Cong's Design MeiYing review

(Transcript from video)

Today we are going to look at the Cong’s Design MeiYing.  First we will start with a review while comparing it to its predecessor the YueYing, and finish with a little mod that I did to the YueYing.

This cube is around $16 which is an average price for speedcubes today.  The designer noted that “It was designed with Yueying at the same time, but for different ideas.  For Yueying, it's a stable cube with great performance. The corner cutting is just enough for speedsolving and stability is more concerned.  For Meiying, I push corner cutting to the limited and cause a quite different style between Meiying and Yueying.”

This is exactly what it feels like.  The corner pieces go together in three pieces but have a very hollow shape to them. There are holes in the pieces to allow for greater corner cutting and it is even more extreme than the YueYing.  From the outside it resembles a Gans puzzle, and in hand feels almost identical to the 356.  The difference is how it feels when turning.  The 356 feels very solid and smooth, while the MeiYing feels very light and airy.  The feeling of the plastic is reminiscent of many other MoYu puzzles.  It has a slight scratchy feel that will most likely go away with time.

This cube is very fast.  It is almost uncontrollably fast.  I put a good amount of my weight 25 silicone lube in the cube which slowed it down a bit making it much more controllable as well as giving it a bit more of a gummy feel. 

Corner cutting is fantastic as is most cubes available today. Where this really shines is it’s ability to not lock up.  On the Gans I would get some catches between the corner and center pieces, and on the YueYing occasionally it would feel a bit too blocky and have to make sure the cube is a bit more aligned to move.  

If you like lighter cubes this should definitely be in the running.  It has a slightly smaller feel, and incorporates the corner cutting of the Gans with the airy-ness that is only possible with the hollow pieces.  This might possibly be my new main if I ever figure out how to control it.  

I had one concern when ordering it.  I loved the YueYing, but hated how loud it was.  With the MeiYing having bigger holes in the pieces I was worried that it would be even louder.  That is not the case.  It seems that since there are more pieces put together as opposed to the YueYing having one giant cap for the corner there is less ability for the pieces to resonate.  The MeiYing is not a quiet cube but it is no where near the volume that the YueYing had.  I recently went to try and fix this in my YueYing.  I decided to fill each of the pieces.  I bought some standard window caulk and went on filling each piece.  When it was partially dry I put the cube back together.... I immediately regretted my decision.  This cube was now a brick, although a very quiet one.  I couldn’t imagine doing more than one solve on this thing without my hands getting tired.  I took the caulk out of the edges but left it in the corner pieces.  This was a nice in-between.  There was a little weight added, but the sound was reduced.  It is still not a quiet cube, but much better than before.