Vandy Vape SWELL - the TOTAL Mod?

  
1. GENERAL IMPRESSION.
 
First impression: HANDY and quite SOLID.

Plastic frame covered with panels made of G10 (kind of fiberglass) or colorful resin - it doesn't sound very solid.

But IT IS! We absolutely do not have the impression of holding a plastic sucker in hand, but we also do not have to worry about soreness in the biceps after a day of vaping :-) The overall experience is just optimal (for me). IF ALL PRODUCERS USED SUCH MATERIALS, THE WORLD WOULD BE BEAUTIFUL. I dare to say that 2x18650 mod cannot be done significantly better than the Swell! It's definitely a mod that you want to pick up. For sure more comfortable than EOS II, probably even better than the WYE200. All the more the other elements do not spoil anything: Fire has a little soft but sure click and works 100/100, similarly up / down buttons, the screen is a razor sharp OLED (in addition colorful), even the side panels fit perfectly with no moving at all! Top and bottom:

 

Regular, with no comments.

Overall: WELL DONE Vandy Vape!


2. APPLICATION.

Sign of the times...
Software designed for Swell is ... hmm ... decent. Compared to applications of other manufacturers, it works and look quite good but it also has some issues.

PROS:
* decent general look,
* great responsivity, changes entered on the phone IMMEDIATELY appear on mod,
* quite functional interface,
* convenient firmware update method.

CONS:
* typical problems of BT application, especially when pairing: there are some "network error", during the first attempt to access to the mod (immediately after pairing), the application jumps to the desktop and you have to start it again (tested on Mate20),
* the application does not remember the mod - every time you use the app, you need to put the 4-digit code shown on the mod display.


3. FEATURES.


* power: 188 W

* resistance range: 0.05 - 3 ohm

* modes: VW, Volt, Temp, BYPASS

* battery: 2 x 18650

* weight (with batteries): 206 g

* dimensions: 82 x 55 x 26 mm.



4. VW mode.

Voltage shape at 30 W:

Voltage oscillates a bit at the top, but for us it does not matter, so that it is generally GOOD!

Swell offers power curves, but we can set them ONLY FROM THE APPLICATION LEVEL, not by use of mod. They are called "Set the flavor" option. We have 5 flavors (power curves) to set, but by default they are all flat (without any adjustment) and if we run them from the mod menu without prior setting in the application, we will not get any effect of variable power. This is definitely a disadvantage, but it is also a pros: the use of a large smartphone screen for this makes the Swell one of the most convenient mods.

The curves look like this:

The power regulation is very accurate, with one interval lasting ~ 0.3 s.


The performance:

 

PERFECT accuracy up to 140 W. A deviation of 2% is actually a measurement error - it's a DNA or Dicodes level. Nice.

The Swell also has Bypass and Volt mode:

 WARNING: we get voltage from a SERIAL connection of cells, around 8 V.

5. TC mode (SS316).


Dry wick:

It takes about 0.5 s to voltage drop. So the wick stays white:

Slightly moist wick (third puff after soaking):

 
Quite good.



6. CONCLUSION.

I found only one disadvantage: no TCR mode. Thats it! Anyway the Swell stays on my shelf.


What I LIKE?

* BRILLIANT ergonomics,
* very accurate electric parameters,
* resin panels,
* color screen ;-)


What I DISLIKE?
* no TCR mode.

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RINCOE MechMan 228

1. GENERAL IMPRESSION.

First impression: BIG and SOLID
Definitely heavy duty stuff - 275 g weight, steel chassis (with matt coating), you will feel it in hand. Ergonomy is simple - such as old-school box mods, if someone liked it will be delighted.
The Fire button has a "cradle" shape with quite long click and I like it. Up / down are GREAT, with sure, hard click.
Top and bottom:

With no comments. Battery door on neodymium magnets:

is a little loose, maybe half a millimeter but enough to irritate a bit.
Display is regular:

Razor-sharp OLED with big main font and as usual too small others.

The menu does not exist, we do everything on the main screen, just like in Tesla mods.

An interesting option are removable frames on the side panels - thanks to this we can personalize our mod and create, for example, a "spanish inquisition" version :-) :

NOTE: photo below was taken maybe 3 hours of using the Mechman:

So the durability of the coating is not so promising....



2. FEATURES.


* power: 228 W,
* resistance range: 0.05 - 3.5 ohm
* modes: VW, TC, TCR, BYPASS
* battery: 2 x 18650,
* weight (with battery): 275 g,
* dimensions: 90 x 54 x 30 mm.



3. VW mode.

Voltage shape at 30 W:

Nice.

And that's it, there are no preheats nor power curve.


Performance:

Perfectly up to 150 W, then restrictions start to work. Generally not bad.


Mechman offers also BYPASS mode:

As you can see, it gives the accumulated batteries voltage, around 8 V (minus the voltage drop at internal resistance), NOT 4 V.


4. TC mode (SS316).


Dry wick:

The chip quickly realizes that something is wrong and drops voltage but then check the wick so often that the cotton gets a little brown:

Slightly moist wick (third puff after soaking):

The regulation is a bit chaotic but with no modulation, so the general impression is OK.



5. CONCLUSION.


A solid piece of mod.


What I LIKE?

* heavy duty feel,

* removable side panels.


What I DISLIKE?

* battery door.

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VooPoo X217 - Hot Shots (of juice)

1. GENERAL IMPRESSION.

First impression: HUUUUGE and SHINY :-)

High gloss coating + carbon + resin + LED strip around... a bit too much for me. But if you like such a "decoration" you can even say that it is elegant, it's just matter of taste.

Another thing you pay attention to is WEIGHT: 315 g with 21700 batteries. That's a lot but keeping in mind that the batteries themselves weigh 140 g it is quite ... GOOD result. Which doesn't change the fact that x217 is definitely not a mod to put in your pocket. So the general ergonomy is not bad, let's say: ordinary and quite SOLID.

Fire button has quite soft click but works 100/100, similar up/down buttons, maybe a little worse, because they work in some "plastic" way. Top and bottom:

Top easily fits the 30 mm atomizer, the bottom hatch works well as long as we use standard batteries. When I tried to use a little oversized black Shockli 4550 I couldn't close it.

Finally a screen that is just RAZOR SHARP:

1.3 inches in TFT technology makes an impression, the character definition is PERFECT, without aliasing. The main setting is large, clear, while the other four indications are traditionally TOO LITTLE, especially since there is a lot of free space on the screen. Wasted place.

2. FEATURES.

* power: 217W (80 W in TC modes),
* resistance range: 0.1 - 3 ohm
* modes: VW, Temp, TCR, BYPASS, V, CURVE
* battery: 2 x 21700/20700/18650 (18650 with included adapters),
* weight (with battery): 315 g,
* dimensions: 92 x 50 x 33 mm.


3. VW mode.

Let's start from performance:

PERFECT accuracy up to 140 W, then restrictions start to work.

Voltage shape at 30 W:

What a peak at the beginning? Hmm, let's check other power setting:

Same... Maybe other coil? Let's get the 0.3 ohm braid:

Again: EACH puff starts with ~7 V voltage peak. It is especially severe at lower power - as you can see above power of this peak is 8 TIMES higher than set! So the x217 shoots of the liquid. Deeper investigation of this "phenomenon" is in this film:

X217 has two "pulse" modes:

I don't know FOR WHAT such strange combs?

Fortunately, there is the CURVE mode (actually five of them), which are set in most clear way I've ever seen:

And the result:

Perfectly BUT also with the peak at the beginning.


4. TC mode (SS316).

Dry wick:

Shoot first, than quick voltage drop to 0.3 V. So the wick stays white.

Slightly moist wick (third puff after soaking):

One second and voltage drop to 0.3 V again. Too quick, the wick was still quite wet. The best way for using temperature control is TCR mode.


5. CONCLUSION.

It COULD BE quite good mod, with huge energy capacity and quite solid build. But because of voltage peaks at the beginning it is USELESS to me (especially at lower powers)!

What I LIKE?
* doesn't matter because:

What I DISLIKE?
* voltage peaks at the beginning disqualify it.

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EHPRO Cold Steel 100

1. GENERAL IMPRESSION.

First impression: Hmm, weird...
Second impression: SOOOOLID

Yes, this strange "hump" with electronics placed on a tube is not very ergonomic so I strongly recommend to take the Ehpro in your hand before buying. All the rest is FINE: rock solid finish and heavy weight (240 g with 21700 battery), it's one of the heaviest one-batt mods. Fire button is not so big but works 100/100, up/down buttons too. Top and bottom:

Nice and solid. Battery bay and cap allow to use even a little oversized battery (e.g. black Shockli 4550).

Display is VERY small, but sharp and quite readable:

Menu system is very quick and responsive.


2. FEATURES.

* power: 120W,
* resistance range: 0.05 - 3 ohm
* modes: VW, Temp, BYPASS, V, CURVE
* battery: 1 x 21700/20700/18650 (18650 with included adapter),
* weight (with battery): 240 g,
* dimensions: 92 x 39 x 28 mm.


3. VW mode.

Voltage shape at 30 W:

PERFECT.
Preheats:

are very small, only a few percent. Fortunately, there is the CURVE mode:

Which is quite original. The intervals are very short and last only 0.125 s, fortunately there are 20 of them, so the total time in which we can control the power is 2.5 seconds. BRILLIANT is that we do not set the power in an absolute way (in Watts) but relatively as a multiplier of the current power setting. So all you need to change the whole power curve is to change main power setting. Nice! Only this voltage peak at the beginning is worrying - it gives much larger power than set which can result in "shooting coil".

Performance:

Perfectly up to 100 W, then restrictions start to work. Anyway, VERY GOOD as for one-batt mod.

Ehpro also has an old-school mode "V" in which we can set VOLTAGE on the coil - it works very precisely:

4. TC mode (SS316).

Dry wick:

The chip quickly realizes that something is wrong and drops voltage below 0.5 s. So the wick gets bronze only a little:

Slightly moist wick (third puff after soaking):

The regulation is quite smooth, with no modulation (as for dry wick).


5. CONCLUSION.

A bit weird in using but very solid mod.

What I LIKE?
* responsive menu system,
* solid build.

What I DISLIKE?
* ergonomy is ... weird.

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