Cube Rotations Vs d Moves?

[FireFox]

Now I'm not particularly fast (PB 25 secs) and I was exploring ways to get faster with some rotationless F2L moves that added about 2 extra moves in substitution for a cube rotation, but after Felik's saying rotationless F2L was overrated, I was wondering why all these rotationless F2L cases never seem to use d moves?

For example, say I already have a case paired up in the lower left and center down, and I want to insert it into the lower left column. There's essentially 3 ways to put it in; U then cube rotate followed by R U' R', rotationless method of l U' L U M, or just simply d R U' R'.

It seems the 3rd option is never suggested in any F2L tutorials I've seen, and for the life of me I can't see the downside to the d move option. Surely there's some reason why it's not recommended?

 

[Ollie]

Try it and see

 

[FireFox]

Try it and see

I am experimenting with it, but because I'm an intuitive F2L user, d moves are currently unintuitive to me, so it will take some time to see if it'll improve me. Plus, as I said I'm not that good, so if this cuts a second or so off my time I'm unlikely to notice it doing so.

 

[Ollie]

I am experimenting with it, but because I'm an intuitive F2L user, d moves are currently unintuitive to me, so it will take some time to see if it'll improve me. Plus, as I said I'm not that good, so if this cuts a second or so off my time I'm unlikely to notice it doing so.

What I meant was try and incorporate d/d' moves into your current solves and see how they feel. It may/may not the the case that you find that executing the move itself isn't always that easy. I'm not that great at 3x3x3 but I always find I have to regrip and if I do get a good grip the move itself feels awkward and almost like I might drop the cube.

 

[scottishcuber]

I think that when you get really fast rotate-auf-insert ('U then cube rotate followed by R U' R') becomes the same as d R U' R'. The U move then the rotation are performed so quickly that they are essentially a d move.

 

[FireFox]

What I meant was try and incorporate d/d' moves into your current solves and see how they feel. It may/may not the the case that you find that executing the move itself isn't always that easy. I'm not that great at 3x3x3 but I always find I have to regrip and if I do get a good grip the move itself feels awkward and almost like I might drop the cube.

Oh okay, I see what you mean. To me, it's feels fine. I hold the cube with my thumbs and middle fingers supporting the cube, so all I have to do is rotate my thumb slightly up to get it out of the way, very slightly loosen my grip on the opposite hand, and support the cube on my index finger and rotated thumb while performing the d move with my middle finger. Sounds like a lot, but those moves are quite intuitive and it doesn't feel uncomfortable or anything.

 

[Hypocrism]

I find the rotation is about the same speed but at the same time, it's easier to look ahead during a rotation than during a d move. Perhaps it's the way I grip, but rotations seem to be the way to go.

Also, "rotation" isn't the best way to describe what we do. It's more of a slightly longer regrip. EG if the notation is y R U R', it's less of a case of doing y, regrip, R U R', and more a case of regrip, do R U R'. To me that's faster.