I too was caught up in the elegance and beauty of this mod, but for a mod that claims to be "Blessed by the Greek Gods and Goddesses", I am deeply upset! Out of the probably 30 or so authentic mechs I've owned, this was not only one that I wanted quite a bit, paid quite a lot for, but also malfunctioned quite quickly and severely! Right of the bat, when I received it, and I'll be honest, I bought it "second hand", although not on here, and in "NEW" condition. The top cap was "fused" so tight on the mod that I actually had to thoroughly research it out to make sure it wasn't one piece! I decided to still go ahead and give it a vape, try it out, but to my dismay, with a freshly charged Sony VTC5, I could NOT get it to fire after attempting to make as many adjustments to it as possible, given that I could not remove the top cap at that time.
I didn't have a lot of time to mess around with it, that was just a short day or so ago and pulled it out this afternoon to entertain myself on a "lazy" Saturday day. Luckily for me, and having had purchased a "strap wrench", after putting it in the freezer, I was able to get the top cap off without even needing the strap wrench.....yet!
I decided to put the Pegasus kit on it, which I bought included with the mod, all at the price of what the mod itself would have cost new and alone. Well as soon as I started threading the brass locking ring on, MORE troubles quickly began! I noticed it wasn't threading on completely or smoothly so after attempting to remove it I discovered it was in fact, NOT coming OFF! Now all I've used at this point was my hands, and while I'm not saying that "females" in general can't carry their own "weight", I'm about 125 lbs. socking wet, haven't exercised regularly or worked out in I can't remember when aside from chasing my kids around so I don't see how just hand tightening it should have caused ANY issues for ANY thing on the mod. I AGAIN did the "freezer method", ran the button switch and locking ring under hot water, but at this point, not ONLY could I not remove the locking ring, I could NOT remove the button switch assembly as a whole either! I was starting to feel VERY upset, disappointed, yet determined to do everything I could, while exercising caution and care to avoid causing any additional and asthetic damage to the mod, as has happened to me previously in similar situations before I learned better "removal" techniques. I enjoy copper mods immensely, so I've owned the Penny and the Sir Lancelot, which have had these kinds of issues with their mods and I'm coming to the conclusion that copper on copper threads in general might not be the best thing, conductivity and voltage drop aside, as someone above mentioned, voltage drop ALONE, does not a "worthwhile" and "well made" mod make, and neither does an aesthetically pleasing one or $250 one as well! I'd like to say my troubles ended their and that I was successful with the locking ring like I was with the top cap, after utilizing one of the above methods and/or the strap wrench. NOPE! While I had a firm grasp with my right hand, and the strap wrench in my left hand around the top cap and was giving it what I had while seated at my "vaping work space", the mod "popped up and/or out" and bounced onto the plastic table and as I scrambled to catch it, evidently my reflexes weren't quick enough to keep it from "bouncing" to the concrete floor where the copper tubes top cap connection threads were NOW damaged with a decent size ding! By this point I was simply shaking with anger, frustration, devastation you name it! I didn't know if I wanted to now purposely "destroy" something or just break down and cry, which I gave into the latter.....I'll admit it, seeing my newly purchased, expensive "high end" mod reduced to a pile of "expensive and pretty rubbish" was just too much to bear on top of the previous issues mentioned. I've never even got to vape it before it was virtually "useless" in it's current state! I created and co-run a vaping group on Facebook where we'd planned to start featuring video reviews on the more popular and interesting mods, as well as on our Youtube channel of the same name which was due to be launching next week!
As it were, I had planned and promised to feature the Changeling by Olympus Creation among other popular mods like the Sir Lancelot and even the LE Charlie by Vapesirs! While I had some initial issues with the Sir, I will say that "Vapesirs" stepped RIGHT up, contacting me back right away and helped to resolve the issue quickly and in a pleasant manner! I've contacted Olympus Creations, but beings as I didn't purchase the mod directly, as being a mother of 3 small children, the youngest 17 mos., while I appreciate the quality and offerings available in higher end mods and authentic's, I have mainly been able to enjoy them ONLY from buying them used and in good to NEW condition when I can catch a deal at the 'right time"!
I have to say that for the price tag, I would think that "hand tightening" any of the pieces, which at that point was only limited to attempting to remove the top cap, and thread the brass accent ring on. and then subsequently remove it, when it become difficult to continue threading at about 1/2 the way on. Prior to that, I had also been able to successfully remove the button switch when I attempted to fire it the first day I received it an briefly messed with it..so I think it's safe to assume that somehow in my efforts to remove the locking ring the button switch "seized" up. I know the fatal ding to the threads was on me, but I'm not 100% sure where the blame lies for the other issues, not to mention how the design and "functionality" of the slits and interchangeable sleeves causes scratches to the inner copper tube and the reverse threaded center pin, and a few other minor concerns I might bring up in my review IF and hopefully I can get this mod functioning again! Hopefully I don't have a "blessing of the gods paperweight" on my hands.....I hope to hear from Olympus Creations and I contacted them through their Facebook, as I didn't really see an option to email them through the website, something else they may want to reconsider or clearly "mark", to at least help instruct me on where, how I can go about paying someone to repair/restore this back to functionality and I could hopefully sell it at a "small or acceptable" loss if nothing else, while I would LOVE to be able to keep it, IF I could resolve some of these issues. I just don't want to have to "handle it with kid gloves" each time I vape on it, "change" out the sleeves on the "Changeling" IF I'm even ABLE to do so without further harming it! I WILL say though that I've owned enough mods, mainly authentics and have been around long enough to know that even among "brands" that are well known for high quality, there's ALWAYS the "exception" to the rule, and something could have "slipped through the cracks", as this could have been an isolated "quality assurance/control" issue or perhaps a first run that has since had arisen issues corrected. The mod I have is SN 0522, so while I'm not exactly sure of how many batches they've put out per run, I believe they're currently "processing' their third run.
All of this has also impacted my decision to continue and attempt to look for and purchase an authentic Pegasus. I've wanted one since I first saw RIP Trippers review of it, but it's been virtually IMPOSSIBLE to not only find one, but the very few times I did, it was either in unacceptable condition or the price was well above retail, and I don't believe in paying that except in maybe the most rarest of circumstances lol! I DID recently acquire a Pegasus clone though from a friend in a trade deal and WOW, before I went through everything with the Changeling, it had actually given me an even GREATER incentive to try and find one or pick one up if and when it became possible to do so! I don't immediately recall the manufacturer but this things SIZZLED with my Stillaire, I paid $40 for after getting scammed into believing I'd be receiving an authentic not that long after first getting into mech mods, so you DO have to be careful. As with clones, and someone else even went over, while the finish and performance is great, the switch is "janky" and worked itself off in NO time. No major disappointment as it went right back on, and even if it had "permanently" messed up, given my investment in it, I wouldn't have been out much!
In closing I'd like to say since my vaping group is by, for and about "REAL Vapers", even though I personal prefer authentics, I don't have a huge issue with them or judge others who do. Since we have vapers at all different levels in the group, and different financial considerations, I like to compare side by side the authentic verses the clone as well. While I personally can't tell the difference between 0.02 +/-, I don't feel voltage drop is the ONLY or even the MOST important factor in deciding on whether or not to purchase a particular device. There ARE rare instances were the clone did it "better" but by and large in my experience and from what I've seen with others, the authentic is almost ALWAYS better overall! Still though, there's manufacturers and modders out there selling $200-300 mods that don't offer that much IMO to justify that price tag with newer and less expensive devices hitting the market recently, and gaining speed, that ARE worth the $100-150 price tag, and even less on some of the newer RDA's. I digress though as I didn't mean to get too far into the "clones vs. authentics" as it's been WELL covered, just glad to seem some positive changes in the industry! 'm sorry for the lengthy post, and I certainly hope you don't feel as if I hijacked your post, in the end only YOU can decide whether or not it's worth it to you, and it's was a "justifiable" purchase. At this point, I can't say it was for me, even though I managed to get the Pegasus kit for free virtually buying it second hand. I'd REALLY love a "happy ending" and to get thing not only positively resolved, but to find a good deal on a Pegasus to add to my collection as well! For now I'm just trying to keep my mind off of it and/or a hopeful open mind until I hear back from them and what my options are from them if any.....send some good "vaper ju ju" my way please, and I'd love to hear if ANY one else has had any similar issues! Thanks!
