Darwin...Is it really different?

[muttSRT]

First. let me say that I am in NO way afiliated with Evolv. The review and information here is from my own personal experience. Some of the technical info was re-worded by me, from a post made by the manufacturer, but the review is my own.

I was one of the lucky ones to receive a pre-production Darwin to test. If you havent heard of it, The Darwin will be the first power regulated mod. This is not a variable voltage device, but a true power regulated device.

What does this mean? In a typical vv device, the user can adjust the voltage output of the device, usually from a relatively low voltage up to whatever to manufacturer sets the limit at. The Darwin controls both the voltage and the amps, giving the user a steady wattage reading. And steady wattage equals steady heat, and steady heat equals consistent vaping.

I am not a tech head when it comes to electronics, so let me speak in layman's terms here. If you take ANY high voltage mod on the market or homemade, screw on a LR atty, what usually happens? You pop your atty right? Now take the same device, an take 4-5 consecutive drags off of it, what happens? Usually the tip gets extremely hot, the vapor becomes weaker. Why is this? Because as the atty heats up, the resistance of the atty changes, but the device doesnt make any adjustments and just keeps blasting power to the atty.

This is where the darwin differs from anything on the market today. Its actually a smart mod. You can take ANY atty, ANY carto and screw it to the Darwin, set your wattage and it actually reads the resistance, adjusts the amps and voltage, to give the user a steady wattage. Everytime you push the button, the darwin is constantly reading your atty/carto, 1000 times per second, and making slight adjustments to give off a steady power reading.

Adjusting the wattage on the Darwin is simple. Simply rotate the dial to your desired setting. There is an LCD screen that shows you what wattage you are vapping at. Thats pretty much it. No screwdrivers, no pushing and holding buttons down, simply turn the dial.


Now let me give a quick review of the product:

Keep in mind that the unit I received is a pre-production model so the looks are more than likely going to change. What is not going to change is the electrical workings of the device.

Performance wise, the steady power supply makes this device incredible. Never before have I had 100% consistent vape from a device. Every time you push the button, its the same. I can take an LR atty, an 808 carto, a regular 510 atty or whatever else is available, set the watts to 10, and no matter which atty or carto i screw into it, the Darwin delivers a 10 watt vape. Period.

Batteries- The great thing about the Darwin, is there is no more need to buy rechargeable batteries. This device comes with the batteries built in. The manufacturer states that the battery life is good for over 1000 charges, or roughly 3-5 YEARS.

When I first got this, I started using it on a high wattage rating, usually 12.4-12.8 watts and on 1 charge it lasted 13 hours! Thats 13 hours of 100% consistent vaping. No sag in the power, no dropping performance as the battery gets weaker. 13 straight hours of perfect vaping. The unit uses a standard mini usb to charge, so you can use it as a passthru while charging, you can charge and use it while driving with a car charger.

The Darwin for as advanced as it is, is actually extremely user friendly. You have a charge port, a button to make it fire and a rotating dial to adjust the wattage. Thats it. You dont need to be electronically informed to use it, just rotate the dial to the setting that you like best, and push the button to vape. You can adjust the wattage as you are vaping to dial in the perfect sweet spot.

I think that once anyone actually uses this device, sees the difference that being able to have steady power makes, they will have a hard time going back to the run of the mill high voltage device. Variable voltage or not, the same old devices just will not measure up to the Darwin.

I just want to say thanks again to Brandon and Evolv for letting me be one of the lucky to test this unit. When the finished unit becomes available, I will definitely be one of the first in line to pick one of these bad boys up.

Now, lets post a couple pictures of the pre-production model:

 

[misterD]

neat! thank you for the review! can you post a link to their website?

 

[muttSRT]

neat! thank you for the review! can you post a link to their website?

Not allowed to post any website info until ECF approves it. As soon as they get approval, I will be sure to post all the info here. For any tech questions and availabilty questions, you can PM Brandon: View Profile: IcaBoD - E-Cigarette Forum

 

[Goldenkobold]

I like the folding atty design.
looks promising.

 

[AngusATAT]

Looks very interesting. Can't wait to find out when this will be available, or what the projected cost will be.

 

[YKruss]

It looks like VaporBomb isn't going to carry Darwin.

 

[theECB]

I really think they're onto the right concept here. Controlling the watts is the way to go. The question then becomes...do we need this much accuracy in such a device? Clearly it comes at a cost, but will it continue to get smaller and better looking? You bet. I'll be holding out until V2.

 

[banjo]

Thanks for the info. & the review.............

 

[Switched]

It will be interesting to see the development of this type/style PV. As Clyde would say this is 4th generation.

 

[AngusATAT]

Something about this PV really speaks to my inner geek.

 

[WillyB]

The Darwin will be the first power regulated mod. This is not a variable voltage device, but a true power regulated device.

What does this mean? In a typical vv device, the user can adjust the voltage output of the device, usually from a relatively low voltage up to whatever to manufacturer sets the limit at. The Darwin controls both the voltage and the amps,

Sounds like mumbo jumbo to me.

In a "typical vv device" when you raise (control) the voltage you are also raising (controlling) the amps (current) and the watts (power). Anyone who has a VV PV already has the ability to control the volts, amps, and watts (power).

Ohm's law states that the current through a conductor between two points is directly proportional to the potential difference or voltage across the two points, and inversely proportional to the resistance between them.

 

[muttSRT]

Sounds like mumbo jumbo to me.

In a "typical vv device" when you raise (control) the voltage you are also raising (controlling) the amps (current) and the watts (power). Anyone who has a VV PV already has the ability to control the volts, amps, and watts (power).

Ohm's law states that the current through a conductor between two points is directly proportional to the potential difference or voltage across the two points, and inversely proportional to the resistance between them.

anyone who has a vv device now controls voltage. period. they do NOT control both volts and amps independently. Sure the amp rating will increase and decrease with the dial, but what makes the Darwin different is that internally the voltage and the amps are regulated seperately, adjusting higher or lower to give the user an even wattage or heat output.

Even heat equals consistent vape.

 

[NebulaBrot]

I'll be interested to see how this develops. I am no electrician but I can certainly tell the difference in hit between using AW ICR rcr123a 750 mah batts and the AW IMR 16340 550 mah in my VV and 5V regulated devices. I am fairly convinced this difference in hit is coming from amp draw.

I'd really like to know what batt(s) is/are in the device for chemistry, stacking or boosted and I'd also like to know more about the internal charging (quick vs trickle and the relative impact on the safety of the batt). Do you know if the PT feature gives the option of charge-in-use and batt bypass?

The pics make it look kind of large (albeit thin); Mutt, can you post dimensions? I realize you said this may not be the final body.

Thanks for the review and it will be interesting to learn more details (approx price-point would be helpful too).

 

[muttSRT]

The dimensions as it sits now are 5 3/4" long x 1 1/4" wide x 5/8" thick.

*** and yes I know i grabbed the ......ed mans tape with the fractions on it, but after being in construction for 20+ years, I do know how to read a tape....I just grabbed the wrong one for the pics.

 

[Rocketman]

First off, really nice looking mod.
Second off, really nice looking mod.

I see that you are getting uh a little resistance to the adjustable power concept. I think a little more in depth explanation would help others understand the benefit of dialing in power instead of voltage or current. BTW, this is typically done when tuning up a radio transmitter, to lets say 500 watts.

If you can imagine a circuit (shunt resistance with a voltmeter across it) to measure series atty current, and another circuit to measure voltage applied to the atty, with two digital displays, you could manually calculate watts without actually knowing that you knew the atty resistance . Follow? So lets say you have this breadboard kluge with a regulated variable voltage supply, a couple of meters, shunt, etc., and a calculator, and want to vape at 10 watts today. You could adjust the voltage, read both meters, calculate the watts delivered to the atty, darn only 9 watts, turn it up a little, 9.6 watts, closer, turn it up a little more, ta da 10.0 watts. If your battery voltage drops, the regulator will compensate (we're used to that, right?) and the power delivered to the atty stays at ten watts. (wonder what atty resistance is?, don't care)

The process is read volts, read current, multiply, adjust until the 3rd display (the calculator display) reads 10 watts. We can do that. Still with me?

Change to a different atty resistance, read volts, read current, multiply, adjust up or down until calculator display reads the 10 watts again. Don't go away just yet.
What if you had a microprocessor read the volts, read the amps, multiply them together, and display the result in watts? Now, I'm not calling anyone a dummy, but it would not take a lot of computing power to do what we could do with a couple of cheap meters and a calculator

Is this easier to interpret than adjusting a VV mod to a desired voltage? If you change attys a lot, yes. You might like 4.6 volts with a 2.3 ohm atty (9.2 watts), but if you put a 2.0 ohm atty what voltage would you adjust your VV mod to get the same watts? Go ahead, punch it out on the calculator I'll give you a hint: It ain't 4.6 volts no more.
(rocket scientists can do it in their head )

If you are a 10 watt vaper, set your mod for 10 watts. If you are a 5 volt vaper, set your mod to 5 volts. Which one is easier for you to figure out for different ohm attys? You do know the resistance of all your attys, right?

So, guessing, I would say there is a calibrated shunt, and three analog to digital inputs (read volts, read amps, read adjusting pot) on a PIC (or similar) processor that calculates, and displays the dialed in watts, and a D to A output to control the regulator, which I hope is not an old fashioned linear type. Based on thickness of the device 14mm diameter batteries would be a tight fit as the total (in metric decimal) thickness is 15.9mm. Do we have two 14670 cells in there? Or just a pair of 14500s?

Now, regulating both voltage and current interdependently not independently with a single regulating device to produce a single final result (watts) still complies with ohms law.
Rocket

 

[Rocketman]

Something about this PV really speaks to my inner geek.

Yes, and it's even got smarts inside of it

 

[yoyoma_mda]

im sorry but that thing is effing huge. I would never carry that around

 

[muttSRT]

im sorry but that thing is effing huge. I would never carry that around

Yup, you are correct. The pre-production model, as shown in my pics, is kind of large. It still fits in the hand nicely, the layout of the button and dial are nicely located and are user friendly. I think its important to remember that the unit shown IS NOT what the Darwin will look like. Its similar to the final version in that it will be a flat, long and skinny type PV. More importantly than the looks of the device, the main reason for this post is to show what the Darwin can do and why its different.

I have been trying to come up with a way to describe how the device is different than any other that will make sense to someone who does not have an electrical back ground, such as myself. So let me try this:

Take and get yourself 4 different PV's. A no name low voltage device, A no name high voltage device, a no name variable volt device and the Darwin. Now, get yourself an assortment of atty's and cartos. Get high resistance, get low resistance, get regular attys and cartos. it doesnt matter. Pick a juice, lets call it xxx juice. Take your vv device and adjust it for the sweet spot for that particular juice. Do the same for the Darwin, set your wattage for that juice. Now fill and prep all of your attys and cartos with that juice. Make sure you have all needed adapters to use the attys and cartos on each device.

Once you have that ready to go, try each atty/carto on each device. Whats going to happen? Well we can skip the non adjustable devices cause we just used them for the control devices. There are enough reviews out there on how a LR atty acts on a low voltage device and there is enough posts and common knowledge out there that tells you that a lr atty on a high voltage device will pop.

What we are going to concern ourselves with is the vv device and the Darwin. Without changing and rotating the dial once its set, the Darwin is going to give the user a consistent vape on ANY atty/carto. If its set for 10 watts as the sweet spot, then no matter what atty/carto combo you use, the Darwin will always give you a 10 watt vape. A standard vv device can not do this. It will fluctuate and give you inconsistent results, because a standard vv device does nothing more than raise and lower the voltage. Thats it.

Now, take the same vv device and the Darwin. Use them both for 3 hours, get the batteries good and used and not fully charged and run the same test. A vv device will not even replicate the same results as it did just 3 hours ago, because now the batteries are weaker and that also effects the vapor production/ end result. The Darwin stays 100% consistent, from the start of the day and the very first inhale, to when the batteries are finally needing a recharge and the device shuts down. In my case I ran the Darwin on full power for 13 straight hours. Anytime in those 13 hours, I could have plugged the unit into the car, computer, wall or whatever and still used the device while it charged, but I wanted to see how long the batteries lasted once the device was removed from all power supplies. I ended up with 13 hours of consistent vaping.

Thats where the Darwin differs from any device out there. Consistent vaping. No matter what atty or carto you use, a 10 watt vape will be a 10 watt vape. The internals of the Darwin are what makes it so different. It does all the thinking for you, makes all the needed adjustments (1000 times per second) and the result is consistency. Regardless of the atty/carto resistance.

The electrical people out there will tell you that if you take an atty say thats has a resistance of say 2.3 ohms (i think thats what they call it), if you heat the atty up, the resistance will change. With a standard PV or VV device, as the resistance changes, nothing changes about device so what ends up changing is the consistency of the vape. With the Darwin, as the resistance changes, the device automatically changes the supplied volts/amps and gives the user a steady wattage. And wattage equals heat and level heat is consistent vape. And thats what we are all after. We want out chosen device with our chosen juice to perform the same, each and everytime. Until the Darwin, this was not a possibility.

 

[muttSRT]

First off, really nice looking mod.
Second off, really nice looking mod.

I see that you are getting uh a little resistance to the adjustable power concept. I think a little more in depth explanation would help others understand the benefit of dialing in power instead of voltage or current. BTW, this is typically done when tuning up a radio transmitter, to lets say 500 watts.

If you can imagine a circuit (shunt resistance with a voltmeter across it) to measure series atty current, and another circuit to measure voltage applied to the atty, with two digital displays, you could manually calculate watts without actually knowing that you knew the atty resistance . Follow? So lets say you have this breadboard kluge with a regulated variable voltage supply, a couple of meters, shunt, etc., and a calculator, and want to vape at 10 watts today. You could adjust the voltage, read both meters, calculate the watts delivered to the atty, darn only 9 watts, turn it up a little, 9.6 watts, closer, turn it up a little more, ta da 10.0 watts. If your battery voltage drops, the regulator will compensate (we're used to that, right?) and the power delivered to the atty stays at ten watts. (wonder what atty resistance is?, don't care)

The process is read volts, read current, multiply, adjust until the 3rd display (the calculator display) reads 10 watts. We can do that. Still with me?

Change to a different atty resistance, read volts, read current, multiply, adjust up or down until calculator display reads the 10 watts again. Don't go away just yet.
What if you had a microprocessor read the volts, read the amps, multiply them together, and display the result in watts? Now, I'm not calling anyone a dummy, but it would not take a lot of computing power to do what we could do with a couple of cheap meters and a calculator

Is this easier to interpret than adjusting a VV mod to a desired voltage? If you change attys a lot, yes. You might like 4.6 volts with a 2.3 ohm atty (9.2 watts), but if you put a 2.0 ohm atty what voltage would you adjust your VV mod to get the same watts? Go ahead, punch it out on the calculator I'll give you a hint: It ain't 4.6 volts no more.
(rocket scientists can do it in their head )

If you are a 10 watt vaper, set your mod for 10 watts. If you are a 5 volt vaper, set your mod to 5 volts. Which one is easier for you to figure out for different ohm attys? You do know the resistance of all your attys, right?

So, guessing, I would say there is a calibrated shunt, and three analog to digital inputs (read volts, read amps, read adjusting pot) on a PIC (or similar) processor that calculates, and displays the dialed in watts, and a D to A output to control the regulator, which I hope is not an old fashioned linear type. Based on thickness of the device 14mm diameter batteries would be a tight fit as the total (in metric decimal) thickness is 15.9mm. Do we have two 14670 cells in there? Or just a pair of 14500s?

Now, regulating both voltage and current interdependently not independently with a single regulating device to produce a single final result (watts) still complies with ohms law.
Rocket

I was good and followed you up until here:

"I see that you are getting uh a little resistance to the adjustable power concept. I think a little more in depth explanation would help others understand the benefit of dialing in power instead of voltage or current. BTW, this is typically done when tuning up a radio transmitter, to lets say 500 watts. "

I am pretty much lost after that...

 

[theECB]

I for one am sold on the concept. I even like the fold down atty connection. I'm waiting to see what the final version looks like.