Ive had my Provari for a solid day. Im a low wattage person, usually in the neighborhood of 8-10 watts, 10 is pushing it for me.
The Provari P3 is everything people have been saying and if you want a 1 hour long video of my feelings on the P3, PBusardo, the master and reviewer of all things ecig related (this however does NOT mean I want to 'taste his juice'), Phil covers everything I would say except one thing that I would elaborate on, Ill get to this in a moment (see number 8, and my conclusion if you want to jump straight to these).
1. The menu, thankfully, once you configure it, its highly unlikely youll need to change anything so Im ok with the menu. I would like to see the menu more consistent, ie. a back button on every menu option, the menu having the same behaviour in every menu (picking a setting sometimes exits the menu completely, other times it drops you back in the previous menu - depending on the setting).
2. The main display alternates every time you push the button meaning that every time you vape, the main display changes. Weird.
3. Currently, my nautilus is stuck to the beauty ring and Im going to have to pull some pliers out to unattach it.
4. Sub 20 watts, not a complaint for me but for some, it might be. Unfortunately, I think the majority dont frequent ecig forums so there is an outcry that I dont think is warranted, I dont think the majority of vaporers are vaping above 20 watts. I also question the safety of vaping above 20 watts, most 18650 batteries arent rated for that kind of amp pull.
5. Accuracy above 17 watts is questionable. Again, considering these batteries likely arent designed for that kind of pull, I question whether anything on the market is actually pulling high wattage for extended periods of time and doing it safely. Also, since I dont vape above 12 watts ever, this is not an issue.
6. Accuracy below 6 watts is questionable. Considering these batteries are designed to put out a specific voltage, this doesnt surprise me either, that power has to go somewhere and the circuitry to deal with the voltage being put out just doesnt make sense in the form factor of a small pocketable device.
7. Very expensive. Not an issue for me, this will likely be the last battery tube I buy for a very long time unless something really innovative comes along (thermal monitoring of the actual coils to adjust power based on temp rather than resistance feedback would give even more accurate results, but this requires the tank section have electronics as well as the battery portion - this is one example of something I might upgrade for). But, the only innovative thing I have seen in tube mods since the Provari 2 (NOT the 2.5 as some have incorrectly stated, the 2.5 was merely an appearance upgrade) is variable wattage and the Provari P3 finally has that, making it feature complete in my book, it just needs some work on the menu.
8. Another negative no one is mentioning is that upgrades to the firmware have to be performed at a shop. Really inconvenient even for those that live near a vape shop. By the way, the current software version is 3.6 that fixes saving the brightness in your profile settings, mine is currently 3.5, my vape store where I purchased the Provari had no clue what I was talking about when I asked them if they could update the software for me.
All of this having been said, Im a 10 watt vaper, I set the menu options and never looked at it again except to tweak the wattage up from 8-10 which is easy to do, it was worth the cost knowing this would be my final tube mod for a long time, and once the Kayfun 4 comes out, I wont care about my device getting stuck to the Provari so all of the negatives dont really bother me except number 8, which Im hoping Provape will sort something out for those folks that dont live near a retailer (and inform retailers they can and how to update the firmware).
The thing no one is saying about the Provari is the smoothness and accuracy with which it performs. Im reading everywhere about other 'x' devices that do everything the Provari does for half (or more) of the price. This however is not true and if you look at the video of the numbers PBusardo shows when he graphed it, you'll notice that voltage changes are gradual, not massive jumps.
This results in a very consistent, smooth vape both when I initially push the button, all the way through that vape, all the way until the battery is dead, regardless of whether I change the coil / tank or not. Its deadly accurate, deadly consistent, mind you, Im using the Power Boost 3 setting which seems to smooth out the initial 'cold coil' experience at the very beginning of a vape. Phil by the way covers what this feature is so I wont steal his thunder.
The Provari is and continues to be my go to device and the P3 doesnt change that. Im not a fanboy, Im an advanced ecig user that can build coils and sub ohm vape like the best of them. But when I want to actually enjoy vaping (ie. taste the vapor as opposed to burning the liquid), thats the Kayfun and Provari. When someone points me to a device that is as smooth as the Provari experience and a tank that out tastes the Kayfun, Ill look into them. Until then, when I want a quality vape, its the Provari + Kayfun.
The Provari P3 is everything people have been saying and if you want a 1 hour long video of my feelings on the P3, PBusardo, the master and reviewer of all things ecig related (this however does NOT mean I want to 'taste his juice'), Phil covers everything I would say except one thing that I would elaborate on, Ill get to this in a moment (see number 8, and my conclusion if you want to jump straight to these).
1. The menu, thankfully, once you configure it, its highly unlikely youll need to change anything so Im ok with the menu. I would like to see the menu more consistent, ie. a back button on every menu option, the menu having the same behaviour in every menu (picking a setting sometimes exits the menu completely, other times it drops you back in the previous menu - depending on the setting).
2. The main display alternates every time you push the button meaning that every time you vape, the main display changes. Weird.
3. Currently, my nautilus is stuck to the beauty ring and Im going to have to pull some pliers out to unattach it.
4. Sub 20 watts, not a complaint for me but for some, it might be. Unfortunately, I think the majority dont frequent ecig forums so there is an outcry that I dont think is warranted, I dont think the majority of vaporers are vaping above 20 watts. I also question the safety of vaping above 20 watts, most 18650 batteries arent rated for that kind of amp pull.
5. Accuracy above 17 watts is questionable. Again, considering these batteries likely arent designed for that kind of pull, I question whether anything on the market is actually pulling high wattage for extended periods of time and doing it safely. Also, since I dont vape above 12 watts ever, this is not an issue.
6. Accuracy below 6 watts is questionable. Considering these batteries are designed to put out a specific voltage, this doesnt surprise me either, that power has to go somewhere and the circuitry to deal with the voltage being put out just doesnt make sense in the form factor of a small pocketable device.
7. Very expensive. Not an issue for me, this will likely be the last battery tube I buy for a very long time unless something really innovative comes along (thermal monitoring of the actual coils to adjust power based on temp rather than resistance feedback would give even more accurate results, but this requires the tank section have electronics as well as the battery portion - this is one example of something I might upgrade for). But, the only innovative thing I have seen in tube mods since the Provari 2 (NOT the 2.5 as some have incorrectly stated, the 2.5 was merely an appearance upgrade) is variable wattage and the Provari P3 finally has that, making it feature complete in my book, it just needs some work on the menu.
8. Another negative no one is mentioning is that upgrades to the firmware have to be performed at a shop. Really inconvenient even for those that live near a vape shop. By the way, the current software version is 3.6 that fixes saving the brightness in your profile settings, mine is currently 3.5, my vape store where I purchased the Provari had no clue what I was talking about when I asked them if they could update the software for me.
All of this having been said, Im a 10 watt vaper, I set the menu options and never looked at it again except to tweak the wattage up from 8-10 which is easy to do, it was worth the cost knowing this would be my final tube mod for a long time, and once the Kayfun 4 comes out, I wont care about my device getting stuck to the Provari so all of the negatives dont really bother me except number 8, which Im hoping Provape will sort something out for those folks that dont live near a retailer (and inform retailers they can and how to update the firmware).
The thing no one is saying about the Provari is the smoothness and accuracy with which it performs. Im reading everywhere about other 'x' devices that do everything the Provari does for half (or more) of the price. This however is not true and if you look at the video of the numbers PBusardo shows when he graphed it, you'll notice that voltage changes are gradual, not massive jumps.
This results in a very consistent, smooth vape both when I initially push the button, all the way through that vape, all the way until the battery is dead, regardless of whether I change the coil / tank or not. Its deadly accurate, deadly consistent, mind you, Im using the Power Boost 3 setting which seems to smooth out the initial 'cold coil' experience at the very beginning of a vape. Phil by the way covers what this feature is so I wont steal his thunder.
The Provari is and continues to be my go to device and the P3 doesnt change that. Im not a fanboy, Im an advanced ecig user that can build coils and sub ohm vape like the best of them. But when I want to actually enjoy vaping (ie. taste the vapor as opposed to burning the liquid), thats the Kayfun and Provari. When someone points me to a device that is as smooth as the Provari experience and a tank that out tastes the Kayfun, Ill look into them. Until then, when I want a quality vape, its the Provari + Kayfun.
