# Guhong different models?



## Chrisalead (Apr 11, 2011)

I use a Guhong I've bought 2 months ago at cube4you.com. Last week I received my 6 colors Guhong from iCubik.com (no sticker, no tiles, plastic colors).

And I have noted a BIG difference between the plastic of the 2 guhongs ! The problem is that the plastic of the 6 colors guhong is far better than my old guhong !

I want a Guhong with stickers but with the same plastic than the stickerless one !

By the way, does that have anything to do with the "POM" I've read on the forums ? What is that POM ?


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## Shamankian (Apr 11, 2011)

POM is short for.. somethingorother  but it is basicly a low-friction plastic whereas most cubes use ABS. The feel to the plastics are different.

About the difference of your stickerless and your normal GuHong. I would guess that the black plastic was a bit lower quality (so I've heard anyway) because they can just take scrap plastic, melt it and no one will notice. That's the only thing i can think of


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## Godmil (Apr 11, 2011)

Yeah, I've heard many people say they prefer the feel of the coloured Guhong. Just guessing but if you had a single coloured Guhong (that isn't black) you may get the same feel.


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## Bapao (Apr 11, 2011)

> And I have noted a BIG difference between the plastic of the 2 guhongs ! The problem is that the plastic of the *6 colors guhong is far better than my old guhong *!



I've been propagating this for a while now. Glad that people are starting to notice the difference...



> Yeah, I've heard many people say they prefer the feel of the coloured Guhong. Just guessing but if you had a *single coloured Guhong (that isn't black) you may get the same feel*.



I'm assuming the same thing. My whitish DY5 feels better than a regular black GuHong. Not that those cubes are the same but still. You can feel when it's friction and when it's a mechanical something influencing performance.


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## Cubenovice (Apr 11, 2011)

So... Is one of the two actually a POM cube?

POM is PolyOxyMethylene a plastic material with very good friction properties, typically used for gears.
Cubes are typically made of ABS, generally considered a commodity plastic.

In theory the cubies in a POM cube should have less friction but with differences in lubing, tensioning, molding quality and what not I think it is difficult to compare cubes.


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## dabest2500 (Apr 11, 2011)

I've read on here about users talking about there being a difference between "old" and "new" GuHongs, with the old ones being better.


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## Shamankian (Apr 11, 2011)

Daqing Bao has experimented with some different types of plastic I would say. Other people seem to like it, so it's not so much "models" but more.. the materials.


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## devoblue (Apr 11, 2011)

I have 4 GuHongs: black with black screws, and black, white, and coloured with silver screws. They have all had lube and tension loving. The black with black is definitely the best - but is also the most broken in. The white is the next oldest but just sux. The black with silver and the coloured are both fairly new and are better than the white. The coloured is better than the new black despite them both being about the same in terms of break in age. The plastic on the new black feels harder, like the plastic on the white.

Despite this I'm not convinced there is a difference in manufacturing and I think they would all turn out the same in the end if used enough. It could be that you get a better break in experience by using a lesser lube initially, but now that we are all so concerned about lubix/diff oil we lube the cubes straight up and they take longer to break in.


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## Bapao (Apr 11, 2011)

So some people feel a difference and others don't it seems. I have the same thing going with my LingYuns. The stickerless one feels smoother than the black one. Is there a POM LingYun?


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## Chrisalead (Apr 11, 2011)

Another strange thing, on iCubik.com if you want to buy a Black Guhong there a re 2 different items with the exact same definition... May be it's POM and ABS versions of the Guhong ?

All I know is that I would really love to get a POM black Guhong with stickers...


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## Bapao (Apr 11, 2011)

Chrisalead said:


> Another strange thing, on iCubik.com if you want to buy a Black Guhong there a re 2 different items with the exact same definition... May be it's POM and ABS versions of the Guhong ?
> 
> All I know is that *I would really love to get a POM black Guhong* with stickers... (



At Nemo 2011, I witnessed how a participant threw his POM GuHong at a fellow cuber demanding that he buy the piece of "poo" from him. Well, it didn't go exactly like that in terms of actions, but the emotional content of the scene comes pretty close.

People that have owned the older GuHong version don't seem to like the POM at all. If you've never used an older version then you probably won't care though...


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## Chrisalead (Apr 26, 2011)

Big news : I ordered (and received) a white guhong from iCubik.com and guess what ? The white Guhong is the same plastic than the colored one ! So I finally have my new main cube ^^.

So it seems that black guhongs are ABS plastic, and white guhongs are POM.


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## Cubenovice (Apr 26, 2011)

If you really want to know:
You can easily tell which cube is made from which material by lighting them on fire.

ABS: blue flame with yellow edges (lol) and smokewith soot
POM: blue flame, no smoke and a formaldehyde smell


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## Chrisalead (Apr 26, 2011)

Ok thanks but I don't think I'm gonna burn my cubes soon ^^.
You sir, are crazy ;op


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## MaeLSTRoM (Apr 26, 2011)

Isn't the black plastic potentially lower quality anyway becuase they can use scrap plastic and dye it black?


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## satellitedanny (Apr 26, 2011)

Chrisalead said:


> Big news : I ordered (and received) a white guhong from iCubik.com and guess what ? The white Guhong is the same plastic than the colored one ! So I finally have my new main cube ^^.
> 
> So it seems that black guhongs are ABS plastic, and white guhongs are POM.



There never was a POM coloured GuHong which means that the plastic in the white cubes are higher quality than the black cubes.


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## Chrisalead (Apr 26, 2011)

Interesting information danny ! That means we could have better black cubes !

To all cube manufacturers : we want black GuHongs with high quality plastics pleaaaaaaseee !


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## Fred Bloggs (Apr 26, 2011)

I read on the MF8 forum that the first GuHongs were in pure ABS. Later version are ABS+PC. There was an experimental run of POM.
White cube are available in ABS+PC or POM. Standard white cubes are not POM.
The standard white cube is better than the POM version. I have both. Best is the sticker-less version IMHO.


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## satellitedanny (Apr 26, 2011)

Don't forget that there are GuHongs that come in other colours too! There are solid colours like red, yellow, orange, green, yellow, etc. Since the sticker less GuHong is a mix of all these colours, maybe the Solid Colour cubes are better! Just a theory. I might buy a Solid Colour GuHong (Green or Blue; Those are my favourite colours!) just to compare and because I need to get something for my friend as a present.


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## Fred Bloggs (Apr 26, 2011)

Yes, you right. My theory is that the coloured plastic has to be virgin plastic to give purity of colour. Black plastic can be re-used/recycled and thus can be of lower quality. I don't have a solid coloured GoHong (except white) so cant tell if your assumption is true. I will also get a solid coloured one to find out.


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## Cubenovice (Apr 26, 2011)

ABS / PC blends could indeed be a nice Cube material.
And not just because I actually used to work in the PC / ABS development team at General Electric 

Yes, in dark coloured material you *could* dump recycle material as the dark pigments can cover the raw material color fluctuations. 
But in all honesty I do not think the molders would actually do this.

From my personal experienc in formulating, compounding, molding and testing of PC / ABS blends I know that pigment packages can have a significant effect on the physical properties of the plastic. Unfortunately friction coefficient of the material was never scope of the development so I cannot comment on that.

But impact and stiffness can go drastically down resp. up with pigment loadings (and types).
You should also realise that black plastic actually requires a very limlited amount of pigment because of the strong coloring effect of carbon black.
Lighter colors like white or yellow require a much higher pigment loading.

For cubes I am still not too sure what the most important factores are: there are just too much parts and variables involved when comparing cubes.


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## daniel0731ex (Apr 27, 2011)

:fp


The thing about manufacturers using scrap plastic in their cubes is long gone. It's true several years ago when there are very few brands, but nowadays with all these competition between the different cubes, nobody dares to use bad material anymore, for fear that they'd ruin their reputation forever (For example, if you think of Type B, you think that all their cubes are crappy. That's why ShengEn had a new start using the name type F).


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## yockee (Jul 21, 2012)

Here it is. If someone else has fully answered this, I'm sorry. I didn't read all the comments, because I already know what the deal is.

When the Gu Hong (and every other Dayan cube after, OTHER THAN the v2's) was very first released, (the ones with the black screws, etc) it was made with ABS plastic. The black ones were really good, and the white ones were even better. After a month or 2, to make the cube sturdier, they changed the plastic to a mixture of ABS and PVC, which is harder, however, this made the cube feel sticky, laggy, scratchy, and just not as good (these are the ones you can buy now). There is a noticeable difference with every cube, when they do this. They first release the cubes with ABS only, then later with ABS + PVC. The Zhan Chi that you can buy now, is not nearly as good as the ones you could buy when they first were released. Same with Ling Yuns and I assume the Lun Huis. 
Now, the colored cubes, are made from ABS just like the old old Gu Hongs. It's a softer plastic, which gives it a smoother, faster, better feel. It is more flexible as well. The POM Gu Hong is a totally different thing. It's a totally different plastic, which is harder than the ABS PVC mix. However, it is very good. As usual, for some reason, the whites feel better than the blacks. This was a limited edition, and I believe is no longer sold. 
Then, there's the Gu Hong v2. Some think that it is just a Gu Hong with torpedoes and corners without the boomerang pieces, however, this is not all. The plastic is very different (Not sure what it is), and for whatever the reason, feels very hard and thin. It has a very hollow, thin feel, but they are very fast with the proper lube. This cube feels totally different from the v1's, almost like a Zhan Chi.


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## KobaltKour (Jul 25, 2012)

yockee said:


> Here it is. If someone else has fully answered this, I'm sorry. I didn't read all the comments, because I already know what the deal is.
> 
> When the Gu Hong (and every other Dayan cube after, OTHER THAN the v2's) was very first released, (the ones with the black screws, etc) it was made with ABS plastic. The black ones were really good, and the white ones were even better. After a month or 2, to make the cube sturdier, they changed the plastic to a mixture of ABS and PVC, which is harder, however, this made the cube feel sticky, laggy, scratchy, and just not as good (these are the ones you can buy now). There is a noticeable difference with every cube, when they do this. They first release the cubes with ABS only, then later with ABS + PVC. The Zhan Chi that you can buy now, is not nearly as good as the ones you could buy when they first were released. Same with Ling Yuns and I assume the Lun Huis.
> Now, the colored cubes, are made from ABS just like the old old Gu Hongs. It's a softer plastic, which gives it a smoother, faster, better feel. It is more flexible as well. The POM Gu Hong is a totally different thing. It's a totally different plastic, which is harder than the ABS PVC mix. However, it is very good. As usual, for some reason, the whites feel better than the blacks. This was a limited edition, and I believe is no longer sold.
> Then, there's the Gu Hong v2. Some think that it is just a Gu Hong with torpedoes and corners without the boomerang pieces, however, this is not all. The plastic is very different (Not sure what it is), and for whatever the reason, feels very hard and thin. It has a very hollow, thin feel, but they are very fast with the proper lube. This cube feels totally different from the v1's, almost like a Zhan Chi.


If I don't have another cube to compare my GuHong V1 with, how can I tell if it is ABS or POM?


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## Cheese11 (Jul 26, 2012)

KobaltKour said:


> If I don't have another cube to compare my GuHong V1 with, how can I tell if it is ABS or POM?



That post needs a tldr. But what's the difference between ABS and POM plastic?


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