Are mech clones safe?
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Hey, so I am about to receive a couple K100s. I use 2 Ohm cartos in tanks and occasionally 2 or 2.5 ohm coils in protanks, davides and such, currently with a regulated tube mod control head ...essentially a 3.303.7 ohm vapor and don't care to budge from that. I know the mech will take me up to 4.2 on a full charge battery and it happens I know that will be fine for my juice and coils (that I have a huge stock of). I have a few vape safe fuses on hand. Question is -- would the VW variabiliy of a kick give me any benefits at all over the safety fuses? Again, I am not looking to (or even interested in) changing my current vape experience, just moving to durability/coolness of a mech. I know this question was asked in a slightly different context/circumstance, but would appreciate any feedback on my particular situation. cheers
For me, the kick is a big help.
Think of a kick as if you had a Variable Wattage APV (Mod) like the Darwin, or a DNA20d (Opus, Opus D, etc.). This is essentially what you get (tho not quite as powerful)..but there is no fancy screen, buttons, or knobs. It's just a little power regulator button with a little pot you can tune with a small screw driver.
I have accumulated bags of cartos and atties over the months I've been vaping. At the time I purchased lots of this stuff I still had no clue what I would like....so stuff in my vape box is all over the map in terms of resistance.
With the kick, I can use pretty much ALL of it. I simply tune the wattage up or down if needed. This is really nice because different liquid/atty combos can taste/perform better by tweaking this pot.
The kick can BOOST the voltage up to around 6 volts or so. Of course if you use really high settings on a Kick...it'll drain the battery sooner...BUT...many people find that keeping a straight unregulated PV vaping in its 'sweet spot' requires even more frequent battery changes.
Also, if I'm winding my own coils....say I was shooting for a 2 Ohm coil, but it comes out 1.7 or 2.6 instead....no big deal...I just pop it in and use it. The kick will adjust the voltage to compensate (boost or reduce battery power) so that the power (wattage) comes out to whatever I set on the Kick.
I also like that I don't have to be as conscious of my battery level. With a kick, I vape till it stops...and it was the SAME vape with every draw from start to finish. I give the battery a quick inspection and test before popping it in the charger, do the same before popping it back in a PV.
With the bare mech...it's not good to 'vape till it stops'. You never want it to go below 2v or so on an IMR battery. 3.2v under load tends to be the standard in the ecig world for when to pull out an IMR battery and recharge it (Helps the battery take more charge cycles by not dipping much below this). Full battery drain can be dangerous and is likely to totally ruin the battery (reverse polarization). A Kick makes all of this a no brainer.
ICR type batteries are a bit more forgiving when it comes to draining the battery...but they're not safe chemistry (if they vent...they're usually far more explosive than an IMR type) and can't put out as many amps safely as an IMR High Drain type battery. You can NOT use ICR type batteries safely with a Kick (and I personally don't recommend them for a straight APV either).
If you vape on a bare mod (even with a safety fuse)...you MUST be mindful of not letting the battery drain too low. A current fuse or compression spring does NOT protect you from battery overdrain...it only blows if the current goes too high (usually around 7 amps, and of course a hard short will blow it). Your mouth/sense and/or a multi-meter are all you have to go by.
With the bare unregulated APV...a fully charged 3.7v battery is usually around 4.2v...it starts dropping off and the power gradually get weaker.
Experienced mech users sometimes build their coils to work at say 3.8v, but take the battery off the charger early. They also tend to own/carry twice as many batteries as those running some sort of regulation device. Some just live with the 'hot vape' on the fresh battery at first...and enjoy the sweet spot while it lasts.
In short...
Unless you custom build every coil to perfectly suit your preference/tastes, and possibly own a charger that'll let you control when it 'stops charging'...etc...The Kick is serious advantage. Not just for safety, but also for flexibility in how you use the APV and what all you can screw on it and get a very consistent vape.
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if you are interested on the kick you have the advantages and disadvantages of a VW device on the looks of a mech. if you want a mech for it's performance you won't get it from a kick
And the disadvantages of a Kick 2 for a novice Mech owner would be?
The only ones I can think of right now are...
Initial Price ($45 for a genuine Evolv Kick 2)
Limits sub-ohm Vaping to 0.5 Ohms (OP said he owns and likes stuff in the 2 - 3 Ohm range, that'd be a really cool vape on a straight battery...so even a Kick 1 or a Clone works well in that range).
Unless the mod you use has room for a Kick AND an 18650 battery...you'll have to opt for 18490 or 18500 batteries to have room for the kick. While it works with really good quality 18350 batteries in an 18500 space...if you like to tune the kick up a bit don't expect more than a few hours vape time out of an 18350. If you do wan't to use the Kick with an 18350 battery...do some coil matching and experiment...as it might be possible to find a good combo that can milk more good puffs out of such a small battery.
Just for a general idea of what I use as an all day vape with a K100 and Kick.
I pretty much chain vape most of the day. For general use, I use a 2 - 3 Ohm top coil tank (out of the box...little to no tweaking). Two 18500 1600Mah IMR batteries will usually get me through a day. Some days I start on a third (plenty of time in there to recharge the first if you only have two batteries). For these tanks...the wicks don't keep up if I go much higher than 7 watts...and thats a quite nice vape for me if I use a little more nicotine in the juice (I usually use 60/40/18 or 50/50/18 in these type tanks). I really enjoy this set-up when I'm treating my PV more like a pacifier and taking dozens of little toots every few minutes...
On average, in this type of tank, I can go through from 4 to 6 ml of liquid a day with two battery cycles, and sometimes starting on the third cycle if I stay up late or get up really early for some reason.
Advanced Cloud chasers are a whole new breed of Vaper. If you want to use a 55watt atomizer (0.3 Ohms) for making vapor, I personally would skip the liIon type battery and build myself a really nice pass-through that does not use batteries at all. To 'sub-ohm' at 0.3 Ohms all day...you'd definitely want a REALLY NICE charger and a pretty large collection of the best hand selected IMR batteries that money can buy. You'd also probably want to get into mixing your own liquids as well...because those beasts can SUCK DOWN the juice in no time flat. To wet one of these quad coil 55w 0.3 ohm babies down properly and get it 'started', you can easily FILL a vivi nova mini tank.
If you're interested in cloud chasing and huge head buzz type experiences...do go ahead and get some low nic juice! 18mg will knock me off my feet through a big airy atty with lots of coils in it (sub-ohm or not...it's lot of vapor and air with that style of atty).
You might also consider picking up a 5v NIMH battery and charger and winding higher Ohm coils (less stress on the battery for similar wattages).
In short...it can be fun to sit down and tinker with building the perfect FOG making coil every once in a while. You can always pull the Kick out and try it (but please be CAREFUL....STUDY about batteries and Ohms Law and so forth before attempting).
P.S. NEVER skimp on the batteries. These things will be inches from your face. Only buy them from a well trusted PV vendor (very dangerous counterfeits are out there...so don't take a chance on 'cheap batteries').
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You'll pretty much have a nice VW device that has it's limits in ohms ranges, I just went into mech myself 2 weeks ago, that day my VW device went to the drawer, I get an amazing vape at .7 to .8 ohms that I couldn't get with my regulated device, again it is just my preference and everyone is different if you don't care to go out of those ranges then there isn't a disadvantage (besides being a longer device) to the kick, I just think that the kick just defeats the purpose of a mech mod.
Kick 2 can now handle .5ish ohms. At that point it's probably in a by-pass mode and acting more like safety valve in case something goes wrong. For the experienced...probably in the way. For a novice...worthy tech.
One thing I love about mechs is how solid and inexpensive they are, and the type buttons they use. Something like the k100 with that huge pinky button on bottom can be easily vaped without pulling off your work gloves. That's what drew me into them.
thanks for indulging one more question. With a kick in my (k100) mech, I not only get the even volts thru battery cycle, but also BOTH over-drain AND short circut protection, is that right? In other words, no need for a fuse to protect against short circut, the kick does that. Yes? thanks, sorry for caps
No reason for me to ever use a kick as I can tell when the battery is low just by vaping on a device. There is a massive change in performance and thats when I charge her up
Yes the kick will tell you when the battery is low but the vape is constant until that. As far as not getting the same power it goes up to 15 watts that's more than most people would need. You can always get just a fuse it's what $5 or so I think. This is why I tell people who are just starting out or want something more than a ego just get a VV-VW device and stick with that. If you add up the price of the mech mod + kick you probably paid as much as a VV-VW device anyway.imho
Whelp, I'm happy to report that I'm sitting here typing this to you while vaping away on my nemesis clone and haven't blown my face off yet. I love the nemesis and M16 clone I got and the fuses seems to be working fine. I am very close to buying a kick 2 but wanted to make sure I liked the mechs before I dropped that much money.
Thanks for everyones feedback!!
Thanks for everyones feedback!!
Kind of...
The genuine Evolv Kick 2 does a MUCH better and more efficient job of PWM than alot of the lower end devices out there. It can also handle a wider range of resistances.
And you can easily move it around from device to device.
Did a little searching and came up blank so here goes. My buddy and I were discussing this and I wanted to get some feedback because I will be the first to say I have no experience and know all but the basics about mechs. This is NOT being posted to discuss morality or "you get what you pay for". Simply put, are they as safe as the real deal. From what I understand mechs, when treated wrong, can be way more dangerous that regulated mods, even with protected li-ion and "safe chemical" batteries. That being said, I've seen some pretty high end mechs like the M16 and the Nemesis claim to use things like silver, brass, and gold in them to make conduction perfect. While I don't own any clones, I would highly doubt that for a major fraction of the cost (29.99 for a Nemesis from fasttech vs $175 from Atomomixani) you are getting the same build quality. Has anyone run tests on a clone if you own one to test the conductivity vs the real deal? Is the build quality the same for things like the buttons and threads? More importantly, if these things are all sub-par, would you consider them safe to use (yea i know vaping isn't 100% safe anyway, but you get my drift).
Thanks for indulging my late night thinking andon fellow
No they arnt safe! They'll blow your wang off, set you on fire, after sleeping with your wife, stealing your car, and corrupting your kids. Support non-counterfeit mod makers and divine spirts will bless you with a longer life, fatter bank account, and you'll instantly look 10 years younger. This is not an opinion. These are hard-core tried and true factual information.
My EHPro came in today
What I like about it is all the heavy duty parts including brass negative post, brass switch that can be taken apart and cleaned, nice threading of very thick and solid stainless steel, thick delrin insulators and a floating brass center pin with a large disc on the end as a positive contact. Installed a 510 to Ego adapter (does not need it but I can strip the threads/break the atty off and just screw another one in) Grabbed my Kamry self-resetting 7 amp breaker disc on the AW IMR 18490 battery and fired up that 1.8 ohm coil in the Aro pyrex tank.
Great vape! The self resetting breaker disc, AW IMR battery, locking switch, three vent holes and solid stainless steel construction give me the level of safety I demand. I had a Kamry K100 and did not like that the switch would hit the breaker disc causing wear. I then loaded it on the positive end--then dropped the thing about 4 feet on cement right on the tail switch. Didn't hurt the switch but smashed the end of the battery from the hard hit. With the EHPro, the battery is not used as part of the switching system so a large safety improvement there.
After that fun with crushing batteries, I now avoid any tail switch mods--even the $300 ones can be battery crushers when dropped. The additional benefit about the pinkie switch besides not crushing batteries is it prevents the mod from rolling off my bench in the garage and slamming into the cement floor in the first place. It sure is much more stable standing on end without a switch there so gets a thumbs up from me.
So as far as "safe" mods go, the GG, Electric Angel or EHPro mods with locking pinkie switches, venting and robust construction WHEN used with a breaker/fuse/kick and high drain batteries get the nod from me. Just throwing that out there...
What I like about it is all the heavy duty parts including brass negative post, brass switch that can be taken apart and cleaned, nice threading of very thick and solid stainless steel, thick delrin insulators and a floating brass center pin with a large disc on the end as a positive contact. Installed a 510 to Ego adapter (does not need it but I can strip the threads/break the atty off and just screw another one in) Grabbed my Kamry self-resetting 7 amp breaker disc on the AW IMR 18490 battery and fired up that 1.8 ohm coil in the Aro pyrex tank.
Great vape! The self resetting breaker disc, AW IMR battery, locking switch, three vent holes and solid stainless steel construction give me the level of safety I demand. I had a Kamry K100 and did not like that the switch would hit the breaker disc causing wear. I then loaded it on the positive end--then dropped the thing about 4 feet on cement right on the tail switch. Didn't hurt the switch but smashed the end of the battery from the hard hit. With the EHPro, the battery is not used as part of the switching system so a large safety improvement there.
After that fun with crushing batteries, I now avoid any tail switch mods--even the $300 ones can be battery crushers when dropped. The additional benefit about the pinkie switch besides not crushing batteries is it prevents the mod from rolling off my bench in the garage and slamming into the cement floor in the first place. It sure is much more stable standing on end without a switch there so gets a thumbs up from me.
So as far as "safe" mods go, the GG, Electric Angel or EHPro mods with locking pinkie switches, venting and robust construction WHEN used with a breaker/fuse/kick and high drain batteries get the nod from me. Just throwing that out there...
Aren't you supposed to put the fuse on the negative end and not on the top?
I have been vaping on my Hcigar Nemesis clones for the past few months with no noticeable problems. I am pretty satisfied with the build quality for the price I paid.
Although I am happy with my Nemesis clone I have been eyeing on the Nzonic v4 and really considering in buying my first non clone mechanical mod.
Although I am happy with my Nemesis clone I have been eyeing on the Nzonic v4 and really considering in buying my first non clone mechanical mod.
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For me the question of safety on 1:1 clones is not due to the mechanics if it's built right. I am more concerned about the materials that are used while making the mods. I worry about lead in the brass components and heavy metals and such. I can never find statements about the quality of stainless steel or brass being used. My mods are glued to my hands all the time and one of the reasons I quit smoking was for health reasons.
Not all brass contains lead. C464 (naval brass) has no lead and does not tarnish easily.
Somehow I think the whole scare over lead in brass has gotten way out of hand. The lead in brass water fitting was reduced due to EPA regulations, but water lines are a spacial case (they carry a slight current that slowly leaches stuff out. It's called galvanic corrosion, the conditions a mech are exposed to are nothing in comparison (it takes years and years of constant exposure before brass water fittings really start to degrade.). You'll probably get more lead in your system eating fish than from carrying a brass mech.
Somehow I think the whole scare over lead in brass has gotten way out of hand. The lead in brass water fitting was reduced due to EPA regulations, but water lines are a spacial case (they carry a slight current that slowly leaches stuff out. It's called galvanic corrosion, the conditions a mech are exposed to are nothing in comparison (it takes years and years of constant exposure before brass water fittings really start to degrade.). You'll probably get more lead in your system eating fish than from carrying a brass mech.
Quite frankly, you'd probably be able to carry the mech around 24/7 in your armpit for a few years without seeing any detrimental effects (if any). I'd be leery of vaping on a rebuildable that had brass components in direct contact with juice, but just on the mech itself? No concerns.
IF there is any lead in the brass, it doesn't just magically jump out of the mech into your bloodstream.
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