I'm seeing a lot of people rip on this cube and discredit it, as well as Gan as a company.
Yes, because we think GAN is trying to make the same cube, except with longer core-corner magnets, maglev and pieces. I don't see the benefit of this. Stronger repulsion? Why, better stability? Don't we get that without core-corner magnets? (only pros would notice!)
Next, let's talk about maglev cubes. I bought the RS3M with maglev to swap the maglev hardware into my CH corner-core magenetized WRM21 to test how much of a difference it makes. It's a bit subtle, especially if you haven't tried many cubes, but I noticed that it made the cube noticeably smoother and faster, especially at loose tensions. I quite like this effect personally. Is this a huge deal? No. It mostly is just another type of feeling you can get from a cube. However, because of how easy it makes turning, I can see this being beneficial for longer solving sessions and for more complicated fingertricks as moves become easier to do in trickier situations. Some might say it's not worth it for those extra situations, but again this is called a "Pro" cube, and that is something pros will notice. Small improvements are still improvements. As far as weight goes, I'm personally someone who really likes light-weight, easy to turn cubes, and I still don't think the weight difference matters all that much. Because the extra weight is in the center pieces, it doesn't add any weighting to the turns.
Yes. Both the RS3M and the WRM 2021 have the same type of core. Won't you think it would just be easier if every company comes out with a maglev core replacement for their cubes? Since the 12 and 11 are so similar, won't you think that simply taking the core out of the 12, and putting it in the 11 be better (provided they have the same type of core)? I don't hate the maglev system, no, not at all. I agree that its good, but the thing is, 40 + 14 = $54. You get adjustable magnets, the maglev system, and the corner core magnets for
54 dollars. It follows the same pattern, but it cuts costs by
24 dollars. 24. A very significant decrease, but keeping the same features that the GAN 12 has. It also has a spring compression system, but why? Extra stability? Isn't maglev enough? Or is it a backup plan for them if maglev fails?
Cubes and cube companies are becoming increasingly like smartphones and the smartphone market. Pretty much all modern phones are good enough, just like most modern cubes are good enough. However, there's room for higher end products to exist in both markets. Gan has established itself as a high-end, essentially luxury cube brand. They are going to maintain high prices for that very reason. Plus they do still innovate, whether people will admit it or not. For example, the maglev RS3M brought maglev to mass production, but it's really just slapping two disc magnets into the core and calling it a day, while the Gan appears to be using some plastic casings that looks like it will be much more precise to adjust. Most people don't bemoan luxury cars existing even though there's no way they would buy a million dollar car. Similarly, there's no reason to complain that high-end cubes are expensive either.
I'm going to highlight this part:
The maglev RS3M brought maglev to mass production, but it's really just slapping two disc magnets into the core and calling it a day Is it, though? Does it have multiple settings? Yes. Does it have only one setting? No. Is it slapping to disc magnets to the core?
Yes. Is the RS3M cheap? Yes. Imagine the early days of the magnet. Very expensive, but once the Z magnetic came out, everyone wanted one. Now they're dirt cheap. What if this was the case with maglev? GAN came with Maglev first. No one wanted it because of the ridiculous price, except "pros" and 11 year old rich cubers who asked their parents. The RS3M 2021 came out. Everyone got it. Its cheap, and it does almost all the things that the Gan 12 does (except adjm, and core-corner magnets.) Then, another cube came out. It had everything, including adjm and core-corner and maglev, but for $35 dollars. 35 dollars against 78? It's a no brainer. Basically, cube companies take ideas from other cube companies and put their own spin on it. Is it a coincidence that the promotions for the GAN 12 started immediately after the RS3M 2021 was announced? Who knows? MoYu still has the patent, but they even released a statement about GAN, albeit not referencing them directly. Why? Because
MoYu came out with it first (Not really, because Chris Tran first introduced the idea of the maglev, but MoYu got the patent.).
