[Help Thread] Puzzle Choice Thread

[Duncan Bannon]

I personally buy from thecubicle.

Why?:

My review of thecubicle.us after many purchases, conversations, and website views.

Price:

They have prices that are very good. Comparable to SCS and similar US cube stores.

Shipping:

Shipping is very good. They have lots of options and normally ship within 3 business days. Free shipping over $10 and discounted international shipping is amazing.

Product:

The products they carry are good and well known brands.

In stock:

It is very very unoften that a product is out of stock. I have noticed this is not the case with other US cube stores.

Customer service:

Absolutely GREAT! Get back to you within 3 days on normal. But I have responses after just 3 hours. They are very nice and know there stuff.

Pro setup:

I am judging only on their set me up button by a cube. Not there whole pro shop service. It’s great, they come full of lube to last awhile. After break in 5*

Labs:

Expensive but In my mind very worth it. They are the best cubes on earth. I wouldn’t recommend to a beginner due to price. After you like the hobby, sure get the best. They have your shades and after break in, again are very very good.

Lube:

Good options and of course they are great. DNM 37, Lubicle 1, Lubicle black are very good. Weight lubes are good, and Lubicle are great too.

Sales:

A sale happens ever month so..... SWEET

However, you can argue (and probably rightfully so) that SCS is the same.

So why does it matter to me? Because thecubicle is always creating new things. They "created" magnets, ridiculous lubes that work, coated rubiks cubes, and those things that allow you to put magnets in SQ-1 and mega. And tried so many things to get to what they have now, maglev, boron, and countless other things. The don't want to make a quick buck, all about creating a better speedcube, not settling for good.

 

[SauceObtainer]

I just wanted a comparison to the angstrom and cosmic cubes by someone's whos owned both. Like I said eventually i want the best of the best

 

[lucarubik]

For 3x3, I think the 354 M in stickerless is your only option for gan puzzles. Thecubicle.us has it.

oh wow i just found out that one is a really good cube, i read 354 and i thought oh smaller number this should be an older version lol, turns out it stands for 54 mm
you gave me a great answer but no way for someone as stupid as me to figure out how great it was, my bad! ill get this and the gts 3 :3 thank you

If you have small hands, then it’s great. But really, if you’re using a dayan zhanchi, any modern speedcube is amazing so go for anything (i.e Huanglong, GTS2M, MF3RS2M, Valk, GAN SM, etc)

I don't and i guess 2 mm across all 3 dimentions might be more than one could think, but ill buy it anyway

 

[Foreright]

My current (3x3) main is a (stickerless) GTS2m and I absolutely love the feel, the strength (or rather, lack of strength of...) the magnets and everything about it... EXCEPT... it's so noisy that I get comments when cubing in the office. Is there anything on the market that is similar but much less noisy?

I have the Gan Air SM and the magnets are too strong and it feels slow / gummy compared to the GTS2m even when broken in and using the purple GES nuts. I also have MF3RS, MF3RS2 (both self-magnetized and non-magnetized) and there's something I can't put my finger on about those I don't like either. I have a Gan 356 Air (the original one) and that's nice - just wish it was stickerless!

I'm really interested in the Gan 354m - is that a similar feel to the GTS2m or is it like the Air SM? I have heard that it's pretty quiet...

 

[taiga]

Which 7x7 would I choose ?
Moyu Aofu GT 7x7 (primary colour 21$) or Yuxin Huanglong 7x7 (40$) ?
There is big difference between them 50%.
PS: On the other hand if Hays7 would be 40-45$ (without magnets) I have to chose Hays7.

 

[Foreright]

My current (3x3) main is a (stickerless) GTS2m and I absolutely love the feel, the strength (or rather, lack of strength of...) the magnets and everything about it... EXCEPT... it's so noisy that I get comments when cubing in the office. Is there anything on the market that is similar but much less noisy?

I have the Gan Air SM and the magnets are too strong and it feels slow / gummy compared to the GTS2m even when broken in and using the purple GES nuts. I also have MF3RS, MF3RS2 (both self-magnetized and non-magnetized) and there's something I can't put my finger on about those I don't like either. I have a Gan 356 Air (the original one) and that's nice - just wish it was stickerless!

I'm really interested in the Gan 354m - is that a similar feel to the GTS2m or is it like the Air SM? I have heard that it's pretty quiet...

To answer my own message, my 354M arrived this morning and wow - I love it. The colours are nice and bold, the magnets are nowhere near as strong as the 356SM (my main beef with that cube) and it is quiet, certainly compared to my GTS2M. The only issue I have with it is the colour scheme. I use white opposite blue (ie. Japanese) and I can't see a way to get the edge pieces apart to swap the tiles over. The corners come apart easily

So... I'm attempting to use the "western" colour scheme and it's not going well so far but I might persevere with it for a while...

 

[lucarubik]

thanks for sharing and sorry to hear that

 

[Foreright]

Actually, I decided to do some surgery on the cube and cut the single yellow and blue tiles off with a scalpel. Sounds drastic but the plastic is very soft and with a sharp blade you can make a very clean cut. I then simply glued those two tiles in the correct place and I now have a 354M with the "right" colour scheme - very happy with it now!

As an aside, with those tiles removed I can see that putting together the edges is a one time deal - the magnets hold the coloured faces in place and there is no way to remove them to release the faces. That's an odd design decision by GAN but as I say, nothing a bit of minor surgery can't fix

 

[AbsoRuud]

Actually, I decided to do some surgery on the cube and cut the single yellow and blue tiles off with a scalpel. Sounds drastic but the plastic is very soft and with a sharp blade you can make a very clean cut. I then simply glued those two tiles in the correct place and I now have a 354M with the "right" colour scheme - very happy with it now!

As an aside, with those tiles removed I can see that putting together the edges is a one time deal - the magnets hold the coloured faces in place and there is no way to remove them to release the faces. That's an odd design decision by GAN but as I say, nothing a bit of minor surgery can't fix

I’d like to see a picture of your colour transplanted cube. Sounds cool.

 

[Foreright]

Here's a japanese colour scheme 354M:

 

[Galcor117]

Looks cool, and nice job with the retiling (?)

 

[AbsoRuud]

The 354 really is a pretty cube. I have one with the same colour scheme I got when I took a Microsoft course, it was extremely low quality, but still turned a lot better than my Rubik's. The stickers were paper with a thin plastic film over them. Good job on the transplant! I bet that took a bit of courage to get started on.

 

[THERAGINGCYCLOPS]

I personally buy from thecubicle.

Why?:


However, you can argue (and probably rightfully so) that SCS is the same.

So why does it matter to me? Because thecubicle is always creating new things. They "created" magnets, ridiculous lubes that work, coated rubiks cubes, and those things that allow you to put magnets in SQ-1 and mega. And tried so many things to get to what they have now, maglev, boron, and countless other things. The don't want to make a quick buck, all about creating a better speedcube, not settling for good.

Maglev wasn't sold gotta DIY
Boron wasn't either
Coated cubes are too expensive

 

[CarterK]

Compared to the angstrom products, the Cosmic and Supernova lines are going to be cheaper (especially the supernova) and I can tell you a little about both.

Cosmic: Top quality version. They set it up to your liking and send it out. Cosmic cubes can be slow out of the box, but that fixes with break in.
Supernova: They set it up for you, but not as heavy as the cosmic version.

I can't tell you that much about angstrom. Overall, you can't go wrong with any of these, and they're all good. Cosmic and Supernova are a little cheaper though.

What cube specifically are you looking at?

 

[RedJack22]

Now I am biased, having not used and Angstrom puzzle, and being sponsored by SpeedCubeShop, but Cosmic Cubes really are fantastic cubes! I have a GTS2M that I've put well over 100 solves (at least; I can't say for sure), and it is still lubed amazingly, to the point that it's gummy when I pick it up after not using it for a while. I've had great experience with Cosmic cubes, and they are really good if you want a professionally set up cube!

 

[lucarubik]

got my cubes yesterday, two days under thecubicle's best case estimation, mad kudos

moyu weilong gts3m with its original lube: 6/10 too much elasticity, even with the springs in the short position the cube is uncontrolable, its like trying to roll a ball to the small flat area of a ramp that is super steep at the beggening, and flatens gradually, the range of strenght that will give you a nice result is way thinner than the one that would make you over or undersohoot

gan air 354 on its original lube: 8/10 still too much elasticity, but this time you can fix it with the stronger springed nuts, with a cost of speed tho. Also too small, i struggle to get my index finger into the s slice, not because its fat, but because its awkard, but if it was fat that would be a problem aswell

yuxin huanglong 3x3 on cfs: 5/7 best possible score, just an outsanding piece of hardware, even tho the cube woobles when you hold it, wich i dont mind at all, the layers are more controllable when you spin them that, i can see the the lose feel being a problem in hard fingertricks, a problem that magnets might be able to fix maybe? i wont risk sticking them in mine yet, the middle slices are too nice

kung fu longyuang 3x3 on cfs: 2/10 too much cheap feeling, its like the layers spin around a cube instead of a ball, when doing U' R' the cube tends to do U' U instead, also its slower than any of the above, and the red face is kinda fucsia, outside of the valoration the cube has insane value for 3.99

the valorations are relative, 5/7 is not the perfect cube and 0/10 is not one that is impossible to turn.

*oh yeah the valk 3 with 2x4 35N magnets and CFS would be a 7/10, too slow

edit; the springs being too hard is not the problem of the elastic feel, might be the lube, or the magnets, maybe the ridges of the gts make the corners too heavy? idk. either way the averages i've done with the cubes match my scores with shocking precision, except maybe the valk 3, wich might be more like an 8 or a 9 even

 

[THERAGINGCYCLOPS]

CFS?

 

[lucarubik]

I bought enough for a lifetime in a placed called leroy merlin if you have those a long while ago. It says made in holland. I thought it was popular enough

 

[SauceObtainer]

Compared to the angstrom products, the Cosmic and Supernova lines are going to be cheaper (especially the supernova) and I can tell you a little about both.

Cosmic: Top quality version. They set it up to your liking and send it out. Cosmic cubes can be slow out of the box, but that fixes with break in.
Supernova: They set it up for you, but not as heavy as the cosmic version.

I can't tell you that much about angstrom. Overall, you can't go wrong with any of these, and they're all good. Cosmic and Supernova are a little cheaper though.

What cube specifically are you looking at?

you know nxn puzzles like 2x2-5x5

 

[SauceObtainer]

Which 7x7 would I choose ?
Moyu Aofu GT 7x7 (primary colour 21$) or Yuxin Huanglong 7x7 (40$) ?
There is big difference between them 50%.
PS: On the other hand if Hays7 would be 40-45$ (without magnets) I have to chose Hays7.

The cubicle is having a sale