No, I'm not a Provari hater. I've had a 2.5 model for over 3 years now and it has only recently starting having problems. Considering how many times it's been dropped it has proven to be an excellent piece of equipment. That's the big reason I jumped on the P3 bandwagon a couple months ago. Soon after they dropped the price to 199 I ordered one. I waited with great anticipation to get my hands on a reliable and well built unit that would allow me to go to 5.5 amps and 20 watts and could do sub-ohm as well. The day arrived and like a kid on Christmas morning I opened it up. It looked nice and was well built just like my 2.5. I couldn't wait to fire it up. I put in a battery and screwed on my Kayfun and was ready to enter vaping paradise. Two months later and I'm still waiting to enter that paradise.
Within the first minute or two it started giving me an error condition indicating something was wrong with my atomizer, the same atomizer that worked perfectly on my 3 year old Provari 2.5. It would work for a while and then I'd get the error again. I took the atomizer apart and checked all the connections and everything was just fine. Put it back on and again it worked for a while and then the error again. Maybe it has something to do with the battery, I thought, so I tried a different battery. Same results. Over the next couple weeks I tried a few different atomizers and several different batteries with no improvement. It would also tell me at times that my battery was "empty" even when it hadn't been in long. I'd take it out, put it back in, and all of a sudden it shows the battery is fine. What is going on with this thing?
I called Provape and they sent me a return authorization along with a postage paid label. I sent it back under warranty for them to take a look at it. Found out along the way that Provape knew there were some problems with the unit in that it would at times show a battery "empty" when it was not and also that the bottom spring caused problems and should be replaced. They replaced some electronics in mine, put on the new spring, and updated the programming to allow 6.5 amps and down to I believe .5 ohms. I got it back about a week after sending it in and was excited to try it again.
As mentioned earlier I'm still waiting to enter that vaping paradise that I believed the P3 would provide. It is better than it was as I seldom get the atomizer error any more but I still get the "empty" battery at times, take it out, put it back in with it jumping up to as much as 70%. Also, the spring on this thing is incredibly tight. In fact, they claim you can use the 18350 but the design is such that the spring pushes so hard against it that it feels like you are going to shove the electronics through the top.
Another problem I have consistently is that the P3 will go into a self-limiting mode allowing no more than 15 watts. Provape claims this is because that battery can't handle more and it's for our protection. Oddly enough though this would happen when I'm using high rated batteries, 20A or more. So I did break down and buy the battery they recommend as I wanted to alleviate this problem but to no avail. The problem still exists. It will clear up for a while if I take the battery out and immediately put it back in but I get tired of doing this a dozen or so times each day. I suspect the threading on this thing will wear out before the faulty electronics die. So much for Provape quality.
So long Provape, you've lost a customer. If I'm going to buy a unit that doesn't exactly reek of quality I just as well get it from China at a third the price.
Within the first minute or two it started giving me an error condition indicating something was wrong with my atomizer, the same atomizer that worked perfectly on my 3 year old Provari 2.5. It would work for a while and then I'd get the error again. I took the atomizer apart and checked all the connections and everything was just fine. Put it back on and again it worked for a while and then the error again. Maybe it has something to do with the battery, I thought, so I tried a different battery. Same results. Over the next couple weeks I tried a few different atomizers and several different batteries with no improvement. It would also tell me at times that my battery was "empty" even when it hadn't been in long. I'd take it out, put it back in, and all of a sudden it shows the battery is fine. What is going on with this thing?
I called Provape and they sent me a return authorization along with a postage paid label. I sent it back under warranty for them to take a look at it. Found out along the way that Provape knew there were some problems with the unit in that it would at times show a battery "empty" when it was not and also that the bottom spring caused problems and should be replaced. They replaced some electronics in mine, put on the new spring, and updated the programming to allow 6.5 amps and down to I believe .5 ohms. I got it back about a week after sending it in and was excited to try it again.
As mentioned earlier I'm still waiting to enter that vaping paradise that I believed the P3 would provide. It is better than it was as I seldom get the atomizer error any more but I still get the "empty" battery at times, take it out, put it back in with it jumping up to as much as 70%. Also, the spring on this thing is incredibly tight. In fact, they claim you can use the 18350 but the design is such that the spring pushes so hard against it that it feels like you are going to shove the electronics through the top.
Another problem I have consistently is that the P3 will go into a self-limiting mode allowing no more than 15 watts. Provape claims this is because that battery can't handle more and it's for our protection. Oddly enough though this would happen when I'm using high rated batteries, 20A or more. So I did break down and buy the battery they recommend as I wanted to alleviate this problem but to no avail. The problem still exists. It will clear up for a while if I take the battery out and immediately put it back in but I get tired of doing this a dozen or so times each day. I suspect the threading on this thing will wear out before the faulty electronics die. So much for Provape quality.
So long Provape, you've lost a customer. If I'm going to buy a unit that doesn't exactly reek of quality I just as well get it from China at a third the price.
