What’s up vapers!
SirRisc here with another gear review!
Todays mod of choice is the P4U IPV5, a 200W dual 18650 with a Yihi board inside!
This Pioneer4You IPV5 was sent to me for the purpose of this review by Gearbest.com!
Premise.
It’s been a while since I’ve had a Pioneer4You product in my hands, but the IPV5 landed in my mailbox a while back.
The last P4U mod I owned was the IPV D2, which was a single 18650 mod that served me very well on hikes.
But it did lack a few things, and it did have a few flaws that were fixed afterwards in the IPV D3.
The IPV5 is a different beast all together, it’s a dual 18650 powered device so that means more power. Or as Jeremy Clarkson would say: POWAAAH!
The mod has a Yihi board inside and can provide a maximum output of 200W, but does that mean it’s a good mod?
Let’s find out, shall we?
Specifications.
- Aluminium/Zinc alloy body
- Power output: 10W to 200W
- Power output in temperature mode: 10J to 120J
- Resistance range: 0.15ohm to 3.0ohm
- Resistance range in temperature mode: 0.05ohm to 1.5ohm
- Resistance range in SX Pure mode: 0.05ohm to 3.0ohm
- Output voltage: 1.0V to 7.0V
- Temperature control for Ni200, Ti01, SS304, and custom TCR
- Powered by 2 x 18650 battery
- YiHi SX330-200 board inside
- Firmware upgradeable
Packaging.
The box the IPV5 comes in fairly standard but looks pretty good.
The top part of the box depicts the outline of the mod in white on a checkered grey background, with white lettering that says IPV and a green 5 behind it.
Above it says YiHi SX Pure Technology in white lettering.
Opening the box up reveals the usermanual first, then a white foam insert which holds the mod in place.
The mod comes packed in a rather hard plastic bag, which can scuff the mod a little bit. Wiping off the scuffs revealed no scratching.
The insert also doesn’t have a ribbon but does lift out once you take the mod out, underneath the insert is a white box that holds a USB cable and a QC card.
Performance.
Considering the mod has a YiHi board inside the performance is aking to be tested for accuracy.
YiHi boards have always been said to be one of the most accurate out there and this one is no different.
The poweroutput is the only thing I’ve been able to test for accuracy though, I’ll leave the testing of temperature accuracy to someone who has the gear for it.
With fully charged batteries, the mod sent out a maximum power of 196W on a 0.15ohm resistor when set at 200W. Not bad at all!
With the same resistor attached but the mod set at 50W the maximum poweroutput was 50.8W, which is only a slight, yet acceptable, deviation.
The first thing you’ll notice when you take the mod out of its enclosure is the weight.
It’s a heavy mod and it feels substantially more sturdy than other mods I’ve held lately.
This doesn’t mean it’s bulletproof but it does feel like it.
The body is shaped very ergonomically and fits in the palm of your hand perfectly, without feeling like a dual 18650 device.
It feels more like a slightly bigger IPV D3 actually.
The general performance of the mod is great, it hasn’t given me any trouble except for one thing.
When I attached a 0.33ohm dual stainless steel 317L coilbuild on an RDA, it didn’t read the resistance. It read 0.0ohm, yet fired the coils.
When I attached the same RDA with a heatsink underneath, it resulted in the same 0.0ohm to be displayed. This assured me it wasn’t the RDA that was malfunctioning.
This could be a potential safety issue as the mod apparently doesn’t mind firing below specified limitations.
Attaching a 0.03ohm coilbuild (well, a piece of wire really) on a different RDA resulted in the mod firing again without the resistance being read.
I can’t say for sure that this is something that happens on all the IPV5 mods, but mine does seem to fire below specification consistantly.
In powermode the mod can do anywhere between 10W and 200W, though 200W from dual 18650s might be stretching the batteries capabilities.
This is something that is often misconceived by people; “the package says 200W so it must be able to fire 200W”.
In a way it should be able to indeed, but not as a constant output. The ability to boost up to 200W is there for one thing only, to be able to ramp up the coils very quickly in TC mode.
Anyone claiming to vape at 200W constantly is either insane or lying. But anyway…
In terms of batterylife the mod does very well at lower wattages, and doesn’t seem to suffer much from slightly higher wattage either.
At 100W it lasted me for an entire day of vaping with moderate use. At 200W the performance will drop off quickly and batterylife will dwindle to almost nothing.
In temperature control is where things get interesting of course, the mod can do temperature control for Ni200, Ti01 and SS304, as well as a custom TCR which allows you to use other alloys.
The TCR range is 0.00050 to 0.00700 which should allow you to use almost any TC capable alloy possible.
There is also a mode for the new SX Pure tank from YiHi which I was unable to test since I don’t own an SX Pure tank.
That said, I’ve been using the Ti01 mode and custom TCR mode predominantly.
In Ti01 mode I noticed the mod can deviate quite a bit from other mods in terms of temperature setting.
Setting the temperature around 10°C lower than the RX200 resulted in a similar vape, while setting the same temperature felt a bit hotter.
Batterylife didn’t change significantly from using the mod in powermode which leads me to conclude that the board is very efficient in its regulation.
The custom TCR mode is where the real fun resides…
Setting the TCR at 0.00088 for SS317L and using a 0.28ohm dual coil the vape was stellar.
Resistance can be locked in by pressing the + and - buttons at the same time.
The temperature control responds very quickly and there is no obvious pulsing or cutting of power when the coils reach their intended temperature.
The resistance isn’t displayed in realtime which is rather unfortunate.
Aesthetics.
The mod is shaped in a very ergonomic way to fit the palm of your hand quite comfortably.
On the spine of the mod is a slight indentation that allows you to wrap your fingers around the mod better.
The IPV5 logo is also embossed into the spine and looks quite nice.
This increases grip on the mod because the paintjob is quite smooth and slippery.
On the front of the mod are the buttons, the display and the USB port.
The buttons are clicky and require some force to push, just enough to keep you from firing the mod accidently.
The fire button resides on the top end of the front, with the + and - buttons just below it.
Under the + and - buttons is the display.
And that’s where I found one of the biggest flaws of this mod.
P4U obviously decided in the last phase of production that the screen couldn’t have any protection over it because where there should be a screenprotector, is an empty space.
This results in the actual screen being a bit deeper into the mod, and the body sitting at 3mm from it.
That’s right, a 3mm gap between the screen and the body of the mod.
Imagine walking outside when it’s raining and having a drop of rain getting in there, making its way to the board… Yeah, that’ll ruin your day.
Pros and Cons.
Pro.
- YiHi board performs very well
- Batterylife is excellent, even at higher wattages
- TC feels accurate
- Custom TCR
- Firmware upgradable
- Feels substantial in the hand
- Looks great!
- Cheap!
Con.
- Gap between screen and body is unprotected!
- Mod didn’t read resistance but did fire
- Software for firmware upgrades is terrible
- Paintjob is quite slippery (use a silicone sleeve if possible)
In conclusion.
The IPV5 is definitely one of the better 200W TC mods on the market in this price segment at the moment.
It feels sturdy, heavy and substantial in the hand, without being uncomfortable to carry.
The mod does have a couple of flaws which should have been solved before releasing it, but that is usually the case with P4U mods.
There’s bound to be another iteration of this model which will solve the issues I’ve found.
Overall I like the mod very much and have enjoyed using it in the passed few weeks, the performance is great.
Would I buy another one if this one broke? Yes.
In closing I would like to thank Gearbest.com for sending me the P4U IPV5 for review!
Thanks for reading, I hope you join me next time for an extensive look at the Innokin Coolfire IV TC100 and matching iSub V!
(Spoiler: it beats the Coolfire IV+ in every way)
Need to reach me? Head over to my website.
Interested in what I vape daily? Check out my Instagram.
Want to know more about DIY? Head over to ELR.
#staycloudy !
SirRisc disappears in a cloud of pear and menthol scented vapor