F2L Blind Spot

[MichaelP.]

I've noticed that most of the time, when I get stopped in F2L and have to search the cube for the last F2L edge, it's in the BU position. Noticing this hasn't helped my times so much as it has just helped me avoid getting really bad times from losing 2-3 seconds, because I just glance there immediately. Have any of you noticed blind spots in your F2L? I'd recommend trying to find yours, or see if you have one, because it could probably save you some disappointing times.

 

[incessantcheese]

any corner that's facing down in the wrong slot takes me like 10 years to find

 

[dada222]

Yes, BU edge is a b!tch. It usually requires the fewest moves to be solved, but it's so obvious and easy I never check until it's too late

 

[MichaelP.]

Yes, BU corner is a b!tch. It usually requires the fewest moves to be solved, but it's so obvious and easy I never check until it's too late

You mean BU edge, right?

 

[dada222]

Yeah, edited.

 

[jiggy]

I find that my worst blind spot is right next to the friggin' corner piece!! I guess if I didn't spot it with my first glance, it's the last place I check. I don't think this happens too often to me, but when it does it's pretty frustrating!

 

[Johan444]

When the edge is on the U layer and has a sticker connected to a center. I can spot it fast 99% of the time but when I finally have a really long pause that's where it's at.

 

[KrazyFK]

I used to have this problem with the BU edge, but once I identified the problem, whenever I can't see the edge I just assume that it's at BU and it always is.

 

[Cride5]

UB edge isn't really a problem for me, because EO means there are at most two possibilities when identifying an F2L edge in that position.

The most challenging positions for me are probably BR, DR, BL and DL. For each of those there are at most 4 possibilities. I need to be aware of where the other 3 candidates are in order to positively identify an F2L edge in one of those locations.

 

[yeee707]

But seriously, I do a lot of cube rotations, which I'm trying to get rid of, so my blind spot is when the edge is already in the right place... Weird.

 

[uberCuber]

My blind spot is when the edge is in a different F2L slot lol, I don't know why but it is

 

[Akuma]

Here are my tips for dealing with blind spots:

* Exclusion method
If there's only top layer-pieces left in the top layer, then your last F2L pair is in the back. Use the exclution method this way to track down and properly align the pieces correctly

* Turn the cube around! (yes, you heard me right!)
I know you're supposed to minimize the ammount of cube rotations, specially if your intention is to get faster at F2L, but doing y or y' (+90° or -90° angle) rotation is okay. As long as you do it maximally once or twice during the F2L. Just don't do y2 (180°) rotation. There's capital punishment for that!

* Keep track of the last pieces when inserting the 3rd F2L pair
Preventing blind spots from occuring at all is obviously the best method! If you have a good look-ahead you will never have a blind-spot because you will already know where the 4th F2L pair is when dealing with the 3rd F2L pair. Solve your F2L slooooooooooower so that you can steadily keep track of the pieces you are trying to solve.

If you follow some of these concepts your blind spots will never come back.
Good luck.

 

[Andreaillest]

I hate blind spots. Messes up my solve. I would probably just rotate the cube.

 

[Hiero]

BU is usually not a problem for me because I do unnecessary U turns anyway. I got in that habit because I used to do a lot of cube rotations and tried to minimized those. An edge piece incorrectly placed in the back used to really mess me up. Now I know if I haven't seen the edge piece then there are only two spots it could be.

 

[rubiknewbie]

My weaknesses are:
1. corners at BLD and BRD positions.
2. corner at bottom layer, edge at middle layer combinations - cos I dunno of algorithms that solve this or can't remember any.

 

[theace]

The worst blind spot for me is the edge under my thumb X(

 

[Sharkretriver]

for edges: BU, BL, BR, right under the corner
for corners: almost everywhere I guess...

 

[LarsN]

DB gives me the most problems. But also RB. I try to guess instead of slowing down. It works 9 out of 10 times