A newb review of the Vamo/HC ego APV

(Sorry for crap photos, but didn't have time for better ones over the weekend and these are my "Woohoo here's my new shiney" ones taken in my office when I first got it.
Ego-T 400, 900 and Vamo with SD v3 (18650 mode), 900 ego-t with SD V3 and Vamo with Vivi STV (18350 mode)

So I've had the Vamo (from ecigmodshop) for 3 days now. It was a pretty social weekend too, wedding on Saturday and free concert at MONA on Sunday. Here's my quick thoughts on the Vamo/ HC ego APV after usage over the weekend.

No previous experience required

As a bit of background I've been vaping for almost 3 months now (at the time of writing this). My standard rig has been an ego-T battery (of varying capacity ) with Stardust V2 and V3s (generally 2.4 ohm). So this is my first Variable Voltage/Wattage (vv/vw) mod.

Build quality

The unit is heavy compared to a ego-T battery and a lot bigger, but it certainly feels very solid. Chrome plating is consistent throughout, even on the threads and grooves. Threads are good and smooth, something that often is indicative of a "cheap Chinese" built product compared to a "good Chinese" build and I've had no issues putting in clearo's, putting on the extension tube or putting on the cap. Button action is good and positive and there's no play in the buttons. I'd read that people didn't like the rubber covered buttons but they feel fine to me.


The LCD screen is nice and clear and the numbers are large enough to be easily seen. That being said some of the symbols (e.g. V, ohms, W) are a little small and my old eyes ain't what they used to be and when I first got it I had to pull out my reading glasses to see what symbols were actually being displayed. It uses a blue backlight and is easy to view both day and night. If I had to be picky there's the smallest amount of movement in the little plastic window that covers the screen but it's pretty minimal.

The unit will take 1 X 18350 ( length - 105mm ) , 2 X 18350 and 1 x 18650 (length - 135mm ) by utilising an extension tube. So there's some flexibility there. I primarily purchased it to run in the shorter 1 X 18350 mode. You need to use unprotected batteries in this mod.

Note that there are a number of versions of this unit doing the rounds. The first units MAY be prone to short circuiting with flat top batteries be.comse there's no gasket on the top battery connector. Mine came with a gasket so hopefully all good. Something to look out for though if you purchase one.

Ohms, Volts, Watts

Those of you who might have been bored enough to read some of my Gadgeteer reviews will know that my reviews don't tend to be that technical, for me it's more about experience. That being said, when I first got it work productivity took a big dive for an hour or so as I fiddled around with all the setting to see what was available. I tried all my different clearos with different heads in them to see what resistance they would show compared to what they were supposed to be (there was quite a bit of variance and I found it depended on a whole heap of factors including how tight the replaceable heads are screwed on, how tight the clearo is screwed in....) , mucked around with all the other settings and generally had a bit of fun. There's certainly a lot more you can do with this than an ego-T battery.

In the end though, it's set to RMS mode ( supposedly safer for a newb) and constant power and that's about it. The only button sequences I now use are:

• -/+ buttons to vary the power
• long press - button to get battery power left
• long press + button to see clearo resistance ( just for fun, not really that useful )
• Oh and of course the big button to get a vape and turn the unit on and off. When you do vape nothing lights up it just vapes and it cuts out after 10 seconds.

Two things of note:

• When you put a battery in the screen flashes a couple of times however your unit isn't on at this stage and you have to quickly press the power button 5 times to turn the unit on (it does display "ON" when you do this ). Similarly 5 quick presses will display "OFF" and turn your mod off.
• Voltage or Power settings infinitely scroll. You can actually go up from 15.0 W to 3 W in one step and more "dangerously" down from 3W to 15 W so you do have to be a bit careful if you press the button a few too many times. It might have been a bit better if you stopped at 3 going down and stopped at 15 going up.

Usage

So I've tried it with a number of clearos now. Vivi Mini Novas, Vivi STV , Stardust V2 ,Stardust V3 and even a Smok Tech Shorty (pimple, pumpkin). Once thing to note with the SD V3s is that the connector ring disappears down into the recessed connector hole. I actually had one V3 where when I tried to remove it rather than the connector turning, the tank came loose instead and e-juice pissed everywhere. I then had to use the head post to remove the SD. So either make sure the tank connector is done up tightly enough or you don't screw the V3 clearo down too tight

If I get semi-technical here, using a 3.3V ego-T battery and a 2.4 ohm clearo I've been getting 4.54W of power ( maybe less based on the resistance readings from the Vamo) and given the fixed nature of the battery that's it. What I've found with the Vamo is that I get a better vapor and a better flavour with most of my juices at around 5.0 - 5.5v. Any more and it tastes burnt. With my JW maple rum though , which I've never really been happy with in terms of vapor or flavour, 6.0 seems to be my sweet spot for this juice.

Battery Life
The reason I want with the Vamo was be.comse I could run it in 18350 mode making it smaller but still have the flexibility of 18650 mode. It looks like the AW IMR18350 700 mAh will last me around 3/4 of a day but obviously battery life is going to depend on your personal vaping habits and what power you run the unit at. Think I might invest in an 18650 battery as well just for flexibility though it does make the unit quite a bit longer. YMMV

Conclusion
For the price ($39.com from ecigmodshop) I'm really happy with the unit as my first mod. I was tossing around the idea of a couple of Ego Twists, but this unit will I suspect be much more flexible in the long run and the price for the mod itself is comparable to a couple of Twists. The batteries and charger I needed to purchase can obviously be used with other mods later on down the track.

As I say, all the technical things that it does doesn't really matter to me. The fact that it's easy to operate and that I can up or down the power to give me better vapor or flavour is exactly what I was looking for.

That being said, it won't be my only vaping gear. It's just a bit too large to be truly mobile to me. For the wedding on Saturday I just went back to a 400mAh ego-T with an SD. More than enough juice and power to see me through the wedding and easily thrown into my pocket (even though I'd had a few too many red wines and there were heaps of smokers there I didn't succumb )

For the MONA concert however I had my gadget bag with me full of camera gear, food, etc and my Vamo just sat in the front pocket ready for a vape.

For me it's definitely a complimentary product to the ego-T gear and it becomes a compromise between "flexibility" and size. So if you're a newb like me don't be worried that by buying this mod you'll have wasted your money on your starter kits, there's definitely a place for both.

 

Hey Limbot,
Great review.

Im glad you bought a Variable voltage as your first mod,
I think they are the way to go.

I agree with you when you basically say you cant bring it everywhere,
Such as the wedding.

I pretty much bring my mod out everywhere except for when I go out of a night,
But cant wait to get back home and bring up the volts haha.

And the price for this unit seems out of this world,
Sounds like a great buy mate.
Good stuff

 

nice review, give it a few years vaping and you wont care what peeps think, i wander shopping centres with a provari, genesis atty and a stand on the bottom, suck away with people watching but sort of stealth exhale if anyones peeking or blow clouds if not.

one question, is this really an OLED as everyone says, it looks like a dedicated LCD to me..

 

Stoney

It's not an embarrassment issue, I walked around the concert vaping with the Vamo, it's more a logistic issue of having such a big/heavy mod to carry around though normally I would have a "man-bag" with me anyway

In terms of the OLED/LCD I was just going off the Health Cabin site and other info I found around the web but I think you're correct, it is LED as I can see the segments to make up an 8 on the lhs of the screen. Review amended

 

Haha I totally do the same,
When im going up and down the aisles,sometimes plooming sometimes stealthing.

 

Yeah exactly,
If im at a bar or something of a night,
I much prefer bringing along something smaller to put in my pocket