Big cubes (4x4x4, 5x5x5 and up), one-handed "in the air"

[toastman]

So, I was stuck on a phone conference at work yesterday that I didn't really need to be at. Only cube nearby was my 4x4x4 (Rubik's Brand, Un-lubed, stiff as all heck), so picked it up and tried to solve it one-handed (in the air).

According to call timer on the phone, I solved it in 32:13. (That's 32 minutes, not 32 seconds). I did have to stop occasionally to talk on the phone. I also had to google the 4x4x4 OLL Parity Fix algorithm... but I did it with my off-hand and didn't put the cube down Yeah...I suck. Got some mad looks from co-workers, sadly, no-one saw me complete the thing.

Am motivated now to buy a "speed" 4x4x4, memorize my parity algorithms and keep practicing. I do hate phone conferences! Doing it one-handed while on the phone, it sort of still looks like you're actually working, and at my current turning speed, it isn't noisy enough so as to draw attention.

So, any of you guys solve big cubes one-handed "in the air"?

 

[cmhardw]

Andrew Kang had some mad 4x4x4oh skills back in the day, but I'm not sure if he's still practicing it. He might be a good person to ask for a place to start on how to get faster.

 

[qqwref]

I've tried it. I think I used to be at around 2:20 on the 4x4 (my cube wasn't great for OH, so I think I could do better than that) and a bit over 3 minutes on the 5x5 (got under 3 minutes a few times ). I've also done 6x6 (once) and 7x7 (a few times) but those take a while.

I find that the hardest part of doing big cubes OH in the air is turning. You can't do the normal Japanese style turning that the fast people do on 3x3 because for most people your hand is just not big enough. Plus you have to do double-layer turns a lot more than on 3x3.

 

[Meep]

IIRC I had a 4-5min 5x5 OH solve before lol

 

[TMOY]

I've practised it a little bit some time ago, I got 3-4 minutes average on 4^3 OH and 5-6 minutes on 5^3 OH.
For 4^3, it's definitely easier on a small cube (Eastsheen or mini-QJ).

 

[RCTACameron]

On my mini QJ, I have got times of 4-5 minutes 4x4OH. I probably won't do another one for a while.