Okeedokie, I now have two nice new shiny DSE701's.
One I picked from a local supplier as a backup to one I purchased roughly 2 months ago from the same guy (flea market). The other I picked up at BigBixStore.com for $24 bucks IIRC.
Both are identical to my original and each other. All three came in a presentation box, lined with foam. Each came with 5 pre-filled carts, two 10440 Lithium-ion rechargable batts, charger w/ US adapter, instructions (Chinglish), and a little QC card with the model number on it.
To start with, all three have been tested and function. The first one has been in use for about 2 months and is still running strong. Runs smooth with a nice even easy drag. The others have only been in use for a few hours since I picked them up around noon.
The cart filler is glued into the carts. The carts are attached by crewing them onto the cigar body. The white section of the cart freely rotates on the whistle-type mouthpiece and is a snap on fit. The carts have screw on covers which seal on a o-ring near the ends of the mouthpiece threads. This o-ring also insures that the cart won't back-leak onto the user when its attached to the cigar. The cart and its cover fit inside a wood grain bullet shaped carrier.
The battery end of the cigar has a clear, knurled cover with a brass threaded section. Its hollow and contains no functional parts. The LED is inside the cigar body and is EXTREMELY difficult to see outdoors or in well-lit areas. In lower light, the led is visible through the cover and through a small hole near the end of the cigar. This is a sort of witness hole for viewing the LED status light and, if you push a pin into it, is used to manually engage the atty for cleaning.
The cigar bodies are metal with a painted on wood grain finish similar in pattern to the allen wrench assembled furniture you see at Wal-mart. At a distance, it could possibly be mistaken for a cigar but at close range it looks like your sucking on a dowel rod with brass rings.
As far as function goes, my first one broke-in in less than a day or so. The two new ones are just starting to settle in. Vapor production from my original is astonishingly good and almost up to 601 e-pipe level with excellent flavor. The newer ones aren't bad in the vapor area right now but nowhere near the broken-in one. All three came with the standard level of primer in the attys which took about 20 mins to fully eliminate.
As for factory cart flavors....some might like it but to me it's horrid stuff. Rinsing and cleaning carts with glued in filler ain't easy and it would appear that these carts are good candidates for fish tank filter foam. The carts have plenty of room and should keep a heavy vaper going for at least an hour or two. I'm not a chain vaper most of the time, but I use them often. They take me around 5 hours to dry out.
The batteries last me approximately 3-5 hours depending on intensity of use. They only take approximately 30-45 mins to charge.
If you are looking for a cheap PV and don't have the bucks for a mod, these would probably suit you. Considering that the one I got from BigBox was only $24, it isn't all that bad. Downside to any order from a Chinese site is the shipping. It's like $15-20. Since I ordered a cigar, another e-pipe, a cheapo camera, MP3 player, and a few LED computer lights, the price of shipping doesn't seem so bad. Another downside is that it takes a while to get to ya. Ordered on 12/20/09 and received today (1/5/10). They also didn't seem to take much time with packaging, just cramming everything into a box without much to protect it aside from a wadded up handfull of bubble wrap. Nothing was dented or beat up and everything worked so I guess I shouldn't gripe.
Hope this helps.
One I picked from a local supplier as a backup to one I purchased roughly 2 months ago from the same guy (flea market). The other I picked up at BigBixStore.com for $24 bucks IIRC.
Both are identical to my original and each other. All three came in a presentation box, lined with foam. Each came with 5 pre-filled carts, two 10440 Lithium-ion rechargable batts, charger w/ US adapter, instructions (Chinglish), and a little QC card with the model number on it.
To start with, all three have been tested and function. The first one has been in use for about 2 months and is still running strong. Runs smooth with a nice even easy drag. The others have only been in use for a few hours since I picked them up around noon.
The cart filler is glued into the carts. The carts are attached by crewing them onto the cigar body. The white section of the cart freely rotates on the whistle-type mouthpiece and is a snap on fit. The carts have screw on covers which seal on a o-ring near the ends of the mouthpiece threads. This o-ring also insures that the cart won't back-leak onto the user when its attached to the cigar. The cart and its cover fit inside a wood grain bullet shaped carrier.
The battery end of the cigar has a clear, knurled cover with a brass threaded section. Its hollow and contains no functional parts. The LED is inside the cigar body and is EXTREMELY difficult to see outdoors or in well-lit areas. In lower light, the led is visible through the cover and through a small hole near the end of the cigar. This is a sort of witness hole for viewing the LED status light and, if you push a pin into it, is used to manually engage the atty for cleaning.
The cigar bodies are metal with a painted on wood grain finish similar in pattern to the allen wrench assembled furniture you see at Wal-mart. At a distance, it could possibly be mistaken for a cigar but at close range it looks like your sucking on a dowel rod with brass rings.
As far as function goes, my first one broke-in in less than a day or so. The two new ones are just starting to settle in. Vapor production from my original is astonishingly good and almost up to 601 e-pipe level with excellent flavor. The newer ones aren't bad in the vapor area right now but nowhere near the broken-in one. All three came with the standard level of primer in the attys which took about 20 mins to fully eliminate.
As for factory cart flavors....some might like it but to me it's horrid stuff. Rinsing and cleaning carts with glued in filler ain't easy and it would appear that these carts are good candidates for fish tank filter foam. The carts have plenty of room and should keep a heavy vaper going for at least an hour or two. I'm not a chain vaper most of the time, but I use them often. They take me around 5 hours to dry out.
The batteries last me approximately 3-5 hours depending on intensity of use. They only take approximately 30-45 mins to charge.
If you are looking for a cheap PV and don't have the bucks for a mod, these would probably suit you. Considering that the one I got from BigBox was only $24, it isn't all that bad. Downside to any order from a Chinese site is the shipping. It's like $15-20. Since I ordered a cigar, another e-pipe, a cheapo camera, MP3 player, and a few LED computer lights, the price of shipping doesn't seem so bad. Another downside is that it takes a while to get to ya. Ordered on 12/20/09 and received today (1/5/10). They also didn't seem to take much time with packaging, just cramming everything into a box without much to protect it aside from a wadded up handfull of bubble wrap. Nothing was dented or beat up and everything worked so I guess I shouldn't gripe.
Hope this helps.