Note: This is post was inspired bu DLitwins excellent post of comparing ALL other megaminx(This one didn't exist when he wrote his), if you wanted to look at the other minxs, here:http://www.twistypuzzles.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&p=116187

Yesterday when I was going to the local puzzle shop to have some chit-chat with the owner, he gave a new type of megaminx to me and agreed to sell it to me for HKD$85, or roughly USD$11.

Since the minx was actually reserved for another person(Which is also a good friend of the owner, he said he didn't want it so it became mine), the owner already sanded the pieces for him, but he stated that the sanding was to prevent lock-ups, and the turning quality is very good before sanding(He has another one which was sold to another person, which was not sanded but lubed and adjusted, turns really well), therefore the pieces I show here might be very different than when it came out of the factory.

The minx was not released in public anywhere,

Since the pictures are taken with my cell phone therefore they may be blurry and too dark.

Basic appearance(Left:New Right:PVC):


It is the same size as the PVC minx, the width of the edges are also the same, but the edges are more rounded.

Mechanism and centre overview(Left:New Right:PVC):


Centre piece and screw-spring camparison(Left:New Right:PVC):



The most obvious and important change is the the centre piece on the new minx is arched, the cap is fixed more deeply into the puzzle therefore it's pretty hard to pop them when the puzzle is assembled, even if you wanted to. The MF8 logo which is on the 4-layer square one is also present in all twelve caps.

The one piece screw/washer in the new minx is very long , and is screwed pretty deep into the core, it doesn't come loose.
There is a washer which is put below the spring, maybe it is to pretty the spring from scraping off plastic from the bottom of the centre piece.



Corner piece comparison(Left:New Right:PVC):



The feet of the new minx is a lot smaller than the PVC minx, the PVC minx has a V groove to held onto the edge piece, but it is not present in the new minx, the connecting part between the feet and the piece is also smaller, but the piece is pretty sturdy.

Edge piece comparison(Left:New Right:PVC):




The outermost part of the feet is curved, but I think it won't affect the the puzzle.
Like the corners, the V groove is absent here either.

How edge of corner pieces interlock in PVC and new minx(Upper:PVC Lower:New):


Mechanism "circle" in both minxs(Upper:PVC Lower:New):



Note that the circle is smaller in the new minx, and the arched centres.

Tiles and stickers:



The puzzle comes with tiles for twelve faces, they can be distinguished pretty easily except for the light yellow and yellow.



The PVC minx, mentioned by DLitwin, has bad stickers, and there is a pair and blue and light green which can be hardly distinguished.The pair of blue is shown here, but not the green.

The tiles provided have pretty similar colours to the mefferts scheme, though brown and the medium-shade blue is replaced with silver and light yellow.




I have a HARD time applying the tiles, you need to cut of the plastic which links the tiles together, and since it doesn't give you any kind of glue, you'll need to find it yourself( I used superglue).After solve once with the minx, I think it very good, it turns smoothly, cuts corners well either, but it is more prone to popping than the PVC minx, I think good adjusting will help, and I'll bring this to a competition despite of the popping, the sticks on the PVC are just too bad.

This is the end of the post, I've tried to mimic DLitwin's excellent post, hope my wording and pictures are not cofusing.

I think the minx will show up in Cube4You pretty soon, since the same thing happened to the 4-layer square one(I didn't have a prototype though )

Cool! Another new minx. Judging by the pics it looks like it would turn nicely. The colours on the yellow side look good, light blue better than the Meffert's dark, but I don't like the grey/silver and light yellow. Thanks for the detailed write up, you are so lucky to have a puzzle shop like this near you!

Ya, I'm sure it will be sold on cube4you soon.

Ooh, wow. I love the look of those new tiles, although I would have preferred brown tiles to ivory ones.

Can't wait to get my hands on one of these!

This is great! I'll have to get one when they are available.

Not to be selfish, but I can't help but suggest that perhaps you copy this content to the comparison thread I started so all the information is in the same place. We'll have to get Drewseph to post some of his V-Minx as well, it would be nice to try to capture all of the variants.

Dave

Marco, Fantastic post. I have only used the Chinese minxes, and yeah, they suck.

Perhaps I should make you a V-minx and send it to you to assemble? I haven't decided on if I will sell them or not. I'm waiting to see how much better/worse it is compared to the other minxes. Scott should be giving a review within the week.

If in the future you do compare them all, here is a little warning, once its assembled it is painfully difficult to take apart =)

Edit** for some stupid reason I read this post as DLitwin being the creator. sorry Marco!!! great writeup!

Boy, I won't turn down that request!

Is this because the center cap is deep set? If it is shallow (like a Megaminx) you can probably get it out and then loosen a screw.

Dave

i guess the owner was pointing at me to take it, but i just bought it from ada.

Ouch, I've managed to let a gem slip out of my eyes
Same as for DLitwin, I would be really ecstatic in case I can get a Pro-minx, though I'm sure I wouldn't be able to pay for it , it's just too much for a kid in tenth grade(I think that's my level of education now, or just in case, the tenth year after first entering primary school.)

Because of being lazy, I haven't posted this in DLitwin's post, though I should probably do it soon .