3x3 X-Man Tornado V2 - I love it!

[Dan the Beginner]

Hi, here is a little first-impression review of the new X-Man Tornado V2 by an old newbie who only started 2 months ago and who is still using a basic layer-by-layer Beginner's Method. Sub 3 minutes. So, take my comments with a big grain of salt. I have been using the RS3m 2020 and looking for a smaller, lighter and quieter cube. I hope this is useful, as there seems limited information on many details about this cube.

Colours are nice and bright . I find them very easy to use, after the RS3M. Yellow is however a little greenish, red is duller than most other stickerless cubes. The overall effect is pleasant. Colour intensity is particularly well balanced to my eyes. With some cubes, I find some of colours way too enhanced, bright or saturated compared to others on the same cube. There are very nice contrasts between the colours, except for one case. Like just about all other cubes I have seen, Yellow and White are difficult to distinguish in dimmer household light, especially if it is the energy saving or "warm white" type. When will cube makers wake up to this problem?

Weight. It is light. At 72g, it is noticeably lighter than the RS3M 2020 and even a little lighter than my stickered Tengyun M (V1). Nice!

Noise. It is as silent as the Tengyun M, based on my tests while wearing my hearing aids, which are very sensitive to high pitch sounds. In fact, I would say that for my ears, it is even slightly quieter. The pitch is very similar to the Tengyun's. Fantastic, to have a more modern cube that is quiet!

Turning. Based on my limited experience, the cube feels really nice and smooth out of the box. Not too tight, too loose (or wet with oil ). Magnet strength can be felt and that is somewhere between my two RS3M 2000's (one has extra magnets added). Stability, no problem. It may need breaking in and careful tuning. All I have done was putting in a few drops of Martian lube, as it felt a little dry. With all other settings at default, I feel that fast turns are noticeably smoother with the RS3Ms (already tuned). Without hard corner cutting though, i.e. turning one layer at a time, it feels just as smooth as those RS3Ms, e.g. when I turn or flick quickly, even doing M moves. Again, I think these comments should be taken with a grain of salt as they are from someone with very little experience.

What I am most impressed with are the reasonable price for such features and the combination of lightness, smoothness, and ease of adjustments, which are covered well elsewhere. Should be fun and enjoyable as I fine tune it later. This is almost the perfect cube for me. Just have to paint the yellow to a more mustard like colour.

 

[CFOP INC]

Cool I'm hyped to get my own.

 

[abunickabhi]

I am also excited to get this 3x3 for trying it for 3BLD. I hope the slice turns are really good.

 

[Dan the Beginner]

Update#1. It tends to overturn. That may be due to my fingers being used to the heavier RS3M 2020 (fitted with extra magnets). I suspect others may be fine with it, but it feels too fast for me. Anyway, after playing with the settings, a lot of solves and checks, I ended up with both the magnet strength and the tension set a notch higher from the default (which is set at the factory to the middle point). It now feels similiar to the RS3M, except when turning fast and forcing corner cuts, and then the RS3M works better. With the adjustments, it still feels very fast, but I am very happy with it, as it is what I wanted - a light and really quiet cube for taking anywhere with me. It is as quiet as the similarly priced Tengyan, but IMO better in most other areas.

 

[OreKehStrah]

Yellow and White are difficult to distinguish in dimmer household light, especially if it is the energy saving or "warm white" type. When will cube makers wake up to this problem?

You could look into using a custom color scheme! I use the one you can see in my profile image because I also think the standard color scheme is problematic!

 

[Dan the Beginner]

Thanks OreKehStrah. I will try painting a darker yellow first and am researching what paint to use, but may have to use stickers if a suitable paint cannot be found.

 

[zslane]

The default out-of-the-box settings were too tight for me. I reduced the spring tension to 2 and may even try 1. It came pre-lubed, but it doesn't seem to be enough. Turning the U layer by itself usually causes a wide-u turn instead as the top layer sticks to the middle layer due to piece friction and/or magnet strength. Maybe I should consider reducing the magnet strength. I hesitate to do so mostly because I like tactile magnets and I don't want to lose tactility.

I am going to add some more lube and see if it loosens up enough so I don't have to try reducing the magnet strength.

 

[qwr]

I have a big problem distinguishing white and yellow in dark areas but cubing should be done in a well lit area anyway. Maybe it's time to invest in a white light lamp

 

[Dan the Beginner]

The default out-of-the-box settings were too tight for me. I reduced the spring tension to 2 and may even try 1. It came pre-lubed, but it doesn't seem to be enough. Turning the U layer by itself usually causes a wide-u turn instead as the top layer sticks to the middle layer due to piece friction and/or magnet strength. Maybe I should consider reducing the magnet strength. I hesitate to do so mostly because I like tactile magnets and I don't want to lose tactility.

I am going to add some more lube and see if it loosens up enough so I don't have to try reducing the magnet strength.

Must be beginner's luck, as mine was very good out of the box, not too tight, or too loose, unlike the Tengyun M. (I could stick my thumb and tissue in between the layers of the Tengyun to wipe the oil! ) But after lubing and breaking in, this Tornado got faster and faster (I got a new PB with it -1 min 20 sec! Wow!) and I had difficulty controlling it when turning and cutting hard. That is undoubtedly due to my skills, as I have seen some video with people solving with it in around 6 seconds or less! The relationships between tension, flexibility and magnet strength are so hard to work out, and it seems one affects another. However the ease of adjustment is very helpful, isn't it? I hope to see more video of how others set it up and their settings soon.

 

[Dan the Beginner]

I have a big problem distinguishing white and yellow in dark areas but cubing should be done in a well lit area anyway. Maybe it's time to invest in a white light lamp

Thanks. It must be the cataract. ‍ I have bought a natural white light since for my room. It would be nice to have a cube that can be taken and used anywhere though. Still looking for a good paint. I tried a plastic paint but that is not so good. I am now looking for some kind of plastic stain with a darker yellow colour, and may be a arctic white one as well.

 

[qwr]

Thanks. It must be the cataract. ‍ I have bought a natural white light since for my room. It would be nice to have a cube that can be taken and used anywhere though. Still looking for a good paint. I tried a plastic paint but that is not so good. I am now looking for some kind of plastic stain with a darker yellow colour, and may be a arctic white one as well.

I have never tried paint but I don't think it will look good. Even spray paint eventually wears off over time. This is where a stickered cube with custom stickers has a big advantage.

 

[Dan the Beginner]

Good idea. I ordered some stickers. Wish there will also be a stickered or Black version, which should look better than stickers on this version. I think stickers will make the cube even quieter or sound softer.

 

[Dan the Beginner]

Update #2. I got more used to this cube after lots of solves, so much so that I could set the tension looser (back to default). I also set the axis distance (turning clockwise) a click looser from default. These adjustments imroves the corning cutting noticeably. It is now even smoother and easier to turn. The frequent adjustments during this period make me appreciate all the clearly marked settings for the tension, the spring and magnet. They serve as reference points for fine tuning and experimenting, which is very nice as the settings are easy to make and more importantly they are repeatable. It should be obvious that this is excellent value and I can see why it is called a half-price Gan. My search for a suitable cube that I can continue to use and practise with has ended.

 

[zslane]

This is the first 3x3 cube I've felt the need to adjust out of the box. For some reason, the default settings on all my other cubes have been perfect for me. I guess it is good that adjusting this cube is pretty easy, but I am still surprised at how much I am having to experiment with settings to get it to behave the way I want.

 

[Dan the Beginner]

Final thoughts. This cube seems to get better every day, probably because I use it so much and got used to it, while it gets broken in. I kept adjusting it so many times, back and forth sometimes. Now I have settings which work very well for me (new Beginner) - Spring tightness (Clockwise) 2, Tension (Anticlockwise) 2 and Magnet 4. The cube is lubed with Martian only.

There are now many reviews on Youtube. If I may summarise the overall comments, after watching at least 15 video, I will say that this should be a really nice cube for those who like small, lightweight, smooth and very quiet cubes, and who prefer more reasonable prices. It is also good for Roux, due to the easy M-moves. The only flaw is in reverse corner cutting, which can be improved by playing with or loosening the spring tightness/tension adjustments. That is just about the only reservation, but I have seen many 6 second solves with this cube. So, I know any limitation is in me, not the cube. Thanks and have fun.

NOTE. The yet to be released WRM2021 has the same type of magnet adjustment system as the Tornado V2 and it has a very similar weight (77g) and size (55mm). It is said to perform similar to its predecessor, which should mean potentially better reverse corner cutting than the Tornado. So, those who can afford a higher price may want to wait for proper reviews.

Speaking of the magnet system, I found the the strongest setting very strong, and probably too strong on this Tornado, even though I like to have strong magnets. I suspect the adjustments are linear, i.e. the settings change the distance of the magnet to the surface (or to the other magnet) in a linear manner. Now, magnetic strength varies not linearly to distance, but exponentially. So, if I am correct, a more gradual increase, like half stops for the highest settings should help in fine tuning. Nice video explaining the magnet setting adjustment here:

 

[moh_33]

Must be beginner's luck, as mine was very good out of the box, not too tight, or too loose, unlike the Tengyun M. (I could stick my thumb and tissue in between the layers of the Tengyun to wipe the oil! ) But after lubing and breaking in, this Tornado got faster and faster (I got a new PB with it -1 min 20 sec! Wow!) and I had difficulty controlling it when turning and cutting hard. That is undoubtedly due to my skills, as I have seen some video with people solving with it in around 6 seconds or less! The relationships between tension, flexibility and magnet strength are so hard to work out, and it seems one affects another. However the ease of adjustment is very helpful, isn't it? I hope to see more video of how others set it up and their settings soon.

my cube, because im broke af, and i dont use lube, i just make it loose, and then about every couple weeks i open it up again, clean it then put it back together
my tension right now allows me to just pop in my thumb then maybe some tissue XD

 

[Dan the Beginner]

*** WARNING *** You do any customisation on your own risk.

The following shows how I have customised my Tornado to avoid confusion, mistakes, damage to the clips on the centre caps, and to make adjustments easier, i.e. without putting on the caps before testing how it turns after each change.

1. Colour the circular ring and also the metal axle underneath the centre piece caps with the right colour (red in this case).
2. Paint 2 white dots to make that little gap on the thin black ring easier to find. That's the mark used for adjusting tension.
3. Paint a yellow line on one of the corners with the slot to make it easier to find. The positions on the caps are also painted (black lines).





4. And lastly, an important customisation for me.

To make the cube usable under dim warm colour light, i.e. to distinguish yellow and white easier, I put on stickers with a rich yellow colour.

 

[zslane]

Yeah, I am finding that the Tornado v2 gets smoother and quieter after a good break-in period. I applied some Solar and Martian lube and it helped quite a bit, though I think it is the Martian helping the most. The Solar may not have really helped much at all, being so thin. My settings are:

• Spring tension: 2
• Axis distance: 3 (default)
• Magnet strength: 2

The main reason I reduced the spring tension and magnet strength was to reduce the plastic-sticking-to-plastic friction that made the cube loud and grindy and slow. I may add more Martian, or I may even try some Nebula to see if that smooths (and quiets) it out even more.

 

[LBr]

I personally dont like qiyi cubes, but its good that you have made this stupidly complicated customisation easier on the head and like the cube

 

[qwr]

Putting stickers on top of a stickerless cube is interesting to me. Not sure if it's WCA legal.