http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.18533

There's another new 4x4, but I'm unsure of the brand. It costs about $13.

Looks like an eastsheen

Probably a knock-off. I have a few of these.

That's not an Eastsheen, an eastsheen is 60mm, that one is 65mm plus.

And the other one has more rounded edges than ES.

I would guess that the pictures for the two 4x4x4s got swapped by accident. That stuff does happen at DX (like the stickers for the 4 layer square 1 ending up with a different item altogether). The cheaper new one (18533) has pictures that look an awful lot like an eastsheen, whereas the more expensive one (18534) has price, dimensions, and weight that pretty much exactly match eastsheen.

Dimensions and weight are extremely close (apparently converts to 6.0 cm and 113 grams, while eastsheen specs 6.0 and 111, within the specified precision), and given the DX price of just under $15 for the Eastsheen 5x5x5, and that on other sites the 4s are generally a couple bucks less than the 5s, the price is plausible. Just the pictures aren't. I'd wait until this is resolved one way or the other before ordering though

Just on the 4th they shipped me four of the old tiled Eastsheen-clone 4s ( http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.16332 ), if I'd known they were that close to offering the real thing I might've waited, or at least ordered 1 or 2 less. I'm making a 4x4x5 out of that clone, so I do need at least one to finish.

I think you are correct about the pictures being switched. I realized the title of the more expensive one has "Speed-cube" in it, so I would say that is probably the Eastsheen.

There are a lot of puzzles on DX. the ball keychains are not to be found anywhere but Hendrik's shop, but have any of you seen this:

DealExtreme
Room 225-226, Block B, Focal lndustrial Centre
21 Man Lok street
Hung Hom, Kowloon
Hong Kong

I would guess that one is a knock off. It looks like the ones I've bought for the kids. The price seems ok, but even that is double at least (and more like triple) the cost of them. Free shipping? I think you are paying for shipping in the mark up.

I probably shouldn't post that. For me to get my $4 k-ball from Amazon I had to have it shipped to Florida, then shipped to me. So it probably cost me $15 if I were to break down the cost of shipping. I know you all aren't here so it probably is a good deal if you get it from them, but wouldn't a free shipping buy it now on ebay be a bit cheaper? That is if it is indeed a knock off.

They've currently got 3 4x4x4s on there, my bet is that the most expensive one is a real Eastsheen, and will be apparent as such once they fix the pictures. They've already had a 4x4x4 knockoff with plastic tiles on there for a fairly long time that costs under $6 with shipping, which is a pretty close copy of Eastsheen internally (I have a couple).

And yes, of course "free shipping" just means "shipping included in the price", but that goes for ebay free shipping offers just the same. DX has always treated me right, both in the sense of quick shipping etc as well as good dispute handling and honest descriptions (if they say it's genuine, it's pretty much always genuine). Generally they're slightly cheaper or around the same price as the ebay sellers -- but if you live in the land of knockoffs itself it's no doubt not a good idea to pay the included international shipping prices

exactly And I did hesitate before posting. But the company should in all fairness make a statement that it isn't a rubik's or ES. vague descriptions could disapoint people who don't realize it.

I ordered the $13 4x4x4 a while back, and it should be on its way to me now. When it gets here (which will not be before christmas, I expect) I will report.

It amazes me that there'd be money in making knock offs. How much does it probably cost to set up a factory to make precision toys? Somehow cheaply???

After you steal a set of molds?

Presumably not that much.

And besides, moldmaking from existing parts is pretty good these days -- if you know exactly what the piece should look like (and that is what 3d modelling as well as scanning of existing parts makes not all that hard these days) I don't think you need many iterations to get it right.

There's a $6-including-shipping knockoff eastsheen 4x4x4 with tiles on dealextreme. It's not even all that bad. Turns pretty well. Locks up a bit, though, and that's the one thing I'm hoping the real eastsheen will be better at.

Having examined the internals of the knockoff a bit, it seems that the core may have a slightly small layer-blocking internal block, which causes the invisible center layer to be out of alignment by several millimeters on every turn through the center, unless you do a slight overshoot, then back maneuver.

In my 4x4x5-in-progress from that one, which only needs two layers bandaged and thus uses some pieces glued to a center cap instead of the central block, there is no such problem anymore. I tried it with part of the central core removed, but the dimensions were apparently such that that did not prevent the inner layers from turning at all -- which *does* work on an Eastsheen.

All right, I received the $13 4x4x4 (SKU 18534), and it's pretty clear that the pictures were in fact switched. It's clearly an Eastsheen -- pink stickers, good quality, all that.

DX has posted another 4x4x4 and 5x5x5 on the site -- they look almost like clones of the Rubik's mech, rather than clones of the Eastsheen mechs.

DX has also posted a bunch of 3x3x3 sticker variations, including 4-corners, maze, and maze-on-colours and arrows-on-colours.

Bit of a shame that with colours in the background, solving a maze or arrows cube is a bit.. undifferent.

I've included some stuff listed as "temporarily sold out" that is not necessarily likely to get back in stock again. I think I've now got everything, at least everything filed under "Toys". Where I could, I've put a little comment regarding the item, if I've bought it. Other comments also welcome. If there is something missing or I made a mistake, please don't hesitate to bring it to my attention.

List moved here.

Wow, thank you for listing them all out.

By the way, anyone tried the 5X5 variants? Is it good? From the looks of it, it seems a decent cube though.

Oh, I wasn't nearly done yet. I am now, though.

I'm just thinking that it may be worthwhile moving all-a that to a separate thread, since it's not just relevant to this topic.

Wow great write up JasperJ. Very informative.

When I clicked on the focalprice page, I end up with an error message written in Chinese. Does anyone else have this problem?

Oddly enough, I can't replicate this (although I notice that twice I linked to the picture instead of the item. Fix that later.). Focalprice seems to be working just fine for me.

Was wondering if anyone has tried the "Cube with domed tiles, $4.69" (Linkeh). I'm not expecting great quality, but I was wondering if it could be played around with occasionally without falling apart, cus, as goofy as it may be, I like the poofy tiles.

I was wondering about that same cube. I like the tiles too but if the cube is bad then there's really no point (unless you take all the tiles off and attach them to another cube).

Are there magics any good?

I have those 3x3's. there are two different types. some of the tiles are squishy, and others are hard plastic. They seem to turn ok, but I can't tell you anything about speed, never took them apart either. I can say they don't stack very well.