I’ve recently bought a Wismec RX2 21700. Great battery capacity, feels good in the hand and the software is OK but I’ll probably install arctic fox anyway. I’ve had a gen4 before that with 3x18650 but that was a bit of a waste of money…
Battery life (type of batteries and how many)
It needs to get me through 2 days without charging.
Operation (menu/settings)
If I can vape by pushing a button and inhaling, sign me up
Looks
Really couldn’t care less about this
Price
Around $100 or less is a must (thank god for black fridays!).
Personal satisfaction
The vape has to be consistent and protecting against dry hits, so temperature control (in one way or another) has to be top quality.
With those criteria, the only mods that satisfy me so far are DNA250 and DNA250C. I’ve got an HCigar and a Lost Vape, both have their quirks but I love them both to bits. I figure other brands carrying the same chips will perform pretty much the same.
Add durability as a criteria. I’ve had mods that I loved everything about them other than a couple of design flaws (physical not software) that prevents them from standing the test of time. I also despise crappy paint\coatings that chip or peel or scratch easy.
As much as we all WISH they would… This is DEFINITELY not the case.
Even with using the same chip (which grants the ability to use all of the functions incorporated into the chip), there are and have been SO many variations on how and which functions of that chip is made use of. (Nuvoton’s NUC220 chip is an outstanding example of what’s described here)
On top of which, you complicate matters with firmware.
So, even IF they designed a great pcb, with well chosen supporting circuitry to support the electrical needs (power supply, regulation, monitoring, etc) they can “flub it all up” with the firmware. Granted, the latter is far easier to fix, as it (theoretically) requires no redesign of the rest. Simply fix the firmware error(s) and update.
But how many times have we seen “firmware upgradeable”, yet never had an update released?
Maybe I should’ve been more specific and used the word PCB’s instead of chips. I thought it was clear what I meant. All the rest is just a few buttons, wiring, 510 connector and the enclosure. The heart of the device would still operate in the same way (in my layman’s opinion).
No. But even with Evolv’s chip, there have been several companies who customize the firmware (in effect changing the way the same hardware [ie: the 250 chipset] is handling things).
Vapor Shark (has for sure) and Lost Vape (I’m fairly certain) have done this in the past. As have a few others I’m forgetting (and maybe more still that I’m unaware of).
Edit (addressing your edit):
There have been custom pcb’s batched on request as well. So don’t think that they’re all identical.
The majority (of what’s sold) probably are. But some which may not be, which might also be incredible sellers. Which would seemingly “skew the numbers”, but only Evolv or the manufacturer would know those anyways. Lol
I wouldn’t assume it to be worse necessarily. Just different. (“One man’s trash” and such…)
Besides, unless you are intimately familiar with the board etc (not claiming that I am mind you, as IMO the only way to be that “assertively familiar” with a board and all of its revisions etc, would be to not only work for Evolv, but to be in the technical department!) how do you know that what you’ve got in hand is the “factory standard” model?
Maybe I could better judge it if I had multiple mod brands using the same board. Otherwise, there’s really no way to tell.
All I can say is, I’ve tried more than a few mods or all sorts and so far only the DNA’s are ticking the boxes for me.
That’s the one I love and am vaping on right now.
Don’t use any double-wrapped batteries in it, it’s a really tight fit, but otherwise, great mod and highly recommended
There are reviews for it on ELR, see Hardware > Reviews
This is why I love this mod. As you can see from the coil, it’s been well used (gunked up), the cotton has been vaped bone dry … no dry hit at all, no scorching of the cotton. You just use this thing for vaping and not worry about a thing. You get a very consistent vape at all times. The mod has an efficiency of 98% so your batteries last longer than most other 3 battery mods. With the Replay function, even if your battery is at 5%, you’re still getting that same consistent vape.