Disappointing GuHong DIY...Brilliant LingYun DIY!

[Bapao]

I built my own DIY black GuHong this weekend. I tensioned it exactly the same as my 6 colored one and lubricated it with Lubix. While it definitely has the GuHong feel, it's no where near as good. I have been really reserved with my 6 colored one, so it has only seen a few solves and isn't even broken in yet, but it's still so much better than my black one.

I took the DIY apart several times because I was sure that I had put it together wrong or not lubed it right. Couldn't find any faults.

Just when I thought I sucked at building DIYs, I put together my LingYun kit. OMG! It's the best cube there is. I'm afraid that this will be the last cube I will ever need. Which sucks because i've just started collecting...

I thought i'd compare the LingYun and The GuHong to the following cubes that I have. I decided to put them in order of the best cube first (IMO):

1. LingYun (9.5 / 10)... Awesome. It's just amazing. The full Sunday roast. Buy one!

2. 6 color GuHong (9 / 10)... Brilliant cube, better turning speed than the LingYun. Locks more often than the LingYun. You feel less "attached" to the GuHong than to the LingYun during a solve; it tends to start doing what it wants after a while. It's probably due to how smooth the GuHong turns, the LingYun has more of an AV feel to the turning but less exagerated.

3. F-II (8.0 / 10)... Airy cube that feels tacky but is a very good allround performer. Worst build quality I have encountered in a cube thus far, which amazingly, doesn't stop the cube from being as good as it is. It follows willingly and doesn't lock much at all.

4. AV (7.5 / 10)... Solid cube that drops behind the F-II only because it locks more often. Like the LingYun and the AV-F, it's smaller than the other cubes.

5. GuHong DIY (7.5 / 10)... Not sure what went wrong here. It feels weird scoring this the same as an AV. I was very disappointed...locks often and the turning is rough. You can feel that it is lubed well and that the tension is good, but it doesn't feel good to solve. Even my wife that doesn't cube said that there was something wrong with it when I let her try it.

GH-II (7.0 / 10)..A smoother more unforgiving F-II variant. Feels sexy until it starts locking. Feels more substantial than the F-II. I like this cube, it has character.

C-III (7.0 / 10)...This cube was a big surprise. It is really fast out of the box. It doesn't get faster when lubed which is a shame. Although it turns well and doesn't lock much, there's something wrong about it. It feels like a storebought which doesn't make sense, I know...can't explain it. Maybe I need to give this cube more of my time to get to know it better.

AV-F (6.0 / 10)...I lubed this and made it looser, but it still feels like it's full of nails. It locks, but which cube doesn't. That's not the problem. It has an excellent quality plastic and stickers. That's not the problem either. The cube feels squashy and goes all over the place. It runs really rough and vibrates in your hands like crazy (see GuHong DIY). I really wanted to like this because I think the normal AV is a really good puzzle. This cube is no fun at all. It has cool internals though.

Store bought (5.5 / 10)...Feels like it is carved out of stone. The smoothest turning cube I have, it feels like its running on a glass surface. The tension is too high though which makes you put more energy into turning it. I Lubixed mine which definitely made it less of a pain to turn. This cube is not fast in any way, can't cut corners at all but is charming as hell. I even gave mine CubeSmith textured tiles. It's a big, hulking Bentley. I love it :tu...

What's up with the GuHong though? Anybody know what I might have done wrong?

 

[Tim Major]

6 coloured GuHong should have the same rating as "DIY GuHong".
It just means you suck at assembling, tensioning and lubing.

 

[Bapao]

6 coloured GuHong should have the same rating as "DIY GuHong".
It just means you suck at assembling, tensioning and lubing.

Thanks for the explanation. Do you have both cubes too?

 

[Godmil]

6 coloured GuHong should have the same rating as "DIY GuHong".
It just means you suck at assembling, tensioning and lubing.

Other people have commented that the 6 colour one feels better than a regular GuHong... I wonder if it's to do with the plastic quality.

 

[amostay2004]

I've tried at least one 6 colour GuHong and it was terrible. Most black GuHongs I've tried are good.

 

[Bapao]

I've tried at least one 6 colour GuHong and it was terrible. Most black GuHongs I've tried are good.

Then I must have gotten mine wrong. I just don't understand why the LingYun turned out great and the GuHong didn't. I didn't do anything different other than make the GuHong as loose as my 6 color one...

I took the GuHong apart and checked that all of the pieces were tight, added a teeny bit more lube and loosened it up a bit. Still no cigar.

 

[amostay2004]

IMO how well a GuHong performs depends very heavily on the lube you use. CRC Heavy Duty sucks, CRC 808 is decent, Lubix and shock oil is good. I usually use a mixture of lubes in my guhong

 

[TiLiMayor]

Sure you didn't had the lingyun as the guhong? cause all my lingyun encounters have been pretty terrible, I mean tight enough for a non popping experience its still so fast and uncontrollable.

And the 6color guhong, almost every cuber in my country has one, and the whole bunch Ive tried doesn't compare to a black and a pink guhong that I once tried, but I guess this depends on the owner so, I don't see how the plastic affect this somehow.

 

[Bapao]

No, the LingYun doesn't have those little parts that you have to stick in to join the corner pieces...so i'm pretty sure I haven't confused them.
I guess my 6 color GuHong is just something special then. I hardly use it because I'm scared to break or degrade its' performance.

 

[daniel0731ex]

I mean tight enough for a non popping experience its still so fast and uncontrollable.

that's a good thing, you just suck.

 

[Bapao]

I think that's a good thing too.

 

[Smacky]

I had the same problem as you with mine at first, but after breaking it in a couple of hours, it is now awesome.

 

[Bapao]

I gave mine to my neighbor yesterday. I'll ask him to let me test it again in a few weeks. I'll see if it got better or not.