New to The Cube...

MichaelP. said:
Lol.

Anyway, don't worry about getting a cube right now. When your over a minute, just about anything you do can drop your time. Practice, learn some algs, look into F2L. Good luck.
Click to expand...

Just make sure you don't have a cube that's impossible to turn (some storeboughts are like that). I tried someones storebought at a competition this past weekend and my stackmat time of solving it was ~59 seconds.
 
I'm all for laying a good foundation with the beginner method, at least until I'm consistently solving in under a minute. As for new cubes, I understand that the store bought Rubik's has the ability to take me to speeds under one minute (depending on my dedication to practicing), but I still had a great time assembling the one DIY kit I purchased from cube 4you :)
 
One thing that I still need to study up on is all the terminology, like crisp, cutting corners/corner cutting, stuff like that...
 
I disagree with everybody that has advised learning F2L. right now getting times in 2+ minutes all you should do is practice. Don't learn F2L until you average around a minute. You have already got a good enough cube to achieve that. Even a storebought can as mentioned in above posts. Whoever mentioned getting an Edison doesn't know what they are talking about. Edisons are not good. Mine pops on me all the time LOL. I noticed that everyone already jumped all over that post though. Anyway, Just practice. I know everyone says that, but that is all you can really do at your stage. F2L won't help you as much as practicing, familiarizing yourself with the cube and getting your reaction times down will. Just practice and you will see what I'm talking about. I'm sure that most of everyone agrees with me. Those that mentioned F2L are probably just use to giving advice to people who average ~ 1 min. F2L won't hurt it is what all the FAZT people use, but you should knock your times down to a minute then worry about F2L.
 
Welcome. It's cool that you ordered a Memory, it's a great cube. You'll find it super fast compared to your other ones, but it will be a good opportunity to get into the habit of turning with mostly your fingers (rather than mostly wrist, which is usually how most people start). Try watching Faz's slow mo videos (search YouTube for Fazdad's profile) for an amazing example of what it looks like when turning really quickly. Also there are some new tutorials on F2L posted a few days ago (in the video section of the forums called something like the Hunter method, which is great for beginners.
 
Godmil said:
Welcome. It's cool that you ordered a Memory, it's a great cube. You'll find it super fast compared to your other ones, but it will be a good opportunity to get into the habit of turning with mostly your fingers (rather than mostly wrist, which is usually how most people start). Try watching Faz's slow mo videos (search YouTube for Fazdad's profile) for an amazing example of what it looks like when turning really quickly. Also there are some new tutorials on F2L posted a few days ago (in the video section of the forums called something like the Hunter method, which is great for beginners.
Click to expand...
Funny, I've noticed I've been using my fingers to turn much more lately, I'm it must be something that would eventually happen through many hours of use?? I think it even uses muscles I haven't had to use often as my hands were sore a couple of times lol
I'm definitely looking forward to getting the Memory cube, after that though, I am going to put my cube purchasing on hold. I want to truly be good at it, not flashy, and I realize that it's skill, not gear that enables that to happen (for the most part). :)
 
I would recommend a GhostHand II cube for a beginner.
The main key to speed is PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE.
Don't think of competitive speedcubing as something that you are forced into. Think of it as a hobby. Practice when you feel like doing a few solves.
WCA competitions are more fun than competitive for me. I just hang out, meet a few people, and look at all the cool and interesting puzzles (I once skipped 2 events because I wanted to hang out with some kids).
 
I can't remember where, but someone on here was talking about their glow in the dark Ghost Hand, so I looked that brand up just to see what they were about. They look like they're decently made. Going to events sounds like a lot of fun. Is there a listing of upcoming events?

Cube Depot, is that a pretty reliable site to purchase from?
 
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Yes Cube Depot is very reliable. I've only ever ordered from them and no matter the size of the order, from my first A-V, to an order of ten cubes, it gets to me in about 3-4 days(my last order was shipped Monday, I'm expecting it tomorrow since it didn't come today.)

The glow in the dark Ghost Hand is mostly a novelty item and it can't be solved in the dark easily because the background light from the cube causes a silhouette effect and you can't make out the color of the stickers.



Ignore everyone who says learn F2L. It's not necessary at all. I honestly didn't even know about F2L until I averaged ~1:05. That's when I ordered my A-V and started learning Fridrich. Just PRACTICE. It's all you need right now.
 
Seriously people?

I don't want to start an argument here cause it wouldn't be beneficial to the OP but saying, "ZOMG learn F2L!!!1!1!11!1 It's the ONLY way to get faster" or even just suggesting it is asinine. Before just throwing him in as a noobish cuber (sorry Morlock but I'm still pretty nooby myself, no biggy) who's just asking the same question for the thousandth time look at his situation. He averages 2+ minutes. Within a week of my first solve I was down to 1:15 on the jankiest un-lubed storebought ever so all it takes is practice.

Before suggesting that someone else learn F2L think about how fast you were going when you learned it. I doubt it was 2 minutes.
 
freshcuber said:
Yes Cube Depot is very reliable. I've only ever ordered from them and no matter the size of the order, from my first A-V, to an order of ten cubes, it gets to me in about 3-4 days(my last order was shipped Monday, I'm expecting it tomorrow since it didn't come today.)

The glow in the dark Ghost Hand is mostly a novelty item and it can't be solved in the dark easily because the background light from the cube causes a silhouette effect and you can't make out the color of the stickers.



Ignore everyone who says learn F2L. It's not necessary at all. I honestly didn't even know about F2L until I averaged ~1:05. That's when I ordered my A-V and started learning Fridrich. Just PRACTICE. It's all you need right now.
Click to expand...
Cool, I'm glad to hear someone vouch for the web site. I'm always pretty wary of new places that want my credit card lol

As for method of solving, I'm definitely going to practice, A LOT.
Thanks for the info :)
 
Any time I can help a fellow cube I try my best. I also forgot to mention that Cube Depot has fantastic customer service so if something goes wrong or there's an out of stock item you want just send them a message via the "Contact Us" section on the site and you'll get a fairly prompt response.
 
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