Before I decided to take the plunge and order myself the dreaded Bagua cube, I’d read many reviews and knew full well what I was getting myself into. I knew about it catching and falling apart for just about every single person who’d written or talked about it online. Nonetheless, I was spellbound by the beautiful complexity (or perhaps complex beauty?) of the stickerless version in particular when thoroughly scrambled and shapeshifted. It’s been in my personal wishlist of expensive and elaborate cubes that I wanted to eventually get when I could justify the cost since I first saw/ heard about it. When it arrived, I was overjoyed, but cautious. I tested its turning carefully, but soon started scrambling it without further ado. Shortly after breaking it in a bit, I found it’s turning to be catchy at points (especially on the 45 degree turns) but otherwise surprisingly good. Within the first day of having it though (that night after coming home from work eager to play with it), I got cocky and forced a turn that I shouldn’t have. Believe what everyone says when they warn of explosive self-destruction – the darn thing dissolved into (many) pieces before my eyes; there was no hope whatsoever of replacing a piece or two and continuing on business as usual. And let me tell you, as everyone else will or has, putting the thing back together is a CHORE, and you will get frustrated. It took giving up on it after several hours, going to bed angry, and returning with bitter persistence the next day (plus a LOT of tape) to finally get the thing back together again. Before doing so completely though, I made sure to add a reasonable amount of lube and adjust the spring tensions (toward the tighter side) in the hopes of preventing it or at least forestalling any future explosive mishaps. After doing so, I watched Grumpy Old Cuber (?)’s YouTube video about adjusting it to minimize pops, which I strongly recommend watching before considering buying, as well as someone else’s (Red KB? Can’t remember tbh sorry) video about how to put it back together. Now, two things must be said at this point: 1) if you are considering getting the Bagua cube, make sure you know what you’re getting into and read and watch everything you can about it so when, not if it explodes, you are as prepared as you can be to deal with it accordingly; and 2) if you like complex cubes, challenging puzzles, beautiful/ artistic pieces for your personal collection, consider getting this cube. Many have said that the mf8 Sun cube is better/ more stable, and I can’t speak to that, but I’m sure it is. (I’d like to eventually get the Sun cube also.) So if you want a similar puzzle and don’t want to deal with the aforementioned issues, perhaps that’s a better option to contemplate. If those things don’t daunt you, and you’re like me and want a puzzle that is both amazing to play with and explore and is just totally amazing looking, then I think it is definitely worth it. The reconstruction process in itself is like a second puzzle experience for the price of one, lol.

P.S. I definitely have not solved this thing yet, and am okay with that for now. It took me about 2 months to figure out how to solve a Ghost cube, so I imagine this thing will be at least a 6 month process haha. Right now I just enjoy picking it up casually now and then and giving it a few turns, marveling at it, and setting it down to be admired as a kind of decorative object or sculpture piece haha. Enjoy!

This is a very hard puzzle and took me a long time to find a solution. Before you scramble this, I would recommend that you set it up properly or you will have a very bad experience. I took off all of the center capes and wrapped the cube VERY tightly in tape and cut with an exacto knife a line between the top and middle layers and a hole to access the screw in the top layer. I then removed the top layer by unscrewing the screw from the core keeping every thing still wrapped tightly. I then added lots of dnm-37 but traxxas 50k would probably work as well along the tracks. I then put it back together and tighened each face by about a quarter of a turn and CAREFULLY removed the tape and loosened the cube until it could barely turn and then worked in the lube by doing 3x3 turns until it turned well.

I got the stickerless version and I'm very happy with it! When it first arrived, it was really stiff, I think the screws had been completely tightened. But it was really easy to take off the center caps and loosen the screws a little (a quarter or half a turn). If you loosen them too much, then the puzzle might explode - but I found it very easy to get the right tension, and the puzzle turns very nicely (given its complexity - don't expect to use it for speed-solving! )
I have no issues with this puzzle, the quality feels great and I haven't had any unexpected pops. But I still would not recommend taking this on a train or plane!
I've scrambled and solved it many times - but it is an extremely difficult puzzle! Maybe not the best choice for a complete beginner?

IMHO: I believe the stickerless puzzles have more flex rubber feeling than the harder black MF8 DAYAN puzzles. This quality makes the stickered version better. My first unstickered one got the triangles stretched out where the triangle went from one group to another. I adjusted that puzzle. After putting it back together 3 times with even tight tightening all the way and a quarter turn loose it fell apart right away because of 3 misshaped triangles. My next sticker less one I did not adjust and eventually after a few solves it turns good. Since then all my MF8 DAYAN puzzles I do not adjust unless they start to get too loose which only happened on the Stickered Sun Cube which turns much better than any stickerless one on YouTube. I love the MF8 Dayan puzzles but had to learn the hard way from experience. I lube but never over lube a puzzle that can fall apart like grains of sand.

This is a great cube for a real challenge. It's really fun to have a puzzle that's unique but still has 3x3 roots. I'd definitely buy recommend it. It's super fragile though, be very careful. It will explode on you very easily, especially before it's lubed and well broken in. Be sure to tension it such that it's just able to turn. Any more than a quarter turn past being able to turn and the risk of explosion increases.

BUT if you are not veeery careful when doing the turns, it will literally explode and melt in your hands. A pop means assembly from scratch, unscrew centers, use duct tape all over the place and so on. In no way should you take this puzzle in the train, for example, because the mess when it pops is truly massive. This can be mostly avoided by tightening the tensions in a balanced way.

I was expecting much fun from this cube from I had read in many cube sites. I was a bit disappointed to see that it was available here but only in a sticker-it-yourself version. But I ordered it... And it was a nightmare to detach the stickers from their plastic sheet ! I tried with 3 ou 4 of them and I gave up.
That is why I ordered a stickerless version from another site and it does feel fun now !

This is a fantastic puzzle and is one of the most unique solving experiences I've had in a long time. It's a pricey puzzle, quite difficult, and is a bit unstable, but is worth the cost if you're looking for something to really sink your teeth in to. Not recommended to beginners or those who lack patience. Even once you get a handle on the solution it will take an hour or so to solve. I gave it a 4/5 rating, but the puzzle has many issues. It would have been a perfect score if it weren't for these issues, and similarly, I would have given the puzzle a much lower score (2 out of 5) if it weren't for it being so much fun to solve.

The puzzle is prone to popping due to the sheer number of pieces, and reassembly is a nightmare. Care must be taken to ensure alignment of the layer prior to turning. Reassembly is impossible without the use of some sort of masking tape to hold the pieces in place. The puzzle starts off very stiff and catchy, but if given enough love it will smooth out and loosen up. I recommend tightening the tensions down quite a bit and adding a bit of lubricant to help with stability. Also be aware that there tend to be slight imperfections in some of the thin edge pieces. It makes the pieces appear to be cracked, but doesn't appear to affect the durability of the puzzle. After multiple solves these "cracks" haven't spread at all. Seems to be a defect in the manufacturing process.

slightly catchy, sometimes if you aren’t careful the catching will cause the outer edge piece to pop out a little and the cube will dissolve in your hand if not caught. can be fixed by rounding the little triangles on the cube slightly but i’m not comfortable with doing that. good cube overall, very long solve times

I've wanted one of these cubes ever since I saw one beautifully scrambled. I'm a collector of artistic puzzles. This is a great looking cube and a very challenging puzzle.
I have gone with other puzzles that I'd sticker; But in doing that, I've found the smaller stickers are more likely to curl up and peel off.
My personal choice of puzzles ( when I'm not sure about the puzzle's solve, I prefer to get the factory stickered or stickerless version)
The smaller areas may peel off so I'm glad that I went with the sticker less version.
I have not solved this totally but am finding it to be a fun challenge.