[nzealand]

Without the speedstacks stackmat, (invented by this guys dad for sport stacking), I doubt speed cubing would be a thing.

[rwnspace]

There were other timers before (one was basically a digital scale), but the cost and number of units of this timer model was certainly a huge boon.

That said, there were some exceedingly smart cookies in the early speedcubing scene, and you know, necessity is the mother of invention :)