Just thought i'd get a thread up about what I started with all those years ago and where I am now, and all the ones in between!
* Liberro Realis - Oct 2011. Whilst it would never cut it from my current demands of vaping equipment, I have to give this a shout out, as it has a very special place in my heart. This was the first foray into vaping, and my first ever draw on an eCig was from this.. So whilst outdated and underperfoming today, it is special to me
* Lavatube - Jan 2012. My first VV mod! When I think back it's so antiquated and basic compared to what we have now, and bloody expensive then too! I'll always remember bunging a 510 full of Pink Spot's Raspberry Lemonade on it! Build quality was poor though - I had three replacements and towards the end, the third was held together with chemical metal, araldite and hope.
* Bolt - July 2012. What can you say about the bolt? it's just a piece of ally, bunged in a lathe and threaded! Was my first mechanical actually, liked how it worked with a 306 bunged on it, but I guess the gadget lover in me doesn't have much love for anything without a PCB and a chipset! I know I miss out on some of the nicer mechs out there, but I just can't warm to anything without electronics. Perhaps it's the Engineer in me!
* SMOK VV Gripper - July 2012. Singularly the most poorly made mod I've ever had the misfortune to own, loved the form factor, *hated* the poor design and quality of it.
It's devices like this that give the vaping world a bad name in respects of quality and consistency. How this left the factory with Quality Control and so on, is beyond me. And how eCigwizard could punt it for so long is disappointing.
* SMOK zMax October 2012 - LOVED this mod, was my first nicely made VV mod and I really liked the shiny aspect, along with the cool blue 7 segment LCD display, build quality? Not the best really, funky switch, wobbly top and so on. It died a dramatic death and is kicking around in my drawer somewhere.
*Sigelei OLED zMax V3(?) Jan 2013 - - this was an odd one, I only had it for a couple of weeks, the top was unscrewable, but the wires connected to the 510 weren't long enough to allow it to be unscrewed! Bizarre! JuiceShop changed it for me quickly for my next device... Which was...
*Sigelei OLED zMax Telescope Jan 2013 - ran this one on and off for a few months, and liked it, my first telescoping mod, was really nicely made, but had problems towards the end where it kept returning a "low load" condition.
*Joyetech eVic - Jan 2013. The perils of shiny and gadgets. I was swayed with this, it was nice conceptually, but in execution? Not so much. Some nice novel ideas (i'm all for pushing the envelope) but the build quality wasn't up to much. Liked the jog wheel (put me in mind of the Sony mobile phones I had as a kid!) but didn't like the limited output range and always felt it was just an eGo with a push up bra, and a leather miniskirt. Didn't do a lot for me really.
* Vamo V3.0 - Jan 2013. What can I say? The undisputed. The titan. The king of low cost, high quality (such a rare balance...) VV mods. I bought this, and was blown away, it's so bloody solid - I've been using it non stop on and off for a year. It's a tank and I love it.
* Vamo V5.0 OLED - I got this from Fasttech for much cheapness, it's an evolution of the previous Vamos and it's a nice evolution. I like the quicker response the updated chipset gives - one criticism of my Vamo was the latency issues between firing and it outputting its signal. This cures that. I like the stainless steel aspect too, and how it is a little bit prettier with the random, machined grooves in the body. Also, removable top ring for cleaning = much better.
So that's my mod history. I also have two in the post, so I might have to bust out the Nikon and get some nice, studio shots of my new toys!
Thanks for reading - Nik x