With all the frantic attention the eleaf istick has been getting lately, I figured I'd throw a bit more gasoline on the fire and post a thread with a few photos I took of the two I picked up yesterday. Then I'll add some of my impressions so far.
I'll make it clear right from the start, I'm not posting here to plug the Istick on behalf of Eleaf, which will appear more obvious later in this post. Rather, like so many other vapers out there, as soon as I researched it I just knew I had to have one (or two), as it seemed to be exactly what I've been hoping for and searching for, and at a very attractive price. However as with pretty much anything, nothing is perfect, and I'll give you my own impression, the good and... well, not so good.
I'm nowhere near as technically inclined as Phil Busardo or many other folks on this great forum, but I think I have a fairly keen sense of what makes a quality user experience of machines and gadgets.
Also, I don't build my own coils so this is my experience with limited consumer coils only.
I'm insanely fussy (OCD) about details with QC, even cheap stuff, which is why I prefer to buy from a local B&M if possible so I can analyze and test everything. I picked up a silver and black. I looked at 3 silver ones before I was satisfied. The black was fine but the 1st silver had a slightly crooked display. The 2nd had a good display but had a couple noticeable flaws in the case casting. The 3rd was just right. Gee I feel like Goldilocks
Shortly after I left the B&M I noticed the non-firing button issue. Having read that massive "Eleaf iStick 2.0!" thread, I immediately kept pressure on the button and pressed even harder but still no fire and no display. I then released the button and it clicked as normal when releasing any other time. I felt quite sure my finger was in the middle of the button. So I guess its still a bit of a mystery and its only happened one other time since yesterday.
Initially both Isticks appeared fully charged and as others have mentioned, I also noticed that I had to set the voltage lower than I do on any of my other devices to get the same strength of hit.
Last night I checked my black one which still appeared fully charged, so I tried a Kanger Aerotank Mini on it with the 1.5 ohm dual coil which for me can never be pushed past 3.7 - 4 volts max without tasting burnt. I set the Istick at 3 volts and sure enough it hit hard and the juice was popping like it was about to explode but oddly it didn't taste burnt.
I then put a fresh battery in my Sigelei Legend V2 and set it to 3 volts and the hit on that same tank/coil was quite weak.
So regardless of how the Istick is readng its voltage, I can clearly see why many users are saying it hits too hard on some of their setups compared to all their other devices.
As others have mentioned, I will just ignore the settings and simply adjust it to taste, and since I mostly use consumer coils in several Nautilus Minis and an Emow Mega tank, all of which start out at 1.8 ohm and quickly go to 2 ohm after a bit of use, its so far hitting perfectly for me every time. I'll just reserve the Aerotank/1.5 ohm tank for my matching Evod VV batts which adjusts voltage perfectly for that tank.
So far I don't recall anyone complaining about how the fire button feels to push. Well I'm not exactly complaining either but I do notice my silver one takes a bit more pressure to push than the black one, and neither button is quite as pleasant to press as all my other devices. The Istick fire button seems a bit too small and doesn't have as positive feeling contact-click as my other devices. On the plus side, the button is very quiet and also, in my experience, there's no 'rattlesnake' sound at all. In fact the voltage being applied to the coil is dead silent on my Nautilus Minis and Emow Mega tanks; the exception being only what seemed like an excessive hit being applied to one kanger 1.5ohm coil at minimum set voltage.
The display is also dimmer than I thought it would be based on images and videos I've seen online. I doubt it would be easy to see under bright light or daylight outdoors, but I haven't tried that yet.
Conclusions: despite a few minor disappoinment, the most noteworthy in my opinion being the seemingly inaccurate display or lack of step-down circuitry, I'm really liking this tiny mod. Its very comfortable to carry and use and the battery so far is lasting a good amount of time. I picked them up yesterday afternoon and with only using the silver one and vaping about 2 mls a day, the battery is still showing just over half full. The outer build quality definitely gives me the impression of being good and solid which is largely the result of the cast aluminum case and screw-in top and bottom plated metal covers, but I don't yet feel as confident in the long term reliability of those tiny micro switch button or the black translucent display staying firmly attached with all the finger presses it will get. Hopefully I'm wrong about those last two concerns.
What would I like changed in V2? Not too much actually:
1) Spring loaded 510 connection, of course.
2) The ability to apply an accurate Vrms output to match the currently available voltage/wattage settings.
3) When the screen is off, require a single press of the up or down button to show the current watts/volts before changing setting.
4) The 510 connection moved about 2 millimeters back from the display side so that 19 - 20 millimeter wide tanks don't hang over the front edge a bit.
5) Slightly larger font for the resistance and the applied watts/voltage displayed beneath the resistance. (The primary displayed watts/voltage is fine)
6) Cosmetically I'd personally like to see a classic brushed stainless case to match the numerous brushed SS tanks.
7) Oh and you can lose the useless puff timer.
Ok I guess that was rather long. Thanks for reading
I'll make it clear right from the start, I'm not posting here to plug the Istick on behalf of Eleaf, which will appear more obvious later in this post. Rather, like so many other vapers out there, as soon as I researched it I just knew I had to have one (or two), as it seemed to be exactly what I've been hoping for and searching for, and at a very attractive price. However as with pretty much anything, nothing is perfect, and I'll give you my own impression, the good and... well, not so good.
I'm nowhere near as technically inclined as Phil Busardo or many other folks on this great forum, but I think I have a fairly keen sense of what makes a quality user experience of machines and gadgets.
Also, I don't build my own coils so this is my experience with limited consumer coils only.
I'm insanely fussy (OCD) about details with QC, even cheap stuff, which is why I prefer to buy from a local B&M if possible so I can analyze and test everything. I picked up a silver and black. I looked at 3 silver ones before I was satisfied. The black was fine but the 1st silver had a slightly crooked display. The 2nd had a good display but had a couple noticeable flaws in the case casting. The 3rd was just right. Gee I feel like Goldilocks
Shortly after I left the B&M I noticed the non-firing button issue. Having read that massive "Eleaf iStick 2.0!" thread, I immediately kept pressure on the button and pressed even harder but still no fire and no display. I then released the button and it clicked as normal when releasing any other time. I felt quite sure my finger was in the middle of the button. So I guess its still a bit of a mystery and its only happened one other time since yesterday.
Initially both Isticks appeared fully charged and as others have mentioned, I also noticed that I had to set the voltage lower than I do on any of my other devices to get the same strength of hit.
Last night I checked my black one which still appeared fully charged, so I tried a Kanger Aerotank Mini on it with the 1.5 ohm dual coil which for me can never be pushed past 3.7 - 4 volts max without tasting burnt. I set the Istick at 3 volts and sure enough it hit hard and the juice was popping like it was about to explode but oddly it didn't taste burnt.
I then put a fresh battery in my Sigelei Legend V2 and set it to 3 volts and the hit on that same tank/coil was quite weak.
So regardless of how the Istick is readng its voltage, I can clearly see why many users are saying it hits too hard on some of their setups compared to all their other devices.
As others have mentioned, I will just ignore the settings and simply adjust it to taste, and since I mostly use consumer coils in several Nautilus Minis and an Emow Mega tank, all of which start out at 1.8 ohm and quickly go to 2 ohm after a bit of use, its so far hitting perfectly for me every time. I'll just reserve the Aerotank/1.5 ohm tank for my matching Evod VV batts which adjusts voltage perfectly for that tank.
So far I don't recall anyone complaining about how the fire button feels to push. Well I'm not exactly complaining either but I do notice my silver one takes a bit more pressure to push than the black one, and neither button is quite as pleasant to press as all my other devices. The Istick fire button seems a bit too small and doesn't have as positive feeling contact-click as my other devices. On the plus side, the button is very quiet and also, in my experience, there's no 'rattlesnake' sound at all. In fact the voltage being applied to the coil is dead silent on my Nautilus Minis and Emow Mega tanks; the exception being only what seemed like an excessive hit being applied to one kanger 1.5ohm coil at minimum set voltage.
The display is also dimmer than I thought it would be based on images and videos I've seen online. I doubt it would be easy to see under bright light or daylight outdoors, but I haven't tried that yet.
Conclusions: despite a few minor disappoinment, the most noteworthy in my opinion being the seemingly inaccurate display or lack of step-down circuitry, I'm really liking this tiny mod. Its very comfortable to carry and use and the battery so far is lasting a good amount of time. I picked them up yesterday afternoon and with only using the silver one and vaping about 2 mls a day, the battery is still showing just over half full. The outer build quality definitely gives me the impression of being good and solid which is largely the result of the cast aluminum case and screw-in top and bottom plated metal covers, but I don't yet feel as confident in the long term reliability of those tiny micro switch button or the black translucent display staying firmly attached with all the finger presses it will get. Hopefully I'm wrong about those last two concerns.
What would I like changed in V2? Not too much actually:
1) Spring loaded 510 connection, of course.
2) The ability to apply an accurate Vrms output to match the currently available voltage/wattage settings.
3) When the screen is off, require a single press of the up or down button to show the current watts/volts before changing setting.
4) The 510 connection moved about 2 millimeters back from the display side so that 19 - 20 millimeter wide tanks don't hang over the front edge a bit.
5) Slightly larger font for the resistance and the applied watts/voltage displayed beneath the resistance. (The primary displayed watts/voltage is fine)
6) Cosmetically I'd personally like to see a classic brushed stainless case to match the numerous brushed SS tanks.
7) Oh and you can lose the useless puff timer.
Ok I guess that was rather long. Thanks for reading
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