With the introduction of the Darwin and, more recently, the Kick, Evolv has changed the face of theAPV market by introducing variable wattage APV's. This has led to much confusion about whether variable voltage or variable wattage is the better technology and why.
A long technical discussion regarding variable voltage versus variable wattage got me thinking about this subject in depth today. I feel it's time to offer an informed opinion on this matter, and explain why I believe variable wattage is the superior technology.
Some of you may have read my post on high powered vaping. For those who haven't, or for those who aren't quite sure how a PV works, give it a read.
So what IS high voltage vaping all about? (Everything you've wanted to know plus a bit of electronic theory)
For the lazy, here's a quick recap of that post and the knowledge we need to take from it to understand why variable wattage is indeed the superior technology.
Our vaping experience consists of a number of variables including the temperature of the vapor, the flavor of our juice when vaped at a particular temperature, and the amount of vapor produced. The amount of heat at the coil in our attys or cartos is what determines this vaping experience.
In electronic terms, wattage determines the amount of heat produced at the coil of our PVs. We control the wattage produced by our PVs by changing either the resistance or voltage in the electronic circuit.
To explain why variable wattage is better, we also need to consider what's commonly termed as user experience. Everyone is familiar with user experience whether they realize it or not. We're surrounded by it all day long. Our computers, cell phones, TV's, and gaming consoles all provide a user experience. Even something as mundane as a refrigerator provides a user experience.
User experience is quite simply the overall experience you have using some sort of device. Evaluating a device's user experience often boils down to one question. How easy is it for a user to interact with the device and achieve the desired results? Let's take a look at VV versus VW and examine their user experiences.
To make this examination, we'll compare two users. One who uses VV and one who uses VW. Both users prefer the same atty that is rated by the manufacturer at 3.0 ohms. For purposes of comparison, we'll also assume they use the same liquid and prefer identical vaping experiences.
Our variable wattage user sets their device to 10.1 watts. Our variable voltage dials their PV to 5.5v which produces the same 10.1 watts when using a 3.0 ohm atty. (The VV device actually produces 10.08 watts, but it's close enough for this comparison.) Before our little experiment begins, we measure the resistance of their attys and find them to be an exact 3.0 ohms each.
Both of our users happily vape away on these same attys for a week and have identical experiences. The next week, we give them two new attys. They swap the old for the new, and leave their devices set to 5.5v and 10.1 watts respectively.
Our variable wattage user continues to vape at their desired level of heat, experiencing the same vape with the new atty as they did with the old. The variable voltage user notices something different about their vape though. It seems hotter and the juice tastes "burnt".
The VV user wonders what happened? He knows that 5.5v is his preferred setting from being in vaping bliss for the past week. What's changed this time around?
Astute readers may have noticed that we forgot to measure the resistance of the new attys. We take measurements of both attys, and find that the VW user's atty is coming in at 3.1 ohms. When we measure the resistance of our VV user's new atty, we find it to only be 2.7 ohms.
We do the math and find that the VV user has been vaping at 11.2 watts. A 1.1 watt difference might not seem like much, but it in actuality there is a tangible performance difference. We do some more math and find that to get back to our 10.1 watts, we need to adjust our voltage down to 5.2v. Once this adjustment is made, our VV user is back in vaping heaven getting their preferred amount of heat at the coil.
In the end, both users were able to achieve the same vaping experience, but the path to get there was much easier for the VW user. They only needed to set the wattage once and forget about it. The VV user needed to measure the resistance of each atty, do some math, and adjust the voltage to achieve the same experience.
If that doesn't convince you, here's a real world example of why VW provides a better user experience. I've been vaping my Darwin with the same Cisco 306 3.0 ohm atty for several weeks now. I always vape at 12.7 watts. The Darwin displays the resistance of the atty or carto on its LCD screen. Today, I happened to look at the resistance on the screen for the first time since I started using this atty. It's not a 3.0 ohm atty. It's actually a mislabeled 1.5 ohm atty.
However, my vaping experience didn't change. I would never have known it was a mislabeled atty if I didn't look at what it today. If I had a VV device set to 6.1v, which would approximately produce my desired 12.7 watts with a 3.0 ohm atty, I would have put out 24.8 watts at the coil and popped that sucker on the first button press.
So there you have it, folks. Hope this helps those on the fence to make a decision between VV and VW.
A long technical discussion regarding variable voltage versus variable wattage got me thinking about this subject in depth today. I feel it's time to offer an informed opinion on this matter, and explain why I believe variable wattage is the superior technology.
Some of you may have read my post on high powered vaping. For those who haven't, or for those who aren't quite sure how a PV works, give it a read.
So what IS high voltage vaping all about? (Everything you've wanted to know plus a bit of electronic theory)
For the lazy, here's a quick recap of that post and the knowledge we need to take from it to understand why variable wattage is indeed the superior technology.
Our vaping experience consists of a number of variables including the temperature of the vapor, the flavor of our juice when vaped at a particular temperature, and the amount of vapor produced. The amount of heat at the coil in our attys or cartos is what determines this vaping experience.
In electronic terms, wattage determines the amount of heat produced at the coil of our PVs. We control the wattage produced by our PVs by changing either the resistance or voltage in the electronic circuit.
To explain why variable wattage is better, we also need to consider what's commonly termed as user experience. Everyone is familiar with user experience whether they realize it or not. We're surrounded by it all day long. Our computers, cell phones, TV's, and gaming consoles all provide a user experience. Even something as mundane as a refrigerator provides a user experience.
User experience is quite simply the overall experience you have using some sort of device. Evaluating a device's user experience often boils down to one question. How easy is it for a user to interact with the device and achieve the desired results? Let's take a look at VV versus VW and examine their user experiences.
To make this examination, we'll compare two users. One who uses VV and one who uses VW. Both users prefer the same atty that is rated by the manufacturer at 3.0 ohms. For purposes of comparison, we'll also assume they use the same liquid and prefer identical vaping experiences.
Our variable wattage user sets their device to 10.1 watts. Our variable voltage dials their PV to 5.5v which produces the same 10.1 watts when using a 3.0 ohm atty. (The VV device actually produces 10.08 watts, but it's close enough for this comparison.) Before our little experiment begins, we measure the resistance of their attys and find them to be an exact 3.0 ohms each.
Both of our users happily vape away on these same attys for a week and have identical experiences. The next week, we give them two new attys. They swap the old for the new, and leave their devices set to 5.5v and 10.1 watts respectively.
Our variable wattage user continues to vape at their desired level of heat, experiencing the same vape with the new atty as they did with the old. The variable voltage user notices something different about their vape though. It seems hotter and the juice tastes "burnt".
The VV user wonders what happened? He knows that 5.5v is his preferred setting from being in vaping bliss for the past week. What's changed this time around?
Astute readers may have noticed that we forgot to measure the resistance of the new attys. We take measurements of both attys, and find that the VW user's atty is coming in at 3.1 ohms. When we measure the resistance of our VV user's new atty, we find it to only be 2.7 ohms.
We do the math and find that the VV user has been vaping at 11.2 watts. A 1.1 watt difference might not seem like much, but it in actuality there is a tangible performance difference. We do some more math and find that to get back to our 10.1 watts, we need to adjust our voltage down to 5.2v. Once this adjustment is made, our VV user is back in vaping heaven getting their preferred amount of heat at the coil.
In the end, both users were able to achieve the same vaping experience, but the path to get there was much easier for the VW user. They only needed to set the wattage once and forget about it. The VV user needed to measure the resistance of each atty, do some math, and adjust the voltage to achieve the same experience.
If that doesn't convince you, here's a real world example of why VW provides a better user experience. I've been vaping my Darwin with the same Cisco 306 3.0 ohm atty for several weeks now. I always vape at 12.7 watts. The Darwin displays the resistance of the atty or carto on its LCD screen. Today, I happened to look at the resistance on the screen for the first time since I started using this atty. It's not a 3.0 ohm atty. It's actually a mislabeled 1.5 ohm atty.
However, my vaping experience didn't change. I would never have known it was a mislabeled atty if I didn't look at what it today. If I had a VV device set to 6.1v, which would approximately produce my desired 12.7 watts with a 3.0 ohm atty, I would have put out 24.8 watts at the coil and popped that sucker on the first button press.
So there you have it, folks. Hope this helps those on the fence to make a decision between VV and VW.
