Hello,
Today a very nice kit for review, the Augvape XV217. Reason for it being nice is because it is not a pod-mod nor pod, just a hardcore dual-battery mod. The kit is being completed with the a so good Intake SubOhm tank of which I did a full review before already, so I won’t be covering it again in this review, but I can confirm it’s a great SubOhm tank. More in-depth on the sub-ohm you can find here:
What makes this mod special is it being a dual 21700 (don’t see those often these days) and the fact it can output 12V.
Enough for this intro, let’s get right into it.
Specifications:
Packaging:
- One Augvape VX217 Box Mod
- One Augvape Intake Sub-Ohm Tank
- Two Mesh coils 0.2 ohm(50-70W SS 890L)
- One USB Type-C Cable
- One Warranty Card
On the box it says that it should include two Clapton mesh coils, but that is not the case, it includes two regular mesh coils. Pity, I really like the Clapton mesh coils from Augvape.
Review:
Something I really appreciate in Augvape products is that there is basically no branding, it is just a plain mod. The only way to find out the brand on this mod is by looking at the battery cover, where it is written in very small text, or by turning on the device. If its about the looks of this mod, it is not a ‘wow’ looking mod, it just looks very functional I’d say.
Have to say it is not a big mod for a dual 21700, it is in size even comparable to some dual-battery mods. Overall build-quality is just outstanding, it feels really solid in the hand. It being made mostly out of zinc-alloy it is not heavy (190g without batteries, 330g with dual 21700’s) and has nice feel to it. The only plastic elements are the front screen panel and the buttons. It is a very comfortable hold, especially the screen panel part being carved in makes it a comfortable hold.
On the top you’ll find the 510 connector which is spring-loaded. It is not centralized and therefor you can only put up to a 30mm tank on there without overhang. It would have been nice if it was moved a pit more to the center to also support some massive tanks, not that I am using them, but I know some people do and with such large tanks a dual 21700 goes well.
It has a really large fire-button with a nice carved texture to it, cannot miss it. One thing I did need to get used to with this fire-button is that I really need to press in the center and with quite some pressure. If I do not that that, sometimes it just stops firing while holding, a bit annoying, but you can get used to it. It has a very load and clear click to it. Most comfortable fire on this device for me is with the middle part of my index finger or thumb. The device fires up quickly
When I read about and saw the navigation wheel I was a bit worried about its functionality, but it actually surprised me. It reacts very well and it is very simple to navigate through the device and to get to the exact wattage/voltage setting I want. One thing I would improve would be the navigation button also being the selection button, because now to navigate you use the wheel and to select the fire-button, it would be much nicer if the wheel was also the selection button.
When first seeing the mod out of the box I thought it had a battery panel, as it has such panel on the back of the device, not sure if Augvape was initially thinking to go with a panel. A proper battery-door with a slide and click mechanism can be found on the bottom. Inside the box you get an 18650 adapter in case you don’t have 21700’s, which works properly. Very good to hear there is no battery rattle with both 21700’a and 18650’s, the battery-door really pushes down the batteries into a fixed position.
Best part of this mod in my opinion is the chip, there is just so much going on in this device and the large screen helps with navigating through the whole device. Main screen shows the wattage/voltage level, ohms, dual battery indication and timer. I like the design of the screen with the circle in the middle where a dot indicates at which point you are wattage/voltage wise and on the outside of this circle is a very nicely designed puff-timer from 1 to 10 seconds which moves ‘live’ while vaping.
All the fun starts when clicking the fire-button 3 times, this brings you to a very nice and main menu where you have tons of options. On the main menu you can switch between wattage, voltage and bypass, and no there is no temp control on this device. Also, you can lock the wheel to not accidently adjust the W/V, get into more settings and see statistics.
When getting onto the settings you can adjust quite some things, you can activate auto-mode (not sure what that is, also not mentioned on the manual), set the cut-off and standby time, change the color theme (4 available), adjust screen brightness, change language (English and Chinese) and to reset to device to default settings.
In the information section you can find statistics, which show a lot of stats, such as puff counter, average puff-time, average wattage, average temp (not sure what for as there is no TC), total Joule and total time. Also, you can reset all of the stats on the same window. Still you can see the version and select firmware update (which does not do anything unless connected to PC)
As you read, there is really plenty going on in this mod and that’s a good thing. Really like the fact that you can change the language, even though I do not speak Chinese, it is a very cool and quite innovative feature. Also like the statistics window where you get more than just puff-counts, very interesting to check it out from time to time.
Unique is that you can use variable voltage up to a whopping 12V, not sure if anyone in the world would actually use it as you need to build on insanely high ohms to be able to actually reach such level. For example, when I have a 0.4ohm build and I set it to 12V, it gives me the same result as setting it to 7V or 12V, so the device does limit depending on ohms, which is a good thing. I will never personally use 12V, and for me it is not useful, but still sometimes it is all about the possibilities.
Also, when selecting variable wattage you can choose between Normal, Soft and High. You do feel the difference in the different settings, when on high it just kicks in much higher than on soft.
Conclusion:
I really much enjoy using the XV217 kit, both mod and tank are just outstanding if you ask me. For a dual 21700 it is not bulky and very comfortable.
A chipset where many brands can learn from and I hope that Augvape will keep developing this chip on feature devices, maybe adding precise TC capabilities to it. I am not a TC user, but TC always comes in handy for the general market.
Improvements for this device would be the fire-button being more reactive when not pressed down hard enough, and maybe a more centered 510-connector, but that’s it.
I will for sure keep using this device for a long time, dual 21700’s just get you going much longer than 18650’s and the good ting is that the device is not even bigger than most dual 18650’s.
If it’s about the tank, as said before, I did a full review on the tank already. It is in one word a fantastic SubOhm tank especially shining with the Clapton mesh coil (Which was not included ☹).
Thank you for reading, take care!
Sjoerd
