Older cubers discussions

[Dan the Beginner]

I'm not quite half your age, but twice the age of many cubers on here. I've also developed a light turning style to try to save my fingers. I love the Guhong Pro, but mine is maglev so slightly heavier than yours. My 4x4 tires my fingers pretty quickly, in part due to the jarring feel of the middle layer magnets, and the new Tornado v4 Pioneer has similar magnets on a 3x3 so definitely don't go for that one. My other favorite puzzles are my Gan 562 and my Dayan Pro megaminx, so perhaps a Gan 3x3 could work for you.

I have a couple of non-hardware ideas. For competitions, I take a few seconds before starting inspection to close my eyes, calm my breathing, and try to relax and loosen any tension. It helps me keep that light touch in spite of nerves/excitement. During practice, making sure I use plenty of inspection time is usually enough. I've had sessions where I skimp on inspection time and found my turning getting harsher. My other suggestion would be untimed solves where you go for efficient or creative solutions (maybe count your moves if you want to track some kind of statistic).

Thank you so much. All very nice ideas and information.

I love the Guhong Pro Maglev out of all my cubes. Their concentric magnet design seems to have minimised the quirks in normal Maglev behaviour. It actually is more stable and better controlled than the spring version, contrary to what's the case with all the other maglev cubes. The extra few grams are definitely worth it and I still use it. In the context of finger injury/stress, learning to use the loose spring version is still a good solution.

The idea of going for efficient solve is appreciated. I am doing more slow solves to better understand how the cube moves, trying to use the brain more than getting the highest TPS.

 

[xyzzy]

My 4x4 tires my fingers pretty quickly, in part due to the jarring feel of the middle layer magnets

Highly recommend the Aosu v7 triple track to fix this. It uses wing-midge magnets instead of wing-wing magnets, and (mostly) avoids the repulsion problem.

Meanwhile, the TV4 Pioneer indeed has repelling magnets for some godforsaken reason, but imo they feel subtle compared to the repulsion in 4x4 inner layer magnets.

 

[Dan the Beginner]

For anyone interested, here are what I found about the QiYi XT3, and some comparisons with the Guhong spring version. This XT3 is suitable as a lightweight cube to avoid too much stress in the fingers. It is 65g, lighter than the lightest Guhong Pro M. It can also be adjusted in its axis distance as well as the elasticity, another advantage. The build quality is better, with no marks on the surface of the pieces. The magnet strength cannot be adjusted, like in the Guhong, but it's weaker or barely adequate IMO. In turning, it feels a bit like a Gan, very hollow. It is more controllable than the Guhong (very loose). You have to push it further when turning. The Guhong needs less effort to turn, easier to flick. The XT3 should improve after breaking in. The Guhong has a shiny surface, which I like better, better than even UV (slippery in very dry hands and making you want to grip the cube harder, stressing the fingers holding it). So, it depends on your preferences which one is better as a lightweight cube. Both are very nice, and are bargains, but different.

Question, has anyone tried using car rubbing compound to speed up the break-in and has advice?