[Member Intro] Just saying hello!

[boingyman]

Dad here! I went down the rabbit hole of speed cubing after my 7 yo son learned how to solve his first cube about 3 weeks ago. Since then he's been obsessed with it and practicing trying to get faster. He asked for a better cube so I ended up getting him a Weilong WRM V10 magnetic ball-core version. I also got him a timer that came in a week ago. He uses the beginner method, but he is actually watching a video on F2L as I type this and wants to learn CFOP. Hopefully it's not too hard for him to learn on his own.

His best time so far is 46 seconds. He told me he wants to compete so I looked it up and found a competition that happens in a month so I signed him up! I told him he's only competing with himself, but it should be fun for him to watch and meet other cubers. He's very motivated to get faster so we'll see how much he improves in less than 4 weeks.

Anyway nice to met you all and I hope I can learn more things to help support him anyway I can. I just want to keep it fun for him and that's pretty much it. Any tips or suggestions to help support a beginner let me know.

 

[Caleb Valenzuela]

hi! Welcome to the forums! If your son needs help feel free to ask around for help. (Also nice user name lol)

 

[boingyman]

hi! Welcome to the forums! If your son needs help feel free to ask around for help. (Also nice user name lol)

Thank you! Since he be doing a tournament in less than a month, what do you think would be the best thing for him to do to help improve his time short term? Since he only knows the beginner method is trying to learn F2L a good place to start for long term progress?

 

[abunickabhi]

Hi there and welcome to SS!

 

[Caleb Valenzuela]

Thank you! Since he be doing a tournament in less than a month, what do you think would be the best thing for him to do to help improve his time short term? Since he only knows the beginner method is trying to learn F2L a good place to start for long term progress?

yes, F2L is a good start. Make sure he is learning “Intuitive F2L” first and not advanced. Then make sure he has enough practice (30 mins to 1 hour) so that he can get used to what he learned.

Let me know when he is done with the tournament and i can give a blueprint on what he should learn next!

 

[That0newe1rdo]

Thank you! Since he be doing a tournament in less than a month, what do you think would be the best thing for him to do to help improve his time short term? Since he only knows the beginner method is trying to learn F2L a good place to start for long term progress?

Yeah, him learning F2L (intuitive, i hope)
Is going to shave off the most time on his average so far - especially in the long term.
If he somehow manages to get decent at that before his comp - he should learn 2 look PLL. however if its incredibly close to his comp (e.g 1 week) it might be better to just leave it as in the short term you tend to get slower when learning something new, this might be different for begginer method users tho idk.

In short this is what Id recommend he does for now and the future:
1 - Intuitive F2L
2 - 2 Look PLL
3 - 2 Look OLL (this is most likely after comp tho)
4 - Practice/Deliberate Practice (when you look at weaknesses in solves and focus on making those no longer weaknesses)
5 - You can learn this at any time, I personally recommend Sub 25, but 1 Look PLL.
6 - Practice/Deliberate practice.
I dont know anyhting else to say, but that should be a baseline for his progression throughout the CFOP method.

Hope he has fun on his first comp, and good luck to him on it as well !

 

[That0newe1rdo]

Yeah, him learning F2L (intuitive, i hope)
Is going to shave off the most time on his average so far - especially in the long term.
If he somehow manages to get decent at that before his comp - he should learn 2 look PLL. however if its incredibly close to his comp (e.g 1 week) it might be better to just leave it as in the short term you tend to get slower when learning something new, this might be different for begginer method users tho idk.

In short this is what Id recommend he does for now and the future:
1 - Intuitive F2L
2 - 2 Look PLL
3 - 2 Look OLL (this is most likely after comp tho)
4 - Practice/Deliberate Practice (when you look at weaknesses in solves and focus on making those no longer weaknesses)
5 - You can learn this at any time, I personally recommend Sub 25, but 1 Look PLL.
6 - Practice/Deliberate practice.
I dont know anyhting else to say, but that should be a baseline for his progression throughout the CFOP method.

Hope he has fun on his first comp, and good luck to him on it as well !

Also, welcome to the forums !
When (or if) he surpasses my level, (21s avg)
Your bound to meet many other cubers who are both faster then me and would love to help your son out !

 

[SpeedCubingLord]

Welcome, and may the force be with you.

 

[boingyman]

Thanks for the warm welcome! Any vids that you think go over Intuitive F2L well? especially for a young child. I know there are many on youtube, but not sure what are the easiest to understand. From what he's telling me so far he knows how to do it (I think?), but he's way slower doing it. I told him to keep practicing, but I really don't know what the entails.

On another note he was teaching his 10 year old brother and watching a video, but I just heard them yell in excitement that he was able to solve it! I'm guessing the next step would be for him to do it without a tutorial, but seems like they are having fun and he wants to learn too. I guess I may have to buy more cubes in the future

 

[Caleb Valenzuela]

Yeah, him learning F2L (intuitive, i hope)
Is going to shave off the most time on his average so far - especially in the long term.
If he somehow manages to get decent at that before his comp - he should learn 2 look PLL. however if its incredibly close to his comp (e.g 1 week) it might be better to just leave it as in the short term you tend to get slower when learning something new, this might be different for begginer method users tho idk.

In short this is what Id recommend he does for now and the future:
1 - Intuitive F2L
2 - 2 Look PLL
3 - 2 Look OLL (this is most likely after comp tho)
4 - Practice/Deliberate Practice (when you look at weaknesses in solves and focus on making those no longer weaknesses)
5 - You can learn this at any time, I personally recommend Sub 25, but 1 Look PLL.
6 - Practice/Deliberate practice.
I dont know anyhting else to say, but that should be a baseline for his progression throughout the CFOP method.

Hope he has fun on his first comp, and good luck to him on it as well !

he should probably learn some beginner’s method tricks and i would recommend not learning 2-look PLL right now since it’s a bit too close to the comp and he might have a hard time for recognition.

I might as well just give my blueprint actually:
1- Fully learn and Master Intuitive F2L
2-Learn 1-look PLL
3- Learn 2-look OLL
4- Learn Advanced F2L
5-Learn Full OLL
6-Focus on the basics of lookahead and continue from there

Thanks for the warm welcome! Any vids that you think go over Intuitive F2L well? especially for a young child. I know there are many on youtube, but not sure what are the easiest to understand. From what he's telling me so far he knows how to do it (I think?), but he's way slower doing it. I told him to keep practicing, but I really don't know what the entails.

On another note he was teaching his 10 year old brother and watching a video, but I just heard them yell in excitement that he was able to solve it! I'm guessing the next step would be for him to do it without a tutorial, but seems like they are having fun and he wants to learn too. I guess I may have to buy more cubes in the future

"JPerm Intuitive F2L" and "cubehead intuitive F2L" are good tutorials. You can just copy and paste it into youtube. Also, it is totally normal to be slower when using intuitive F2L in solves, as it is like re-learning a step in solving a cube. You gave some pretty good advice by telling him to keep practicing haha. I'll link some really helpful videos when i am free.

 

[Yann1qua12DagOat]

Hello and welcome to Speedsolving.com!

Thanks for the warm welcome! Any vids that you think go over Intuitive F2L well? especially for a young child. I know there are many on youtube, but not sure what are the easiest to understand. From what he's telling me so far he knows how to do it (I think?), but he's way slower doing it. I told him to keep practicing, but I really don't know what the entails.

On another note he was teaching his 10 year old brother and watching a video, but I just heard them yell in excitement that he was able to solve it! I'm guessing the next step would be for him to do it without a tutorial, but seems like they are having fun and he wants to learn too. I guess I may have to buy more cubes in the future

Always watch JPerm and Cubehead. They are the best! Click here to go to JPerm's very own cubing resources website. I hope your son cooks the other people at his comp )))))

 

[That0newe1rdo]

he should probably learn some beginner’s method tricks and i would recommend not learning 2-look PLL right now since it’s a bit too close to the comp and he might have a hard time for recognition.

I might as well just give my blueprint actually:
1- Fully learn and Master Intuitive F2L
2-Learn 1-look PLL
3- Learn 2-look OLL
4- Learn Advanced F2L
5-Learn Full OLL
6-Focus on the basics of lookahead and continue from there

"JPerm Intuitive F2L" and "cubehead intuitive F2L" are good tutorials. You can just copy and paste it into youtube. Also, it is totally normal to be slower when using intuitive F2L in solves, as it is like re-learning a step in solving a cube. You gave some pretty good advice by telling him to keep practicing haha. I'll link some really helpful videos when i am free.

Yh i should of mentioned that it 2 look pll isnt worth it this close to comp.

Thanks for the warm welcome! Any vids that you think go over Intuitive F2L well? especially for a young child. I know there are many on youtube, but not sure what are the easiest to understand. From what he's telling me so far he knows how to do it (I think?), but he's way slower doing it. I told him to keep practicing, but I really don't know what the entails.

On another note he was teaching his 10 year old brother and watching a video, but I just heard them yell in excitement that he was able to solve it! I'm guessing the next step would be for him to do it without a tutorial, but seems like they are having fun and he wants to learn too. I guess I may have to buy more cubes in the future

J perms and CubeHeads tutorials are great for this.
Yeah whenever you learn something new you tend to get worse at it in the short term, but he will be faster in the long term as long as he keeps practicing (telling him to do so was the right call)

Nice, he got someone else in the family to learn ! Do you know how to solve a 3x3 ?
If not, I fear (im a good way) your next.
Personally, I wanted to learn for years, fueled by eanting to get faster then my sister and just the satisfactory feeling of solving it. Didnt have the mental capacity till about Late August 2023.

 

[boingyman]

My son did his first comp today! Had lots of fun, met a lot of other cubers and got an Ao5 of 45 sec. Hit an unofficial PR racing another kid and got 31 sec. He wants to do another comp so I will probably sign him up for one in September and add in the 2x2. So with that being said which 2x2 do you guys recommend? Is there like a tier list for 2x2s? My wife is in Hong Kong right now and she said she can go check out places to see if they have good cubes and see what the prices are compared to buying from the U.S.

Also he has only 1 main for 3x3. I noticed most people had 2 cubes with them. Do you recommend I get him the same cube? He uses a Weilong V10 magnetic ball-core. He said he tried someone's Gan 15 and thought that felt smoother, but I'm not spending that much, haha. At the same time I have never adjusted a screw or added lube yet (since I have no idea what I'm doing) so I'm sure I could make adjustments for him. If you think there is no reason to get 2 of the same cubes, any cube recommendations $40 and under? I noticed the raffles had several different Tornado's and a lot of tickets was in the Tornado V4. Don't know if that would be a good choice or not though.

Thanks!

 

[Fred]

My son did his first comp today! Had lots of fun, met a lot of other cubers and got an Ao5 of 45 sec. Hit an unofficial PR racing another kid and got 31 sec. He wants to do another comp so I will probably sign him up for one in September and add in the 2x2. So with that being said which 2x2 do you guys recommend? Is there like a tier list for 2x2s? My wife is in Hong Kong right now and she said she can go check out places to see if they have good cubes and see what the prices are compared to buying from the U.S.

Also he has only 1 main for 3x3. I noticed most people had 2 cubes with them. Do you recommend I get him the same cube? He uses a Weilong V10 magnetic ball-core. He said he tried someone's Gan 15 and thought that felt smoother, but I'm not spending that much, haha. At the same time I have never adjusted a screw or added lube yet (since I have no idea what I'm doing) so I'm sure I could make adjustments for him. If you think there is no reason to get 2 of the same cubes, any cube recommendations $40 and under? I noticed the raffles had several different Tornado's and a lot of tickets was in the Tornado V4. Don't know if that would be a good choice or not though.

Thanks!

Glad you all enjoyed it! Some fast and serious cubers like to have two of the same cube so they can warm up on a cube that feels as similar as possible to the one they'll be solving on. More casual solvers like me might bring the puzzle for the next event instead, which I would recommend until he tries out more types of puzzles and figures out which ones he likes. I'd rather get a puzzle for a whole new event rather than the same cube I already have, but plenty of other people are more focused on 3x3.

I like to refer to this cubing hardware guide, though it's also worth asking about specific events since that guide is very 3x3 focused. The Gan 251 Pro is still the most popular top 2x2, and it's much cheaper than the top Gan 3x3s. There are other versions of Gan 251, so make sure it's the Pro not Leap or Air. There are multiple options for cheaper 2x2s, but I don't know enough about them to make a recommendation.

I definitely recommend trying out lubing and adjusting your puzzles or teaching your son to do so. It can make a big difference in how the puzzle feels. The Weilong V10 has a screwless system, with two different numerical adjustments. One of the adjustments (which is a screw on some other puzzles) controls how far apart the pieces can go, which effects corner cutting and pops. There's usually a wide range with good corner cutting and no pops. If it's too tight, the corner cutting is bad, and if it's too loose, a piece can pop out while solving. The other adjustment is for spring/maglev compression, which is a good way to tune the speed of the cube. If the cube is too fast, I increase the spring compression. For lubrication, I recommend starting out with a fast lube like Lubest XMT 10 and a slow lube like Traxxas 10k/30k/50k. The slow lube can also be used to lube springs to reduce spring noise. See also this written guide and this video guide.

 

[gsingh]

My son did his first comp today! Had lots of fun, met a lot of other cubers and got an Ao5 of 45 sec. Hit an unofficial PR racing another kid and got 31 sec. He wants to do another comp so I will probably sign him up for one in September and add in the 2x2. So with that being said which 2x2 do you guys recommend? Is there like a tier list for 2x2s? My wife is in Hong Kong right now and she said she can go check out places to see if they have good cubes and see what the prices are compared to buying from the U.S.

Also he has only 1 main for 3x3. I noticed most people had 2 cubes with them. Do you recommend I get him the same cube? He uses a Weilong V10 magnetic ball-core. He said he tried someone's Gan 15 and thought that felt smoother, but I'm not spending that much, haha. At the same time I have never adjusted a screw or added lube yet (since I have no idea what I'm doing) so I'm sure I could make adjustments for him. If you think there is no reason to get 2 of the same cubes, any cube recommendations $40 and under? I noticed the raffles had several different Tornado's and a lot of tickets was in the Tornado V4. Don't know if that would be a good choice or not though.

Thanks!

I think you went to the same comp I was at yesterday haha, was it Davis Summer?

 

[boingyman]

Glad you all enjoyed it! Some fast and serious cubers like to have two of the same cube so they can warm up on a cube that feels as similar as possible to the one they'll be solving on. More casual solvers like me might bring the puzzle for the next event instead, which I would recommend until he tries out more types of puzzles and figures out which ones he likes. I'd rather get a puzzle for a whole new event rather than the same cube I already have, but plenty of other people are more focused on 3x3.

I like to refer to this cubing hardware guide, though it's also worth asking about specific events since that guide is very 3x3 focused. The Gan 251 Pro is still the most popular top 2x2, and it's much cheaper than the top Gan 3x3s. There are other versions of Gan 251, so make sure it's the Pro not Leap or Air. There are multiple options for cheaper 2x2s, but I don't know enough about them to make a recommendation.

I definitely recommend trying out lubing and adjusting your puzzles or teaching your son to do so. It can make a big difference in how the puzzle feels. The Weilong V10 has a screwless system, with two different numerical adjustments. One of the adjustments (which is a screw on some other puzzles) controls how far apart the pieces can go, which effects corner cutting and pops. There's usually a wide range with good corner cutting and no pops. If it's too tight, the corner cutting is bad, and if it's too loose, a piece can pop out while solving. The other adjustment is for spring/maglev compression, which is a good way to tune the speed of the cube. If the cube is too fast, I increase the spring compression. For lubrication, I recommend starting out with a fast lube like Lubest XMT 10 and a slow lube like Traxxas 10k/30k/50k. The slow lube can also be used to lube springs to reduce spring noise. See also this written guide and this video guide.

Thanks. I will probably hold off on another 3x3 and just get him a 2x2. I will try to deep dive on adjusting and lubing and do it with him. I actually bought the Gan 3 pack lube so I could use those for now.

I think you went to the same comp I was at yesterday haha, was it Davis Summer?

Yes. My son was the little dude with the pink Messi jersey, haha

 

[gsingh]

Thanks. I will probably hold off on another 3x3 and just get him a 2x2. I will try to deep dive on adjusting and lubing and do it with him. I actually bought the Gan 3 pack lube so I could use those for now.

Yes. My son was the little dude with the pink Messi jersey, haha

Oh yeah, I definitely saw him a few times lol

 

[Thomas.Caleb]

Thanks. I will probably hold off on another 3x3 and just get him a 2x2. I will try to deep dive on adjusting and lubing and do it with him. I actually bought the Gan 3 pack lube so I could use those for now.

Yes. My son was the little dude with the pink Messi jersey, haha

@gsingh was the one who won that comp