Test and Comparison of 4 Major U.S. Cubing Stores (Part 2, the unboxing now uploaded)

[ender9994]

Hey guys, I decided to make some videos summarizing my experiences with using multiple different U.S. based cubing stores. I chose 4 different U.S. stores (The cubicle, cubes4speed, cubedepotusa, and the speedcubeshop), and tested them out by making a similar order to each of them at the exact same time (Sunday at midnight) so that I could accurately compare their services.
I just released part 1 of videos in which I compare different aspects of each store including:

1. Customer service response time
2. Shipping policies
3. pricing
4. Pros/Cons for different aspects of their website

Part 2 will be released sometime this weekend and will quickly talk about shipping times and packaging, but will mostly be a fun unboxing where I will go through each of the 4 packages (should be a blast for me since I have never opened that many cube packages at the same time )

Let me know what you guys think of part 1. I hope that it is not too boring, part 2 will be much shorter and focus mostly on just the unboxing. Would love to hear some feedback as well...this is the first video on my YouTube account that I have released in over half a decade, though I want to keep it up since I had a lot of fun making this one.

If you like this concept of reviewing cube stores let me know. I am also thinking of making one about Chinese based stores and then a separate video (much shorter) for lightakes new U.S. warehouse.

-Doug

 

[Loiloiloi]

I loved your video, and the idea was great! You earned a new sub

Onto some feedback:
The video needs to be more condensed. If you want good retention, your speech needs to be meaningful and non-verbose. The whole beginning part could be done in the description or summarized to be much quicker. Tying into this, your audio quality needs to be improved and you need to be more loud and clear as well eliminating the 'Um's. I would recommend getting a Blue Snowball as it's a very cheap microphone and has great audio quality. The graphical issues (the pricing slide in particular) are very distracting and unprofessional. I also think the video overall would be better if you used a little editing, even the simplest programs can help get rid of white noise or unintentional rambling. I think you went off topic quite a few times. A few things I liked is that you made a presentation for the video, it's really good to have a visual aid to keep your viewers entertained, and the presentation was interesting. The idea was really original, one thing that annoys me about modern cubing channels is that they all do the same brand of content (typically: reviews/comparisons, unboxings, and solves), but it was refreshing to see an informative video that hasn't been completely overdone.

 

[ender9994]

I loved your video, and the idea was great! You earned a new sub

Onto some feedback:
The video needs to be more condensed. If you want good retention, your speech needs to be meaningful and non-verbose. The whole beginning part could be done in the description or summarized to be much quicker. Tying into this, your audio quality needs to be improved and you need to be more loud and clear as well eliminating the 'Um's. I would recommend getting a Blue Snowball as it's a very cheap microphone and has great audio quality. The graphical issues (the pricing slide in particular) are very distracting and unprofessional. I also think the video overall would be better if you used a little editing, even the simplest programs can help get rid of white noise or unintentional rambling. I think you went off topic quite a few times. A few things I liked is that you made a presentation for the video, it's really good to have a visual aid to keep your viewers entertained, and the presentation was interesting. The idea was really original, one thing that annoys me about modern cubing channels is that they all do the same brand of content (typically: reviews/comparisons, unboxings, and solves), but it was refreshing to see an informative video that hasn't been completely overdone.

Thank you for the great feedback! I went out and purchase a Blue microphone today to deal with the audio issues. I will definitely work on all the issues you mentioned regarding my speech (Something that does not come naturally for me). I recently downloaded lightworks... it might take some time to get good at, but I will definitely start practicing using it.

 

[Loiloiloi]

Wow! Lots of good news. Can't wait for future content.

 

[Abo]

For the orders, did you order a set of stickers and a line option from each shop to evaluate?

 

[ender9994]

For the orders, did you order a set of stickers and a line option from each shop to evaluate?

I decided not to include stickers as part of my comparison. I have ordered stickers from most companies in the past, and the U.S. stores seem to be essentially the same in terms of materials and quality. The only difference I have seen is the color shades, but that is relatively subjective (though I guess all cube comparisons are subjective by default), and different people will prefer the shades from one shop over the shades from another.

Looking at lubes from a viscosity standpoint would certainly be interesting. I might do that if I can get my hands on a viscometer.

Hey guys, just uploaded part 2 to YouTube:

In this part I unbox all 4 packages and make sure there are no issues with my orders. I tried keeping this part much shorter and to the point than the first one. Hopefully the audio was a bit better with my new Blue microphone. I know that I still tended to trail off my volume at the end of sentences, but I think that is was definitely better than the first part. Also tried to use some video editing tools for better transitions.

For anyone just wanting a summary of how each store did:

Cubes4speed: No issues at all with the order (shipped in 1 business day)
CubedepotUSA: No issues at all with the order (shipped in 1 business day)
SpeedCubeShop: - different logos than I ordered were provided. The ones I
ordered were out of stock, though it is not shown on the
website and a message explaining that would have been nice.
-Bent stickers for 2x2 ghost cube (Might be able to be flattened)
-(shipped in 1 business day)

**Update**
-Was contacted by SpeedCubeShop informing that they are still sending the original logos that I ordered and that they were only temporarily out of stock
-The ghost cube stickers were save-able after being flattened between books for some time

The Cubicle: Cube box I ordered arrived cracked (Shipped in 3 business days)

 

[Ethan Donecoff]

I think what the Cubicle was able to do is brilliant. I used Speedcubeshop on my first order and every other order was from the Cubicle. This is not because of SCS, more just the Cubicle being more appealing. I don't think I'll order from another place because I like the products, they are reliable, and I'm hesitant to change.

I think they got so many loyal followers through sponsorship and being friends with a ton of very good cubers. Many of the best and most popular cubers are sponsored by the Cubicle and that definitely plays a role. Just based on popularity, advertising, and name recognition the Cubicle has a huge lead imo.

That's not to say other stores can't be better. Many smaller stores in comparison can be faster with the processing of orders and customer service can be more personal, because they aren't as demanded. I think this is the Cubicle's problem now: they have such a huge demand that can't be handled as easily especially with premium cubes.

 

[aybuck37]

You know the notes you can add before ordering? Scs for sure is better at fulfilling that.