mf8 Master FTO

Out of the box, the puzzle was pretty rough. Coated in lube like the old shengshou puzzles, and popped on me because I was turning it a little rough. After a couple solves the puzzle broke in really nicely and started turning much better. After setting it up with some 50k in the core and on the pieces it turns even better. It’s by no means a speedcube, but it’s a fun puzzle to pick up and solve every now and then. $50 I think is a little much for the puzzle considering the quality of it, but if you’re a fan of the original FTO or want a new challenge, then I think it’s worth it.

The puzzle looks nice and is a good level of challenge for an experienced puzzler. But the turning is kind of rough. The outer layers are generally fine but the inner layers have a tendency to catchall lot. It can also pop pretty often.

When I first got the puzzle and was scrambling it, there was a major pop that caused a not-so-insignificant portion of the puzzle to fall apart. Frustrated, rather than try to put the pieces back in, I opted to just disassemble the entire puzzle, and put it back together from scratch. Somehow, that greatly improved the turning of the puzzle. My guess is that there were some left over flakes of plastic on the internals that caused the pop, as those flakes wound up coming off as I reassembled the puzzle.

Yes. AWESOME puzzle and delivery!

I first got the black version and it was barely usable. It popped within minutes - before I even did the first mix. I reassembled it, which is not easy (you'll need tape and about 30-40 minutes) and that didn't help. I played it a bit after that and it got looser where I wanted it to be tighter, and stayed barely turnable down the center.

Luckily I read a positive review of the stickerless version somewhere and bought that. It was tight at first, but after a little play it works great. So, yeah – get the stickerless.

I got the non-stickered / colored-plastic version because it was the only available. I'm disappointed my preference isn't available, but I don't blame The Cubicle . com because I searched the web for sticker version without success. I'm trying to review without that factor in mind...

This is 4x4 version of face-turning octohedron (FTO). In my opinion it should be a *little* bigger than classic 3x3 FTO, but the two are virtually identical in size. In other words, each block of this puzzle is pretty small. Like the 3x3 version, it is slightly bigger than classic 3x3 Rubik's Cube. I think it should be a little bigger...

It is stiff to turn out-of-the box despite being well-lubricated. In fact the entire puzzle felt oily/greasy out-of-the-box... this feeling wore off quickly after about 30 minutes of play. Despite the lubrication, it is stiff to turn brand-new. In fact, I thought you could only turn the outer-most face/layer when I began playing with it. But in fact, you can turn two layers deep (effectively turning 1/2 the polyhedron). Out-of-the-box a 2-layer-deep turn is EXTREMELY stiff.

The colored plastic quality seems pretty good (this is the first serious non-stickered puzzle I've bought), but I **HATE** the color scheme. I can understand it might be a bit different than other stickered octohedrons, but I own several and the colors are inconsistent with EVERYTHING else. I could even forgive the non-standard scheme if it worked well, but pink and light-orange are hard to distinguish (even though they are adjacent colors!)

However, after playing with it for a few hours, the turning was more reasonable. It even allows a mild bit of corner-cutting, but is not for speed-cubing. If you are slow and methodical, it will still occasionally jam. Not a big surprise considering all the many sharp-cornered pieces! It took me a few days to solve it, and it only once popped a piece. If you get in a hurry, expect it to jam a lot and occasionally pop pieces.

I guess this all sounds negative, and it *IS* a bit pricey. But despite the color issues and stiffness out-of-the-box, I give it 4 stars because it is a challenging puzzle; the only 4x4 FTO that I've seen recently; and it really plays smoother once broken-in. The non-standard colors don't lend well to a collection, unless you like bizarre.

Out of the box, I had the puzzle explode on me a few times. Before attempting solving it again, I decided to deburr the pieces, add magnets, fiddle with the tension, and change the lube. While not perfect, nor ideal to have to do this, it's stable enough to use now.

I got the black sticked 4FTO. The puzzle comes with a few issues out of the box, but with a little work it can become both solvable and stable. I replaced the stock springs with shorter ones, which greatly improved turning smoothness and reduced popping. Some center pieces tended to unscrew themselves due to friction, but a bit of lubrication and a couple of washers fixed the problem. Once set up, it’s a really fun solve—now I’m just hoping for a 5FTO release in the future!