Crappy Mechanical mods (and the prices I paid for them including shipping)
These are the mods I own with my observations. Note that there are many manufacturers of the same mods and others may not have the same problems mine do. The color of the mod may also play a factor, as explained below. The links of the names are imgur pictures of the mods.
EDIT: I originally had two neme clones listed as crappy since I could not get them to work well with an 18650 battery. I would have to screw out the bottom battery terminal until the grain of rice fell out to make contact. Then I was informed to remove the beauty ring which is an approx. 5mm section used to be able to fit a fuse, and they both work fantastic. So I revised this post to add the two nemes to a Good mod section! And added two other mods I had to make 5 crappy ones.
Smoktech Magnet Bolt Mechanical Mod ($33 on ebay) with 18500 and 18350 extension tubes ($15 on ebay)
I thought that a side button mod would make for more comfortable vaping by not having to reach a finger below the device to activate it, like most mechanical mods. I really liked this one at first since it was indeed much more comfortable and the button worked great. That is, until I put a sub-ohm atomizer on it. After that, it never worked the same. It would fire halfway sometimes, fire full sometimes, and not fire at all sometimes.
I found out that the device has tiny wires running from the atomizer pin to the switch, and from the switch to the battery terminal, and they and the switch are only rated for about 3A. Subohming involves over twice that current, so they were likely damaged from it. You would think the low current rating (the same as most spinner ego-type batteries) would be mentioned in the specs. There are youtube videos which show how to replace the tiny wires and the low-amperage rated switch with more substantial ones, enough to hold 5A, but this would still not be enough. Plus, the process involves taking apart the hot-glued head section and making precision solders, all to gain only two amps. Unless you’re planning to only use atomizers of 1.5 ohms or higher, this device is worthless.
Fasttech Bolt Mechanical Mod ($12 at Fasttech)
This arrived with one of the sections screwed on at about a 10 degree angle, forced into the threads sideways. I removed it with a lot of force, and forced it in correctly despite the now damaged threads. It has the same 3A limitations as the Smok version. I thought I would be able to exchange sections with the Smok Magnet Bolt to be able to make a small low amp mod using an 18350, but they were not compatible. The threads on the Fasttech version are not painted.
JStream Black King I Mechanical Mod ($35 on ebay)
I don’t like to hold bare metal in my hands for long. I prefer painted or otherwise coated mods. This one looks great with the shiny paint job and the hex nuts built into the design, so it does not roll off tables. A minor problem with this mod is that the button rotates freely and you have to constantly turn it clockwise to ensure it, and the spring under it, does not fall off. A major problem with this mod is all the threads are painted. The body of a mechanical mod is the ground return for the battery. If there is not a fully conductive path for the current, it can arc. Since the threads are painted, the current arcs through them, although you cannot see it inside the threads. However, you can FEEL it. It burns your hand at the thread joints. Not only that, but it drops the voltage so much that it seems like your battery is almost dead even when fully charged. It is a really stupid oversight for a company to make. At least there is a solution if you have a dremel and a wire brush wheel and that is to strip the paint from the threads. Note that you have to do it on all the sections on both male and female threads and it takes a good while. Once done, it works fine. At least now I know to look carefully at pictures of disassembled painted mods to ensure the company is not so stupid to paint the threads.
Ehpro Valkyrie Mechanical Mod ($60 at local vape shop)
This is an excellent idea for a mod - build the atomizer into the top of the mod to save space, and it does indeed. The entire device is not too much larger than an 18650 battery. The atomizer head is a little small and there is no well to hold juice, so if you put too much in it, it will leak out the adjustable air slots on the sides. And the top turns too easily so the slots are always closing up, so I put a wrap of electrical tape around the top section to hold it in place. I can easily live with these two problems for the sake of having the smallest 18650 mod. What I can’t live with is that the switch contact is designed poorly so it often does not make full contact. When it does not make full contact, it acts the same as described above with painted threads – it arcs. The metal switch gets too hot to touch within a half second. There are instructions on how to remedy this by disassembling the switch and smearing both switch contacts with petrol jelly or No-Ox-Id, a conductive lubricant paste. For me, this worked okay for a few days, and then it started burning me again. I repeated the remedy, but it no longer worked. I will have to try sanding down the connections a bit since I would like to get it working since it is ideal for traveling light.
Puresmoker Prodigy ($70 from Puresmoker)
I got this years ago when it was released. It was among the first, if not the first, non-DIY 18650 mod. It only works with button top cells, and they must be no wider than 18mm – any wrap at all and it does not fit. The top contact is so incredibly fiddly that it rarely works, but you can take off the top and remove the switch, contact, and the rubber insulators, which fit back like a puzzle, and included a resistor to drop the current by about a half volt since you did not want to overdrive your stick atty with too much power! I used it perhaps 5 times since it so rarely worked. I also had the 14400 version of this which worked even less often.
At least I got one usable mod out of the batch above – the King 1, once I spent the time to Dremel the threads. I have been looking for a black AR mechanical mod. I cannot bring myself to spend almost $200 on a real one, but I have not seen a clone that does not have painted threads.
Decent Mechanical Mods
KEcig K100 Mod ($45 local vape shop)
This telescoping mod looks and feels cheap, especially when fully extended to work with an 18650, but works fine with all batteries. It is unusual in that it includes a cartomizer with a matching cover as shown, which I think is kind of pointless since I doubt many people buy a mechanical mod to use with a regular carto. When extended, I cover the chromed extension with electrical tape to improve the looks and not have to touch the cheap metal. However, everything works fine and it is the most reliable mod I own since it works every time and I don’t have to constantly fiddle with it to keep it from falling apart but since it is so ugly and bulky, I don’t use it often.
King II Mechanical Mod ($21 from Fasttech)
This black matte mod looks good and works well. The threads are not painted. The button on bottom is recessed so handy in that the device can be stood up without activating it, even when it is not locked out, although a bit harder to press since it is recessed. Like the King I, the King II button rotates freely and unscrews so can fall off, and when it is unscrewed just a little, will activate when tailstanding. The lockout is a bit fiddly and tends to unscrew the bottom section too easily.
Good Mechanical Mods
Atmomixani Nemesis Clone ($21 on ebay) and Fasttech Nemesis Mechanical Mod Clone ($19 at Fasttech)
Once I removed the beauty rings so they would work with an 18650 battery without unscrewing the battery terminal so far that the grain of rice pin falls out, these both are excellent. The spring in the Fasttech version is strong enough to prevent it from firing when tailstanding, although the button “catches” more often than on the Atmo and you have to readjust your finger to get it to fire correctly. The finish on both of these mods is so good that the beauty ring sections were invisible until I looked carefully for them.
These are the mods I own with my observations. Note that there are many manufacturers of the same mods and others may not have the same problems mine do. The color of the mod may also play a factor, as explained below. The links of the names are imgur pictures of the mods.
EDIT: I originally had two neme clones listed as crappy since I could not get them to work well with an 18650 battery. I would have to screw out the bottom battery terminal until the grain of rice fell out to make contact. Then I was informed to remove the beauty ring which is an approx. 5mm section used to be able to fit a fuse, and they both work fantastic. So I revised this post to add the two nemes to a Good mod section! And added two other mods I had to make 5 crappy ones.
Smoktech Magnet Bolt Mechanical Mod ($33 on ebay) with 18500 and 18350 extension tubes ($15 on ebay)
I thought that a side button mod would make for more comfortable vaping by not having to reach a finger below the device to activate it, like most mechanical mods. I really liked this one at first since it was indeed much more comfortable and the button worked great. That is, until I put a sub-ohm atomizer on it. After that, it never worked the same. It would fire halfway sometimes, fire full sometimes, and not fire at all sometimes.
I found out that the device has tiny wires running from the atomizer pin to the switch, and from the switch to the battery terminal, and they and the switch are only rated for about 3A. Subohming involves over twice that current, so they were likely damaged from it. You would think the low current rating (the same as most spinner ego-type batteries) would be mentioned in the specs. There are youtube videos which show how to replace the tiny wires and the low-amperage rated switch with more substantial ones, enough to hold 5A, but this would still not be enough. Plus, the process involves taking apart the hot-glued head section and making precision solders, all to gain only two amps. Unless you’re planning to only use atomizers of 1.5 ohms or higher, this device is worthless.
Fasttech Bolt Mechanical Mod ($12 at Fasttech)
This arrived with one of the sections screwed on at about a 10 degree angle, forced into the threads sideways. I removed it with a lot of force, and forced it in correctly despite the now damaged threads. It has the same 3A limitations as the Smok version. I thought I would be able to exchange sections with the Smok Magnet Bolt to be able to make a small low amp mod using an 18350, but they were not compatible. The threads on the Fasttech version are not painted.
JStream Black King I Mechanical Mod ($35 on ebay)
I don’t like to hold bare metal in my hands for long. I prefer painted or otherwise coated mods. This one looks great with the shiny paint job and the hex nuts built into the design, so it does not roll off tables. A minor problem with this mod is that the button rotates freely and you have to constantly turn it clockwise to ensure it, and the spring under it, does not fall off. A major problem with this mod is all the threads are painted. The body of a mechanical mod is the ground return for the battery. If there is not a fully conductive path for the current, it can arc. Since the threads are painted, the current arcs through them, although you cannot see it inside the threads. However, you can FEEL it. It burns your hand at the thread joints. Not only that, but it drops the voltage so much that it seems like your battery is almost dead even when fully charged. It is a really stupid oversight for a company to make. At least there is a solution if you have a dremel and a wire brush wheel and that is to strip the paint from the threads. Note that you have to do it on all the sections on both male and female threads and it takes a good while. Once done, it works fine. At least now I know to look carefully at pictures of disassembled painted mods to ensure the company is not so stupid to paint the threads.
Ehpro Valkyrie Mechanical Mod ($60 at local vape shop)
This is an excellent idea for a mod - build the atomizer into the top of the mod to save space, and it does indeed. The entire device is not too much larger than an 18650 battery. The atomizer head is a little small and there is no well to hold juice, so if you put too much in it, it will leak out the adjustable air slots on the sides. And the top turns too easily so the slots are always closing up, so I put a wrap of electrical tape around the top section to hold it in place. I can easily live with these two problems for the sake of having the smallest 18650 mod. What I can’t live with is that the switch contact is designed poorly so it often does not make full contact. When it does not make full contact, it acts the same as described above with painted threads – it arcs. The metal switch gets too hot to touch within a half second. There are instructions on how to remedy this by disassembling the switch and smearing both switch contacts with petrol jelly or No-Ox-Id, a conductive lubricant paste. For me, this worked okay for a few days, and then it started burning me again. I repeated the remedy, but it no longer worked. I will have to try sanding down the connections a bit since I would like to get it working since it is ideal for traveling light.
Puresmoker Prodigy ($70 from Puresmoker)
I got this years ago when it was released. It was among the first, if not the first, non-DIY 18650 mod. It only works with button top cells, and they must be no wider than 18mm – any wrap at all and it does not fit. The top contact is so incredibly fiddly that it rarely works, but you can take off the top and remove the switch, contact, and the rubber insulators, which fit back like a puzzle, and included a resistor to drop the current by about a half volt since you did not want to overdrive your stick atty with too much power! I used it perhaps 5 times since it so rarely worked. I also had the 14400 version of this which worked even less often.
At least I got one usable mod out of the batch above – the King 1, once I spent the time to Dremel the threads. I have been looking for a black AR mechanical mod. I cannot bring myself to spend almost $200 on a real one, but I have not seen a clone that does not have painted threads.
Decent Mechanical Mods
KEcig K100 Mod ($45 local vape shop)
This telescoping mod looks and feels cheap, especially when fully extended to work with an 18650, but works fine with all batteries. It is unusual in that it includes a cartomizer with a matching cover as shown, which I think is kind of pointless since I doubt many people buy a mechanical mod to use with a regular carto. When extended, I cover the chromed extension with electrical tape to improve the looks and not have to touch the cheap metal. However, everything works fine and it is the most reliable mod I own since it works every time and I don’t have to constantly fiddle with it to keep it from falling apart but since it is so ugly and bulky, I don’t use it often.
King II Mechanical Mod ($21 from Fasttech)
This black matte mod looks good and works well. The threads are not painted. The button on bottom is recessed so handy in that the device can be stood up without activating it, even when it is not locked out, although a bit harder to press since it is recessed. Like the King I, the King II button rotates freely and unscrews so can fall off, and when it is unscrewed just a little, will activate when tailstanding. The lockout is a bit fiddly and tends to unscrew the bottom section too easily.
Good Mechanical Mods
Atmomixani Nemesis Clone ($21 on ebay) and Fasttech Nemesis Mechanical Mod Clone ($19 at Fasttech)
Once I removed the beauty rings so they would work with an 18650 battery without unscrewing the battery terminal so far that the grain of rice pin falls out, these both are excellent. The spring in the Fasttech version is strong enough to prevent it from firing when tailstanding, although the button “catches” more often than on the Atmo and you have to readjust your finger to get it to fire correctly. The finish on both of these mods is so good that the beauty ring sections were invisible until I looked carefully for them.
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