SturmMod by ooSTURMoo is a telescopic mechanical mod for 14500/14650 batteries. It has been on the market since spring '12, and as usual on these devices, there are some differences between versions and batches. SturmMod v1 doesn't have threaded top cap so you have to unscrew it all the way, in order to change the battery. Older devices also have stainless steel inner parts (contacts, spring), while newer ones have brass parts.
My SturmMod v2 - when I bought it second hand on classifieds - had brass negative screw, and everything else was stainless steel. When you disassemble your SturmMod v2 into pieces, you have: 2 battery tubes, threaded top cap with insulated 510-connection, locking ring, button, spring for the button, positive and negative contact screws, and one o-ring which works as an insulation on the negative side. Since SturmMod is telescopic, it allows direct contact on your battery without any "hot springs".
The Looks & The Feel:
SturmMod's diameter is 18mm, and it looks really good with many small rebuildable atomizers - like Penelope, G-Tank, ERA, Spheroid, mini-DID (or Temon) and so on. It also feels very nice in your hand. Since it is telescopic, it has some nice weight and you'll get good grip on it. Build quality and finishing is very nice, and all the threads are working smoothly. Especially locking ring is very pleasant to use, if you give it a little spin it almost locks and unlocks itself. Lower battery tube has fine threading all the way down for the 14500 batteries. That unfortunately also means, that when you screw upper battery tube (which has much shorter threads) all the way down for the 14500 battery, that leaves an area without any threading, and that causes slightly movement between tubes. This is a common issue on other telescopic models also. On 14650-mode that movement is almost non-existant though.
On the 510-connector, the positive screw is adjustable which allows you to use different atomizers, and you always have good contact on them. It has sometimes a little annoying habit to screw together with your atomizer, so you have to leave a room for proper tightening.
Performance:
Since SturmMod has direct contacts and no springs between the battery, it fires relatively well. Like all mechanical mods, SturmMod benefits good maintaining. Keeping the contacts clean all the time means better conductivity and firing. Also any dirt inside the switch should be removed from time to time. I also noticed on my device, that when I cleaned all the threads with alcohol and toothbrush - and then added thing layer of noalox on them, the movement between the tubes decreased quite a lot. The whole structure of the telescope felt more solid and better in 14500 mode, and the difference in firing was significantly better and more steady after that.
The firing button felt too stiff for me at first, and sometimes gave me missfires - I located the problem to that thick o-ring on the lower battery tube. I changed that to thinner one, and button felt much more smoother and more precise after that. After these cleanings and adjustments - SturmMod fired very well.
Conclusion:
As a conclusion, I would say that SturmMod with all it's pros and cons is worth the money if you encounter to it in classifieds. What I have seen, the price is usually hanging aroung 70-90 euros on the european forums. I don't think that there are retailers selling this at the moment, but the modder has he's own corner at the VaporWall, and it is possible to ask his future plans for SturmMod, and possible new batches from there. Of course you have to register to VaporWall first.
Pros and cons:
+ The desing is elegant and nice.
+ Direct contacts without springs.
+ Small size, easy to carry around.
+ Overall build quality.
- You may need to change to o-ring on lower tube.
- Positive screw could be tighter on the 510-connector.
- Movement between the tubes, causing possible voltage loss.
My SturmMod v2 - when I bought it second hand on classifieds - had brass negative screw, and everything else was stainless steel. When you disassemble your SturmMod v2 into pieces, you have: 2 battery tubes, threaded top cap with insulated 510-connection, locking ring, button, spring for the button, positive and negative contact screws, and one o-ring which works as an insulation on the negative side. Since SturmMod is telescopic, it allows direct contact on your battery without any "hot springs".
The Looks & The Feel:
SturmMod's diameter is 18mm, and it looks really good with many small rebuildable atomizers - like Penelope, G-Tank, ERA, Spheroid, mini-DID (or Temon) and so on. It also feels very nice in your hand. Since it is telescopic, it has some nice weight and you'll get good grip on it. Build quality and finishing is very nice, and all the threads are working smoothly. Especially locking ring is very pleasant to use, if you give it a little spin it almost locks and unlocks itself. Lower battery tube has fine threading all the way down for the 14500 batteries. That unfortunately also means, that when you screw upper battery tube (which has much shorter threads) all the way down for the 14500 battery, that leaves an area without any threading, and that causes slightly movement between tubes. This is a common issue on other telescopic models also. On 14650-mode that movement is almost non-existant though.
On the 510-connector, the positive screw is adjustable which allows you to use different atomizers, and you always have good contact on them. It has sometimes a little annoying habit to screw together with your atomizer, so you have to leave a room for proper tightening.
Performance:
Since SturmMod has direct contacts and no springs between the battery, it fires relatively well. Like all mechanical mods, SturmMod benefits good maintaining. Keeping the contacts clean all the time means better conductivity and firing. Also any dirt inside the switch should be removed from time to time. I also noticed on my device, that when I cleaned all the threads with alcohol and toothbrush - and then added thing layer of noalox on them, the movement between the tubes decreased quite a lot. The whole structure of the telescope felt more solid and better in 14500 mode, and the difference in firing was significantly better and more steady after that.
The firing button felt too stiff for me at first, and sometimes gave me missfires - I located the problem to that thick o-ring on the lower battery tube. I changed that to thinner one, and button felt much more smoother and more precise after that. After these cleanings and adjustments - SturmMod fired very well.
Conclusion:
As a conclusion, I would say that SturmMod with all it's pros and cons is worth the money if you encounter to it in classifieds. What I have seen, the price is usually hanging aroung 70-90 euros on the european forums. I don't think that there are retailers selling this at the moment, but the modder has he's own corner at the VaporWall, and it is possible to ask his future plans for SturmMod, and possible new batches from there. Of course you have to register to VaporWall first.
Pros and cons:
+ The desing is elegant and nice.
+ Direct contacts without springs.
+ Small size, easy to carry around.
+ Overall build quality.
- You may need to change to o-ring on lower tube.
- Positive screw could be tighter on the 510-connector.
- Movement between the tubes, causing possible voltage loss.
