Coil Master 521 Tab

[Tpat591]

Wires are very light ga, literally Bare yet Anodized for insulation. All Connections are soldered and coated. Mine was reading wonky when I first opened the box so I pulled the top cover. No idea what I did, but it appears to be reading stable and within .01 ohm at the moment.

Whoever assembled it had stripped one of the screws holding the red Lexan at the 510 led so I didn't even try to remove it to check the underside of the 510. It was treated same as rest of connections it ought to be pretty stable.

Was initially thinking of adding a disposable camera Flash Board hooked to the Alligator Clip Probe Sockets to add a Wire Zapper Function but after looking at the board setup I think I'm going to stay away from it and just use a separate project box for that. There is room for the flash board, a switch and a separate volt meter to the right of the main power switch, but considering the Voltage Range of Colimaster Volt meter is only 9.9v (wouldn't want to expose it to 30+ volts of the Zapper), I'm definitely thinking a separate project box for the Zapper is the way to go.

 

[Mactavish]

Got my 521 from WakeAndVape, after USPS lost the 1st one. CS was good, delivery fast, unfortunately I have 510 threading issues even though they told me these were the new ones. One of my subtank minis screws on ok, another one does not. My Morph tank will NOT screw down. I'm going to return it. These are really cheaply made, most likely a 5-10 $ item. The clips barely hold the wire, and you can't pulse bare wire, which was my mistake, as I thought it could, only reads bare wire resistance. Basically an ohm meter with bad 510 threads. I can fire my atties from my mods, so that feature is overrated.

 

[gorman]

Subscribing.

 

[Firecrow]

I picked one up from Dashvapes.com, went to the Richmond Hill store.

Here is what I posted on the review:

Disappointed. Amazingly the product I received is a knock off of a knock off of the original. I was looking for a knock off of the original (LOL).

The Coil Master 521 you see reviewed on web sites generally has an OLED screen. This one has the ancient fixed LED numbers. This limits the display quality and information, and since I don't have the one with the OLED, I am not sure if it affects features, but I expect so, since it can't tell you charge status or display graphics of any kind.

One big difference is voltage check. The only way this unit reads voltage from a mod is when it has a load (atomizer is plugged in), it has no electronics to handle it otherwise, so it uses a pass-through method to read voltage, which also means that it probably cannot deal with a PWM signal - its no better than those cylinder type readers you screw in between your mod and the atomizer.

The coilmaster site shows its a LED and not OLED screen (http://www.coil-master.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/coil-master-521-15-600x600.jpg) but if you look at most of the YouTube reviews, you see reviewers showing an OLED screen and testing voltage without the need for an atomizer load. I was originally motivated to yet this unit based on YouTube reviews and did not know there were two versions and expected it to be the same as the reviews I had been viewing. If Coil Master is sending out the OLED version to reviewings and selling the LED version to the general public, then that's a game that someone is going to call very soon.

There is a bait and switch going on here - I'm not sure Dashvapes is aware of it or knows the difference, as they've always been good to me and are trustworthy folk, but I don't think there are many of these in circulation yet. Then again, as an importer, I would expect them to QA their shipments, so this is still on them.

I have yet to determine if I am going to take it back or not, but the unit definitely does not meet my expectations. I advise you to research this unit a little more if you're expecting to see an OLED screen and the reviewed method for voltage check. Otherwise the unit seems to work as advertised.

 

[Mactavish]

I picked one up from Dashvapes.com, went to the Richmond Hill store.

Here is what I posted on the review:

Disappointed. Amazingly the product I received is a knock off of a knock off of the original. I was looking for a knock off of the original (LOL).

The Coil Master 521 you see reviewed on web sites generally has an OLED screen. This one has the ancient fixed LED numbers. This limits the display quality and information, and since I don't have the one with the OLED, I am not sure if it affects features, but I expect so, since it can't tell you charge status or display graphics of any kind.

One big difference is voltage check. The only way this unit reads voltage from a mod is when it has a load (atomizer is plugged in), it has no electronics to handle it otherwise, so it uses a pass-through method to read voltage, which also means that it probably cannot deal with a PWM signal - its no better than those cylinder type readers you screw in between your mod and the atomizer.

The coilmaster site shows its a LED and not OLED screen (http://www.coil-master.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/coil-master-521-15-600x600.jpg) but if you look at most of the YouTube reviews, you see reviewers showing an OLED screen and testing voltage without the need for an atomizer load. I was originally motivated to yet this unit based on YouTube reviews and did not know there were two versions and expected it to be the same as the reviews I had been viewing. If Coil Master is sending out the OLED version to reviewings and selling the LED version to the general public, then that's a game that someone is going to call very soon.

There is a bait and switch going on here - I'm not sure Dashvapes is aware of it or knows the difference, as they've always been good to me and are trustworthy folk, but I don't think there are many of these in circulation yet. Then again, as an importer, I would expect them to QA their shipments, so this is still on them.

I have yet to determine if I am going to take it back or not, but the unit definitely does not meet my expectations. I advise you to research this unit a little more if you're expecting to see an OLED screen and the reviewed method for voltage check. Otherwise the unit seems to work as advertised.

Does your model have 4 little rubber feet, and printed settings next to the side selector switch?

 

[Mactavish]

Got my 521 from WakeAndVape, after USPS lost the 1st one. CS was good, delivery fast, unfortunately I have 510 threading issues even though they told me these were the new ones. One of my subtank minis screws on ok, another one does not. My Morph tank will NOT screw down. I'm going to return it. These are really cheaply made, most likely a 5-10 $ item. The clips barely hold the wire, and you can't pulse bare wire, which was my mistake, as I thought it could, only reads bare wire resistance. Basically an ohm meter with bad 510 threads. I can fire my atties from my mods, so that feature is overrated.

UPDATE: All this time later, waited for CoilMaster to retool their assembly line, and while it took a few months, it seems they fixed the 510 thread issue and added two small improvements. There are now 4 little rubber feet on the bottom to keep it from sliding, and the text for what the mode selector positions mean, are now printed next to the switch, instead of hidden under the bottom cover. Works well, good for the price. I got mine at RTD Vapor.

Forgot to add, you can heat wire via the clips, but you are going to get the full voltage level of the battery you have installed in the Tab 521, much like a mech mod. With no regulation, it's best to pulse your titanium wire on a DNA200 with a custom TCR setting. Should work fine for Kanthal wire pulsing. The included wires are whimpy, and to soft to hold the wire upright. So I found some banana type connectors, the ones that plug into the 521 base, and soldered some thick solid core wire to those, and soldered some better alligator clips to the other end, much better then the cheap included ones.

 

[Mactavish]

Here's a NEW review of the differences between the two models:



I don't care much about OLED screen, versus LED, I like getting the installed battery voltage in a numerical value, instead of a dumb battery icon, and the newer one gives you real time voltage readout, when firing an atomizer, instead of a dumb "pipe icon". Since I'm not playing video games on this screen, I'd say the updates are GREAT! More importantly, all my atomizers now screw down on the unit, the original model had some really bad threading issues, on some of them, so if you find an older model, BEWARE!

 

[Northy]

There's also the Fire Meter by USAOhmMeters.

3D Fire Meter

I have one of their older meters (first and last meter I ever bought, years ago) and I can attest to the quality of the electronics and the build being really good. No issues to this day... very accurate and reliable.

Bit more expensive than the Coil Master though... may be better quality.

Can choose your LED and box color too

 

[Firecrow]

Does your model have 4 little rubber feet, and printed settings next to the side selector switch?

Yup

 

[Firecrow]

Here's a NEW review of the differences between the two models:

Ah, okay, now it makes a little more sense.

 

[Mactavish]

Ah, okay, now it makes a little more sense.

I think you'll find the 2nd revision much better despite the lower quality screen.

 

[Firecrow]

I thought this was supposed to read the mod voltage without a load - do they actually require an atomizer to be plugged in? The instructions are terrible.

Other than providing a build base I am trying to figure out how using this would be any different from building say on my 7-22, which is much heavier, I can fire it to test and it reads the resistance as well...

 

[Mactavish]

I thought this was supposed to read the mod voltage without a load - do they actually require an atomizer to be plugged in? The instructions are terrible.

Other than providing a build base I am trying to figure out how using this would be any different from building say on my 7-22, which is much heavier, I can fire it to test and it reads the resistance as well...

Not entirely sure what you mean. But other then my mech mods, all my mods have some way of showing their battery voltage. Which of course is the RESTING VOLTAGE, meaning with NO load, or atomizer in this case. The CM Tab, can show you the voltage draw, only if you fire a connected atomizer on it, which is somewhat useful if you want to see the voltage drop. It works as advertised.

 

[Firecrow]

Yeah, I guess I didn't understand it like I thought I did. It was $50CAD. I've spent more on stuff and gotten less. Going to figure out how to make it heavier to make it easier to build on.

 

[KentA]

If anyone sees a good after Christmas sale on these, please shout it out.

 

[Mactavish]

If anyone sees a good after Christmas sale on these, please shout it out.

They sell on most sites for $39.00, how much cheaper do you want one for? $38.00?

 

[Flt Simulation]

I have been using a Fluke multimeter to check my coil ohms and applied voltage when firing the coil.

Would this Coil Master box be of any benefit for me over the Fluke I am now using? ... (the Fluke is very accurate and not a cheap multimeter by any means).

 

[KentA]

I have been using a Fluke multimeter to check my coil ohms and applied voltage when firing the coil.

Would this Coil Master box be of any benefit for me over the Fluke I am now using? ... (the Fluke is very accurate and not a cheap multimeter by any means).

Aside from being able to build on the Coil Master, I don't know the answer to your question, but if you do decide to get the one, let us know how the measurements compare to your certainly more precise Fluke.

 

[Firecrow]

I think its more form factor than function.

 

[Tpat591]

Clone of a Clone of a Clone?

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