What is a well made mod that is inexpensive? I've tried a lot of the cheapos and the only one that I think is any good is the K100. I just want a decent tube with brass or copper contacts (that I don't need to file) and an adjustable center pin. It doesn't seem that complicated, but I haven't been able to find one.a well made mod, doesn't have to be expensive... they do exist.
this one just isn't one of them...
stop trying to be smug and convincing others that it is
- Status
Unfortunately quality does have its price. Look at Japanese dalvage denim jeans vs. Jeans made in a chinese sweat shop. Both are denim, both are jeans but the difference is the quality.Japanese salvage is hand dyes, bip materials and hans sawn hence the price. Same with mods. None of us "needs" a mod but could easily use an Ego (will probably work just as good as your Casio, but we WANT mods, hence making it a "luxury" item IMO. I had many "high end" mechanical mods and glady pay 200-300 if I know that the mod is made with high end materials and will lastme a lifetime. I am waiting for my Caravela, meanwhile using a GG Stealth I had for a long time no (and being the onlt e-cig, mod I have).I'mnot a collector or want to play around with different options, I just want one reliable. High quality mod to use daily and one back-up.Of course it is insane that people buy Caravelas just to turnn around and flip,thus Pedro will auction off a few Caravelas each month now(detering flippets) and the profit will go to a charity. As far as your "name dropping" comment goes, all the labels I mentioned are high quality and will last for the rest of my life, just as a Caravela will; if I had an Ego or a vela clone I would doubt that'd be the case.
the k100 is excellent. Sigelei is putting out some really top notch telescopes. I have the #8 as well as a #19 and #20 on the way. The #8 and #19 are top notch. The CCTS has great reviews as well as the draw tube and the smok natural just to name a few ~$50 dollar mods
cheap and quality are not mutually exclusive... you seem to be stating they are
I have a #8 and I would say it's "serviceable". It looks very nice and the threads are good, but the button feels terrible (and would take a lot of effort to get it out because it has been threadlocked) and that spring causes serious voltage loss. I have a brass screw down in there, which does help but I want something that works right out of the mailbox. I do have a #19 on the way but after watching the review that Todd did, that thing looks kind of like a complete trainwreck. I can't complain about the K100 though. That thing never lets me down.
modding the #8 or even the #19 to bring out better performance is trivial and can be done in minutes. did you wtch the whole review Todd did on the #19? his final take away was quite favorable. For more info on modding these check out the sigelei mechanicals thread for more info
The K100 and The Curve would be my choices.
to me, those mods seem like they would take a beating, and the buttons are butter smooth.
what grinds me about this hobby, is that people cry about a mod that is over $100.
when i was a smoker, i easily spend that on cigarettes in a span of two weeks...
I think everyone on this forum who has been vaping for longer than 3 moths should be able to afford a quality built mod...
If not, YOU are doing something wrong.
I had a 2 cheap mods fail on me; stripped threads, soft metals(their version of SS) & the most irritating buttons i've had to use.
I learned my lesson...
i dont keep my mods on a shelf, i use them. If they don't work for daily use, they are useless to me.
One well made mechanical mod, will last longer than you. And that would be the only investment you would ever have to make to have a healthier life.
It blows my mind that people think continuously purchasing cheap mods is easier on the wallet.
Time = Money.
If i have to spend my time making a cheap mod work well, i would rather purchase a well made mod and spend my time living my life.
i dont have a problem paying the money for a good device, but i know of nothing out there compact in 18350 that i can buy today. whats an easily accessible ~$100 mechanical 18350 mod?
Well quality and price is usually that, quality and price. You get what you paid for. The materials they're made from and how they're put together. A lot of the mod makers out there spend time and money developing these mods. They spend time beta testing their creations until they feel they are ready for the market. They take pride in their work and most offer the best customer service. Your basically paying for all of that. Like any other type of product out there. You have the choice of buying a name brand item or buying a cheaper alternative. With the cheaper stuff, you will always run into problems or have to make modifications. No customer service other than from the vendor.
I like to save money and I tend to buy cheaper alternatives when ever I can to a point my wife calls me a cheapskate. But when it comes to products I know that will get allot of use, I will always buy the most expensive ones I can afford. (After some research of course) I used to have a problem with spending more than $100 on a mod. I felt it was a rip off and that it was a waste. I take that all back now. The thing is that most of these $200+ mods are actually cheaper. It's mostly due to shipping cost and taxes. Which makes me question some of these so called U.S. made mods costing the same or more. It's like U.S. mod makers are raising the prices just as high as the import devices just to convince people that their product is at the same level. Then you have the people that get a new mod, "This is the hardest hitting mod ever!" then next week, "This new mod hit's like a freight train!" then the next following week "This thing is a cloud machine!!!!" It's pretty ridiculous how this hobby has become. We can't be satisfied with what we have. I'm fighting myself not to buy the iHybrid F3CTA that's available tonight. Truthfully, I have no idea why I want it and I think the body of the tube is ugly. But for some reason, maybe due to the fact that it one of those stupid, "Get it now or you'll miss out because there's only a limited amount." I came to my senses and decided to wait. I don't like any of the new designs coming out so far, so I will have to wait a few months until there's one I like.
I remember when I first got into vaping and got an ego twist with a stardust. I loved it and enjoyed using it and thought I wouldn't need any other pv. That's until I started reading the forums and watching the Youtube videos. Next thing I know, I had a Provari coming in the mail 2 weeks later. I think once I get a Nemesis and a iHybrid, I'll be done with mods for a while. I will continue to get devices, but no more mods. As tempting as the prices are of these new mods coming out of china, I will always wait for for the reviews. I'd rather spend $200 on one good mod than have 4-5 crappy ones.
I like to save money and I tend to buy cheaper alternatives when ever I can to a point my wife calls me a cheapskate. But when it comes to products I know that will get allot of use, I will always buy the most expensive ones I can afford. (After some research of course) I used to have a problem with spending more than $100 on a mod. I felt it was a rip off and that it was a waste. I take that all back now. The thing is that most of these $200+ mods are actually cheaper. It's mostly due to shipping cost and taxes. Which makes me question some of these so called U.S. made mods costing the same or more. It's like U.S. mod makers are raising the prices just as high as the import devices just to convince people that their product is at the same level. Then you have the people that get a new mod, "This is the hardest hitting mod ever!" then next week, "This new mod hit's like a freight train!" then the next following week "This thing is a cloud machine!!!!" It's pretty ridiculous how this hobby has become. We can't be satisfied with what we have. I'm fighting myself not to buy the iHybrid F3CTA that's available tonight. Truthfully, I have no idea why I want it and I think the body of the tube is ugly. But for some reason, maybe due to the fact that it one of those stupid, "Get it now or you'll miss out because there's only a limited amount." I came to my senses and decided to wait. I don't like any of the new designs coming out so far, so I will have to wait a few months until there's one I like.
I remember when I first got into vaping and got an ego twist with a stardust. I loved it and enjoyed using it and thought I wouldn't need any other pv. That's until I started reading the forums and watching the Youtube videos. Next thing I know, I had a Provari coming in the mail 2 weeks later. I think once I get a Nemesis and a iHybrid, I'll be done with mods for a while. I will continue to get devices, but no more mods. As tempting as the prices are of these new mods coming out of china, I will always wait for for the reviews. I'd rather spend $200 on one good mod than have 4-5 crappy ones.
I think all of us here would! Or rather I'd rather have 4-5 GOOD ones! The problem is it's stupid chasing over priced 60 second sales or paying twice as much as retail just to get your hands on someone else's "used" goods. IF my local vendor stocked Caravela, Nzonic, GG, etc. I'd probably already have them all or would be figuring out how to buy them all anyway. But they DON'T.
No one is claiming China is selling a $30 mod that is as good as the $200 one they "cloned". But in the long run "it's a metal tube with a battery in it... not a magical flying unicorn." (not my original quote... I just liked it and decided to use it)... and more importantly... the MOST important thing... The Chinese mods are far more readily available than the collectable ones!
Chinavela anyone?
All I am stating is that the retail price of a Caravela is very reasonable esp.taking the work and materials into consideration, hence not comparable to a clone.
China actually usually seems to mess up these types of devices. People generally seem to have to fix them.
As I said, if they sell for over $50 they are kind of useless unless you are really into that Caravela look. Entry level into non-china mods is about $90.
As I said, if they sell for over $50 they are kind of useless unless you are really into that Caravela look. Entry level into non-china mods is about $90.
I think "mod" is short for "modifiable". I would argue that cheaper Chinese clones are *easier* to get improvement out of because of the unfinished quality some may (or may not) have, offering a certain appeal to the tinkerer that *wants* to work on a mod themselves, polish it, etch it, whatever. For these people it makes little to no sense to pay for someone else's hard work on something that is still, in essence, just another metal tube with a switch on it.
That said even some higher end "mods" get modded:
N-Zonic DIY Switch Modification Guide - YouTube
That said even some higher end "mods" get modded:
N-Zonic DIY Switch Modification Guide - YouTube
Well said, this is exactly my stance. If its cheap and I can modify it, it is a tool and a prodject. Vaping is to me a hobby and a lifesaver. The pleasure I get from my modded china clones is worth ten unobtainables. I have Paps and Poldiac and both have needed modification to be reliable. When I see a cheap Chinese mod I look at the potential not the out of the
mailbox usability. This is all not to say the Chinese dont have an ... about backwards muppet design strategy, but on my limited budget I get somthing out of it.
Last edited:
And because people like you share their great work, people like me actually have a clue as to how to fix these devices. It more impressive to me, a guy who take a zero and makes it a hero, than one who buys a Ferrari and says "look I can drive fast".
It's more impressive to me to make "hero" from scratch but we're all into different things. For me, I'd prefer my tube with a button to perform it's function without sanding, replacing parts etc. Since they make them in already fully functional models, that's what I'll go with. I'd rather buy an Astro/Paps/Legacy/Chi you/Nemesis than work on making something like this perform as well.
I don't actually care what other people spend their money on and the cloning doesn't really bother me, latest and greatest with regards to a china mod is just relative to the company it is in.
I was not talking about what works and what doesnt work regardless of $$$. I dont care what people spend their money on either. The point was it is more impressive to me for someone to make something work (or work better) and share that success, than to tell me they just purchased something that everybody expected should work well in the first place.
If you follow studiovaps posts, he has improved devices that were marginal and made them into high performance devices. He also has improved some of those higher end devices you mention as well. And to point, he shares and details how he does it. That to me is what is impressive.
Not knocking him, I'm just not into the buy a device and have to make it better thing. It's wonderful that he shares what he does and that it helps people, I just don't understand why I would want to buy a product where that is necessary. Different strokes for different folks.
I'm not entirely opposed to making things better, I'd rather start with something better to begin with. Tweaking something rather than recreating it so to speak.
- Status
