YJ Appari 3x3 (Speed Micro Bearing)

Coconut

The ball bearins are pretty bad and cheap cube overall. Do not buy only for colection🗿

I wanted to preface this by saying it's an early review. It's not fully broken in yet, but I believe it has serious potential.

Anyway, a review. Unboxing is interesting, with a similar slide-out style to the box as the GAN 14. Accessories include some spare hardware, an indecipherable pamphlet, and the world's worst screwdriver that ALWAYS, ALWAYS breaks within the first thirty seconds. YJ YOU MAKE GREAT CUBES, WHY CAN'T YOU GET A SCREWDRIVER RIGHT???!!!!

Out of the box, the cube, to put it in the most polite words I can, was absolute unfettered garbage. It was too tight, bone dry, and had a feeling akin to scraping sandpaper on a toilet seat. The tensions were all wrong, and it was incredibly draggy.

Everything changed when I loosened a screw, and put a few drops of lube in. It instantly became fast, buttery-smooth, and as fluid as a blocky cube can be. Cuts are easy, despite a snapping feeling akin to newer, clackier cubes as opposed to my preferred smoother cuts, per GTS2M or MF3RS2M. The feeling was blocky, yes, but not in a cheap way. It felt like an alternate-universe YS3M, despite being much cheaper.

When looking at the hardware, the similarities continue. Like the YS3M, the core magnets are not too strong but still noticeable, and the pieces are extremely simple and basic. The adjustment system is the same as the MGC Elite, with the enclosed spring and a stepped hand-adjustable spring compression with the screw just being a screw.

And realistically, all that the "speed micro-actuator" does is exist as a marketing strategy. I tried taking them out, and it made- wait for it- ZERO DIFFERENCE. I didn't feel a difference at all, so I'm tempted to take them out and put them into my MGC 4x4, where it apparently has a more noticeable effect.

anyway, I mentioned the YS3M. And it's very similar, only that it's cheaper and more fun. And I believe that it's fascinating that such a loved cube has now morphed into a cousin that's dissed for whatever random reason. I think that it's got serious potential. I really like it as a cube, and as a concept as a return to the golden age of hardware development.

And as a side note, hey Cubicle, you should visit the Speedsolving forums.

Has really strong magnets but is fast the best way to describe it is blocky, fast, smooth, controllable oh and you can do a u4

I don’t know who designed the center caps for this cube but holy do these things fly during solves. Other than that pretty good from yj nice cube for 17 bucks.

It feels and sounds cool but it certainly isn’t great for speed.