Newbie needs help!

[Tommy34]

Hey guys! Im new to speedcubing, and I feel that Im somewhat decent. I have been cubing for about 3 weeks now and average around 67 seconds. But I have a few questions.

1. What cube should I use? ( I currently have a YJ 2 and a Sheng-en F2)

2. How should I get a faster cross? ( I average like 10 or 11 sec for this...BLD solves?)

3. Faster F2L? ( I am matching edge pairs, and am quite slow at this! Average of 25-30 seconds for F2L)

Any advice helps Guys!

Thanks - Tommy

 

[emolover]

1. The cubes you use are crap. Get a lunhui for 3x3 and a shenshou or lanlan for 2x2. I also assume you use a very crappy lube such as vasolene or jigaloo. Get some shock that has 20,000-50,000 wt.

2. You need to practice and practice more to get better at cross. Yes doing it without looking would help a lot.

3. Same thing as cross, practice practice and more practice. There are no tricks to getting faster at f2l. It just takes practice.

 

[Tommy34]

Thanks! I am currently using no lube on my YJ and on my F2 it came pre lubed when I bought it with who knows what! I have heard great things about LUBIX lube. Should I consider this?

 

[Rpotts]

1. The cubes you use are crap.
There are no tricks to getting faster at f2l. It just takes practice.

I disagree, you have an FII and average over a minute, theres no need to go waste a bunch of money on cubes and lube. If, however, you continue to cube and get substantially faster you may look into to getting a new cube. The FII is a great cube and is plenty fast enough to meet your current demands.

About f2l, while it does take a lot of practice to get faster, there are some tricks you can use to get faster. You probably deal with some of the more difficult pairs in an inefficient way, taking many turns and a lot of thinking. I recommend you check out this thread that has some examples of harder f2l cases with many ways to solve them - f2l help also check out the wiki [wiki]f2l[/wiki] page for all the cases.

Practice practice practice.

 

[emolover]

Thanks! I am currently using no lube on my YJ and on my F2 it came pre lubed when I bought it with who knows what! I have heard great things about LUBIX lube. Should I consider this?

No you should not use lubix. It is overhyped overpriced and really mainstream.

Lubix costs 10$ for lube that will lube about 15 3x3s. When shock oil on the otter hand will lube about 400 3x3s and it only costs 3$. Shock oil doesn't have that gummy feel that lubix does sometimes. You don't have to get a new cube but I would recommend going to a hobby store and getting some 20,000-50,000 wt shock oil. You will be glad when you get it.

 

[Tommy34]

I checked that first one out but I am kinda confused. Would anyone be willing to critique me if I put up a link to a youtube solve of mine?

 

[Tommy34]

No you should not use lubix. It is overhyped overpriced and really mainstream.

Lubix costs 10$ for lube that will lube about 15 3x3s. When shock oil on the otter hand will lube about 400 3x3s and it only costs 3$. Shock oil doesn't have that gummy feel that lubix does sometimes. You don't have to get a new cube but I would recommend going to a hobby store and getting some 20,000-50,000 wt shock oil. You will be glad when you get it.

I will definitely go get some shock oil!

 

[satellitedanny]

lol jig-a-loo isn't that bad, but I would still try to get a better lube like CRC or D39 if you want a spraying type lube. For the Diff oil (30-50k WT), use it to lube the washers, screws and springs and for the surfaces, apply in on the contacting surfaces on one piece (Put a decent amount, but not too much) and spread is around the cube by doing the checkered pattern. The only indication that you have overlubed with the diff oil is if it feels gummy. Also, get a GuHong; they are better than the lunhuis because they are lighter, corner cutting is better, and they don't EXPLODE like the lunhuis (When an edge pops, it pulls both corners and it makes the cube explode, while the Guhong just pops). GuHongs are also relatively cheaper too.

Continue to use F2L (practice makes perfect) and make sure you understand what you are doing instead of relying on algs; e.g. you see the algs as "move corner out of the way, pair with edge, slot in." instead of just letters. Also, for the cross, go see badmephisto's videos on the cross. And just because I think you're gonna ask, to memorize PLL and OLL algs, do them 15 times with the mirror case and move on, after the second set, do the first algs you learn to see if you remember. Also try to see the Algs as movements and not letters and actually pay attention to your movements you are doing to your cube. Also, focus on one group of colours (e.g. practice cross on white every solve, OLL and PLL on yellow side every solve) because your brain will recognize faster if you continue to use the same colours because you will recognize the neighbouring colours.

 

[emolover]

I checked that first one out but I am kinda confused. Would anyone be willing to critique me if I put up a link to a youtube solve of mine?

Sure, I am willing to. Also I didn't put in my last post but shock oil is faster then lubix.

 

[Nestor]

I second everything said about the shock oil (I use OFNA 50k wt http://www.amazon.com/Silicone-Diff...e=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1306208685&sr=8-1 ) .

You can stay with your current F2 but when you start reaching low 30's you might want to switch to any of these:


http://lightake.com/Search.do/Search.dayan

 

[Tommy34]

okay ill get one up. It will be kinda slow cause i suck and because i messed up my finger earlier today so my finger tricks will be lacking.

 

[satellitedanny]

Also, try to find the problems that may be slowing you down (e.g. lock ups, reverse corner cutting is bad, M-slice sucks, etc.) for me, I had problems with lock ups, so I asked my friend to borrow his storebought and after a weeks of struggling with lock ups, I can finally turn accurately!

 

[Tommy34]

My phone is being dumb and not wanting to work. Ill try to get a video up sometime 2moro.

 

[Tommy34]

My phone is being dumb and not wanting to work. Ill try to get a video up sometime 2moro.

Got it! Pretty crappy vid but oh well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ7v9wiT1ys&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Any feedback would be awesome!

 

[kpcube]

Look ahead practice. Turn slower as this helps look ahead by leaps and bounds so that you can watch the unsolved pieces as they go around the cube so you can fluidly move to the next step without or very little pause. If you dont have one go out and get a metronome and do solves making a single turn on every beat. Pay as little attention to your hands as you can and watch the pieces move around. I feel that great look ahead contributes more to fast times then anything else.

 

[Tommy34]

I am getting a little bit faster, but a quick question. Is there any time advantage for cross on bottom vs on top? If so how much?

 

[Clayy9]

I am getting a little bit faster, but a quick question. Is there any time advantage for cross on bottom vs on top? If so how much?

As much time as it takes you to do an x2. The main reason for doing cross on bottom is for easier lookahead.

 

[5BLD]

Hey guys! Im new to speedcubing, and I feel that Im somewhat decent. I have been cubing for about 3 weeks now and average around 67 seconds. But I have a few questions.

1. What cube should I use? ( I currently have a YJ 2 and a Sheng-en F2)

2. How should I get a faster cross? ( I average like 10 or 11 sec for this...BLD solves?)

3. Faster F2L? ( I am matching edge pairs, and am quite slow at this! Average of 25-30 seconds for F2L)

Any advice helps Guys!

Thanks - Tommy

1. Your cube is fine. I use a storebought and I average 15-18 seconds (with roux ).

2. Yup, do your cross BLD. And also try to do it in less than nine moves.

3. Turn slow and look ahead! And try to be efficient.