The Gan Debate Thread

[Zain_A24]

I can't remember if I've ever written anything about GAN in this thread. If not then I'll likely share my 2 cents having been a "GAN Insider" for quite a while, as well as having used their cubes for the majority of my cubing progression. I might also share a few hints on their future plans here and there if I get time. If not, then someone feel free to remind me, will be an interesting article to write and I'm sure it'll be quite interesting to read.

 

[JohnnyReggae]

Pros
1. The performance is good, and one might argue that is the best
2. Gan has come up with a lot of innovative ideas, including GES, honeycomb tracks, and black internals
3. Gan's quality is superior, and there is little leniency in the manufacturing
4. Their cubes have a lot of customization, including adjustable magnets, spring compression, and regular old tensioning
5. Gan cubes are very lightweight, nowadays hovering around 60-70 grams

Cons
1. Pricing. They have only high-end and expensive cubes that are absolutely not for people on a budget, like me. Other cubes perform around the same, or even better, at a much lower price range. For example, you could a get a WR M 2020, GTS 3 M, Tengyun V2 M, MsCube, or maybe even the RS3 M 2020 if you like it that much. They all have a spring compression system, and some have a magnet adjustment system. So I don't see myself getting a Gan cube soon.
2. You could say some of the same things about how good Gan is with other cube brands too. Gan is not the only brand that has these good qualities.

Conclusion: If you think that you can handle the price of a Gan cube, go for it. There's nothing wrong with that. They have a lot of good qualities. But if you're willing to save money to, say, buy more lube, you can buy other flagships at a lower price. That is why I personally don't have any Gan cubes.

I agree with you on your points. I'd also like to add the "Feel" of the cube as a particular Pro. Well for me anyway. GAN has always had a different feel, which has been polarising. But I've always been on the side of enjoying the feel.

The price is the biggest drawback, but I do believe that GAN is a quality product.

Oh and lastly, seeing as you mentioned the RS3M 2020 .... that IMO is the most over-hyped and over-rated cube ... but that is a discussion for another thread somewhere

 

[PikachuPlayz_MC]

Pros
1. The performance is good, and one might argue that is the best
2. Gan has come up with a lot of innovative ideas, including GES, honeycomb tracks, and black internals
3. Gan's quality is superior, and there is little leniency in the manufacturing
4. Their cubes have a lot of customization, including adjustable magnets, spring compression, and regular old tensioning
5. Gan cubes are very lightweight, nowadays hovering around 60-70 grams

Cons
1. Pricing. They have only high-end and expensive cubes that are absolutely not for people on a budget, like me. Other cubes perform around the same, or even better, at a much lower price range. For example, you could a get a WR M 2020, GTS 3 M, Tengyun V2 M, MsCube, or maybe even the RS3 M 2020 if you like it that much. They all have a spring compression system, and some have a magnet adjustment system. So I don't see myself getting a Gan cube soon.
2. You could say some of the same things about how good Gan is with other cube brands too. Gan is not the only brand that has these good qualities.

Conclusion: If you think that you can handle the price of a Gan cube, go for it. There's nothing wrong with that. They have a lot of good qualities. But if you're willing to save money to, say, buy more lube, you can buy other flagships at a lower price. That is why I personally don't have any Gan cubes.

personally I love the Moyu wailing GTS 1 the most and have stayed loyal to it, but the gan is just another great cube to have in your collection.

 

[AlgoCuber]

Oh and lastly, seeing as you mentioned the RS3M 2020 .... that IMO is the most over-hyped and over-rated cube ... but that is a discussion for another thread somewhere

I think it is a little overhyped and not a flagship competitor, but other people may not think that way so that's why I added that.

 

[Kaiju_cube]

I love Gan cubes and have a bunch of them, but they are almost ridiculously expensive at times. I paid over $50 for their 4x4 and I'm still not sure why, it's not any better or worse than a lot of other 4x4's I have that cost a lot less. I got the Gan Megaminx and a week later got the DaYan megaminx and they're almost identical. They feel almost exactly the same. Same colors, same size, same smooth crisp turning.

So sometimes I think I'm paying a lot for the name Gan on the box.

I think the 356 M Lite for around $30. is their best cube, and I have the 11 M Pro, the XS, the Air,.. I have a bunch of them, probably a dozen Gan 3x3's. But the 356 Lite just seems to be the best overall for me. it's fast and controllable, it doesn't deform as easily as some of the others (I don't like how some of them are 'squishier' than others, I don't like squishy). Yeah you can't adjust the magnets but I rarely do that anyway. it's fine as it is out of the box. And you can get them with white or black internals which is pretty neat. I've bought 3 of them. One white, one black, and one that I gave to a friend. I feel like that $30. price point for the 356 M Lite is really about the most I want to spend for a Gan. But of course I have ended up giving into hype and spending more than that. But if a friend was insistent that he wanted to buy a Gan I'd suggest the 356 M Lite. I just don't think the 11 M Pro is 'so much better!!!!' that it's worth over twice the price. And I actually don't much like the edge magnets on the 11 M Pro. Once you push them all the way to the right or left it's very hard to move them away from the side. You have to sort of dig into the plastic with the edge of a screwdriver to get any purchase to move the magnet switch. I found the magnet system on the earlier cubes to be easier to deal with. Though the core magnets are a neat new feature. But I preferred the edge magnets on the 356 XS line. They were just easier to adjust for me, easier to slide. Once I adjusted the edge magnets on the 11 M Pro to be not in the middle position it was very difficult to move them again since they're flush with the face of the plastic, it's hard to get any grip on them to move them.



these in the 356 XS for me are a lot easier to adjust and imho a superior design for simplicities sake..



those edges with the 11 M Pro magnetic core would be neat. ..... maybe I'll disassemble my cubes and see if I can frankenstein one together. I but you probably could do that.

but I also like MoYu, Qiyi, DaYan, Shengshou, MGC,.. they all make very good cubes.

I thought about getting the new Gan Duo, and I probably will, but I'll wait a while. I just picked up another 356 Lite and ordered the new DaYan Zhangchi Pro M in green.

Really the only Gan I still want is a purple K'un one, but they're sold out.

Can't really imagine what more they can do with cubes at this point to keep increasing the technology and prices. It's kind of nuts you can get a very good cube like the RSM3 for $9. and then there's the 11 M Pro for $65.

Honestly I think paying ($56. plus shipping?) for the 4x4 sort of left me disappointed and really got me to start wondering why I'm paying so much for a Gan cube when DaYan and others make absolutely fantastic cubes for a lot less.

my favorite 4x4 is probably my Shengshou Mr. M and it cost like $12. .... it makes me wonder why I thought a Gan 4x4 would be so much better? And the stickers on that one are really thick, I feel the edges of the stickers when I'm solving and it's a weird 'paper cut' feeling when doing turns.

idk, Gan is really really good and I like their cubes but I'm increasingly getting tired of paying Gan prices when there are just so many other options out there that are fantastic alternatives.

 

[BenChristman1]

@Sub1Hour just gonna put my response here.

Don't say it don't say it don't say it don't say it

Okay, I'm gonna say it.

Spoiler: Saying it

Gan cubes are fine, but the company itself is an absolute embarrassment to the community. Ever since 2018 with the release of the Gan 356 X, there has been nothing but recycled mechanisms. The Gan 354 was their last original puzzle. The Gan 356 X has the exact same mechanism excluding customization options and size. As of September 11th of 2018, there has been a total of 3 unique 3x3 piece designs, being the 354/X, XS, and the 11 Pro. Would you like to guess how many 3x3 puzzles Gan has produced (excluding smart cubes and the monster go series) since then? 16. Imagine taking 3 puzzle designs and milking them for 16 puzzles. It's absolutely atrocious. That's not even taking into account that Gan is marketing these puzzles as being completely unique. More than 75% of their releases are the same exact puzzle with different magnets, GES, or plastic coatings. Gan straight up ignores the fact that cubes like the M and X are the exact same puzzles in almost all of their marketing. The way they handle their marketing is anti-consumer at best. Now, the way that Moyu handled the original WRm is much more honest and straightforward. It wasn't perfect, they still marketed the cube as being completely distinct from the GTS3 at first, but at least it was something that people asked for. I remember when the GTS3 first came out and many people were turned off by the strong magnets and ridges. Then Moyu listened to us and gave us a ridgeless puzzle with weak magnets. Never have I met a single person who looked at the Gan X and said, "Oh, I wish this cube had a slightly different GES system with fewer settings and a lack of magnet customization!"

Gan puzzles aren't awful, but their company practices for the last few years have been sad, especially since they were so much more innovative back in the day.

The moral of the story is to just buy a valk 3

I'll go ahead and make that a spoiler since everyone else on this website is probably sick of me talking about this but I'll go ahead and talk about it again.

I just wanted to say that I agree completely. From my limited experience with Gan cubes, I really like the cubes themselves. They are very soft, smooth, and quiet, similar to my main, the Tengyun v2. I think that the main two issues that lie with the cubes is the company itself.

The pricing is one of them. If all of their cubes were $10-$20 cheaper, I wouldn’t have an issue. Gan is usually the first one to make new cubing “innovations” (even though some of them aren’t very innovative). Anybody can go compare the prices of the XS (not the 11, because I think that the corner-core magnets are unique, and can’t be compared to any other cube yet), the Valk Elite, the Tengyun v2, and any other cube that has a dual-adjustment core as well as adjustable magnets. You’re getting the exact same thing as far as features go. It might not be the feeling that you’re looking for, but you also shouldn’t have to pay $15 extra to get a feeling that you prefer.

The second issue, as you just stated, is their marketing. They should bluntly say something along the lines of “Hey, the M is basically the X without adjustable magnets, and the Air M is basically the XS without adjustable magnets.” If they made that more clear in their marketing, then I wouldn’t have an issue with it. It’s perfectly okay to have different tiers of products. Lots of companies in many different markets do it, and they make it clear that something is a budget version of something else. A good example is the technology industry.

 

[qwr]

After trying it, I think the 356 M is the only one I can recommend as worth the money. Still not budget but in line with other manufacturers' flagships.

I'm gonna make a video review on it because I find it so satisfying to turn. More of a dry smoothness than my Tengyun v1.