Guhong different models?

[Chrisalead]

I use a Guhong I've bought 2 months ago at cube4you.com. Last week I received my 6 colors Guhong from iCubik.com (no sticker, no tiles, plastic colors).

And I have noted a BIG difference between the plastic of the 2 guhongs ! The problem is that the plastic of the 6 colors guhong is far better than my old guhong !

I want a Guhong with stickers but with the same plastic than the stickerless one !

By the way, does that have anything to do with the "POM" I've read on the forums ? What is that POM ?

 

[Shamankian]

POM is short for.. somethingorother but it is basicly a low-friction plastic whereas most cubes use ABS. The feel to the plastics are different.

About the difference of your stickerless and your normal GuHong. I would guess that the black plastic was a bit lower quality (so I've heard anyway) because they can just take scrap plastic, melt it and no one will notice. That's the only thing i can think of

 

[Godmil]

Yeah, I've heard many people say they prefer the feel of the coloured Guhong. Just guessing but if you had a single coloured Guhong (that isn't black) you may get the same feel.

 

[Bapao]

And I have noted a BIG difference between the plastic of the 2 guhongs ! The problem is that the plastic of the 6 colors guhong is far better than my old guhong !

I've been propagating this for a while now. Glad that people are starting to notice the difference...

Yeah, I've heard many people say they prefer the feel of the coloured Guhong. Just guessing but if you had a single coloured Guhong (that isn't black) you may get the same feel.

I'm assuming the same thing. My whitish DY5 feels better than a regular black GuHong. Not that those cubes are the same but still. You can feel when it's friction and when it's a mechanical something influencing performance.

 

[Cubenovice]

So... Is one of the two actually a POM cube?

POM is PolyOxyMethylene a plastic material with very good friction properties, typically used for gears.
Cubes are typically made of ABS, generally considered a commodity plastic.

In theory the cubies in a POM cube should have less friction but with differences in lubing, tensioning, molding quality and what not I think it is difficult to compare cubes.

 

[dabest2500]

I've read on here about users talking about there being a difference between "old" and "new" GuHongs, with the old ones being better.

 

[Shamankian]

Daqing Bao has experimented with some different types of plastic I would say. Other people seem to like it, so it's not so much "models" but more.. the materials.

 

[devoblue]

I have 4 GuHongs: black with black screws, and black, white, and coloured with silver screws. They have all had lube and tension loving. The black with black is definitely the best - but is also the most broken in. The white is the next oldest but just sux. The black with silver and the coloured are both fairly new and are better than the white. The coloured is better than the new black despite them both being about the same in terms of break in age. The plastic on the new black feels harder, like the plastic on the white.

Despite this I'm not convinced there is a difference in manufacturing and I think they would all turn out the same in the end if used enough. It could be that you get a better break in experience by using a lesser lube initially, but now that we are all so concerned about lubix/diff oil we lube the cubes straight up and they take longer to break in.

 

[Bapao]

So some people feel a difference and others don't it seems. I have the same thing going with my LingYuns. The stickerless one feels smoother than the black one. Is there a POM LingYun?

 

[Chrisalead]

Another strange thing, on iCubik.com if you want to buy a Black Guhong there a re 2 different items with the exact same definition... May be it's POM and ABS versions of the Guhong ?

All I know is that I would really love to get a POM black Guhong with stickers...

 

[Bapao]

Another strange thing, on iCubik.com if you want to buy a Black Guhong there a re 2 different items with the exact same definition... May be it's POM and ABS versions of the Guhong ?

All I know is that I would really love to get a POM black Guhong with stickers... (

At Nemo 2011, I witnessed how a participant threw his POM GuHong at a fellow cuber demanding that he buy the piece of "poo" from him. Well, it didn't go exactly like that in terms of actions, but the emotional content of the scene comes pretty close.

People that have owned the older GuHong version don't seem to like the POM at all. If you've never used an older version then you probably won't care though...

 

[Chrisalead]

Big news : I ordered (and received) a white guhong from iCubik.com and guess what ? The white Guhong is the same plastic than the colored one ! So I finally have my new main cube ^^.

So it seems that black guhongs are ABS plastic, and white guhongs are POM.

 

[Cubenovice]

If you really want to know:
You can easily tell which cube is made from which material by lighting them on fire.

ABS: blue flame with yellow edges (lol) and smokewith soot
POM: blue flame, no smoke and a formaldehyde smell

 

[Chrisalead]

Ok thanks but I don't think I'm gonna burn my cubes soon ^^.
You sir, are crazy ;op

 

[MaeLSTRoM]

Isn't the black plastic potentially lower quality anyway becuase they can use scrap plastic and dye it black?

 

[satellitedanny]

Big news : I ordered (and received) a white guhong from iCubik.com and guess what ? The white Guhong is the same plastic than the colored one ! So I finally have my new main cube ^^.

So it seems that black guhongs are ABS plastic, and white guhongs are POM.

There never was a POM coloured GuHong which means that the plastic in the white cubes are higher quality than the black cubes.

 

[Chrisalead]

Interesting information danny ! That means we could have better black cubes !

To all cube manufacturers : we want black GuHongs with high quality plastics pleaaaaaaseee !

 

[Fred Bloggs]

I read on the MF8 forum that the first GuHongs were in pure ABS. Later version are ABS+PC. There was an experimental run of POM.
White cube are available in ABS+PC or POM. Standard white cubes are not POM.
The standard white cube is better than the POM version. I have both. Best is the sticker-less version IMHO.

 

[satellitedanny]

Don't forget that there are GuHongs that come in other colours too! There are solid colours like red, yellow, orange, green, yellow, etc. Since the sticker less GuHong is a mix of all these colours, maybe the Solid Colour cubes are better! Just a theory. I might buy a Solid Colour GuHong (Green or Blue; Those are my favourite colours!) just to compare and because I need to get something for my friend as a present.

 

[Fred Bloggs]

Yes, you right. My theory is that the coloured plastic has to be virgin plastic to give purity of colour. Black plastic can be re-used/recycled and thus can be of lower quality. I don't have a solid coloured GoHong (except white) so cant tell if your assumption is true. I will also get a solid coloured one to find out.