Mechanical Mods in 2016: What's the point?

[K_Tech]

I have an equal amount of mechs and regulated devices. I use almost all of them pretty regularly, and rotate through devices fairly frequently (variety is the spice of life, or so they say).

It seems to me that most of the chatter is about new regulated mods these days, but like others, I don't think mechs are just going to go away. There will always be folks that enjoy the simplicity and reliability of mechs.

And the point? Well, just as an example, I can put a fresh battery in a mech, toss on a 1.2 - 1.3 ohm tank, and be at just the right spot for a good evening vape until bedtime. Certainly I can do that with a regulated mod, but I still enjoy doing it with a mech.

(I also like turntables & vinyl, and I'm very happy to have seen them NOT disappear over the last 30 or so years as predicted )

 

[Vaper Bob]

Its funny how we group people and make assumptions. Dont want to take away from what the thread and the OPs intention is about.

Im mostly a tank person. I think they are perfect for me. Im over 50, no tatoos, female. I do have a terrible fondness to Naturally Extracted tobacco liquids. The darker, smokier, drier, thick, gross and smellier the better. Though I do have some NETs that I can use in a tank and go through 3ml before the wick is a black disgusting mess, I still have some NET that are too much for a tank and use a dripper for that. Its either give up my favorite NETs or have to suffer thru the drip , drip , dripping. Obviously I use those at home only.

If you dont use thick , sweet , dark liquids, I dont really see a "need" for a dripper. Honestly my light every day DIY taste just as good in my Phenomenon tank or my Origen Dripper. The really gross ( but delicious to me ) NET, just dont do well in a tank. I can go maybe 1/2 ml and its kaput.

Just thought Id share my opinion. Im amazed that this thread has had such activity without a " VS" incident. Very polite and intelligent , thanks

BTW, Im a Mech MOD freak. I do have one reg 60watt device. Take my reg , but dont anyone touch my mechs.....

Just saw this. Well it's over a month since I started this thread and I've just ordered my first dripper, an Origen v3. But no tattoos.......yet. AND I'm in the process of specifying my first mech with MCR in Manchester. I see from your banner you have one too.

 

[Ossgomm]

Just the opinion of a beginner uneducated in the terminology. Please forgive my ignorance.
Been doing the vape for 2.5 months. I started with an eGo One CT. It was great set up to get started on. Next I got a vision spinner VW with a nautilus tank with no sub ohm capacity. The taste kicked ..... Went back to the eGo at with .5 coils. The clouds were really satisfying but the taste sucked, the juice consumption sucked and it burned up the battery. Today I got Kankerbox 70 watt. The difference in taste using my old Aspire Nautilus tank was incredible. Been hitting this thing for about 5 hours now and I'm blown away. Being able to change the wattage incrementally, changes the taste in so many ways. Hitting a Triton 2 tank right now with 1.8 coil and it so much more satisfying than anything I have tried. I'm a chain vaper so I have to take juice consumption into consideration. Due to that I'm not highly interested in subohming but the power of 4000mah batteries is huge in taste. I will stay at this level for a few days then get some juice I love (Ripe Vapes VCT & Charlie Nople's Tripoli) and do a nice evening of cloud chasing. When I started this journey I didn't get the whole cloud chasing thing, but it makes the experience so much more satisfying. I am so satisfied that chain vaping to chase the taste seems like a thing of the past. With 2 batteries I might be able to vape for a couple of days without charging. I'm getting ready to take a cruise to Cuba and charging ability will be limited. Taking my Kanger70 and Vision Spinner for back up.

 

[anavidfan]

Just saw this. Well it's over a month since I started this thread and I've just ordered my first dripper, an Origen v3. But no tattoos.......yet. AND I'm in the process of specifying my first mech with MCR in Manchester. I see from your banner you have one too.

I hope you are enjoying the Origen, really enjoy mine. ( i have 2)

Yes I do have a couple MCRs, a 101 and an SL ( 20mm) very well crafted. BTW, there are 3 for sale in the classifieds for a great price. I am controlling myself.

 

[90VG]

I have the following VW/VV units:

Sigelei 150 TC, Sigelei 30 mini, Kanger Subbox mini

My only mech is the Maraxus clone ~$20.

What am I using now? The Maraxus. Why? I live in the middle of bleeping no where. If something breaks, the only thing I can buy locally (if store is open) is an analog cig. What can break on a mech? Nothing I can't fix in a few minutes. I basically use the rebuildable heads exclusively, as you can't buy parts here either. That's the beauty of the mechs. Plus, I was in a hot springs vaping with the unit 90% underwater. No problems (other than having to dry and spin the battery after).

Kanger Subbox? Juice dripped and mess up charging.
Sigelei 30? Juice dripped and made buttons sticky.
Sigelei 150TC? I'm more careful about this one, it's more for TC (Kanger SubTankPlus with RBA nickel) and the Mutant dripper.

My girlfriend vapes while watching a movie and burns a coil, complains. I've never burnt a coil in 7 months. I replace long before that with a new setup. Same thing with the mech mod, something goes wrong, I just fix it. It's the way to go if you are mechanically and electrically adept.

You could say, is sub ohm dead because of the new regulated mods? No, because mech mods are still out there, and they will be.

(Tried to put a picture of my stuff, but size was too large, will post another time)

 

[Vaper Bob]

I hope you are enjoying the Origen, really enjoy mine. ( i have 2)

Yes I do have a couple MCRs, a 101 and an SL ( 20mm) very well crafted. BTW, there are 3 for sale in the classifieds for a great price. I am controlling myself.

The Origen v3 is en route to me from Germany. I'm still fairly new to coil building. Have a KF4 and a Mark Bugs Gem. I've built coils for them twice over now, so getting the hang of it. The Origen will be my first experience with dripping. Otherwise, for the moment my usual go-to vape are with Provaris with Kabuki tanks.

You may deduct from the above I tend to buy European and US products. It's my preference for personal reasons, although I know it's more expensive that way. Trawling through the net, I discovered Luxe Mods, a UK company that makes mechs, but their website has been under re-design for a bit too long now and I get the feeling that small high class mech manufacturers are beginning to go out of business now with regulated devices, temp control and the like dominating demand. And then I discovered MCR in Manchester. I thought my first mech should be British since I live in the UK. If I like the concept, my second would be from a US maker. Let's see how it goes.....

 

[Vaslovik]

Mechanical Mods? Yes. YES! Yayyy! Plenty of beautifully manufactured shiny products from Europe and the States to keep me drooling in front of my computer screen for weeks. But then I read somewhere that the point of a mechanical was to allow the "unharnessed" power of your battery to deliver more current through your sub-ohm coil to produce more clouds. Huh? In 2015/2016? What about those 200W regulated mods? All mech mod reviews I see on you tube are dated early 2014 or before. Nothing of late. Does that mean with all the high power regulated devices now available, mechanical mods are now obsolete? Are they legacy products now? Like a 30 year old Mercedes SL with stick shift? That has a kind of appeal.........

Would somebody be kind enough to elucidate?

Ummm... it really depends on how you want to vape. I didn't get into mechs to blow bigger clouds, and I can't blow anything like the giant clouds I see the kids in the vape stores blowing with their box mods and radically coiled drippers, nor do I want to. To me that's just showing off and a brand of narcissism. I got into mechs because they were what I needed to power the gennies I use. When I started vaping I went through an array of hardware really fast trying to find what satisfied me in a vape, and as it turned out it was a sub-ohm genny on a mech. Three years later I that's still all I use.

I use only Poldiacs with authentic gennies, and I'm very happy with that. Your own vaping solution may be very different, but this works fine for me. I've no use for a 200 watt box, my mechs give me all I need with Sony VTC4's in them and .7 ohm gennies on top. At the end of the day it's not obsolete if it serves your needs. It may be old school but there's nothing at all wrong with that. It got to be old school because it WORKS!

Just concentrate on finding the vaping style and hardware that satisfies you, whether or not it's what's currently popular. For my part I could really give a flip about all this new crap, I found what works for me and I'm sticking with it.

 

[anavidfan]

The Origen v3 is en route to me from Germany. I'm still fairly new to coil building. Have a KF4 and a Mark Bugs Gem. I've built coils for them twice over now, so getting the hang of it. The Origen will be my first experience with dripping. Otherwise, for the moment my usual go-to vape are with Provaris with Kabuki tanks.

You may deduct from the above I tend to buy European and US products. It's my preference for personal reasons, although I know it's more expensive that way. Trawling through the net, I discovered Luxe Mods, a UK company that makes mechs, but their website has been under re-design for a bit too long now and I get the feeling that small high class mech manufacturers are beginning to go out of business now with regulated devices, temp control and the like dominating demand. And then I discovered MCR in Manchester. I thought my first mech should be British since I live in the UK. If I like the concept, my second would be from a US maker. Let's see how it goes.....

You might think about GP/ Vaporart mechs. I love them, love the customer service and after care.

If I was told I could only keep one of my mechs, it would be either the PAPs 2.5 ( old but great) or the new PAPs V4. Amazing designs. I like being able to "tear down" and clean with ease. The one thing about the PAPS/GP is the top cap/pin. Once you get used to having them all the other top contacts seem obsolete.

It has a self adjusting pin/ spring and you dont have to readjust when changing battery out. MCR has a double screw thing that it very good, but being spoiled by the GP G-Pins .....

I also would say any GUS mechs are great and a great plus is they are interchangeable with the GP parts. Oh, BTW, I dont have the new V4 , but its very tempting.....

MCR uses a brand specific threading that limits you to only their switches and top caps. Not a problem, but I love being able to customize my gear.

Hope this does not confuse or complicate your choice, but thought Id put it out there

Here is my old PAPS 2.5 combined with a GUS switch and topped with my Origen V3

 

[Vaper Bob]

You might think about GP/ Vaporart mechs. I love them, love the customer service and after care.

If I was told I could only keep one of my mechs, it would be either the PAPs 2.5 ( old but great) or the new PAPs V4. Amazing designs. I like being able to "tear down" and clean with ease. The one thing about the PAPS/GP is the top cap/pin. Once you get used to having them all the other top contacts seem obsolete.

It has a self adjusting pin/ spring and you dont have to readjust when changing battery out. MCR has a double screw thing that it very good, but being spoiled by the GP G-Pins .....

I also would say any GUS mechs are great and a great plus is they are interchangeable with the GP parts. Oh, BTW, I dont have the new V4 , but its very tempting.....

MCR uses a brand specific threading that limits you to only their switches and top caps. Not a problem, but I love being able to customize my gear.

Hope this does not confuse or complicate your choice, but thought Id put it out there

Here is my old PAPS 2.5 combined with a GUS switch and topped with my Origen V3

Thanks for all those tips, you've really piqued my interest. I'm going to take a look at all those names. That Paps/Origen image is BEAUTIFUL!

 

[Two_Bears]

Ummm... it really depends on how you want to vape. I didn't get into mechs to blow bigger clouds, and I can't blow anything like the giant clouds I see the kids in the vape stores blowing with their box mods and radically coiled drippers, nor do I want to. To me that's just showing off and a brand of narcissism. I got into mechs because they were what I needed to power the gennies I use. When I started vaping I went through an array of hardware really fast trying to find what satisfied me in a vape, and as it turned out it was a sub-ohm genny on a mech. Three years later I that's still all I use.

I use only Poldiacs with authentic gennies, and I'm very happy with that. Your own vaping solution may be very different, but this works fine for me. I've no use for a 200 watt box, my mechs give me all I need with Sony VTC4's in them and .7 ohm gennies on top. At the end of the day it's not obsolete if it serves your needs. It may be old school but there's nothing at all wrong with that. It got to be old school because it WORKS!

Just concentrate on finding the vaping style and hardware that satisfies you, whether or not it's what's currently popular. For my part I could really give a flip about all this new crap, I found what works for me and I'm sticking with it.

Absolutely. If you can't get a satisfying vape that keeps you off the Stinkies you are wasting your time and your money.

 

[Fyla]

You might think about GP/ Vaporart mechs. I love them, love the customer service and after care.

If I was told I could only keep one of my mechs, it would be either the PAPs 2.5 ( old but great) or the new PAPs V4. Amazing designs. I like being able to "tear down" and clean with ease. The one thing about the PAPS/GP is the top cap/pin. Once you get used to having them all the other top contacts seem obsolete.

It has a self adjusting pin/ spring and you dont have to readjust when changing battery out. MCR has a double screw thing that it very good, but being spoiled by the GP G-Pins .....

I also would say any GUS mechs are great and a great plus is they are interchangeable with the GP parts. Oh, BTW, I dont have the new V4 , but its very tempting.....

MCR uses a brand specific threading that limits you to only their switches and top caps. Not a problem, but I love being able to customize my gear.

Hope this does not confuse or complicate your choice, but thought Id put it out there

Here is my old PAPS 2.5 combined with a GUS switch and topped with my Origen V3

Hey AAF. How are you ma'am?

I really dont know how come you don't have PAPS V4 by now ?

It is best mechanical i found so far. Among with X1.5

And yes, GPin spoiled me so much that i can't find anything that would satisfy my needs like GP/Vapourart (thats why i sold my GUS mod).
Have you found any other interesting mechs other than GUS, MCR and JM?

@All
I really love mechs, simplicity and design is what i prefer.
I also have Dicodes Dani ex v2+ only because it is tube (its great but even so, i prefer mechs). I really don't like box mods (only one i still have is only for making coils and setting up attys).

 

[anavidfan]

Hey AAF. How are you ma'am?

I really dont know how come you don't have PAPS V4 by now ?

It is best mechanical i found so far. Among with X1.5

And yes, GPin spoiled me so much that i can't find anything that would satisfy my needs like GP/Vapourart (thats why i sold my GUS mod).
Have you found any other interesting mechs other than GUS, MCR and JM?

@All
I really love mechs, simplicity and design is what i prefer.
I also have Dicodes Dani ex v2+ only because it is tube (its great but even so, i prefer mechs). I really don't like box mods (only one i still have is only for making coils and setting up attys).

Its been hard not to get the V4, Im trying so hard to control myself and have been trying so hard to "thin the herd"

I do love my GUS mods, and enjoy the MCR and JMs, even though my JMs are fitted with GP top caps and switches. The only other one I have enjoyed that is very different is the Taifun Scarab (Scarabaeus). Its a semi-mech with side top button switch. It has some sort of electronics, but is unregulated. Its nice for my wider tanks (23mm) and performs great even though I got it second hand and well used but in good condition.
I worry about how long it will last because of it having electronics and not being able to take it apart and clean like I do my full mechs, but it IS purdy and the switch is real kind on my bad hands. It can be used with all battery sizes. I usually dont like logos, but I am fond of 23mm devices and beetles.

 

[VNeil]

If you like Provaris and you'd like an artistic Mech mod, but with a fuse, check out the Provari 2.5 Dragon or Mini Dragon.

 

[Fyla]

Provari simply doesn't fit my estetics

 

[VNeil]

Provari simply doesn't fit my estetics

I was responding to the OP, who owns 3, not you

 

[Vaper Bob]

If you like Provaris and you'd like an artistic Mech mod, but with a fuse, check out the Provari 2.5 Dragon or Mini Dragon.

Thank you for that. To my knowledge that is available at House of Hybrids and they don't ship overseas. The HoH stockist here in the UK doesn't carry them. In any case I have 4 Provaris now and that's more than I need. Truth be told, I have more mods and tanks than I have e-liquids I like! Is that sad? I keep telling myself I smoked only one brand of cigarettes!
I'm about to receive my first mech and my first dripper. Just want to try out a different style and see if I like it.

 

[VNeil]

Thank you for that. To my knowledge that is available at House of Hybrids and they don't ship overseas. The HoH stockist here in the UK doesn't carry them. In any case I have 4 Provaris now and that's more than I need. Truth be told, I have more mods and tanks than I have e-liquids I like! Is that sad? I keep telling myself I smoked only one brand of cigarettes!
I'm about to receive my first mech and my first dripper. Just want to try out a different style and see if I like it.

You can get the Dragons directly from Provape for $79 ea. Don't know what the shipping issues to the UK might be. If you have enough Provis I get that. I have 7 but I'm stocking up for a lifetime, and the 2.5's are very inexpensive now until they are sold out. They have a special right now on the Zencote Gold for $49 (amazing price).

 

[edyle]

Thank you for that. To my knowledge that is available at House of Hybrids and they don't ship overseas. The HoH stockist here in the UK doesn't carry them. In any case I have 4 Provaris now and that's more than I need. Truth be told, I have more mods and tanks than I have e-liquids I like! Is that sad? I keep telling myself I smoked only one brand of cigarettes!
I'm about to receive my first mech and my first dripper. Just want to try out a different style and see if I like it.

Haven't read the whole thread, but if it's your first dripper, just remember there's no need to use a dripper with a mech, especially for the first time.
For safety and learning you can just use the dripper on your regulated mod, and wrap a simple 2 ohm 30 gauge coil.

One thing I enjoy about a dripper is I can have 5 bottles of eliquid open and drip a drop or 2 from any of them at any time to spice up the mix.

 

[Vaper Bob]

Haven't read the whole thread, but if it's your first dripper, just remember there's no need to use a dripper with a mech, especially for the first time.
For safety and learning you can just use the dripper on your regulated mod, and wrap a simple 2 ohm 30 gauge coil.

One thing I enjoy about a dripper is I can have 5 bottles of eliquid open and drip a drop or 2 from any of them at any time to spice up the mix.

Thanks, yes I know I can use a regulated mod to drip as well, and I intend doing that. Just want to also own a mech for the sake of it. I have 28 ga. Kanthal and want to aim for around 1.2 ohms when I do my first build on my in-transit Origen v3, using cotton. What do you think?

 

[edyle]

Thanks, yes I know I can use a regulated mod to drip as well, and I intend doing that. Just want to also own a mech for the sake of it. I have 28 ga. Kanthal and want to aim for around 1.2 ohms when I do my first build on my in-transit Origen v3, using cotton. What do you think?

I use mechs at 1.2 also, with kick modules; 1.2 is just about the limit for the kick modules I have.
So If you plan on vaping at that kind of ohms anyway, you might as well use a mech with a kick and get voltage regulation, short circuit protection, low voltage cutoff.