# New toys! FII and DaYan GuHong



## ManSkirtBrew (Sep 2, 2010)

My order from Lighttake showed up today! Cube squee! Exclamation points!

First impressions: 

The FII feels good in the hand. Not quite as hefty as the Rubik's, but a solid feeling cube. A little more loosey-goosey than I'm used to, but I don't think that's a bad thing. Corner cutting is about the same as my 24-modded Rubik's, maybe 30 degrees or so. It reverse corner cuts a little - maybe 5 or 10 degrees - which is a lot better than my Rubik's, which was 0. The caps on the cubelets popping off is a problem. They will need superglue.

As was noted in another review, the blue stickers already left blue on the inside of the box. I don't expect them to last long. I've already got Cubesmiths on order.

The GuHong...well that's a different animal entirely. I got the colored cube, which looks really crazy. I really dig it. It feels very light compared to the FII.

As has been mentioned many times, it's not much out of the box. Two drops of Maru lube and this thing was flying. Corner cutting - forward and reverse - is ridiculous. However as I was rapidly executing R U R' to work in the lube, the cube didn't just pop - it exploded. One edge and two corners fired out of the cube and across my desk. Moral of the story: don't manhandle your GuHong 

I'll post up some pictures and more impressions later.

-Joe


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## teller (Sep 2, 2010)

Just tighten up that GuHong a little and it will take the worst wreching possible without popping (and still feel fast and loose). I have found that it has a very forgiving sweet spot for tension.


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## Whyusosrs? (Sep 2, 2010)

ManSkirtBrew said:


> the cube didn't just pop - it exploded. One edge and two corners fired out of the cube and across my desk.



Ha, you don't know exploded til you've had a QJ 2x3x3 pop on you.It literally explodes.

anyway, hope ya like your cubes. Good choices.


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## FatBoyXPC (Sep 2, 2010)

Watch Erik's bloopers video, with his 5x5 pop (maybe it was 4x4 I forget). That was an explosion lol.

As teller said, tighten that GuHong up just a hair, maybe a half turn, maybe a full turn. Do a half turn and see where it's at. You can put serious torque on a GuHong w/o it popped. Although I get random pops, like, I'll be locked up, and only off by about 1/10th of a piece or something (something very minimal) and then the piece shoots out, I just don't it (especially since I can turn 45 and pull so hard on it and walk it through the corner cut without it popping).


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## ManSkirtBrew (Sep 3, 2010)

Still no pictures (just got back from the pub) but an amusing anecdote. Showed my wife the GuHong and she thought the colored plastic was neat too. So she started playing with it and immediately POP, an edge went flying...skittered across the floor and bounced down the basement stairs. The look on her face was priceless as she thought she broke my new toy 

So it's apart on my desk waiting for me to find my screwdriver to fix the tension.

-Joe


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## ManSkirtBrew (Sep 3, 2010)

fatboyxpc said:


> Watch Erik's bloopers video, with his 5x5 pop (maybe it was 4x4 I forget). That was an explosion lol.


Also this video is epic. EPIC. It makes me feel so good that I make the exact same mistakes as the record holder. Probably slightly more often, though 

-Joe


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## WeIsPrius (Sep 3, 2010)

ManSkirtBrew, how did you apply the Maru to the guhong? I have a Guhong and Maru lube on the way and i'd love if I could make mine "fly" like yours. Thanks.


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## FatBoyXPC (Sep 3, 2010)

How tight is your GuHong, WeIsPrius? That makes a world of difference as well.


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## ManSkirtBrew (Sep 3, 2010)

WeIsPrius said:


> ManSkirtBrew, how did you apply the Maru to the guhong? I have a Guhong and Maru lube on the way and i'd love if I could make mine "fly" like yours. Thanks.


I did a corner cut to open up the cubelets and put one drop in two opposite corners. I figure I can always add more if it needs it, but those two drops made a huge difference. Once I set the tension right it may need more, I don't know yet.

-Joe


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## ManSkirtBrew (Sep 3, 2010)

I gave each screw a half-turn and it seems to have helped with the popping. I just did 10 solves with no pops, and it's still much faster than I have the skill to use 

-Joe


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## theace (Sep 3, 2010)

Makes me look forward to getting my guhong!


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## ManSkirtBrew (Sep 3, 2010)

Pictures, as promised. If you want to see any other pictures or closeups, just ask. I put them in Spoiler tags, since they're pretty big.

Note in all the corner cutting pieces I am trying to perform an R move.


First, the fleet. Left to right: my 24-modded Rubik's, F-II, DaYan GuHong.



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This is how far the Rubik's will allow corner cutting:


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And reverse (pretty much zero):


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Inside view:


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Pieces:


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FII forward corner cutting:


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Reverse corner cutting. Much better than the Rubik's, but still not much. Also while I was testing the limits of the corner cuts, the cubelet caps kept popping off and hitting me in the face. Got to glue those down!


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Inside:


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Pieces:


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And the Guhong corner cutting. Just a bit more than the FII (note the blue isn't really speckled like that - it's an artifact of the super-macro mode on the camera):


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Reverse corner cutting, OTOH, is ridiculous:


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Inside:


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Pieces:


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Even though I'm not fast enough to fully take advantage of these cubes, I still find my averages have gone down several seconds. The best part is how easily they move and how little they lock up. That alone is saving a lot of wear and tear on my hands and upping the enjoyment factor.

Well worth the $7.38 for the F-II and the $13.99 for the GuHong from Lightake.

-Joe


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## teller (Sep 3, 2010)

ManSkirtBrew said:


> The best part is how easily they move and how little they lock up. That alone is saving a lot of wear and tear on my hands and upping the enjoyment factor.
> 
> Well worth the $7.38 for the F-II and the $13.99 for the GuHong from Lightake.
> 
> -Joe




Your cube is your lightsaber...enjoy!





As opposed to the weird conventional wisdom: "You shouldn't get a DIY until you're at least sub-20."


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## FatBoyXPC (Sep 3, 2010)

I much preferred loose cubes over stiff ones even when I first started (in fact my friend had me lube my storebought 3x3 as soon as I got it). It makes the learning process so much easier to be able to not have to fight the cube, that way you don't get lost in algorithms.

I know you're still using LBL with the different LL approach, but is your recognition thrown off at all by the stickerless GuHong? I'm thinking about getting one (just to have, since it's not comp legal).

Just because you aren't "fast enough" to take FULL advantage doesn't mean you can't still take advantage of it. That's sort of like telling somebody who wants to get on it every once in awhile that has the money to spend on a corvette is stupid


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## ManSkirtBrew (Sep 3, 2010)

fatboyxpc said:


> I know you're still using LBL with the different LL approach, but is your recognition thrown off at all by the stickerless GuHong? I'm thinking about getting one (just to have, since it's not comp legal).


It is definitely a different experience. Your eye gets used to having the black or white borders around the stickers. But I find after one or two solves that my recognition is just as good. Like you, I got it "just to have." I thought the concept of the colored cubelets was awesome, and I am really happy with the cube. I just had a PB non-lucky with it, in fact.



fatboyxpc said:


> Just because you aren't "fast enough" to take FULL advantage doesn't mean you can't still take advantage of it. That's sort of like telling somebody who wants to get on it every once in awhile that has the money to spend on a corvette is stupid


That was my point, actually. Even though I can't take full advantage of the speed of these bad boys, they've made a noticeable difference in my cubing and are a pleasure to use. And more than worth the money. I still can't get over how inexpensive DIY cubes are. Usually hobby-specific things are ridiculously overpriced.

-Joe


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## ManSkirtBrew (Sep 5, 2010)

Thought you might like to see the FII's stickers after a couple of days. I've got maybe 25 solves on it. The green and blue seem to be taking the worst of it.



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In addition to the wear factor, I really don't like the orange they use - it's not very saturated and I have trouble with recognition. Edit for repeating myself...

-Joe


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## ManSkirtBrew (Sep 5, 2010)

Another big difference between the cubes is the shape of the cubelets. The FII is rounded on all the edges, while the GuHong's outer edges are fairly sharp. The GuHong feels bigger because of it, if that makes any sense. I notice especially when doing U2 and D2 moves with two fingers that it's a lot easier to do on the FII because of the rounded edges.

The way the cubes move and feel are completely different. I find so far that I'm a lot more comfortable with the FII in my hand, as well as a lot more accurate. I'm glad I got both 

-Joe


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