Just recieved it today from happyvaper. As suggested by happyvaper and some posts I've read, I bought a drip cone, and some adaptors(510-801 and 801-510).
Vape quality is fantastic! I love this thing, going to have to lower my nic levels in the juices though, I made myself sick once today already. The system is intuitive, simple and pleasant to use. I love vaping with it so far.
Build quality is a really mixed bag, and probably the only serious negative on it. Generally solid if ugly. And this thing is ugly, no doubt about it. Compared to my precise, it looks like it was made in a basement shop. A deep gouge(covered by the anodizing) near the wheel, looks almost like cheap casting due to this. Two chips exposing metal beneath in the anodizing elsewhere. The button is sloppy, it rattles around and makes noise because it's so loose, at least 1mm of side to side play, it appears to be a piece of stamped and folded brass, the kind of button you'd see on a kids toy from several decades ago, one corner is a bit short, as though cut off a bit, and you can see into the case and under the button quite easily.
Visible solder or something around where the silver threaded portion for the atomizer is attached to the brass rotating part.
The brass rotating part also rotates too easily for my taste, not that it isn't effective, but it just feels cheap and a bit sloppy, a stiffer rotation would have made this feel better in use, and I'm worried that it will loosen up further to the point that it won't stay in position soon.
The exposed usb port is annoying, with 2mm of gap around the sides, and visible internals. A small rubber plug, or a sliding cover as most cell phones use these days would have been nice.
I would happily have paid another 40$ to have a solid, non rattling button, and a wider wheel that didn't look like the volume controls on my ancient walkman.
I also note that if the brass piece was extended 3mm further, almost any attachment would work, and not prevent it from closing.
The good side of the design: The actual aluminium housing design is great, I love the heavy milled textures, brass screws, engraved logo, and the CNC milling patterns left in actually work with the aesthetic of it. Overall the design and looks are good, I really like it, the sloppyness doesn't make it undesirable to me, but it does certainly reduce the feeling of quality and durability that the case gives it.
Questions I have about it:
I was told it was an unsealed connection, yet to me it looks like there is a small cup similar to the ego. It looks different than the videos posted by Drew(Nhaler) His does not have the silver cup mine does.
I bought a drip cone as recommended by Jack of Happyvaper, but can't figure out how to use it, no matter how I attach it, the O-ring is above the air holes of the atomizer so juice can come out the bottom, the cone bottoms out against the case in any position before sliding on far enough. In addition using it prevents me from being able to close the darwin, without holding any juice in. I tried using the two adaptors end to end to give me some space, but it still won't close and the adaptors allow juice to flow through them anyways.
Am I using it wrong?
The way I see it used here(can't link images)
Canadian electronic cigarette Drip Shield Cone
I can clearly see the holes in the atomizer, which leads me to assume juice will run out the bottom, I also notice that the Darwin in this pictures doesn't have the silver threaded piece that mine does.
My button is also different, it is virtually flush with the surface of the casing, while the one I saw in the video had a button that had a large space underneath and appeared totally different, why is this?
Do I need to use a drip shield at all, it doesn't appear to me that it would prevent juice from going anywhere at all, except perhaps if I miss the drip tip and dribble down the sides, the silver cup is sealed at the bottom.
If the silver cup wasn't there, I can't see how a drip shield would stop juice going into the case, as it doesn't seal the bottom holes, and with it there it still doesn't seal the air holes for the atomizer, so I can't see it keeping juice off the outside of the darwin, or from entering where the wheel is.
I got a 510 tip to 306 atty adaptor as well(not made by the same company), it's a nice addition, and it lets me leave my vapemate on though it rubs slightly when closed. It's even uglier, the outside isn't even turned evenly with the inside, one side is twice as thick, and the other side is missing the beveling and grooves, I'm impressed by it, as it seems to me that it would be harder to mount it so far off center and still get a tool to cut on it at all without chattering like crazy. The contrast in finish quality between my Super-T drip tip and vapemate and the darwin itself and this adaptor is pretty funny when it's all put together. The adaptor is loose enough to fall off frequently on both cisco and joye 306s, I'm thinking of putting some teflon tape around each atomizer to see if that helps.
I would still recommend this setup to anyone wanting to get the nicest vape going, but just be prepared to deal with some pretty roughly made components, and a bit of puzzlement. I would skip the drip cone, and the two adaptors that extend it, because I'm not finding any additional functionality, and they cost another 20$.
Other observation: I read some comments that people were having troubles with atomizers getting damaged if left on while charging, and also in knowing when it was finished so I was watching it while it charged. I noticed that it actually DOES indicate when it's finished charging. While charging, every time the screen flashes(it does this every 4 seconds, charging or not) the voltage readings jump up from 0. When it is done charging, they stay steadily on 0. I could see this being the cause with a dry atty on it.
Vape quality is fantastic! I love this thing, going to have to lower my nic levels in the juices though, I made myself sick once today already. The system is intuitive, simple and pleasant to use. I love vaping with it so far.
Build quality is a really mixed bag, and probably the only serious negative on it. Generally solid if ugly. And this thing is ugly, no doubt about it. Compared to my precise, it looks like it was made in a basement shop. A deep gouge(covered by the anodizing) near the wheel, looks almost like cheap casting due to this. Two chips exposing metal beneath in the anodizing elsewhere. The button is sloppy, it rattles around and makes noise because it's so loose, at least 1mm of side to side play, it appears to be a piece of stamped and folded brass, the kind of button you'd see on a kids toy from several decades ago, one corner is a bit short, as though cut off a bit, and you can see into the case and under the button quite easily.
Visible solder or something around where the silver threaded portion for the atomizer is attached to the brass rotating part.
The brass rotating part also rotates too easily for my taste, not that it isn't effective, but it just feels cheap and a bit sloppy, a stiffer rotation would have made this feel better in use, and I'm worried that it will loosen up further to the point that it won't stay in position soon.
The exposed usb port is annoying, with 2mm of gap around the sides, and visible internals. A small rubber plug, or a sliding cover as most cell phones use these days would have been nice.
I would happily have paid another 40$ to have a solid, non rattling button, and a wider wheel that didn't look like the volume controls on my ancient walkman.
I also note that if the brass piece was extended 3mm further, almost any attachment would work, and not prevent it from closing.
The good side of the design: The actual aluminium housing design is great, I love the heavy milled textures, brass screws, engraved logo, and the CNC milling patterns left in actually work with the aesthetic of it. Overall the design and looks are good, I really like it, the sloppyness doesn't make it undesirable to me, but it does certainly reduce the feeling of quality and durability that the case gives it.
Questions I have about it:
I was told it was an unsealed connection, yet to me it looks like there is a small cup similar to the ego. It looks different than the videos posted by Drew(Nhaler) His does not have the silver cup mine does.
I bought a drip cone as recommended by Jack of Happyvaper, but can't figure out how to use it, no matter how I attach it, the O-ring is above the air holes of the atomizer so juice can come out the bottom, the cone bottoms out against the case in any position before sliding on far enough. In addition using it prevents me from being able to close the darwin, without holding any juice in. I tried using the two adaptors end to end to give me some space, but it still won't close and the adaptors allow juice to flow through them anyways.
Am I using it wrong?
The way I see it used here(can't link images)
Canadian electronic cigarette Drip Shield Cone
I can clearly see the holes in the atomizer, which leads me to assume juice will run out the bottom, I also notice that the Darwin in this pictures doesn't have the silver threaded piece that mine does.
My button is also different, it is virtually flush with the surface of the casing, while the one I saw in the video had a button that had a large space underneath and appeared totally different, why is this?
Do I need to use a drip shield at all, it doesn't appear to me that it would prevent juice from going anywhere at all, except perhaps if I miss the drip tip and dribble down the sides, the silver cup is sealed at the bottom.
If the silver cup wasn't there, I can't see how a drip shield would stop juice going into the case, as it doesn't seal the bottom holes, and with it there it still doesn't seal the air holes for the atomizer, so I can't see it keeping juice off the outside of the darwin, or from entering where the wheel is.
I got a 510 tip to 306 atty adaptor as well(not made by the same company), it's a nice addition, and it lets me leave my vapemate on though it rubs slightly when closed. It's even uglier, the outside isn't even turned evenly with the inside, one side is twice as thick, and the other side is missing the beveling and grooves, I'm impressed by it, as it seems to me that it would be harder to mount it so far off center and still get a tool to cut on it at all without chattering like crazy. The contrast in finish quality between my Super-T drip tip and vapemate and the darwin itself and this adaptor is pretty funny when it's all put together. The adaptor is loose enough to fall off frequently on both cisco and joye 306s, I'm thinking of putting some teflon tape around each atomizer to see if that helps.
I would still recommend this setup to anyone wanting to get the nicest vape going, but just be prepared to deal with some pretty roughly made components, and a bit of puzzlement. I would skip the drip cone, and the two adaptors that extend it, because I'm not finding any additional functionality, and they cost another 20$.
Other observation: I read some comments that people were having troubles with atomizers getting damaged if left on while charging, and also in knowing when it was finished so I was watching it while it charged. I noticed that it actually DOES indicate when it's finished charging. While charging, every time the screen flashes(it does this every 4 seconds, charging or not) the voltage readings jump up from 0. When it is done charging, they stay steadily on 0. I could see this being the cause with a dry atty on it.
