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Back in June last year I wrote an article for Wicked Worldwide News about why the eVic was my favourite VV e-cigarette. The main drive of the narrative hoped to convey why the eVic was an electronic cigarette engineer’s dream. I still feel this is the case, but as ever when writing these articles, there was quite a lot in the back of my mind that I couldn’t talk about. Aside from being right in the middle of final coil and wick specification for the Odyssey RCS, completion of the Odyssey VV embodiment design was very near. There was never any intention of making it anything like an eVic. What we aspired to making was the vaper’s dream rather than that of an engineer, and we are now very close to finding out just how well we did.

There were a few immovable points in the Odyssey VV design specification, and it may surprise some that the first was “no bells, no whistles”. However advanced we made the technology within the device, it had to be more intuitive to use than the market leaders: no menus, no special screens, no puff counters, just necessary features and no more. Additionally it needed to be solid, not just mechanically, but also in electrical performance. This meant a true direct current output, and one that within the bounds of its performance envelope delivered the requested voltage whatever atomizer was fitted. We wanted to make it not only robust, but also designed so that the circuitry and battery were protected from damage should the device get dropped or mishandled. Finally, we needed the aesthetics and ergonomics not just to be attractive, but to fit with the small but growing range of Odyssey products.

So just how simple did we manage to make it? The only controls are the power button and the voltage adjuster ring. To turn the Odyssey VV on, just turn the voltage adjuster all the way to the top of its travel, then turn it all the way down, and all the way back up again. 5 slow flashes of the LED show that it has powered up. It will boot up in “Blue” mode, showing a blue LED, with the bottom of the voltage adjustment giving 3.0V, and incrementing across 7 positions in 0.1V increments to 3.6V. This isn’t any ordinary 3.6V, as it will be delivered consistently even to low resistance atomizers. Many VV devices we have tested only put out 3.6V into 1.5 ohm atomizers when they are set as high as 4.5V. Onwards and upwards in voltage is achieved by pressing the power button 4 times in rapid succession, and going into “Green” mode. The voltage now ranges from 3.7 to 4.2V, and with a “solid” 4.2V most testers have so far found Blue and Green to be the only ranges they need.

Of course as there are VV devices on the market with 6V and 18 watt output, we weren’t about to be trumped, and 5 button presses takes the Odyssey VV into “Red” mode, which goes from 4.15 to 6V in 6 increments. In the couple of months I’ve been testing I haven’t found any need for it, but it’s there and provides solid performance for high resistance configurations that people might be putting into their rebuildable tanks. Stepping into any mode just requires rapid button presses, 3 for blue, 4 for green, 5 for red. Finally to turn off, turn the voltage adjuster to its lowest position, then all the way up and all the way down again. 5 quick flashes of the LED denotes the Odyssey VV is in standby.

Engineer’s hat back on again, here is a quick guided tour of the device we have developed over the last 11 months. The battery cap contains a spring that turned out to be a little more work than anticipated. To carry the current required in a “20 watt plus” VV device we had to move away from the steel springs we generally use, and designed a one-off spring made from phosphor bronze that meets all our mechanical and high electrical current requirements. The 18650 battery is housed in a steel tube that protects both battery and circuitry from damage in the unfortunate event the device is dropped, so no more dented positive terminals as with most 18650 devices. At the top of this tube is a complicated structure that carries the encoder PCB and voltage adjuster ring, which is another story in itself.

How do you attach two hollow cylindrical components to one another in-line, and have a rotating ring between them that actuates a centrally disposed encoder? The three screws on the outside of the Odyssey VV control head make a very involved piece of precision engineering look a lot easier than it actually was, as they screw into some intricate machining. That simple looking knurled ring is the outer extremity of another fine tolerance component that was almost as big a feat of design as it was production. It is no coincidence that the reason the Japanese lathes we use to make these parts bear the name of the Swiss watch manufacturer Citizen; they liked the lathes so much they bought the company. We used that machining capability to its limits.

The control head houses the switch button and the PCB in a pair of specially moulded carriers, one of which also forms the window for the LED indicators. The PCB is attached via soldered wires to a high quality 510 connector, which is yet again of bespoke design and intended to last the full life of the device. Finally, the guided tour ends with the plinth, perhaps the least exciting part of the Odyssey VV in engineering terms, but yet again another one-off design, with the biggest challenge being the production of the signature “scallop” design feature of the Odyssey.

Some have questioned why the Odyssey VV was never developed as a variable wattage device. It really comes back to the “no bells, no whistles” approach; what we wanted to make was a high-performance e-cigarette with eGo Twist usability. Whilst VW has some appeal when switching between atomizers, it doesn’t actually do anything that VV cannot do. We didn’t want to lose the ability to search for an ideal voltage intuitively – just by “turning the dial”. And whilst I’m not certain it’s a unique feature, there aren’t many top-end VV devices where you can twiddle the dial to find the “sweet spot” mid-vape. We hope this will be just one of the features you’ll love about the Odyssey VV. It has been a monumentally ambitious project, far more than we probably realised at its inception, but we are really proud of the outcome. A solid, dependable and high-quality e-cigarette that is as comfortable and easy to use as it is outstanding in performance.