Hey guys, its me CriticalCubing and today we are going to take a closer look at the
first mass produced magnetic cube, Gan Air UM.
Gan is the name of the company.
Air is the name of the cube model, U stands for Ultimate and M stands for magnetic.
Full name of this cube is Gan Air Ultimate Magnetic but people commonly call it the Air
UM.
First of all, lets talk about the basics.
The cube costs 47$ after Feliks 4.73 world record solve, but you can get it for cheaper
at places like Lightake.com . The size of the cube is 56mm and the UM version features
full bright sticker shades, which are brighter than the Moyu/Qiyi shades.
In the Gan Air UM package, you get the Gan transparent box, S series springs that you
get with the normal version, and G series springs that you get with this ultimate version,
Tensioning tool which is plastic, not metal and pamphlet.
Now lets talk about the performance.
Performance of the Air UM is kinda hyped and lots of people say that its the best cube
on the market, just because faster people like Feliks, Max, Cornelius, Kevin etc use
it as their main.
The cube feels fast, smooth and is very quiet, quieter than Valk and the GTS2, although the
normal Air is smoother than the Air UM.
It is also quite stable and controllable and allows you to turn fast without worring about
lockups and catches.
The secret of the cube being stable is all due to the addition of magnets, which pull
the layers together, allowing for more smoother and less catchy turning.
With magnets, you can use the lightest GES spring and you still wont have to worry about
the cube becoming unstable.
The UM also flexes lesser than the normal Air.
Corner Cutting is pretty standard with cubes nowdays and the Air UM can cut over 45 degrees
for normal corner cutting, and can
cut line to line for reverse corner cutting.
One good thing about the Air UM is the GES tensioning system which allows each cuber
to setup their cube to fit their own turning style.
UM comes with purple GES out of the box but I have tried all the GES springs and I personally
like the transparent and the yellow ones the best.
If you have a Air UM, I'd recommend trying out all the springs and see which one you
like the best.
The only problem with the UM is how frequently I have to lube this cube.
My current main is a non magnetic GTS2 which I have only lubed twice since I got it months
back.
Within 2 weeks of using the Air UM, I lubed it more times than I even remember.
It becomes dry too quickly, compared to GTS2 and the Valk3.
M slices on the Air UM also becomes slow and sluggish when you don't have lube on them,
and since I use Roux now, its imperative that I lube the cube, otherwise I'll have slow
and sluggish M slices which gives me bad times.
However, when you have lubed the cube properly, its great.
I said previously that the performance of the Air UM is kinda hyped and personally after
using the Air UM, and then using the Valk3 and the GTS2, there isn't that much difference
between their performances.
I'm still using the GTS2 as my main over the Air UM as it isn't something revolutionary
that makes it an instant main.
Plus, the price tag of nearly 50$ isn't something that everyone can spend on a cube, when you
get similar performance with cubes that are like half price of Air UM.
Sure it has some good features and the performance is good enough for world class cubers to use
it as their main, but the performance isn't better or worse than the other flagship cubes
like the Valk3 and GTS2.
I cannot say if the cube it worth ir for you or not, which is why try out the cube out
at a comp and then decide if you want to shell out money for it, or not.
Stay tuned for a magnetic comparison between the Valk3 M, GTS2M and Air UM to see which
is the best out of them all.
Thank you to Lightake for sending this cube to me.
Thank you for watching and I'll see you next time.
Bye.