‘Inspired by’ …
You could go into a car garage and the salesman could walk up to you and try and sell you a red 4 door family saloon by saying it’s ‘inspired by’ Ferrari …
“How is it inspired by Ferrari?”
“Well sir…it’s red…”
“So you’re trying to sell me a car with the promise that it’s inspired by Ferrari…because it’s red…??”
“And…it’s got wheels…and erm…you can drive it…on the road…like a Ferrari…a red one… sir…”
“…and does it have a V12 race tuned engine?”
“…no sir…2 litre diesel…but it does have an engine…and so does a Ferrari”
Literally…most manufacturers presume that the vast majority of consumers are this guy…stupid…(I totally am by the way let’s just put that out there…I am a salesman’s wet dream…and not in a sexy way)
And it would appear…that this way of thinking is starting to leak into our precious vape market, Is it immoral?..maybe…deceitful?..perhaps…but you could also call it thinking outside the box, something I am very much a fan of by the way…whatever it is, and whatever you think about it…the item I am reviewing today is positively dripping with it…
Hello once again my sweet steam sucking space cadets, Today I have yet another collaboration for your worthy attention, only this time between 2 different vape companies, (because that always goes so well) Stentorian…bit of an enigma, I had heard originally that they designed the mod we are looking at today out in California…yet the only information I can unearth is that Shenzhen Stentorian Technology Co Ltd are actually a trademark of Wotofo…the other company in this collaboration…and it’s Wotofo that apparently were responsible for the manufacturing and distribution…so as ever…when researching companies in China…I have come away utterly confused. My guess…Wotofo create another company (Stentorian) Trademark it, then feed it with Wotofo’s vast resources, people under the Stentorian umbrella then go to silicone valley, find a design team that build custom gaming computers…and voilà …What you get is a Wotofo mod…that is ‘Inspired by’ a custom water cooled PC…somewhere in California…maybe…
Courtesy of my long standing gluttons for punishment Heavengifts …The Stentorian (All Tech) AT-7
Firstly, I’ll tell you what it is…The Stentorian AT-7 is a 3500mah lipo powered device capable of giving out 100 watts…It has an auto detect function that reads whatever you put on it and gives you the optimal setting that it thinks gives you the best vape, It’s also choc full of safety features to insure that everything goes swimmingly, It charges in 2 hours and is powered by an American made AT Chipset…simples.
The design of the AT-7 is ‘inspired by’ the world of top end custom gaming computers with a clear perspex window on both sides making an apparent ‘water cooling’ system visible on the front accompanied by a few nice looking LED lights and a plethora of microchips, processors and general circuit wizardry on the rear…and…as far as being modelled on a custom PC goes…it pulls it off rather well…
Now…when this device first did the rounds on social media and various other forums I for one was completely taken in by the ‘First water cooled vape mod’ sales pitch that was being flaunted around the place, I was actually gobsmacked truth be told…“What a completely fucking mental idea!..having liquid inside a high powered vaping device?!?..what could possibly go wrong…???”…I thought to myself…
All the while schmoozing with my suppliers to get hold of one…I just had to have it…I have an inner geek that collapses on the floor inconsolable at the mere thought of owning a device such as this…unfortunately…this inner geek also happens to be a gullible idiot that could be sold literally anything with a catchy sales pitch…because…unfortunately…the whole thing…was a load of big fat swinging …
Using the term ‘Inspired by’ in the pre-sales pitch you see…is exactly that…inspired by.
We’ve seen this approach before of course with the Smoant RAbox, And I had a similar reaction when I first clapped eyes on that too…“An open chassis??..with exposed electronics???..what could possibly go wrong???..I want’s it…” …but at least on the RAbox it did serve a purpose…kind of…
All the pipework you can see…the apparent ‘cooling system’…is I’m afraid… all just for show…you can take this thing apart and the water cooling pipes are just some plastic chrome plated pipes glued to another piece of plastic…it’s totally fake and serves no purpose…other than aesthetics.
As is the circuitry in the rear window…just like it was on the RAbox, except with the RAbox the idea was that it was kinda dangerous lookin…risky…open to the elements…shouldn’t be done, and I guess you could argue that having a liquid cooling system in a high powered electrical device is equally as ‘dangerous’ …but it just…doesn’t feel like it…I’m not saying dangerous is good…far from it…but the ‘feeling’ of dangerous, even though you know it’s safe(ish) can hold a certain appeal to some people…
But this…doesn’t…it just looks kinda cool.
So now that that’s out of the way…the fact that it’s all just a load of bollocks…let’s take a look at what is actually real on the AT-7 in terms of being a 100w lipo powered vaping device that looks unique…and it really does look unique regardless…you can’t take that away from it.
For starters this thing is big, pretty much exactly the same size and dimensions as a RAbox…
Pocket friendly this thing certainly isn’t, As a desktop mod though…different matter…
It’s clearly marketed towards the kind of people that like to spend their spare time throwing vast amounts of cash at their over powered absolutely bang up to date technologically supreme to anyone else’s gaming computer…
And that also happen to…vape…
You see it’s a fan mod, Your main interest will be computers and not actually vaping, sure you vape…but you don’t vape-vape…because if you did…you’d probably hate this mod…computers however…make you wanna wobble your joystick…
No Control!..none…whatsoever, not even a screen to tell you what it’s doing, in fact the only information it gives you is whether the battery is charged…needs charging…or there’s a fault, with lights. White good…whitey bluey colour (??) needs charging …and red…
It’s unhappy.
Like I mentioned earlier it has an auto detect system, meaning…whatever top you screw into it’s head it will decipher the settings and adjust accordingly giving you what it thinks you want…you have zero input other than your coil choice.
This alone will totally fuck with seasoned vaper’s, How can anything choose the right settings for something as subjective as vaping…I mean I’m the first to admit…I have been known to struggle making the correct wise decision from time to time…
But as far as how I like to vape well…
And the AT-7 is…well…wrong…a lot…I’m sure it’s intentions are true and it means well but for the best part…
It’s massively under powered…100w?..meh, questionable, the RAbox hit harder in it’s soft mode…and that wasn’t great, I tested it with the Aura RDA at 0.3ohms, It vaped fine, It gave clouds and more than enough flavour but it didn’t bitch slap my coils, And when I put the Aura back on the Smok G150 mod at 100w it gave you a real hit, so much more slapping.
The next questionable factor was the battery, 3500mah apparently, I just don’t see it, It didn’t last long enough for me, considering how low the hit was I would expect a whole lot more battery life out of it…but it’s just not there.
Other points worthy of a mention is the width, The 510 is bog standard but due to the bevel around the edge of the mod you can’t sit anything more than 25mm up there without overhang, which is a wasted opportunity for something with so much bulk.
The Fire button is HUGE…it covers the whole side of the mod and man is it CLUNKY, It’s also very excellent, I mean you can’t miss it, doesn’t matter where you press it it still fires lighting up the front window and AT-7 logo but seriously…I like clicky…I’ve never known clunky…perhaps they’re twins…clunky would be the naughty one if that were the case, bit simple…ate too much cake…
But it works…and it works well…clunky or not.
This next bit will only interest those amongst you that think ‘hard drive’ is a sexy term…
The Specs
Inspired by water-cooling circulation system (I emphasise ‘Inspired’)
Innovative brass tube radiation design (looks chrome, actually plastic)
Built-in 3500mAh RC quadcopter battery (hmm)
Massive PCB for stable performance (Phworr)
Auto-adaptive smart power output (Stupid)
2 hours fast charging (15 minutes is fast charging)
Ergonomic design fire button (Cake eating clunky)
Parameters
Chip: American AT chipset
Size: 90 x 74.5 x 30.5mm
Thread: 510 thread
Battery: Built-in 3500mAh battery
Max Wattage: 100W
Output Voltage: 4.2V
Resistance range: 0.1 - 3.0ohm
Charge: Micro USB charging
It comes with
1 x AT-7 Box Mod
1 x Uer Manual
1 x USB Cable
My final thoughts on the Stentorian AT-7 are…HUGE missed opportunity, From a company who’s name means ‘A loud and powerful voice’ you would at least think they’d come out with something a bit punchy, You could of so easily put a wealth of functions on this thing and made it so much more, Don’t get me wrong, I use Lipo powered custom PWM mods generally so push-and-go mods are right up my ally but at least I can turn the fucking thing up or down, This is a futuristic looking device that screams technology yet gives you hardly any and if you’re going to make…for all intents and purposes…a lipo mech mod …then at least give it some umph and don’t make the auto detect so frickin limp…It’s ‘Form over function’ on quite a grand scale.
I do however love the look and feel of it, It’s a very VERY well made device, feels solid and durable and for something so huge it actually feels very comfortable to use. The wizardry on display really sets it apart from the rest of the herd and nowadays that is a very good thing, I am ALL about that, It’s trying to be different and purely based on it’s looks alone it will undoubtedly sell a shit ton, and if custom computers are your thing, and you vape tanks in the mid sub ohm range and would rather not deal with any kind of settings then you’ll prob cream your knickers when you finally get one in your hand…
So all that’s left is the price…I wouldn’t say particularly good news in that area either, You see all those parts you see…the ones that don’t actually do anything, cost money, so does the American AT chipset, There is a lot of manufacturing that goes into the AT-7…it’s also unique…unique is expensive too…
Originally…and unbelievably…the Full blown retail on the AT-7 was £104.94/$134.85 but thankfully that has dropped already, I would imagine…because of public feedback, it’s simply not worth that amount of money, Currently Heavengifts have it with 33% discount making it a more palatable £69.96/$89.90, and if you use discount code APUGS15 at checkout you will receive a further discount making it £59.46/$76.41 plus shipping from China, find that deal here…
Do I think it’s worth that?..well not for me personally but there is definitely a niche audience for unique futuristic looking devices and at least with the current discounts available it’s not a massive outlay if you are absolutely in love with it’s unique appearance and simple operation.
As always if you would like to see how the AT-7 scored against other pieces of awesome vapeology then feel free to hop on over to my house at Steampugs and while you are there come and meet the new ever growing Steam team, All of whom…you may well recognise
Until next time.
Eternally Vapeful
Pugs