Slow is Fast

Hi there.

Yes, I am here again with yet another cubing related post.

I've been practicing cubing lately (more so than before) and I've made a few breakthroughs.

1. 3x3 average of 5: 20.50 seconds
2. 3x3 average of 5: <20 seconds, but not recorded
3. 5x5 single: 3:12.49

 In case you didn't know (I don't think you do), the 20.50 is nearly 2 seconds faster than my last PB. Furthermore, I usually averaged around 24-25 seconds, and in one day I dropped that to 20-21.

 My secrets? Here's a few things that might help you:
 1. Take a break - as said in the Karate Kid - "Too much of something is bad for you"...or something like that.
 2. Slow is fast - Slowing down for F2L is essential as many people know, but it can be taken throughout the solve. A slower cross helps recognition for the first C/E pair, and smoother/slower turns are faster than choppy/fast turns that are prone to lock-ups
 3. Use a storebought - that's right, use the Rubik's brand cube. Reason? Using such a cube forces you to slow down (to eliminate lockups) and look ahead. It helps. TRY THIS!

 Just a note on turning speed - when I say "slow," I don't mean 1 turn per second. You should still aim for 3 turns per second to get sub-20. Additionally, 3 turns per second means ABSOLUTELY NO PAUSES, including the OLL and PLL stage. This should be even easier for two look, since you can predict the cases before finishing the previous insertion/algorithm etc.

I'll post more frequently and give some reviews. Lately, through my cubing escapades, I've noticed some things that may help you (if you are beginner/intermediate/kinda advanced).

Thanks for reading,
cyoubx

The V-Cube 5 is Actually Pretty Disappointing

Pretty short post today.

I've been playing with the v5 all week, and I have to say, I'm disappointed.

The outer layer turns are quite subpar, and the inner layers are a bit tight.
I absolutely loathe the stickers as they keep chipping under my nails. This seems to be an issue primarily with the v5 since the 6 and 7 all have nice stickers.

The quality of the plastic is also rather poor with dirtied areas as well as molding imperfections that make the cube look tattered even though it is but a few weeks old.

I understand there is a bit of luck when it comes to purchasing V-Cubes, or any product for that matter, so this is in no way a degradation of the V Cubes company. That being said, I'm terribly unhappy with the V-Cube 5.

Hopefully (and I say that very intentionally), the cube will break in some more. As of right now though, I can't stand looking at a ripped-up, three-week old cube.


Thanks for reading,
cyoubx

Epic is Too Short of a Word to Describe the V-Cubes

I haven't posted recently, and I'm sorry.

I recently got the V-Cube white collection from V-Cubes
I thought I'd do a small (I'll go into detail about each cube later) review on them, so here goes...

V-Cube 5: This was the first cube I opened and I noticed that the cube was covered in lube. I wasn't too surprised since I already heard about this elsewhere. Also, as many have said, the stickers are pretty shoddy. They're made of a cheap material. However, the actual colors are amazing, very similar to a "White Cube Bright Set" of stickers from Cubesmith. The first turn was a bit of a let down; I was unable to perform any finger tricks. However, it's more manageable now that I've done maybe 30 solves on it. Overall a very good cube.

V-Cube 6: What can I say? This cube is amazing. For one, it's the ONLY 6x6 on the market, and furthermore, the turning is quite decent. I expected disastrous turning due to the clicking mechanism. However, I've only had one misalignment and no pops. 6x6, isn't really my best event, so I didn't truly speedsolve with it. Thus, I don't feel qualified to put a verdict on the popping. All I can say is that, I love the V-Cube 6.

V-Cube 7: I expected immaculate turning, however, that is not the case. It locks up far too much in my opinion, and I was a little disappointed. Breaking it in seems to have no effect. However, don't get me wrong, this cube is still quite great. Considering it has 7 layers, the stability of the cube (cuboid) leaves a lot to be desired. The stickers are also quite nice compared to the V-Cube 5. Outside layers are smooth and outer wings are nice. The real issue comes with the inner wing layers. I tried lubing with Maru lube, but to no avail. I'll give it a couple more solves and put a final verdict on the V-Cube 7.

Before I sign off, I'd like to mention the finger tricks I've been using on the V-Cube 5 to compensate for the ready-to-chip stickers. Normally, I would have my fingers parallel to the U face and flick with the tip of my nail. Now, before you say, "Ew, cut your nails," I'd like to defend myself by saying, my nails are as short as I can make them; I have a naturally long nail bed which extends to the end of my finger.

Thus, to turn the faces on the V-Cubes, I've had to have my finger 45 degrees to the U face, and I now flick with the side of my finger. This is EXTREMELY hazardous. It hurts my fingers and makes triggers nearly impossible. Hopefully, the cube(s) will break in in about a week, and I can return to my natural finger tricks.


Again, this was a review comparable to the V-Cube stickers, so expect a more thorough review in the future.

Thanks for reading,
cyoubx

Cubers Aren't that Smart

I just want to clarify a few things up about the stereotypical cuber.
1. If one can solve a rubik's cube, one is not automatically a genius.
2. There is more than one way to solve a rubik's cube.
3. You cannot have only 5 sides solved...
4. A cube has more than one solved state.
Which leads to
5. Professional companies are not intelligent.

Now a breakdown:
1. I cube and I feel that I'm fairly intelligent, but not all cubers are. Cubers generally either have a really good memory, or they're just very apt at spacial reasoning.
2. There are many many methods for making every face a solid color. The beginner's method, Petrus, Pochman, Waterman, Fridrich, ZZ, to name a few.
3. If you have 5 faces solved, that means that one edge is mis-oriented. Edge pieces have TWO sides and colors. If it is misaligned on one side, it is misaligned on the adjacent side. That being said, you can't even have ONLY one misaligned edge piece. You must have AT LEAST two misaligned pieces, and thus the maximum number of solid sides aside from 6 is FOUR!
4. I was reading an ad on THE Rubik's brand website, and it said this:

"With "43 Quintillion" possible moves and only "ONE" solution... it provides hours of mind boggling fun and a way to carry your keys." Rubik's.com

a) 43 quintillion isn't the exact number, but that's totally fine, since no one really cares and it's obvious that it's just an approximation
b) The issue comes when it's juxtaposed by the "ONE" a few words later. There are many more solutions than just one. every center piece on a rubik's cube can be rotated in four directions. There are 6 independent faces on a cube, and thus, collectively there are 4^6=4096 possible permutations of the center pieces. So, really, there are FOUR THOUSAND NINETY SIX solutions. Again, I would let this slide if not for the capitalization of the "ONE."

Hence,
5. Asian countries and third-world nations in general are often flamed for unprofessional-ism in product marketing and patenting. Take for example the Sharpie and Shoupie. America is the "cream-of-the-crop" when it comes to professional marketing - flawless advertisements and perfect products. Rubik's.com is no different. Admittedly, looking at the website, the UI is more than clean, and the ads are pretty decent. However, they pretend people know nothing about math or cubes (which is kinda fair, as discussed in 1.). Furthermore, the product is far from immaculate. Rubik's brands are notorious for their lack of function. Furthermore, their prices are insanely higher than the DIY cubes the rest of the world uses.

It's all about the image.

Thanks for reading,
cyoubx

Cubing is Quite Difficult

So, hey. I've been cubing a lot lately and I've dropped my time down from 27ish seconds to 22-24 in two weeks (today's A5 was 22.46). In my opinion, that's okay, but I feel like I've hit a barrier. Here's a breakdown of my steps.

Cross - 3 sec
F2L - 13 sec
OLL - 5 sec
PLL - 3 sec
Total - 24 sec

Looking at this, I have my things-to-do list:
1. Shave F2L down to 9-10 seconds
2. Learn full OLL, thus dropping that to 3 seconds.
3. Cross to 1 second.

Doing this will lead to 18-19 second solves...SUB 20!!!

School's about to start and I don't really want to commit to memory the rest of the OLL's (I know 19/57 right now). So I'm going to work on F2L lookahead and BLD cross. Sub 20 will be hard with this, but it'll be an improvement.

Sorry for the lack of meat in the recent posts, but this post, in particular, is more for my logging than your reading pleasure.

However...

Thanks for reading,
cyoubx

Speedsolving.com is Pretty Awesome

So hey. A pretty short update post here. Basically, I've reached a new PB avg of 22.90 seconds. Still not great, but it's a one second improvement from two days ago. Also, I've joined the Speedsolving forums. I find myself more addicted to that than Facebook...then again, I've never cared for FB that much.

That's actually about it.

Thanks for reading,
cyoubx

The Lepao 3x3 Rubik's Cube is Decent...Meh

I've been looking online for a review on the Lepao Rubik's Cube, but haven't been able to find one. Thus, here's my thoughts on it.

Stickers/colors: The coloration on the Lepao 3x3 is the standard American color scheme. However, the green side is more of a turquoise, a minor issue. The stickers in general are nice in that they're very bright, and the contrast between opposing sides is nicely distinguishable. On the other hand, they started peeling after one day of use. The material used is similar to the stickers on a regular Rubik's brand cube, where there's a film covered over the paper sticker. These stickers will have to be removed at some point.

Turning: The turning is a little disappointing in that the cubies respond very poorly to silicone lubricant. The cube has a "sticky" texture when turning, and when it's turned slowly, the side jerks instead of glides smoothly.

Corner cutting: The corner cuts on this are amazing, although not state-of-the-art. Compared to my Maru 3x3, the corner cuts are similar, but stiffer. Then again, the Maru DIY is fairly epic. The corner cutting is effective for any quasi-accurate cuber. Just make sure your turns are accurate enough, say 30 degrees off max, and you'll be in good shape.

Jamming: Uh oh. The Lepao cube CANNOT counter-corner cut. Once it jams, it jams. Of course, many cubes have this same issue, and you can check out my other post on how to resolve jams.

Weight: The construction on the cube is really quite nice. It has a nice heft to it, and the plastic is seemingly very sturdy.

Other: One note about the center caps: They're flush to the center pieces. This means that it's extremely difficult to remove them. I recently had to readjust the screws, and I used a precision flathead screwdriver to chisel out the caps. Luckily, the plastic is very durable, and I didn't feel like it would crack in half.

Holistic: This cube is a bit of a let-down. For the price ($12?), the cube doesn't perform as well as similarly priced cubes. The stickers are shoddy, and the cube doesn't turn as well. That being said, it's still speed-cube worthy, it just won't be my primary.

Just another note before I sign off, the Lepao cube, along with many other Asian brands, are dubbed magic cubes instead of Rubik's cubes. This actually makes a lot of sense; it's just a direct translation of how you say Rubik's cubes in Mandarin Chinese (and I'm sure a lot of other languages, too).

Thanks for reading,
cyoubx