DealPerfect Mirror Block

It’s been a few days since I last posted anything. I bought a few things from DealPerfect.com, and I thought that one of the ones that stand out is called the Mirror Block. Obviously it is a fake, but at $5, and the fact that it is better than the original makes it a great buy for me.

What is it? The mirror block, mirror cube, bump cube, bump block are all the same thing. A modified 3x3x3 Rubik’s Cube that is all one color but has different size cubes. The cube is divided in such a way so that no 2 cubes are the same size, and you have to solve it based on the size of the cubes and how they fit together. Even though essentially it is the same cube as the original Rubik’s Cube, it is a HUGE challenge for me because some of us rely quite a bit on the colors of a Rubik’s Cube for the solve. It is a fun variation worth trying out.

I’ve been wanting to get one of these ever since I held the official ones in my hands briefly at a store and a while after got to play with one of my friend’s. I thought it was incredibly cool that it changed shapes. I mean a Rubik’s Cube that is all one color and still a challenge, that’s quite a feat.

The design of the original Mirror Cube is ingenious. I’m sure a ton of those things sold. They retail for $25-$30 originally, and I wanted to get one at that price pretty bad, but one of the problems with the original is that it is quite stiff unless you lubricate the cube. Even with lubrication the cube doesn’t go as smooth as a DIY unless you sort of break it in with several hundred solves. The DIY cubes are ones that you are normally supposed to build yourself (but DealPerfect already put it all together, which is a huge time saver), and you are supposed to be able to adjust the springs according to how much tension you’d like. You can still do that now, but I thought the one sent to me was done well already. One of the sides is a bit loose, but it doesn’t matter to me, I can’t imagine speed cubing this thing.

Again, I’d just like to stress how good this cube is. Yes it’s true I’m not happy that the stickers are textured rather than keeping the traditional mirror, shiny silver/gold look, but asides from that, the cube is smooth, it cuts corners decently (not amazing though), and the plastic feels pretty sturdy. For $5, this is an amazing deal.

If you watch the video, you’ll see that the cube is pretty smooth. Most of the issues I have doesn’t come from whether the cube is built well or not, smooth or not, because they all come from the fact that the cube doesn’t spin unless you align it properly. This normally isn’t a problem with Rubik’s Cubes, but the mirror block changes shapes, so you’ll find yourself pushing parts too deep or too shallow sometimes, making it hard to turn. Which is again a design problem with the mirror cube. It looks cool and all, but the constant shape shifting means you never seem to have a good grip on the thing, and a few times, you push a block sticking out, and it feels like it’ll snap if you push too hard.

Anyways, that shouldn’t be an issue if you aren’t planning to try and speed through this in 30 seconds. I gave that up a long time ago because I just can’t do it. Without the colors, looking just at the shapes, I don’t see how it is possible for people to solve this quickly.

Getting back to the cube, I think the video speaks for itself. To scramble this up and solve it, it is quite a different experience than the Rubik’s Cube. You feel a bit of satisfaction because you really solve the cube, you form a cube. It could just be me, but I thought this was a pretty neat idea, definitely worth my $5.

So get your own at:
http://dealperfect.com/detail.dp/sku.23576

Or if you want to get a cube that is like this one, but probably cheaper in quality:
http://dealperfect.com/detail.dp/sku.22355

If you happen to buy from DealPerfect, please do use my referral so I get a few DP points. 🙂 http://www.dealperfect.com/register.dp/pcode.UMQAYQB83532009RPY~DPtpon.BINRSAUQD