Is it me or is it junk??

[Adrenalynn]

Here's what I observe:

First: I consider myself more of a scientist than a "fan girl". I'm not being compensated by anyone related to this industry (at present)

The Bad:
The QC is very poor. These devices are really intended for the Chinese market, and they tend to be far more tolerant of poor QC than the American market.

The devices are built insanely cheaply. I'd be embarrassed to ship even a prototype board that looked like these.

There are design flaws left, right, upside down, and sideways.

The Good:

They're _cheap_.

V4L is doing a pretty good margin (IMHO) on these and that helps leave them in a position to address a pretty high QC failure rate.

V4L _is_ doing a great job of warranty replacement and service in my experience.

The market is new. We're early adopters. This will iron itself out. I know there are people out there working on "perfecting" these for a less tolerant American/European market.

My Conclusions:

Leverage V4L's customer service and warranty. That's what it's there for and they're big on follow-through.

Their volume is high so a little patience is warranted.

Stock more of this cheap product than you think you need so that you don't hit the desperation point.

I tend to be pretty critical of design and manufacturing because that's what I get paid for.

 

[justincase]

ok then, it must just be junk. Throw it all away and go back to smoking.

Or you could give some useful info like a usb charger or wall charger. I ask because you could have a problem in the usb. Or it could be a kicked breaker for the wall outlet, or a gfci kicked. Or it could very well could be a bad battery. I see you refill, try manuals. You could be getting fluid in the battery/ pass through. Just eliminate the easy free fixes.

Sorry, I didn't know you wanted to know specifically which charger.

It was the wall charger that I screwed it into to see if it would work, but I have since then also tried the USB charger. Nothing from neither of them. And as far as the overfill, well, I guess that's possible, but the carto I was using was a pre-filled carto and I had been puffing on it since yesterday morning. Brand new from the package.

 

[four2109]

Time to build a box mod for all those cartomizers.

 

[justincase]

Justin, are you batts autos? Edit: Yes, they are. I just noticed that. If so, try blowing into them to reset the switch. Also, try leaving the batt on the charger for a little while, then remove and then try charging it again. I don't know if it'll help your case or not, but anything is worth a try right now. Sometimes my leds don't flash on my charger but the battery charges anyway. Just something to try for now.

Also, re: the passthroughs, try unplugging and replugging them into the usb port a couple of times and see if that might reset those as well. Make sure computer is on and running, not on standby or sleep mode when you do that.

Actually, I have one auto and one manual. It's the auto one that bit the dust. I will try your advice.

 

[pianoguy]

So sorry to hear you're having problems. Adrenalynn makes a lot of good points - this stuff (all of it, not any particular brand) is cheap, and Murphy's Law can strike at any moment, so it is crucial to have plenty of backups. One of the reasons I went with V4L is because they have a history of taking care of these problems with no hassle. I hope you find a short-term solution in the meanwhile. And I applaud the generosity of the members here.

 

[justincase]

So sorry to hear you're having problems. Adrenalynn makes a lot of good points - this stuff (all of it, not any particular brand) is cheap, and Murphy's Law can strike at any moment, so it is crucial to have plenty of backups. One of the reasons I went with V4L is because they have a history of taking care of these problems with no hassle. I hope you find a short-term solution in the meanwhile. And I applaud the generosity of the members here.

No doubt about that! Most generous bunch of folks I have ever encountered in one place.............

 

[SMILIN]

Definately email Mark @ mark@vapor4life.com, or add to comments section with purchase.

Now, I AM SPENDING BIG$$$$ on Leaford to work on myking these the best possible way. The cost will go up, but, so will the quantity. I will tell you, as well, I am using a sample NEW style passthru. and it ROCK's...is more solid, thicker guage wire, longer, better, and will definately put a smile on your face

You will continue to see improvements

Enjoy

Steve

 

[critterbug]

I really like how you guys never get defensive.

 

[Magilla]

Sorry to hear you are having issues. Hang in there and don't give up.

If you e-mail or call V4L they will probably get something to you right away. You can use your one battery and charge an hour or so as needed and give it a full charge overnight while you are waiting for the replacement. This will not hurt the battery and I am sure you can hold on for an hour while it is charging. I am sure there were times you had to wait that long for an analog.

You do not need to afford a new battery. The warranty is great. They will generally replace any bad product and you don't even need to return the defective stuff.

I do not have any experience with auto batts but all my manuals have worked great. Maybe try a manual.

The V4L crew will bend over backwards to make things right, give them a chance. Don't give in to the analogs. Hang tough and I am sure after this is all resolved, you will be glad you did.

 

[NoMorButts4Me]

So Steve, when will the rest of us get our hands
on those new improved passthroughs?

 

[Adrenalynn]

As I noted - I have no doubt these will continue to improve over time. They have to. And yes, we will pay more for it. That's the trade off.

"Americanizing" a product is expensive, and the consumer has to be ready to absorb that.

 

[Belletrist]

*nods* it is very frustrating. i don't know that i'd call it junk, but i'd definitely say that the manufacturing tends toward the disposable. i love the performance of the V4L batts, but it does seem, logically, that something better in this size could be possible. i don't think, though, that it's unfair for the price. considering how much you pay just for batteries in general, in other uses, $15 isn't a bad deal at all. 'specially not if it's getting replaced under the best warranty ever.

it's just that as smokers we weren't used to needing so much equipment investment, or anything we couldn't easily get on a moment's notice should something fail. i mean, i've found myself without a lighter at home and lit a cig off the stove--not really possible with PVs.

 

[Wozzy]

No its not just you. The Chinese quality is sub-par at best. Not only in the E-Cig market.

 

[~Gazoo~]

Screwed the battery into the charger just to see what would happen. Nothing. LED didn't blink twice or anthing. Battery is just dead. Just like that.

If you drain the battery too low the LED won't always blink when you put the battery into the charger. If the LED on the charger turned from green to red, then there is still hope. Sometimes I have to leave my battery on the charger for an hour or so, then take the battery out and put it back in and the LED will blink and it will charge properly. I don't know if this will help you. It's always best to charge the battery before you get the low battery signal from the LED. During the day I am rotating between a short Auto and XL auto I have. I have my box mod too...just in case. But I really like the batteries better especially the XL auto.

 

[jlmanno]

Justincase, Do your batteries kinda just push into your charger? I don't know if all 808 types do. The ones I have do. I'm not real familiar with 808's. I use mostly 510's with and 808 adapter for cartos. I bought extra's from a company liquidating last month. If you don't have anything else set up tonite pm me your info ,I'll go to the post office in the morning and overnight you one of mine.

 

[Drozd]

*nods* it is very frustrating. i don't know that i'd call it junk, but i'd definitely say that the manufacturing tends toward the disposable. i love the performance of the V4L batts, but it does seem, logically, that something better in this size could be possible. i don't think, though, that it's unfair for the price. considering how much you pay just for batteries in general, in other uses, $15 isn't a bad deal at all. 'specially not if it's getting replaced under the best warranty ever.

it's just that as smokers we weren't used to needing so much equipment investment, or anything we couldn't easily get on a moment's notice should something fail. i mean, i've found myself without a lighter at home and lit a cig off the stove--not really possible with PVs.

Have you seen the video of the guy that took a 6V lantern battery and some speaker wire and used it to run a PV...totally getto yeah..but where theres a will theres a way..

Junk?.. maybe not..but cheap,sorta..all the models are..markup is huge too... was reading something where a KR8 battery costs $3 or so from Kanger..so the markup really covers the replacements...because we as americans are using these like they wren't intended...they were intended for occasional use to vape when you couldn't otherwise smoke..if we used them as intended by Kanger and the like they WOULD last like the claims..a battery and a carto would cover you for a full day..

 

[Belletrist]

Have you seen the video of the guy that took a 6V lantern battery and some speaker wire and used it to run a PV...totally getto yeah..but where theres a will theres a way..

no, but now that i am getting grossed out by the idea of smoking i'd probably try to run it off a car battery if i had to. or throw some juice into a humidifier and hot box it.

 

[leaford]

So Steve, when will the rest of us get our hands
on those new improved passthroughs?

They should be on their way by the beginning of February.

 

[Belletrist]

they were intended for occasional use to vape when you couldn't otherwise smoke..

well that's silly. if that was the intention they shouldn't have made vaping so superior to smoking.

 

[jlmanno]

by push in's I guess it's a usb charger i have that plugs into a wallplug with a usb outlet to plug the usb charger into. Anyways I think an 808 battery is an 808 battery it fits cartos. the offer stands if V4L can't put something out for you immediately without a purchase I'll gladly overnite you one of my batteries. I had a wonderful woman send me a PT for carto's a few weeks go so this would make me feel good to pass forward the kindness.