Vogue M401 PCC review

[Turbo]

A big thanks to Ben from NC Vape for getting one of these in my hands to test. He is interested in carrying M series products and was curious to see what a 401 user thought of this PCC.

With the Smoore M series smart PCC now on the market this may seem like a moot review to some but lets take a look at what I found.

Here's what I got:

Notice the 'round tip' to USB connection on the charger. This proprietary plug may be a drawback for some users as the 'mini slot' to USB cables are more common. The manual has very little info on the PCC itself mostly giving general e-cig info.


Here's a close up of the PCC:

Notice the word 'Press' on the lid. This does not work well so manually lifting the lid is the best way to open it. Also take note of the two lights on the side. They indicate the charge status w/ the usual red for charging and green for fully charged. The PCC has a rubber/plastic shell which makes it easy to grip. It can hold (1) battery charging, (1) battery already charged, and (5) extra slots to hold extra carts/attys. It will not hold an assembled e-cig(this includes an assembled 403 e-cig) or manual batteries.


Here are the specs of the PCC:

E-pack size: 95*57*25(mm)
E-cigarette size: 8.5*109(mm)
Weight of E-pack: 76g Input Parameter of E-pack: DC5V-5.2V
Output Parameter of E-pack: 4.2V 150mA
Content of E-pack battery: 900 mAh
[FONT="][FONT=Verdana][B]Life of E-pack charger battery: [/B]300 times and the E-pack's battery Charge time: 4.5 hours. [/FONT]


[FONT=Verdana]Now for my personal stats[/FONT]:

[FONT=Verdana][B]Initial PCC charge:[/B] 22 mins for full charge.
[B]PCC charged drained/full: [/B]278 mins for full charge (little over 4.5 hours)

[B]401 battery charge:[/B] 107-110 mins for full charge (little under 2 hrs).

[B]403 battery charge:[/B] 50 mins for full charge. This unit is[I][B] not[/B][/I] meant for a 403 battery but I tried it anyway. It did charge but it's tricky to get back out so I don't recommend it. The 402 battery is 10mm longer so it would be much easier to get out.
[B]
Total battery charges to drain PCC:[/B] 333 mins (about 5.5 hours). This total includes one full 403 charge, two full 401 charges, and one 401 charge at 66 mins. [/FONT] [/FONT][FONT=Verdana]I watched all charging times closely. [/FONT][FONT=Verdana]When charging a battery in the PCC the light slowy flashes red/green when charged then more steadily. The lights will completely go out when the PCC is fully drained. [/FONT][FONT=Verdana]All batteries were fully drained before charging in the PCC. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]
Final thoughts:

[B]Pros:[/B] Sturdy/rubberized feel of PCC, analog-like case dimensions, ample room for carts/attys.
[B]
Cons: [/B]Proprietary USB charger, case latch, 900mAh PCC battery. The charger may not concern some, the case latch works well but not by pressing it as indicated and I would like to see a higher mAh rating; at least 1200mAh. It would also be nice to have an easy way to clean the inside of the PCC in case of a spill, etc.[/FONT]
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Conclusion: Even with the cons I feel this is a viable unit. With some minor tweaking by Vogue it could be even better. They'll have to step up the specs to compete w/ the Smoore PCC(I did see a picture of a smart PCC on the Vogue site so maybe they'll release it?). I'll anxiously await the Smoore smart PCC reviews and will surely get one myself. With that being said, I'm sure I'll still have this PCC in rotation.

The M series is already one of the most versatile units and gets more so as time goes on. With cartomizers on the way this will be the all in one unit to have!

 

[DonDaBoomVape]

A very well-done and informative review! I especially like the specs and stats. Most reviews are entirely or primarily subjective, making it difficult to determine whether I would like it. The details you provided made it easy for me to decide. [I'll wait for LiteCigUSA to carry the M401 PCC.]

FYI: Your three photos at the bottom don't appear.

 

[Turbo]

Thanks Don, I appreciate the feedback. I tried to include the stats that I would like to know so I'm glad it worked. That smart PCC does look nice.

There should only be two pictures; one with all the items and a close up of the PCC. I can see them fine but maybe because they were uploaded on my computer via Image Shack?

 

[DonDaBoomVape]

Thanks Don, I appreciate the feedback. I tried to include the stats that I would like to know so I'm glad it worked. That smart PCC does look nice.

There should only be two pictures; one with all the items and a close up of the PCC. I can see them fine but maybe because they were uploaded on my computer via Image Shack?

The two pictures in the body of your post show up just fine. At the bottom of the post (just before your signature line) there are three small boxes with a red X in each, which usually means a picture or thumbnail that didn't display. No big deal.

 

[veeaye]

Hi there, thanks so much for your review. I was wandering if you thought that smoore was better in terms of functionality or actual ecigarette itself? Because I have ordered a big batch from vogue, and I didn't even know that smoore existed. I would hope that I would be delivering the best product to my customers.

Thanks so much.

Vahid.

 

[Turbo]

Your welcome, glad you liked the review. Smoore is the original manufacturer of the 'M series'. I've had great luck w/ their products so far. I did not have a Vogue battery to test, just the PCC, so I can't comment on them. I hear that their batteries have a suction sensor instead of the mic sensor.

 

[goonie]

God, I would switch from the 510 to the M401 just for the analog size PCC .... Looks cool

 

[susan28]

Just to add one more point, another "con" compared to the smart pcc is that if you leave a batt on the charger after it's charged it'll continue to drain the charger and reduce your charging capacity, so you have to mentally keep tabs on the time when one's charging. i almost always forget and pull the thing out like 6 hrs later, or fall asleep with it in and wake up to a dead pcc.

supposedly the "smart" cases don't do this, but i don't have one yet so can't say for sure. any owners please do chime in.

BTW my Vogue is plain black with no graphics (which i kinda like so i can airbrush my own), but the Vogue graphics don't look bad, 'cept for the "Vogue Lifestyle" line, but all the generic Chinese pcc's have cheesy promotional phrases like that on them. better this than the "faddish and trendy" i've seen on some other models, hehe.. but the Modern Vapor (sidesho vendor) and Revolver graphics are both wikked.. i don't think MV's current units are smart ones, tho, and might have the same prob as the Vogue. i talked to Tony and he said they were coming soon.

 

[Turbo]

Just to add one more point, another "con" compared to the smart pcc is that if you leave a batt on the charger after it's charged it'll continue to drain the charger...

Yes, very true, although I found I got use to checking it, knowing when they'd be charged. Of course if you forget (or fall asleep) it's drained as you pointed out.

supposedly the "smart" cases don't do this, but i don't have one yet so can't say for sure. any owners please do chime in.

It's been a while since I did this review. I did order a smart PCC for a friend and got to spend a day w/ it. It does shut down after charging.

BTW my Vogue is plain black with no graphics (which i kinda like so i can airbrush my own), but the Vogue graphics don't look bad...

Agree, for a factory brand this doesn't look bad.


I haven't rushed to get the smart PCC only because I've been using the KR808 when out and about. I may break down and get it but for now I'm happy w/ using my M401 at home and the KR808 when out.

 

[mail]

Hi everyone,

As usual I don't recommend to follow my feedback, use any trick I decribe below at your own risk, I take no liability whatsoever if something goes wrong by doing what I describe!

I guess after some testing I can share also my experience with vogue V8 PCC and v401 ecig.

I switched to vaping one month ago, I tried three brands of ecigs and 4 different eliquids so far, a PG based one too, the others VG only. I generally like it so far. All m401 brands worked great for me, I only vaped since the switch to ecigs. I'm currently using the vogue ecig in the V8 PCC (call it v401) ecig. For whatever reason I found that I keep going back to smoking the vogue ecig and being more comfortable to carry it around with the Vogue V8 PCC.

With some weeks of practice I found that with the velvet cloud from flavourarts.it (80% vg 20% water, I like there is 20% water so it's a bit less dense than other VG-only compounds, and from a theoretical standpoint the more water the lower the boiling point of the compound, but it's still more dense than the ice blade pg-only liquid, personally I prefer VG-only as I think it's safer) I just need to put a little bit of perlon on the top of the v401 cartridge. Like a tiny sphere not very pressed (so you can see the through it) but only slighly larger than the diameter of the cartridge. The diameter of the v401 cartridge is fairly small, it won't contain more than 8 drops, so despite the tiny bit of perlon it won't flood the atomizer even if the bottom is 100% liquid and no perlon at all. The fact I don't press the perlon much with the fingers allows the liquid to flows through the perlon easier. Really only a tiny bit is needed in my experience, as little as needed to stay at the top without floating to the bottom with gravity. With this trick I found I can vaporize all the liquid on the bottom of the cartridge, and very little liquid gets was wasted in the perlon and the perlon itself remains at the top. I get great vapor, nice taste, and it lasts much longer before running out of liquid than if I fill the whole cartridge with perlon.

I fill the cartridge 3/4, then press press the tiny bit of perlon down to the bottom (I don't press it much with fingers so that the liquid will flow through it nicely), then I fill the liquid to the top and then I pull the little bit of perlon back to the top with the stick.

I'm super happy so far with this way to refill the v401. With another 401 cartridge brand the diameter of the cartridge to fill is much larger, so I can't put so little perlon or it'd flood the atomizer and I risk to drink the liquid (already tried..). With the v401 I refill when vapour decreases and I find it all empty below the little tip of perlon, I like that. When I filled the whole cartridge with perlon (instead of having only a little bit at the top) it didn't work nearly equally well (at least with VG liquid, previously I used PG and it worked better even if it was all perlon inside the cartridge instead of only at the top).

I checked the vogue original liquid also have a double digit percentage of VG but they use more PG than VG. But I concluded that it should be ok to use VG on them, and they don't expect the coil to heat over 200C in normal conditions (not dry). In practice this is the solution that apparently gives me the fewer burnt taste when the cartridge runs out (and usually I can notice it's empty before having to feel any burn taste which I personally hate much more than the analog cigarette smoke).

About the PCC (the actual topic) I find it awesome, it's very nice to know to never run out of battery, it seems to recharge at least two empty 401 by itself, so it's like having 4 401 batteries (maybe more, I'm not sure). Apparently it works fine for the other two m401 brands but I'm usnure if it's safe to use with the other batteries too. Friends got impressed by the PCC having lcd display and lights as much as they got impressed by the ecig itself . The material used for both the v401 ecig and the pack has a great finish, it doesn't seem cheap plastic.

I was also very paranoid initially so I put one v401 atomizer under fire in the kitchen, and it didn't melt or modify. I broke the mesh and put the coil under fire to check how the inside looks like, and it also survived just fine (surely over 800C). So I'm quite confident it's not cheap plastic inside the atomizer (the cartdige obviously is plastic but it never melted any perlon inside the cartridge or given burn taste unless it was full dry).

I also throw away the atomizer if I am in doubt of still feeling burn taste despite having refilled (which happened), with vogue atomizer I passed 2 weeks of daily use and no burn taste at all (and I also used other VG liquids more dense than the velvet cloud on it).

Some friend asked me to buy ecig for them once I figure out my preferred one and unless I change my mind I guess I'll buy them a V8 PCC or only the v401 ecig if they don't need the PCC and the velvet cloud e-liquid and I'll teach them to put only a bit of perlon at the top. Wasting so little liquid in the perlon and having to use so little perlon is also a bit more cheap I guess. I'll wait a little longer before placing their order, so I try more the other m401 brands in the meantime in case I change my mind.

Also I didn't try different model of ecig, only the 3 brands of m401 so far. I excluded all the ecigs that don't look identical to an analong in shape and all manual models (which I think are less safe too, only problem of the automatic is to remember to disconnect them to be sure they don't activate with noise). The vogue battery so far never activates in the car even with the windshield open in highway (which instead happened with others). I use the black with blue tip, the blue tip is so funny to use outside people tells me it looks alien . Once I started smoking inside a cocktail bar and the waitress told me I should smoke outside, after showing the black ecig and blue tip I got immediate apology, so funny, great for socializing too .

Let's hope this is good for our health! After 1 month of use I am more hopeful it is than when I started. I am more and more annoyed by the passive real cigarette smoke, at least that.

 

[mail]

Your welcome, glad you liked the review. Smoore is the original manufacturer of the 'M series'. I've had great luck w/ their products so far. I did not have a Vogue battery to test, just the PCC, so I can't comment on them. I hear that their batteries have a suction sensor instead of the mic sensor.

Interesting, I can confirm the vogue branded battery never activated on me because of noise in the car with window open in highway (while other m401 batteries did and I found it to be very annoying). If I blow air near the bottom it won't activate like the other batteries do. They last about a day of my smoking (a couple of cartridge refilled my way ;-). I use one v401 battery and half if I smoke heavy like in the weekend. So I've no real idea if it's using mic or not, but if it's mic it's very well tuned. Another thing I noticed is that the battery blue tip also activates sooner than other batteries blue tips, immediately after start inhaling. the cut-off time is less than 2 minutes, probably in the 15 seconds range or something like that. I never happen to trigger it in practice. I probably inhale for 3/4 seconds at most and that already gives me a nice hit with 18mg.

I feel a little weird of having my preference so far on an ecig brand that had so little coverage here, that probably motivated my reply in this thread. I'd be interested to hear opinion of others that tried the V8 PCC and v401 ecig.

Thanks for this great forum!

 

[mail]

Just to add one more point, another "con" compared to the smart pcc is that if you leave a batt on the charger after it's charged it'll continue to drain the charger and reduce your charging capacity, so you have to mentally keep tabs on the time when one's charging. i almost always forget and pull the thing out like 6 hrs later, or fall asleep with it in and wake up to a dead pcc.

supposedly the "smart" cases don't do this, but i don't have one yet so can't say for sure. any owners please do chime in.

I only have the V8 PCC so I can't comment on the previous model but with mine, when the battery under charge is full, the light turns to green and to me it looks like it stops charging it and it won't drain the battery of the PCC anymore after that. After connecting the battery in the charger, I've to press the button on front so that it starts charging (otherwise it's like if it's disconneted). And it'll keep charging until the led turns to green. The lcd display shows the PCC charge level at all times and it has blue backlight when you click the button once. (to start charging the 401/402 battery you've to keep it pressed a couple of seconds, so it's unlikely to happen when you've it in your pocket and you hit something) It looks fairly smart to me but I haven't tried any other PCC.

Hope it helps .