Older cubers discussions

Got the Mars cube today. It feels very light. The corners are very square and catch a lot. Not really impressed but with a bit of work (that I won't be doing) I expect that it could be decent. As I was 1p short on the minimum order I bought a 2x2 mastermorphix too which is very nice and worth the order value by itself.

18th in Poland is very impressive @h2f Well done.
 
Got the Mars cube today. It feels very light. The corners are very square and catch a lot. Not really impressed but with a bit of work (that I won't be doing) I expect that it could be decent. As I was 1p short on the minimum order I bought a 2x2 mastermorphix too which is very nice and worth the order value by itself.

18th in Poland is very impressive @h2f Well done.

I just picked up a Mars on a whim too, should be here today. It was time (so to speak) to get a Stackmat for home, also picked up a 62mm YuXin 4x4 to compare against the G4 (which has broken in reasonably well now).
 
I just picked up a Mars on a whim too, should be here today. It was time (so to speak) to get a Stackmat for home, also picked up a 62mm YuXin 4x4 to compare against the G4 (which has broken in reasonably well now).
The Mars does have a fantastic logo. I had a further play with it and it's pretty quick but the catches are annoying. The corners definitely need a trim. It has potential for blind.
 
The Mars does have a fantastic logo. I had a further play with it and it's pretty quick but the catches are annoying. The corners definitely need a trim. It has potential for blind.

Sounds like the Gans Air. It's a cube I really, really like but the for the little catches. I'm guessing the squared corners help with stability as well as corner twists. The Gans feels very stable for me, holding its cube shape; that's probably the biggest feature I notice with it vs my other cubes as well as being very smooth and whisper-y (mine is the Cubicle Premium version, so it was pre set-up).
 
I don't think it's been mentioned here much, what do you guys think of the magnetic 3x3 GTS M? I'm definitely interested to try one and hope they make them legal (even if I don't like it I think it should be).

I'm not sure what the argument against making them legal is, especially because as I understand it you could hypothetically achieve the same result, albeit much less durably, with a very precisely machined bump and hollow design in the corners and edges. I'm personally not that excited about the 3x3, but I'm really curious to see what they can do with megaminx and higher order cubes.
 
Murphy's Law, when you're waiting on toys the post runs late.

Mars: Very loose and unimpressive out of the box. It did not have the stability of the Gans at all but that may improve as I dial-in the tensions. It was clear that it was going to need tinkering so I disassembled it right after first turns and lubed the core + pieces with Lubicle, reassembled, and tightened a full turn all the way around. I may go another 1/8+ before I'm done; might have been better off with weight 4 lube but I'll let this set and break it in some to see where it's at. Tighter tensions seem to have cut down on the catches some, with a little work it might be a poor man's Gans. [Edit note: the tension screws are the smaller phillip's head]

YuXin 4x4: Not nearly as tight and difficult to turn out of the box as the G4, tensions seem a bit loose to me. I'm not going to tinker with this one yet, I'd rather see if the tensions are fine once it breaks in. Stock tension isn't a problem per se until it catches a little, which may iron itself out.
 
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I don't think it's been mentioned here much, what do you guys think of the magnetic 3x3 GTS M? I'm definitely interested to try one and hope they make them legal (even if I don't like it I think it should be).

Are they not legal? The magnetic 'minxes are fine, right?

I'm curious but nowhere near $50 curious atm. I understand the development cost and it's not a knock on the price at all, but I'm obviously far from maxing the potential of my conventional cubes yet.
 
Are they not legal? The magnetic 'minxes are fine, right?

I'm curious but nowhere near $50 curious atm. I understand the development cost and it's not a knock on the price at all, but I'm obviously far from maxing the potential of my convention cubes yet.

It has not been decided last I heard, Chris Olson discussed it on a video and the cubicle had a write up on it I think. Yes the pyraminxes are allowed.
 
It has not been decided last I heard, Chris Olson discussed it on a video and the cubicle had a write up on it I think. Yes the pyraminxes are allowed.

Since they've cleared the Pyraminxes the only reason I can see it being any discussion would be that the 3x3 records are more "hallowed ground". I saw the same video and we both probably came away feeling it's not an aid of any sort, just another thing that will suit some peoples' style and not others.
 
My package I ordered 3 months ago finally arrived yesterday. I've been waiting quite excitedly for this one because it had something new and something to experiment with. 5 puzzles in total.

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Starting with the experiment ... a Guanlong and a YJ Fisher V2. Seeing as I started doing mods I thought that the cutter cube would be an awesome and easy mod to do, but yet I went for the harder ball and barrel ... go figure. Well around the time I was going to attemp the mod I saw a YouTube video showing how to make a cutter cube using a Guanlong and a Fisher V2 which leaves you with 2 different cutter cubes. Well I can say that that "mod" is awesome. I now have a 3x3 Cutter cube and a Fisher Cutter cube :-) For very little effort really, and for a great price.

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Moving on ... Shengshou 2x2 Kilominx. What an awesome puzzle. Quite an easy solve but my current method wouldn't go down in the halls of speedcubing methods :-) But it is a really fun puzzle to solve. It turns so nicely, really effortless and smooth. If the standard Shengshou Megaminx turned like this I would not hesitate to get it.

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Next ... Yuxin Blue 4x4. Out the box it wasn't great to be honest. The outer layers were good, but the inner layers were very sluggish and catching a lot. Not really a pleasure to solve on. I did a spring swap almost immedietly. I had a spare Thunderclap V1 and I'd heard about that spring swap so I set about doing that. My first time attempting to change springs on any puzzle. The actual spring swap is easy obviously, it's the assembly of the 4x4 that really takes time. Getting that core assembled is always tricky, but seeing as I've done it quite a few times lately with my mods .... I tape the core with electrical tape when I build it up. It doesn't stick to crazy and once the cube is assembled you can pull it out relatively easily. Anyway ... the Blue with the spring swap is an entirely different cube, the proverbial chalk and cheese. With the Thunderclap springs it is fast, insanely fast. The inner layers move so nicely and freely. The cube is harder to control because the layers do want to move. I like the smaller size like my mini Aosu, even though the MeiYu has been my main 4x4 for a while now. The Blue ... is now definetly my main 4x4. I haven't had anything remotely wanting to pop on it which for a 4x4 is just awesome. As you can see in the pic I've already restickered it with my preferred shades :-)

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Lastly ... The Moyu 4x4 Axis. It's an awesome cube ... to look at :-) I haven't had the courage to attempt it yet as I know I will need some time to get my head around what goes where and which piece is which etc... I don't have any other Axis cubes, I have one coming in the next parcel which is due to arrive in the next couple weeks, so I'm daunted by the 4x4 version. But I will be attempting it soon.

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This has been quite a long post, mostly probably because I like the sound of my own typing :-)
 
@Logiqx both Grzegorz's and my results are up :)

I'm 18th in 3bld in Poland (jump from 28) and 6th in this year.

The results have been updated on GitHub. It's great to see so many of the regulars officially sub-20!

I see a cluster of you guys in the 19.x range :)

14 Mark Rivers mark49152 United Kingdom 19.46 2016 48
15 Raúl Morales Hidalgo moralsh Spain 19.55 2016 42
16 Marcel Poots MarcelP Netherlands 19.80 2015 45
17 Mike Hughey Mike Hughey USA 19.84 2013 50
18 Grzegorz Pacewicz h2f Poland 19.96 2016 41
19 Jason Green Jason Green USA 20.14 2016 41
 
Next ... Yuxin Blue 4x4. Out the box it wasn't great to be honest. The outer layers were good, but the inner layers were very sluggish and catching a lot. Not really a pleasure to solve on. I did a spring swap almost immedietly. I had a spare Thunderclap V1 and I'd heard about that spring swap so I set about doing that. My first time attempting to change springs on any puzzle. The actual spring swap is easy obviously, it's the assembly of the 4x4 that really takes time.

Are the Thunderclap springs stiffer or looser vs. the stock ones? Or is it something else that makes the swap an improvement?

Same with the inner layers on the 62mm Yuxin that arrived yesterday, but it's nowhere near as tight as the G4 was out of the box for me. The G4 took a couple days before any inner single slices wanted to happen at all and it has come along nicely while learning 4x4. I plan on doing a bunch of slow 2x2 solves on the Yuxin in the hopes that'll help work out the sluggishness. Also some uneven tensions on the Yuxin as shipped. Attempting to do a Uw on one of the faces moves the single innner slice while the U face barely moves. Currently the G4 beats the pants off it but I'm reserving judgement until break-in.
 
Are the Thunderclap springs stiffer or looser vs. the stock ones? Or is it something else that makes the swap an improvement?

Same with the inner layers on the 62mm Yuxin that arrived yesterday, but it's nowhere near as tight as the G4 was out of the box for me. The G4 took a couple days before any inner single slices wanted to happen at all and it has come along nicely while learning 4x4. I plan on doing a bunch of slow 2x2 solves on the Yuxin in the hopes that'll help work out the sluggishness. Also some uneven tensions on the Yuxin as shipped. Attempting to do a Uw on one of the faces moves the single innner slice while the U face barely moves. Currently the G4 beats the pants off it but I'm reserving judgement until break-in.
The Thunderclap springs are looser definitely. If you can spare some Thunderclap springs then I would definitely recommend swapping them over. TheCubicle has a spring set for around $1.

Perhaps disassembling it completely and reassembling it checking that all the tensions were the same when rebuilding it helped as well, but not nearly as much as the spring swap has. I cannot actually believe that different springs can make that much of a difference, it really is amazing. I can't wait for my GAN Air to arrive now because of all the spring options it has. The spare "G" Ges set that I ordered from Australia has even arrived before the cube, so when it does I'll have even more options to try out. Exciting stuff :-)
 
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