Zain_A24
Member
Yuxin Huanglong 5x5M – My Honest Opinions…
Sections:- Review of Store – KewbzUK
- Review of Cube – Yuxin Huanglong 5x5M
- OOTB
- Lube + Tension
- Break-in
- Performance Analysis
- Final Thoughts
Review of Store
General Info
Name: KewbzUK
Link: https://www.kewbz.co.uk/
I got this cube from KewbzUK since I know I could rely on Luke’s reliable service. The product arrived two days after being shipped and came through Royal Mail Second Class. I received the Huanglong 5x5M in stickerless along with a bottle of Cubicle Labs DNM-37 and SpeedCubeShop’s Galaxy lube.
The cooperation that KewbzUK has with Speed Cube Shop and The Cubicle means that products such as lubricants are easily accessible to a UK audience at a more affordable price, as well as some products arriving before some other stores. KewbzUK will be my go-to place to get new puzzles quickly, as well as topping up on SCS/Cubicle lubricants.
Review of Cube
General InfoName – Yuxin Huanglong 5x5M
Price - £19.99
Link - https://www.kewbz.co.uk/products/yuxin-huanglong-5x5-m-1?_pos=1&_sid=cabf5c6e9&_ss=r
Size – 63mm
Weight – 146g
Availability - Stickerless
Brief Overview
This cube had received a lot of hype over the last month or so. So much so, that I decided to get one for myself. At only £19.99, this cube is very cheap, especially since it is marketed as a flagship product. I had seen some reviews of this product from a few Youtubers, some of them dismissing this cube for cubes like the Little Magic, and I was curious to know if there is something wrong with this cube. This is something I set out to investigate and I will be providing you with information on my findings.
Unboxing
The unboxing experience was fairly simple, featuring a stylish box as well as a pamphlet and spare washers/magnets. I then moved on to the first impressions of the cube
Out of the Box
First Impressions – Before Turning
Aesthetics
In terms of quality, this cube showed no signs of inaccuracies or scratching on the outside of the puzzle. The insides of some of the pieces had some slight inaccuracies but these would eventually go after break-in. Immediately, I could notice the darker red and blue, which I really like. The contrast of the shades are excellent, and I can tell that I will have no trouble in distinguishing between colours even in lower light levels. The pieces are also a lot flatter, which is something I like the look of, since it gives the cube a uniform appearance. The inner layers feature slight grooves which could help with lube distribution or reducing contact points. The cube is very good from an aesthetics point of view.
Size and Feel
The cube is 63mm but I could initially did not notice the difference in size and did not affect my turning in any way later on. 63mm is still a decent size for me and many other cubers but it is interesting how Yuxin are not following the trend of making smaller cubes, it certainly doesn’t make any difference for me but is something I thought that I should include. The cube is lightweight, which is an essential quality for a big cube since you don’t want to be getting tired during solves.
First Turns
Layers
Both the inner and outer layers were fairly slow out-of-the-box, but this was expected and will require some setup. During turns, the cube had a quiet, “pillowy” feel, which I definitely prefer over the loud, sandiness experienced with other puzzles. With more aggressive turning, the speed of the layers may not be an issue for some.
Magnets
The magnet strengths were fairly weak, but this was justified by the slower nature of the cube. The magnets were strong enough to retain the cubic shape, whilst being weak enough to provide a subtle bump during turns. M slices are great, the magnets doing a very good job at holding the inner layers together.
Cornercutting
The cube was slightly loose out-of-the-box, but even on these loose tensions, the cube is resisting lockups, and I could tell that this cube was going to be very stable, even once sped up. The corner-cutting was at a good level: a piece forward and half a piece reverse. Even when attempting to force lockups, the cube was doing very well in resisting 5x5 lockups common on other cubes, a very promising sign.
Solves
During solves out-of-the-box, I was eager to set this cube up, mainly to speed the cube up since it was quite sluggish initially. I didn’t experience any 5x5 lockups and catching was only due to my inaccurate turning. The contrasting shades proved very useful in recognition of edges in particular and solving was very straightforward even in lower light levels. I could tell that this cube definitely needed some speeding up, and the DNM was going to become very useful.
Setup
I decided to exclude the “completely dry” section for this review since it would not add any value to the report. I would only do this with faster cubes or budget cubes since I would be interested to see how they perform without the factory lubricant.Lubrication + Tensioning
Completely disassembling the cube, I thoroughly wiped all the pieces down including the core and under the centre pieces. I lubricated the core generously with 50K, including the springs and screws and proceeded to reassemble the puzzle, leaving behind one piece of each type.
Adding a generous amount of lubricant on any contact point of each piece, I reassembled the cube and ensured the tensions were equal. The tensions I settled with were around ¼ turn tighter than those out of the box to begin with. I then added a drop of DNM-37 into the inner and outer layers and did a solve to break in the lubricant.
Break-in
After doing a few solves, this cube is now a decent puzzle. It now seems a very different puzzle to what I got out of the box; the sluggishness gone swomewhat. It seems as though there was friction within the core and all it required was some lube. The cube still retains it’s “pilllowy” texture when turning, and I was able to loosen the cube back to the stock tensions since this cube is so stable. The inner and outer layers are continuing to show increases in speed whilst catching is beginning to reduce.
Final Thoughts
This cube showed a lot of evolution from out of the box to its final state. I knew that all the cube needed was some lubricant out-of-the-box, particularly on the core. The cube refuses to lockup during solves and only locks up if you are deliberately attempting to deform the cube. Cornercutting is great, just enough to avoid any catching that is common with the YuChuang V2M. The 63mm size has not made a difference to my solves and solving is now a lot more enjoyable than when I turned the cube initially. Inner layer cornercutting was effortless, resulting in minimised catching. This cube is definitely worth picking up. It will definitely be an upgrade from a non-magnetic 5x5 as well as some budget magnetic 5x5’s, and only costs slightly more to buy compared to budget puzzles. It is definitely worth spending the extra few dollars/pounds in buying this cube.
I would definitely recommend the Little Magic 5x5M for those who don't want to go through the setting up process, since it requires less work to setup with a similar performance level.
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