Innokin Proton - Lets Talk!

[Opinionated]

The Innokin Proton is very soon to be released and I was one of the lucky ones who won one of them in the recent ECF contest! (I added those links for everyone's information)

Ive had the Proton kit for a couple days now so I thought to give my thoughts on the vape this mod provides, and open up the Proton for general discussion; who is looking forward to its release?, who plans on buying one? and what are everyone's thoughts who owns one after they receive either their win or their purchase?

Therefore I will start the ball rolling. I watched Phil Busardo's review in order to learn how it worked. Its indepth and long, but if your getting one I highly recommend you watch this.



I'm not doing an indepth review because I believe there is no way I can top whats already been done. But I will give my impressions of the mod from the perspective of someone who has vaped nearly four years. I'm not going to either use the Scion 11 nor am I going to say anything about it, its not my vaping style at any rate, but it is getting rave reviews from ECF members like @whodat2112 in the contest thread so we can make the assumption that it really is an awesome tank for the DL crowd, and hopefully more people will chime in on how they like that tank.

So here is a picture of the mod:

(sans Scion 11)

I got rainbow and there seemed to be a lot of green in that, so I chose green for the screen color. We have several choices of color for our screen, but this one seemed a bit matchy and I liked it.

The screen is very clear and easy to see for those of us whose eyesight might be failing (hahaha) and the brightness is adjustable to as bright or as dim as anyone needs, and you can set a timer for how long the screen stays lit up also so its not really a drain on the battery..

I really enjoyed the smoothness of the vape on this mod. I'm getting a smooth vape with little to no perceptible ramp up time on a 26 gauge kanthal coil. (6 or 7 wraps I think, I don't remember but it was 3mm ID)

Going into the menu and changing watts took a little practice for me because its different than I'm used to, but I got the hang of it quite quickly and without issue.

The joystick works well and I am oddly not worried about breaking it like I thought i might be - I guess the feel of it doesn't make me think of "brittle" or "breakable", so I'm just using it and not thinking about it.

I used TC mode for the first time on this Proton. It was surprisingly easy to use.

After I built the coil (using 316L SS wire) I allowed the wire to cool down fully - I gave it a full hour after pulsing the coil just to be safe that it was room temperature cold because Ive read on the forums you need to set the TC in the mod using a room temperature coil so I was careful to do that.

Once I chose 316L for my coil I turned up the temperature until the temperature was where I normally like to vape, and I set the wattage according to the coil and I was all set.

Shockingly, there was nothing to it at all, it didn't take me but a few seconds to a minute to get the right settings.. I didn't find it fiddly at all. So really for a first time TC user that is a very good design.

I was surprised that I like a warmer vape than I assumed, it was cool learning something new about myself.

I tried the power curve function and while I can note that it works fine and as intended I am not sure the real point of it unless you want to micromanage your drag, therefore its not really something I care to use.. it does work though, for those interested in this feature. You can micromanage to your hearts content!

I also tried the TCR function, and I really don't understand that so I have decided Im better off leaving that one alone. The settings that come on the mod for temperature control are perfect IMHO. I think I just messed stuff up in that setting.. lol.

Overall, I really like this mod. I like the way it looks and the way it feels in the hand, its lightweight and comfortable to hold. Very nice, and well worth every dollar they are charging for it in my honest opinion. I'd buy it for sure.

Cant speak yet to longevity as Ive only had this in hand a couple days, but so far so good on this mod! Initial impression is a definite win!

I invite the others who won to chime in and share their thoughts as well! @bwh79 @Aleksandr I. @xena222 @Violetti Usva @VapingintheGTA @Myk Come on in and share your experiences!

(Im not trying to distract from your own threads your planning on making if you are planning them, just thought more than one opinion would be wonderful!)

And of course, as time goes on I will keep posting if there happen to be any changes in how well it operates!

 

[Violetti Usva]

I'm mostly a mech and rda guy so I don't think that I can give a thorough review. The mod itself is VERY comfortable in the hand. I haven't used TC before but I gave it a go with one of my other tanks with SS316. It's got triple twisted superfine clapton wire installed so I think that may be too exotic a coil to work properly - it didn't work but someone more competent with TC can give opinions there. Wattage seems fine. Setting up the curve feature can be a pain in my opinion. Its very easy to click wrong or struggle to see whether its a square or a triangle and end up back on the firing screen. Often when trying to change the wattage the joystick doesn't respond a couple times. Beyond that I don't know what to say about the mod.

The tank though...first thing I noticed is that it doesn't sit flush on the mod. Really thought it would as it came boxed together. Didn't enjoy the flavour from the first coil. Side note: the first half-tankful made me feel ill and that is my current favourite home made juice so I know it wasn't the juice. It didn't taste good during this period, but I figured it was just breaking in the coil. I tried 3 different juices before swapping to the plexus coil. Not really sure how to describe my problem with the flavour. The plexus coil is better and didn't make me feel ill at all but it still doesn't really give me a concise flavour.

Will try TC again after educating myself further on setting it up, with a simpler build, over the next few weeks. Overall happy with the mod but not too impressed with the tank - but I'm an rda + mech mod guy so I don't think the tank could have impressed me really.

 

[VapingintheGTA]

I’m one of the winners WOOT WOOT! Who is eagerly awaiting the arrival. I’m going to admit that I am a MSV as l call it, multi style vaper. So, the Proton Kit is looking very, very interesting. l’ll fill ya in when it gets here.

I’ve been looking for the rba deck, when or if I find one l’ll chime in with my 2 cents. Ideally I hope to pick one up within a reasonable proximity.

Thanks to Innokin and those at the site for making this happen!!!

Great idea to start a thread, @Opinionated thank you
Vonnie

 

[Myk]

Curve is good if you're using a heavy coil that you want to shorten the warm up time with.
I'm not quite sure about it with TC since you can shorten that delay by increasing the wattage. I guess if you find yourself where you don't want to go higher in wattage because you're getting porpoising later in the draw you could increase the initial temperature. I'm starting to mess with SS claptons for TC so I might find a use for it.
It could also serve people who don't like TC because it's not rough enough for their tastes because they're used to mechs, or if someone likes porpoising.

Where I have used "curve" was way back with the stick version of Evic and steel mesh gennies, especially in the winter in my truck with little heat.

If you look at Steamboat wire builder you can get your TCR value. Mainly it's if your mods don't agree with each other and you want your temperatures to all be the same.

Yes regular dual coil SS clapton (26ga/34ga) does work with my Dripbox 160 (might be a place where TCR comes into play as it is cooler than normal). My jury is still about about "single" large staggered fused clapton.

Mine is out for delivery. Stalking the mailman, stalking the mailman...
(Also the rebuildable deck is out for delivery, I'll let you know if that shows up right, @VapingintheGTA )

 

[bwh79]

After I built the coil (using 316L SS wire) I allowed the wire to cool down fully - I gave it a full hour after pulsing the coil just to be safe that it was room temperature cold because Ive read on the forums you need to set the TC in the mod using a room temperature coil so I was careful to do that.

In my experience, it doesn't usually take more than a few minutes for SS at least to go back to its "cold" reading (edit: using little 28g round wire builds, at least), don't know about the other TC wires 'cause I've never used them. For example I've got a coil that reads .71 cold. If I remove and reattach it right after taking a hit, it will read .78 or so. Wait a minute or two, remove/reattach, reads .75. Another minute or two, down to .72, and then just a couple more it will be back down to .71 again. I learned this one time when I accidentally hit "new" instead of "same" (on my Pico) and the resistance jumped. I happened to remember what the cold reading had been, so I just had to wait until it went back down to that same level and I could vape normally again.

As for the Proton kit, I am really liking it. I put the bubble glass and the Plexus coil in the tank, and am vaping it at 80W, the default setting it came up at when I first put the batteries in. (I tried it a little higher, and a little lower, and I liked it at 80 so I put it back to 80.) I use a lightly-flavored (14%) DIY liquid at 3mg/70VG; "break-in" cotton flavor lasted only a few hits, less than half a tank (before I installed the bubble glass, so less than 1.5ml) and since then, flavor has been great, as is vapor production. It does go through juice faster than anything else I've got, but I'm also running it at higher wattage than I've ever used before, so it's not that surprising. On my first day I went through three tanks (3ml/ea), then put the bubble glass on and went through half another one (5ml total/~2.5ml used).

Flavor and vapor from the Plexus coil seem to be about on par with what I've been getting from Clapton coils in my RDA's, if maybe a little cooler so it could probably handle some higher wattage if you wanted (but I'm not gonna, at least until I get new batteries.) I'm running it with the airflow wide open, it's got more air than my Kanger STM, about comparable to the Velocity Mini. There are six airflow settings on the tank, but two of them are "closed," leaving only four, or even three and a half if you're picky. Starting from "wide open" being first, the next one is nearly identical, just very slightly restricted. The third and fourth settings each have a significant step-down in airflow, and then the fifth and six are again identical (air slot is completely closed off on both, although some air still leaks through the cracks. I don't recommend using the last two, it is not a MTL tank.)

The "joystick" is more like a button, but one that you can click in five different ways instead of just "in" (you can click up, down, left, right, and "in"). It doesn't stick out any farther than the adjustment buttons on some other devices I've used, nor does it feel particularly delicate. Overall the device feels really solid, with only the tiniest bit of play in the battery door when empty (none with batteries installed), and also a very little bit in the sliding top-fill mechanism on the tank. I have just now thought to flip the tank upside down and see if any juice leaks out the top, I will let it sit for a while and find out. (It's been about a half an hour now, and nothing yet. I'll let it sit overnight and see, if any does, I will edit this post.) [Edit: left it upside down for about nine hours overnight. There was a tiny bit of seepage around the top cap, but no more than after a refill, and no drips out the drip tip.]

...don't want to go higher in wattage because you're getting porpoising later in the draw...

"Porpoising"?

 

[Myk]

"Porpoising"?

Say you're set at 400°F, 150w sees you at 395 so it applies 150w and takes you to 405 so shuts down to 1w and you drop back to 395 so it keeps bouncing between too cold and too hot.
Where 60w applied to 395 doesn't over shoot the setting and you get a more even temperature.

But 60w takes too long to warm up to 400 so you can use curve sort of like a preheat. At least that's my theory of the usefulness of curve with TC with heavy coils. Curve with TC might be better applied to the wattage.
A lot of it depends how how the chip handles TC.

On the mod I've tried curve with TC to do that the time of the settings is too long. One my old evic it was set on the computer and time of each layer was adjustable.

 

[VapingintheGTA]

(sans Scion 11)
I got rainbow
Lucky Duck
View attachment 739249

I also tried the TCR function, and I really don't understand that so I have decided Im better off leaving that one alone.

I’ll post a link re this as Daniel gets into explaining it. Don’t quote me yet but 316SS setting at room temp is .0018.
**** Like l said wait til I review the djlsb link*****

Well done review!
Vonnie

 

[bwh79]

Say you're set at 400°F, 150w sees you at 395 so it applies 150w and takes you to 405 so shuts down to 1w and you drop back to 395 so it keeps bouncing between too cold and too hot.
Where 60w applied to 395 doesn't over shoot the setting and you get a more even temperature.

But 60w takes too long to warm up to 400 so you can use curve sort of like a preheat. At least that's my theory of the usefulness of curve with TC with heavy coils. Curve with TC might be better applied to the wattage.
A lot of it depends how how the chip handles TC.

On the mod I've tried curve with TC to do that the time of the settings is too long. One my old evic it was set on the computer and time of each layer was adjustable.

Ah, I get it. Well the "Curve" function on this one is wattage-mode only, though. Says so right there on the screen . It's basically just a highly-customizable "preheat" function so for example you can get an initial kick to warm up fancy coils and then taper off to keep them warm without getting too rowdy, it could be sort of like simulating a TC vape on non-TC coils. Or, if you want a slow gradual ramp-up, you can do that too. And anything in between. Want it to kick up by 50 watts for half a second right in the middle of your vape? Don't know why you would, but you can. Or want it to cut off halfway through, and then start up again? Sometimes I vape like that, but I just let off the button for a second. But if that happens to be your thing, it remains an option

 

[bwh79]

(sans Scion 11)
I got rainbow
View attachment 739249

I also tried the TCR function, and I really don't understand that so I have decided Im better off leaving that one alone.

I’ll post a link re this as Daniel get into explaining it. . Don’t quote me yet but 316SS setting st room temp is .0018
**** Like l sad wait til I review the djlsb link*****
Vonnie

TCR (Temperature Coefficient of Resistance) is used for TC (temperature-control) on coils made from metals other than the three built-in presets Stainless Steel, Titanium, and Nickel.

All metals increase in resistance as their temperature heats up. The extent to which this occurs for a given temperature change is called the metal's TCR. If this value is sufficiently high (Kanthal's isn't, SS is but just barely) this can be used to monitor the temperature change fairly accurately from a known starting point (the coil is assumed to be "room temperature," which is either measured on-board the device, or a generic 70°F).

The device has presets for a particular variety of stainless steel, SS316L, as well as for pure titanium and pure nickel, but there are other compatible materials you can use. Those other materials will have their own TCR values, which must be input using the TCR mode. It's just the same as the other three TC modes, except you input your own custom value for your chosen coil material instead of using one of the built-in presets for the most common ones.

 

[Myk]

Ah, I get it. Well the "Curve" function on this one is wattage-mode only, though. Says so right there on the screen . It's basically just a highly-customizable "preheat" function so for example you can get an initial kick to warm up fancy coils and then taper off to keep them warm without getting too rowdy, it could be sort of like simulating a TC vape on non-TC coils. Or, if you want a slow gradual ramp-up, you can do that too. And anything in between. Want it to kick up by 50 watts for half a second right in the middle of your vape? Don't know why you would, but you can. Or want it to cut off halfway through, and then start up again? Sometimes I vape like that, but I just let off the button for a second. But if that happens to be your thing, it remains an option

Curve in VW makes complete sense to me. I used that long ago. I'm just getting mine unboxed so I don't know the specifics of this mod yet.

 

[Myk]

I got rainbow. And the RTA decks from here are the build decks and not as pictured.

I'm going straight to mesh. Going to try my caramel apples to see if it can deal with light flavors.

 

[bwh79]

Often when trying to change the wattage the joystick doesn't respond a couple times.

It's an Innokin product, they all do where you have to hold the (joystick/button) down for a moment, then you can adjust.

The tank though... doesn't sit flush on the mod. Really thought it would as it came boxed together.

That's too bad. Mine fit. I don't want to tell you to wrench down on it super tight or anything, but the 510 pin is spring-loaded, maybe yours is just a little stiff? Mine makes contact with about a mm or so gap remaining, but then it screws down about another 1 and 1/4 turns from there and sits flush. You might take something non-marring like a bamboo skewer or a plastic pen cap, and give the pin a poke, see if it frees up a little. On the other hand, I did get a mod once (Smok AL85) that was supposed to be spring-loaded that's pin wouldn't budge pressing as hard as I felt comfortable pressing, I ended up sending that one back (FastTech) and getting a replacement, the replacement worked just fine. So I suppose it can happen. Innokin will probably replace it if you want to send it back (they did when I won an Endura kit that wouldn't turn on), it would be up to you if you'd want to be without it that much longer.

 

[bwh79]

I got rainbow. And the RTA decks from here are the build decks and not as pictured.

Sweet deal! Now I hope y'all don't go and buy them out of stock before I can afford to pick one up. I almost did it anyway, but I need new batteries (especially if I want to use this thing more than half the time), and I don't really "need" an RBA deck so I made a choice.

 

[Myk]

Sweet deal! Now I hope y'all don't go and buy them out of stock before I can afford to pick one up. I almost did it anyway, but I need new batteries (especially if I want to use this thing more than half the time), and I don't really "need" an RBA deck so I made a choice.

I'm robbing batteries out of mods I don't use any more. The Proton gives me enough dual batts I can retire the ones that don't do exactly what I want or aren't functioning right any more.

I got 2 RBAs, that's all I will need (and they still show them in stock so don't blame me). One to use, one to have ready to go on hand.

In this instance until I figure it out I'll probably have one build horizontal to use and then mess around with the other to figure out vertical SS. The wick holes look iffy for vertical but the size of the top looks like it should be a lot easier than my other dual coil decks to pack to avoid leaks. It might work.

If I can figure out how to rebuild the Plexus (after it's used up of course) that looks like it would be the vertical coil ticket. But I'm not going to mess it up tinkering until it's worn out. It is doing a good job with my apple flavor. If they have a SS one I could see myself buying them if the price is right.

 

[VapingintheGTA]

I can’t resist this...
You get a Proton Scion Kit
Insert screams of joy that continue throughout
And you get a Proton Scion Kit!
And you get a Proton Scion Kit!
And you get a Proton Scion Kit!
And you get a Proton Scion Kit!!!
Lol remind you of any particular talk show?
Maybe I’ll jump on the couch now hee hee

 

[Opinionated]

I'm so glad you got your proton kit today @Myk ! So awesome!

Thanks for telling me that the deck we ordered is the correct one.. mine was supposed to be here today but when it hit Knoxville, TN. it seems to have disappeared instead of coming here.

I'll never personally use it but if I ever give the Scion 2 away or trade it I like having all the pieces that go with it that are useful..

Thanks @bwh79 and @VapingintheGTA for the heads up on what TCR is for..

Yeah with my basic builds (26 gauge spaced coils) I certainly would never need TCR.. I just don't do fancy..I get awesome flavor with my MTL RTA's and simple simple builds ...

I'm a low wattage girl myself, I only like two battery mods for the awesome battery life... I mean, who can resist up to four days without needing to charge?

So can anyone of you see about helping @Violetti Usva with his difficulty with TC? Perhaps He should do TCR then? Maybe you all can give some good suggestions to make his experience a bit better..

@VapingintheGTA I hope yours comes soon!

 

[Violetti Usva]

I'm waiting for further vape mail actually - using reload clones is great once you accept that they're basically single-use rda's (well, maybe 3 coils before something breaks) - I figured I'd shove a more simple build in the new one and try it on the ss316l setting. For now, the build I've currently got has so much ramp up and cool down time on a mech I can't imagine how it would feel with TC. Reading around a lot of people say ss316l performs between 084 and 102 so I'll try fiddle with that a little bit!

 

[xena222]

Oh I got my package today and waited for my nephew and vaping buddy to get home from work... You guys are so much more technical than me, but I LOVE everything about this mod so far... I got the prism (which is EXACTLY what I wanted) and I gave my nephew the gunmetal because he is an awesome kid, lol!!
I love the click airflow as I had trouble adjusting the one on my SMOK, the coil installed so far gives perfect flavor even after a couple hours... The fill hole is bigger than my current mod, and that alone made me jump for joy...The vapor production was great even with 50/50 liquid, and I can vape at a lower nice level at 80...the battery hasn't seemed to gone down at all, and this mod hits quickly... I may have some trouble changing the coil but I will get it... I am officially off smokes again and a full time vaper!!!

 

[Myk]

I'm so glad you got your proton kit today @Myk ! So awesome!

Thanks for telling me that the deck we ordered is the correct one.. mine was supposed to be here today but when it hit Knoxville, TN. it seems to have disappeared instead of coming here.

I'll never personally use it but if I ever give it away or trade it I like having all the pieces that go with it that are useful..

Hopefully your head's vacation won't be a long one. I once had memory go from IN to IL by way of Washington state.

If the mod would've showed up tomorrow as USPS originally said I probably wouldn't have tried Plexus first. I'm that sold on SS TC (the mods I'm retiring for batteries are TI TC and NI TC). I'm fighting the desire to screw on another tank to try TC.

I'm not there yet to help @Violetti Usva with fused claptons for TC. I think my staggered fused problem may have got a short while packing it, it was anything but TC most of the time. I've made it smaller diameter and without wick and it's acting right, but it's also been broken in with liquid and a lot of burning so it could just be over the hot spots now. Might be right about too exotic for TC, at least until it calms down to fire consistently. I know my staggered had a lot of hot spots in the wrap. One way or another hot spots should screw TC.

With these decks being dual coil I will probably go with regular claptons at least until I get into the vertical builds. There doesn't seem to be enough room to get to my desired .5Ω with what amounts to 4 strands horizontal.
My DripBox 160 with regular claptons spaced hasn't had a problem with TC, the only burning was to make sure they were firing equally.
I don't think multi-coils/strands has benefit in TC other than to get the right resistance range. I'm not totally convinced claptons have the benefit it has in power.

 

[VapingintheGTA]

. I am officially off smokes again and a full time vaper!!!

WOW, l am so very happy for you!!!!
Happy New Birthday cuz today is the first day of the rest of your life, which is much more promising for your health! Keep it up and officially you get 2 thumbs up
Vonnie