What were the most popular speedcubes on the market before the Zhanchi?

[Tsskyx]

Since the Zhanchi was the first speedcube I got and I've been keeping track of the cubing market ever since, I'm sort of interested in the cubes that came before that. Let's exclude anything from the Rubik's brand, I'm interested in cubes that have started to appear after the patent for the rubik's cube ran out.

First, of course, there have been the previous cubes that came from Dayan, and those were the TaiYan, the GuHong, the LingYun, and the LunHui.
I know that the oldest cubes from Moyu were the HuanYing, LiYing, and the Dianma.
Fangshi had the Shuangren V1, but I don't know if that's their oldest 3x3 cube?
Before Gans 357, there's been the Gans V1 and V2.
Before YJ Yulong, there's been the Sulong and the Chilong.
I also know about the Maru CX3 (was it a good cube?), the Diansheng (heard it was an utter crap), something from LanLan, maybe QJ, and also the Edison cube (I've heard this one was really popular before the GuHong came).
I don't know much about Shengshou, was the Aurora their oldest 3x3?
I also recall the WitEden type C Wittwo. This is a bit confusing to me, was there ever a type A or type B before that? What does "type" mean anyway in this case?

Those are pretty much the only questions I have. What were the oldest cubes and explain the stuff I listed.

 

[DGCubes]

Since the Zhanchi was the first speedcube I got and I've been keeping track of the cubing market ever since, I'm sort of interested in the cubes that came before that. Let's exclude anything from the Rubik's brand, I'm interested in cubes that have started to appear after the patent for the rubik's cube ran out.

First, of course, there have been the previous cubes that came from Dayan, and those were the TaiYan, the GuHong, the LingYun, and the LunHui.
I know that the oldest cubes from Moyu were the HuanYing, LiYing, and the Dianma.
Fangshi had the Shuangren V1, but I don't know if that's their oldest 3x3 cube?
Before Gans 357, there's been the Gans V1 and V2.
Before YJ Yulong, there's been the Sulong and the Chilong.
I also know about the Maru CX3 (was it a good cube?), the Diansheng (heard it was an utter crap), something from LanLan, maybe QJ, and also the Edison cube (I've heard this one was really popular before the GuHong came).
I don't know much about Shengshou, was the Aurora their oldest 3x3?
I also recall the WitEden type C Wittwo. This is a bit confusing to me, was there ever a type A or type B before that? What does "type" mean anyway in this case?

Those are pretty much the only questions I have. What were the oldest cubes and explain the stuff I listed.

The WeiLong came before the LiYing. The ShuangRen V1 is FangShi's first cube. Maru CX3 was okay at the time, but mainly only got recognition because cyoubx helped design it. It wasn't super-revolutionary though. ShengShou had the Wind before the Aurora, and they probably had some other terrible stuff before that, but I don't remember. I wasn't cubing when the whole "type" thing was a thing, but I've since heard that each major brand was basically its own "type." WitEden was type C, YJ was type D, Guojia was type A, etc. That's all I know, although some of it might be a little off considering I started cubing in 2012 (post-ZhanChi, but pre-FangShi, which was basically the first cube thought to be better than the ZhanChi).

 

[4Chan]

Yeap, good ol' type A, ahhhhh, the memories.

But to answer the title, before the Zhanchi was the good old F2.
A wonderful puzzle.
I think i'll magnetise one now, just for the memories.

 

[DGCubes]

Yeap, good ol' type A, ahhhhh, the memories.

But to answer the title, before the Zhanchi was the good old F2.
A wonderful puzzle.
I think i'll magnetise one now, just for the memories.

What about the GuHong? Wasn't that pretty huge before the ZhanChi?

 

[4Chan]

What about the GuHong? Wasn't that pretty huge before the ZhanChi?

Yep!

For a while, people preferred the F2 over the Guhong. In 2010, people either used A5, F2, or Guhong.
In 2011, most people switched over to the Zhanchi.

 

[Ordway Persyn]

I started cubing in 2014, but I have some knowledge on older speed cubes.
Some others that people here didn't mention are the C4U DIY's, The ghost hand, and the Haiyan Memory.

 

[Tsskyx]

I just found an article on the speedsolving wiki about Guo-jia: https://www.speedsolving.com/wiki/index.php/Haiyan's_Cube#Haiyan

Apparently, it was the first brand to appear after Rubik's, and manufactured 5 different cubes all called "Alpha", hence the name "Type A".

 

[Sajwo]

The oldest I can remember was A5 and ShengEn F2

 

[cuberkid10]

GuHong (although I preferred the LunHui), F2, A5, Type E (Diansheng), Ghosthand, Type A (I, II, 3-f, CC), Type C, C4U Cube. (I know about Type B and D, but they weren't too popular).

C4U DIY was my first proper speed cube It's a shame I'm missing a few parts and a core to it now.

And at my comps in 2010 and 2011, I used a Ghosthand v2, A3f, and an Alpha CC V1.

 

[mark49152]

Stefan's site has some interesting info on older cubes: http://www.speedcubes.net/puzzle.php?puzzle=3x3x3

 

[Tsskyx]

GuHong (although I preferred the LunHui), F2, A5, Type E (Diansheng), Ghosthand, Type A (I, II, 3-f, CC), Type C, C4U Cube. (I know about Type B and D, but they weren't too popular).

C4U DIY was my first proper speed cube It's a shame I'm missing a few parts and a core to it now.

And at my comps in 2010 and 2011, I used a Ghosthand v2, A3f, and an Alpha CC V1.

I know that type D was some early cube from YongJun, and type E was the Diansheng, at least according to the wiki.

 

[XanShee]

I just recently got back into puzzles, but when I was really into cubing (circa 2007ish) I was only aware of a few actual "brands," and that was mainly because they made bigger cubes (Eastsheen, V-Cube, etc).

When I would buy cubes, I would just go onto Cube4You.com and buy DIY kits, (mainly Type A's, F's [III's mainly], and C4Y kits) for their cubies and buy cores separately. They would arrive in plastic baggies, or if you ordered them pre-assembled, wrapped in bubble wrap.
When I came back onto the cubing scene almost 10 years later, I was so confused to see actual brands with advertised products that came in the mail in real boxes. The only brands that came close to that, that I remember, were Rubik's and V-Cube.

Of course, this might just be because I was 14 years old at the time and didn't fully understand the scene, but NEW type A's and F's were insanely popular, and many people had a different core they preferred in their cube.

Not sure what brands any of the types were besides type E (Diansheng), which looked clean but didn't live up to their appearance in their performance.

 

[Sion]

Crazy how time flies. Yet, I'm probably one of the last people who uses a Type A speedcube, which is The type A Chun 2. It is like a guhong minus a ton of plastic (you an actually see through the side of the edges) and is actually controllable because it is so light ( roughly 52-57 grams). I did use sail springs and core though.

 

[asacuber]

I have only heard of the guhong, lingyun III and the panshi (ew)

 

[JamesRussell]

I still have my original black Edison which was the first cube I bought when I wanted to learn to solve. I ordered it from tribox around mid-2009. I had a white one too but I gifted it to a friend who wanted to learn.

 

[Loiloiloi]

I just came here to point out the fact that @DGCubes and @4Chan are still answering people's questions and engaging in discussion on Christmas Day, now that's dedication to your hobby :rolleyes:

 

[Tixta]

Since the Zhanchi was the first speedcube I got and I've been keeping track of the cubing market ever since, I'm sort of interested in the cubes that came before that. Let's exclude anything from the Rubik's brand, I'm interested in cubes that have started to appear after the patent for the rubik's cube ran out.

First, of course, there have been the previous cubes that came from Dayan, and those were the TaiYan, the GuHong, the LingYun, and the LunHui.
I know that the oldest cubes from Moyu were the HuanYing, LiYing, and the Dianma.
Fangshi had the Shuangren V1, but I don't know if that's their oldest 3x3 cube?
Before Gans 357, there's been the Gans V1 and V2.
Before YJ Yulong, there's been the Sulong and the Chilong.
I also know about the Maru CX3 (was it a good cube?), the Diansheng (heard it was an utter crap), something from LanLan, maybe QJ, and also the Edison cube (I've heard this one was really popular before the GuHong came).
I don't know much about Shengshou, was the Aurora their oldest 3x3?
I also recall the WitEden type C Wittwo. This is a bit confusing to me, was there ever a type A or type B before that? What does "type" mean anyway in this case?

Those are pretty much the only questions I have. What were the oldest cubes and explain the stuff I listed.

I think it was the Famwealth 3x3 (a blatant rip-off of the 'new' Rubik's brand (which was the last stickered 3x3 Rubik's would ever make for reference)), rooting back to the days of 2009 and even before where the only other brands were Eastsheen, Rubik's and Meffert's. There are 1980s knock-offs (one demonstrated in one of legoboyz3!'s videos, in which he put Lubicle silk in it), but the Famwealth is the oldest one :
1. Released during the cubing renaissance.
2. I know the name of.