Did you swap to the C4U core due to misthreading the Fangshi core too? It seems a lot of people are swapping out their cores.

Thanks! I swapped my core for a C4U core because to be honest the mass produced ShuangRen core looked cheap as hell. I've had a C4U core in my main for a long while and I found out that they are of the same size so I figured why not. I haven't used my ShuangRen core on anything yet.
 
After my YouTube add-in applied the Wadsworth constant to skip the unnecessary intro, I found this review a little lengthy! In all seriousness, nice review, you should do more like this! I have't heard anyone else comment on the stickers - what colours do you usually go for by preference?
 
Back
Top