Hurray, was totally surprised my mod arrived today 9 calendar days after shipping. I kept tracking it on the site in Portugal and it kept saying dispatched. Showed up at my door with no notice.
I wanted to love this mod, but I don't. I do like it but it has some flaws.
When it arrived no button. Say what, yes it was open on the top and then I looked inside and there was a button. Huh, never seen the like, no instruction book. So I sat scratching my head then I figured it out. Turns out that you insert the battery in the top then the magnetic button goes on top and when it hits the side it makes contact.
The Box itself is very thick sturdy wood. Very finely crafted, with some good weight behind it. I believe it will survive a fall to concrete with just a scratch or dent. This is one of the most thick walled solid boxes I've seen. Tomorrow I'll measure and weigh it so you can get the right dimensions. Finish is just perfect almost too perfect like plastic.
It looks really nice and is very short and compact once I got used to it I found it very ergonomically correct. The Juice Tubes are extra wide and juice squeezes up effortlessly like a champ.
It took some experimenting around until I found the best way to vape on it I've edited this out so look at the post below
Inside, Yes I know you are all anxious to see the inside.
1st The Bottle- The bottle seems permanently attached to the brass tube. Unfortunately I don't have this size bottle so for the moment I'm stuck with just the one. A ring of brass either goes through the rubber tube or is holding it in. I'm not sure. But it looks like the rubber hose is permanently attached. On the bright side the tube is extra thick and there is very little excess.
As mentioned above, the Minotaur Gaia is squonking like a champ with very little pressure.
To change bottles you have to unscrew the top while it's still attached to the unit and can be a little messy. PITA
When I screw in the Reomizer 2 the whole inside assembly may move and a potential to twist out the wires seems to exist.
Unfortunately the battery is not tightly seated and there is a rattle if you shake the APV.
Also if I really want to be nitpicky the bottle is crooked.
Seems that learning the ins and outs of the Minotaur is taking some time. I was noticing leaking when I squonked. Turns out that I have to have the Reomizer 2 Very tightly screwed in. One flaw is that there is no space in the catch cup between the Reomizer 2 and the Cup, I believe that if liquid drips out the air hole in the Reomizer 2 that it goes down the side instead of the catch cup. I drilled the hole larger which makes it prone to sputtering an leakage. I have a normal Reo Top so I'll check it again
I've had some liquid leak down side and I'm trying to figure out why.
I also had the Reomizer 2 stop working, I had the pin very far out on it and it may have pushed the pin in the unit down. I did the following. I recessed the Reomizer 2 pin to a normal height and I used a screw driver and unscrewed the pin on the Minotaur. This did the trick. This is a nice feature of the Minotaur that you can screw and unscrew the pin, so you don't have to worry about a recessed Pin.
The bottom prong is not very wide and doesn't always make contact. Seems I have to push very hard on button to make connection. The jury is out on this.
On the subject of batteries. All of my flat top batteries fit and work. Although I'm going to have to double check the compatibility. I had problem with the Panasonic Hybrid cgr18650ch making contact, but it may have been just that I didn't push button hard enough.
By the way I dont' have a volt tester so I tested the unit with my multimeter. I took a open Reomizer 2 and set the Multimeter for 9v battery, then I put the leads on each post and pushed button I'm not sure how accurate my measurements are but I suspcect that my results are close. I used a Nemesis Clone [True Mechanical ]as the Control Unit and results on Nemesis Clone seemed consistent with previous experience and testing. I'm going to redo the tests once I have a 510 Voltage Tester
Minotaur
Ohms .43
Panasonic NCR18650PD Fully Charged .8 V-Drop
Sony 30 Amp Battery Fully Charged .7V-Drop
Panasonic NCR18650 at 3.8V .67 Vdrop
Control
New Nemesis Clone
Panasonic NCR18650PD Fully Charged .54 V-Drop
Sony 30 Amp Battery Fully Charged ..37V-Drop
Panasonic NCR18650 at 3.8V .38 Vdrop
I seem to have a talent for encountering flaws. The Minotaur has a dangerous one. When I was testing and removing RBA while holding my metal nemesis by accident it brushed the outside metal button and the catch cup at the same time. Wham it sparked. Then I duplicated it by taking a screw driver and touching catch cup and button at same time. Wham it sparked. Hard Short. For safety the catch cup should be delrin or the top of the button coated with nonconductive material. The potential to short this APV while in a pocket with change or a key ring exists.
So initial impression. The Minotaur is a mediocre Mod. Resistance is not up to levels of a true mechanical. It has design flaws too.
On the other hand it's easy on the eyes and in a week once I'm used to it, my opinion may change. It does have a really nice look to it!!
Looking forward to it.
