Older cubers discussions

[JohnnyReggae]

Get well soon @pipkiksass!
Anyway, now I finally have the Valk 3!! First impression... not very impressed. I need to play around with tensions a bit to see if I can make it any better. Out of the box it doesn't fit my turning style at all. It is super tight, that's probably the reason.

I must say that I was not initially impressed with the Valk and wondered why I actually bought it. Now however I do think it's a great cube. Not the best which I believe is the GAN Air, but I do use the Valk for OH primarily because it is more stable for OH than the Air and the slight smaller size, although not much, is noticeable.

 

[h2f]

I find Ubl more comfortable for comms and U2 is meant to be just a back up for that. It's only really the D face algs I need to replicate as the U face ones tend to be easier with comms. I'll sort them on my lunch break tomorrow. I found a couple of useful bits on some old notes I'd made from one of Ollie's videos.

Mark, you dont need backup algs for center comms. I went to 3style centers just after few months with U2. Once you understand how they work they are easy to work. D face algs are always interechange with Ubl and for cycle Ubl-Dfr- or Ubl-Dbl- you can add easy setup D/D' or U/U'. Only the one alg is special: Ubl-Ufr-Dfr which you can do with easy alg from Ollie's list or with 3 move setup.

 

[pipkiksass]

I must say that I was not initially impressed with the Valk and wondered why I actually bought it. Now however I do think it's a great cube. Not the best which I believe is the GAN Air, but I do use the Valk for OH primarily because it is more stable for OH than the Air and the slight smaller size, although not much, is noticeable.

This will be my 3rd Valk, completely love it (although I haven't tried a Gans Air). The Valk was my first purchase after returning to cubing after a 2 year hiatus, was previously using a Weilong V2. Go back to a Weilong V2 for a while, then try the Valk again, you'll be blown away!!! [emoji6]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mark49152]

Mark, you dont need backup algs for center comms. I went to 3style centers just after few months with U2. Once you understand how they work they are easy to work. D face algs are always interechange with Ubl and for cycle Ubl-Dfr- or Ubl-Dbl- you can add easy setup D/D' or U/U'. Only the one alg is special: Ubl-Ufr-Dfr which you can do with easy alg from Ollie's list or with 3 move setup.

Yeah usually I will set up a D face target to Ufl (Ubr buffer) and do a comm with U2 exchange, advanced M2 style. The only exception is where the D face target is adjacent to U face target, in which case I set up to a comm with l2 exchange.

 

[h2f]

Yeah usually I will set up a D face target to Ufl (Ubr buffer) and do a comm with U2 exchange, advanced M2 style. The only exception is where the D face target is adjacent to U face target, in which case I set up to a comm with l2 exchange.

I didnt know you do centers with comms, Mark.

 

[phreaker]

I must say that I was not initially impressed with the Valk and wondered why I actually bought it. Now however I do think it's a great cube. Not the best which I believe is the GAN Air, but I do use the Valk for OH primarily because it is more stable for OH than the Air and the slight smaller size, although not much, is noticeable.

I like the Valk because near the "edge" of performance on corner cutting etc, it gives me a bit of feedback telling me, "You know, I didn't want to do that.". The Gan AIR doesn't, it just stops you. Especially in reverse.

Until I magnetized one of my Valks, I had corner twisting issues... those went away, and now I really like the cube. I have one of the Cubicle 356 AIR UMs on order, I'm very curious as to what I'll think of that.

 

[JanW]

I keep loosening up the Valk more and more. It gets better, but I'm still not entirely convinced by the cube. Somehow it feels less forgiving and requires more accurate turning than the MoJue M3 I used previously. Though maybe this is a sign that my turning is sloppy and it would do me good to practice with a cube that requires better accuracy.

 

[phreaker]

I keep loosening up the Valk more and more. It gets better, but I'm still not entirely convinced by the cube. Somehow it feels less forgiving and requires more accurate turning than the MoJue M3 I used previously. Though maybe this is a sign that my turning is sloppy and it would do me good to practice with a cube that requires better accuracy.

My Valks are very loose. I corner twist the non-magnetic one OH, pretty regularly, it is that loose. I solve OH... so my views on cubes will always be a bit different.

 

[phreaker]

I agree that it's better on slightly loose tensions. I tightened mine for more stability and it's a little catchier, which is to be expected I guess. I'm hoping I can loosen it up again once I put magnets in.

Actually the big problem I have with mine is keeping it controllable. No matter how much heavy lube I put in it just wants to be super light and fast. I'm hoping the added weight and pull of the magnets also helps in that department as well.

I have a magnetic valk... (N42/N44 strength) I had it so loose it was pushing off the endcaps . I tightened it up a bit.. and it is perfect for me. Dropped my PBs, quite a bit.

 

[dskids]

I'm sure my wife will eventually lose the ability to move her eyes considering how often they roll around when I talk cubing lol what are your times like?

Hahaha, yep same here! My 3x3 times are in my sig, but I am expecting to be substantially higher at the comp. My goals are a sub-25 single and sub-30 average. For 4x4 I average just under 2:00 (which happens to be the hard cutoff), so my goal there is just to complete all my solves. My 2x2 average is just under 10 sec so a 10-sec average and sub-6 single would be nice. I don't really have times for pyraminx because I'm still learning it. Not really putting in much effort there to be honest.

I keep loosening up the Valk more and more. It gets better, but I'm still not entirely convinced by the cube.

I agree that it's better on slightly loose tensions. I tightened mine for more stability and it's a little catchier, which is to be expected I guess. I'm hoping I can loosen it up again once I put magnets in.

Actually the big problem I have with mine is keeping it controllable. No matter how much heavy lube I put in it just wants to be super light and fast. I'm hoping the added weight and pull of the magnets also helps in that department as well.

The thing that really grinds my gears though is I stupidly bought one of the mint colored SE Valks (when I should've just bought another black one or a stickerless). My recognition on it is terrible but the turning is perfect and it just sits there unused.

 

[newtonbase]

I didnt know you do centers with comms, Mark.

I'm still learning but they are relatively easy to work out. I've still not attampted a full solve.

In a moment of madness I did a 4 cube MBLD attempt on my lunch break and it was a disaster. I got parts of my cubes confused with others and completely forgot other parts. The only one I got right was my 3BLD. I'll go back to 3 until I get a success.

 

[Logiqx]

I was about to start a video session when a couple of deliveries arrived from The Puzzle Store.

Since the camera was ready to go, I decided to record an unboxing of my new toys.

QiYi WuQue 4x4x4 + QiYi WuShuang 5x5x5
QiYi WuHua 6x6x6 + QiYi WuJi 7x7x7
MoYu Magnetic Skewb + MoYu Magnetic Pyraminx

I'm pretty rubbish at unboxings but here is the link anyway... edited to 6 minutes.

 

[mark49152]

I didnt know you do centers with comms, Mark.

I don't really. I use advanced U2 for most cases, which is comms I guess, but restricted to U2 interchange. Then I know a single extra comm with l2 interchange for adjacent U&D targets. That's enough to make U2 pretty efficient. I am trying to learn some other comms, but not sweating it because generally they won't save me much time over advanced U2. Why waste time trying to shave 5 seconds off centre execution when memo still takes me 3 minutes?

 

[h2f]

Why waste time trying to shave 5 seconds off centre execution when memo still takes me 3 minutes?

Because one day your memo will take a single minute.

 

[mark49152]

Because one day your memo will take a single minute.

Only if I prioritise working on memo

 

[mafergut]

@Logiqx Nice unboxing! You have bested my latest purchase in "Qiyiness". I just got 4x4, 5x5 and 6x6, you went all the way up to 7x7. I am now waiting for a separate order with the 7x7 though

From your unboxing the WuQue 4x4 seems a bit sluggish, just like mine and very different from the one, e.g. @SpeedCubeReview unboxed, which felt so fast and loose. Maybe it's just a difference in out-of-the-box tensions but mine already popped 3 times at my current tensions so not sure I would want to loosen it more.

 

[kbrune]

@mark49152 @h2f @newtonbase
Not sure who else knows 4bld

Trying out some 4bld sighted solves for the first time. How do you manage to memo edges without getting lost? Seems confusing. Mind you I'm going off a tutorial that was written 8 years ago now lol
Didn't have patience to wait for WiFi and video at home.

Is typical buffer DFr? And do you use a system to keep edge targets organized. Having 2 of each is throwing me off. All the tutorial is saying is "follow targets till you have them all". Easier said then done! Lol

 

[mark49152]

@kbrune: Yes wings are tricky because there are a lot of targets and if you hit the end of a cycle with only two or three targets left, it sometimes takes some time to find the ones left. I'm not aware of any magic technique to make it easy.

 

[h2f]

Is typical buffer DFr? And do you use a system to keep edge targets organized. Having 2 of each is throwing me off. All the tutorial is saying is "follow targets till you have them all". Easier said then done! Lol

I think it's a matter of practice and good system. The system comes with practice and everyone has its own way of doing. If I cant find missed wing I do review of memo watching the one pair of wings (all on U layer) and searching if theres a word in memo with letter for every wing. Mind that my first attempts were around 30 minutes and 20 minutes memo or longer. Touching wings also helps a lot.

 

[JanW]

I just learned 4 more OLL cases and now I know all but the dots! The last ten or so that I've learned are still a bit muddy in my mind. I'll need lots of solves to get used to them. But at least now I don't need to spend time anymore asking myself whether it's a case I know or not. In my experience, this should help a lot.