How durable is the metallic green finish?

[Clovery]

I've been wanting a green Provari mini for a long time. The only thing keeping me from purchasing the new metallic green is I'm wondering how durable the finish is. I have a purple mini and white standard size (both V2) and the finish on both of them looks pretty bad after a year and a half of being toted around. It's scratched and rubbing off. I'm not the type to keep my device on a pillowed throne at home - they go with me wherever I go.

So can anyone speak of the durability of the finish on the metallic green? I also really like the gun metal finish - is this more durable? Are there any differences in the finish between V2 and V2.5?

 

[Ozwald]

There were several problems with the green when it first came out, but not all of them seemed to suffer it. I haven't heard any chatter about any recent cases, but that doesn't really mean much.

The Gun Metal & Gold are significantly tougher - it's a completely different finishing process than any of the other colors. The only thing that's going to be tougher is the polished & the blasted since they don't actually have an applied finish.

The standard colors were CeraKote on both v2 & v2.5. I would imagine the outside company doing it for ProVape has grown in that amount of time, which very well could mean better equipment and/or process. But it's still the same stuff. The only major differences that come to mind are the chrome was cancelled & the much tougher polished was introduced & the short lived 24k v2 was plated while the new one is ZenCoat, again, much tougher.

 

[Gato del Jugo]

I also really like the gun metal finish - is this more durable?

Start watching at the 42:00 mark for your answer..


A PBusardo Video A Fireside Chat With Zen Pt 2 - YouTube

 

[Clovery]

Thanks for the replies. I might just chicken out and buy a wrap. The gun metal is tempting tho

 

[serenity21899]

There were some issues with some of the early releases of the green metallic. I have one, and keep it indoors just to be sure. Of my 3 cerakote ProVarii, only one has very slight wear, and I'm responsible for it. The other 2 are still perfect after 1 year+.

 

[Clovery]

There were some issues with some of the early releases of the green metallic. I have one, and keep it indoors just to be sure. Of my 3 cerakote ProVarii, only one has very slight wear, and I'm responsible for it. The other 2 are still perfect after 1 year+.

So just to clarify... the metallic green is the same type of finish as the other colors? and that's called Cerakote?

If so, I probably shouldn't get one if I want it to stay nice... Here's a pic of my purple and white ones. I've been carrying them around for over a year and a half. The purple is a few months older.

 

[serenity21899]

So just to clarify... the metallic green is the same type of finish as the other colors? and that's called Cerakote?

If so, I probably shouldn't get one if I want it to stay nice... Here's a pic of my purple and white ones. I've been carrying them around for over a year and a half. The purple is a few months older.

View attachment 360248

Correct the colored ones are all Cerakote, except for Gunmetal and Gold which are Zenkote. The satin silver and polished don't have either finish on them.

JWraps does sell a clear wrap if you really want a certain color.

 

[Ozwald]

So just to clarify... the metallic green is the same type of finish as the other colors? and that's called Cerakote?

If so, I probably shouldn't get one if I want it to stay nice... Here's a pic of my purple and white ones. I've been carrying them around for over a year and a half. The purple is a few months older.

View attachment 360248

CeraKote was created for the firearms industry. Cera = Ceramic. It's a bake-on ceramic enamel. It excels at withstanding high temperatures, quick changes in temp & heavy cycling between hot & cool, it never was intended to be tough against abrasions... and it's definitely not. CeraKote on a firearm looks fantastic & holds up for a long time, except for where the action cycles & where it contacts the holster in the case of some handguns. Wear on the action is pretty much expected & accepted. It's a very tough coating, but it was never designed for this type of application.

Get a ZenCoat, Polished or Media Blasted one & you won't have to worry about it as much. The ZenCoat can be removed, but it holds up much, much better than CeraKote in this application. The Polished & "Satin Silver" have no coating. The polished is the tube simply brought up to a mirror polish with buffing compounds. Pretty much any non-physical damage scratches can easily be buffed right back out. The Satin Silver is the same, only instead of polishing it they media blast it... it's like sand blasting only instead of sand they can use different types of media... glass beads, metal beads, shucked feed corn husks, ground corn cob... it just depends on what the desired finish is (I don't know for certain what ProVape uses for their media). Either way, there's no coating to damage & the blasted surface hides scratches quite well. On the downside it's not easily repairable at home like the polished is.

 

[Gato del Jugo]

The polished is the tube simply brought up to a mirror polish with buffing compounds. Pretty much any non-physical damage scratches can easily be buffed right back out. The Satin Silver is the same, only instead of polishing it they media blast it... it's like sand blasting only instead of sand they can use different types of media... glass beads, metal beads, shucked feed corn husks, ground corn cob... it just depends on what the desired finish is (I don't know for certain what ProVape uses for their media). Either way, there's no coating to damage & the blasted surface hides scratches quite well. On the downside it's not easily repairable at home like the polished is.

The wet process for polished uses the cones.. I'm a little familiar with those from loooong ago from working in manufacturing.. They're like a light stone material, but with some sort of coating on them...


They show the process for both polished & satin starting at the 24:30 mark..

I wonder if they cringed a little when Phil stuck his hand in the wet media, then into the dry..


A PBusardo Video - My Visit To ProVape - Part 1 - YouTube

 

[mommabird62]

My first Provari was the green and so far it has held up well. It gets hauled around in my purse but I slip it into a side pouch so that keys and such don't knock into it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk with my paws

Mommabird62