Looking for the "perfect" mech mod to pair with a KFL and Kick 2

[crxess]

I went with a Evolv Kick 2 and a mech because I felt like I would be better off with the made in the USA, DC-DC electronics of the Kick compared with the, not always so reliable, made in China electronics of most APVs. Of course, if I wanted to spend more than $150 there's other options. That being said, I'm happy with my Stingray/Kick setup (once I got this switch dialed in).

You comment of Feeling better off makes sense.
comparing to not so reliable China electronics is kind of funny.

Of course China mods are going to show overall larger failure figures. They also produce more than 90% of the over all market pieces. Yes the failure number will be considerably higher, but not necessarily the percentage of failures.

Say an American manufacturer produces 2000 units
20 units have some sort of failure
Failure rate is only 1%
High manufacturing standards

Now, China Company makes 50,000 units
Failures reach 500 units - OMG these are CRAP!
Umm
Failure Rate 1%
Still high manufacturing standards

People just believe what they have learned to believe.

Personally I believe they could work on improving 510 connection life. Stripped threads on supposedly SS is pitiful.

 

[Nuclear Cowboy]

relink2013, I have been using exactly what you're talking about for a few months now. I bought a hcigar cooper nemesis and the little FT $7.26 kick for it, FASTTECH SKU#1501000. I liked it so such I ordered another cooper, a brass one to go with it along with a variaty of Kicks. The brass one is a FT model and out of the 3 I like the brass one the best. It's a damn nice mod for $20!

I tried a few other kicks too, the FASTTECH SKU#1646300. It's the model with two ground contacts. I honestly didn't see any advantage to it over the cheaper model. I also bought an Evolv Kick2 chip and really didn't see much advantage to it either. With it you can run a lower ohm coil and it does go 2W higher but in real world vapor production I could tell very little difference in any of the 3 kicks I've tried. They all produce results pretty close to your Vamo V5.

I really like the Nemesis/Kick/Kayfun combo.

P.S. The one on the far left is a GP PAPS V2.5 with a stainless 18800 tube.

 

[Ed_C]

You comment of Feeling better off makes sense.
comparing to not so reliable China electronics is kind of funny.

Of course China Mods are going to show overall larger failure figures. They also produce more than 90% of the over all market pieces. Yes the failure number will be considerably higher, but not necessarily the percentage of failures.

Say an American manufacturer produces 2000 units
20 units have some sort of failure
Failure rate is only 1%
High manufacturing standards

Now, China Company makes 50,000 units
Failures reach 500 units - OMG these are CRAP!
Umm
Failure Rate 1%
Still high manufacturing standards

People just believe what they have learned to believe.

Personally I believe they could work on improving 510 connection life. Stripped threads on supposedly SS is pitiful.

Yes, I know there's larger volumes produced in China and that failure rates are a percentage of units produced. ....and no I don't have hard data and will assume that you don't either. I still don't buy your argument. How many times have you read of a ProVari falling apart in 3 months and how many times have you read of an owner of a Chinese APV, who's device is still running strong after 2 years, 3 years? It's simply my perception from my experience and from what I've read, that the electronics coming out of the US have better QC. I really don't think that's an unreasonable assumption. Also, the Evolv products are DC-DC, which I like.

PS I'm not sure what you mean by: "You comment of Feeling better off makes sense.
comparing to not so reliable China electronics is kind of funny."

 

[Nuclear Cowboy]

 

[edyle]

I'll reiterate what Clark said...

Clones are, by their nature, cheap. Do you really want the cheapest of the cheap?

If you buy from FT and must have a Neme' clone (IMO, I can think of better clone mechs to start with than a Neme'), don't buy the cheapest one you can get... get the best one they sell.

If you think Kicks are a great thing, at least get a genuine evolv Kick 2... the clones are a hit and miss proposition.

fasttech has that one as "Max supported battery lenght 70mm"
Looks to me like its got enough tubes but because of the 70mm I'm unsure about it supporting 18650 and a kick

 

[MrPlink]

The FT kicks are temperamental at best.

IMO you are better winding a coil that you can handle at a full battery and you still find enjoyable when the battery is getting depleted (1.3ohm is my sweet spot)

as far as the mod itself goes, dont worry about the fear mongering members trying to get you to join the cat bag ranks. Mechs are so simple they may just need at most a tiny bit of tweaking to run tip top. And here is something the cat baggers dont tell you, a lot of authentic mods need tweaking too.

 

[crxess]

Yes, I know there's larger volumes produced in China and that failure rates are a percentage of units produced. ....and no I don't have hard data and will assume that you don't either. I still don't buy your argument. How many times have you read of a ProVari falling apart in 3 months and how many times have you read of an owner of a Chinese APV, who's device is still running strong after 2 years, 3 years? It's simply my perception from my experience and from what I've read, that the electronics coming out of the US have better QC. I really don't think that's an unreasonable assumption. Also, the Evolv products are DC-DC, which I like.

PS I'm not sure what you mean by: "You comment of Feeling better off makes sense.
comparing to not so reliable China electronics is kind of funny."

Feeling better off - I was agreeing. Normally American products are built to much higher standards - At a cost.
Yes, there are specialized companies that produce far more reliable products. They have to as their very existence depends on acceptance of limited selection.
Now, the shortcoming in peoples understanding is that if it is from China it must be cheap and inferior.
The fact is, world wide, companies depend on China do deliver an Acceptable(not perfect) product at a price point just about any person can afford.
It is not the fault of any manufacturer that is filling a request for cheapest product possible for maximum profit. The purchaser makes that choice then If failure is high, blames it on China. China has already proven their capabilities in supplying most of the world with the majority of products they Buy/Sell.

Oh, as to reliability - Both my eVics, v1.0 and 1.1 original runs are still going strong.
Nothing is perfect but not everything is a fail.

Evolve makes an excellent Kick/kick 2, but even they had their issues early on. Many complaints of kick chattering were common.
I have 5 12w kick clones - all work fine after 7 months and none rattlesnake like the 33.3hz Mods - no idea why.

I will never argue a quality product however I will never accept a product MUST be high priced to be of any value.

 

[Ed_C]

It's probably just a matter of time. There was a time when.......

Young Doc: No wonder this circuit failed. It says "Made in Japan".
Marty McFly: What do you mean, Doc? All the best stuff is made in Japan.
Young Doc: Unbelievable.

 

[slyphex]

Using a Kick is a great way to get a nice consistent vape for the whole battery life while using a sexy mod. A set of 18490's last me all day and I'm sure if I could fit it with a 650 in my mod it would last for a day and a half or 2.

I bought a legit Evolv Kick2 for $45 + shipping from myvaporstore. It failed on me last week mid-vape (after 2 weeks of use) so I was a bit disappointed. I mean the whole reason I bought Evolv was to avoid that scenario. FWIW I babied that kick, used a brand new set of AW IMR batteries only and never installed it wrong or tampered with it.

However, the great people at MVS emailed me a prepaid shipping label within hours of my initial email and my Kick2 is happily on its way to being replaced.

edit: yes I miss it.

 

[mikegun]

I have several mech mods, both real and clone, and my very fav. mod is believe it or not, an HCigar brass Nemesis, with a Kayfun, nano on top....., the mod has lost its etching long ago and looks like hell but I use it far more then any other, including my vv mods....I sure wish I had known this would be the case several yrs ago, as I would have saved a ton of money...My second favorate is an HCigar ss clone,Nemmy..same top...

 

[anumber1]

Would a kick fit out of the box into one of the nemesis clones off of fasttech? this is what im looking at.'

$9.07 Authentic Sigelei Variable Wattage Kick Module for Mechanical Mod - 5-15W at FastTech - Worldwide Free Shipping

$16.85 Nemesis Style Mechanical Mod - 18350 / 18500 / 18650 mod at FastTech - Worldwide Free Shipping

Will this setup work out of the box with an 18650? I can make some shims if need be, but I want to make sure I wont need to order any extra tubes or anything...

EDIT: After reading the discussions on the nemesis on FT, it would appear that this mod comes with the kick ring. Does anyone have any suggestions before I hit the order button?

Go with the $25 ss nemi if you choose to buy from ft. I have a cheaper one, it is functional but... the $25 one is better, a lot better.

A buddy has the $25 one. His switch is better and the threading is much smoother.

It works well with a kick. The same one you have linked.

 

[relink2013]

Awesome, I went with the $25 one to begin with. It had more and better reviews, like a few hundred vs a few thousand, lol. I ordered it on June 29, and I just got notified this morning (less than 5 min ago actually) that it's in new york!!!!!!! Im so excited. I also got the magnetic switch upgrade, I got the 10pack, because it was only $2 and im sure some of those magnets will be broken by time it gets here.

 

[anumber1]

I also bought the $25 one a few weeks ago, then an authentic Nemesis turned up at the local Vape shop. So I bought that too!

Side by side the ft mod and the authentic are real close. The clone actually has a darker, deeper engraving but the authentic has finer detail. The clone has slightly more wobble in the switch but not much more. The pins in the top cap and switch are a little cheaper looking in the clone.

All parts are interchangeable between the two.

 

[Flt Simulation]

Do they still make the Kick 1 ?

I bought the original Kick 1 for around 20 bucks off the Evolv website and it has worked great in my Caravela clone mod with an Efest 18500 Flat-Top battery.

I really didn't need the more expensive Kick 2 since I make a 1.7 ohm coil for my authentic Kayfun Lite-Plus, and always set the power to 3.9-4.0 volts (9.0 watts)

 

[livinlarge]

Kayfuns are perfect on the Kato mod

 

[Tinkiegrrl]

Do they still make the Kick 1 ?

I bought the original Kick 1 for around 20 bucks off the Evolv website and it has worked great in my Caravela clone mod with an Efest 18500 Flat-Top battery.

I really didn't need the more expensive Kick 2 since I make a 1.7 ohm coil for my authentic Kayfun Lite-Plus, and always set the power to 3.9-4.0 volts (9.0 watts)

Yep. Got one a couple months ago. Hubby is using it in an Hcigar Nemesis clone. He's happy with it. Vapes at lower power levels, so there wasn't a need for the Kick 2. It was meant to be back up to his full sized Provari, however I see him using the Nemesis more then the Provari lately. With an 18350 battery it's smaller then the Provari, which he prefers.

 

[relink2013]

It all finally came in!!!!! I couldn't be happier! I'll post some pics in a bit.

 

[relink2013]

Time for some setup pics!!!


I must have gotten a new batch of the Sigelei Variable Wattage Kick, because mine actually says 15W on it, allot of peoples say 10W even though they are 15W.
View attachment 356153

The Kick couldn't have fit any better! it just popped right in, and stays in place nice and snug. I can even pop the top off, adjust the wattage, pop it back on and keep vaping, takes about 10sec...but 1.3ohm @ ~11W gives a beautiful vape so I don't change it much. 15W gives about the same vapor, but it's wamer which is great for richer flavors like creams, and tobaccos. (IMO)
View attachment 356155

Installed the magnetic switch upgrade. I orderd the 10pack so I had some extras, which was a good idea. I broke one of the magnets right off the bat, lol. But if you look closely you'll see 2 magnets, I actually doubled up the magnets, theres 2 at the bottom and 2 at the top. 1 and 1 was just too soft, and 2 and 2 gives me a nice solid feel on the button.
View attachment 356157

I also doubled up the magnets so I can do this! I wanted to be able to set it down without it firing. SUCCESS! I normally lay it on its side, or lock it, but you never know when your going to have a derp moment, and when that happens Id like to not have burnt juice oozing out all over the place.
View attachment 356158

Gotta have my trusty Kayfun Lite+ V2, and my Sony VCT5, and now im all set! I love this setup! this thing doesn't leave my sight. I cannot recommend these mods enough, even the $24 clone is amazing, and a couple drops of motor oil on the button and it's buttery smooth.


I appreciate all the advice i've gotten from these forums over the last couple months, I couldn't be happier with my setup now. This setup is slick, the neme and kayfun look like they were just made for eachother, and its about an inch shorter than it was before, looks 100x better, and im not sure if the Vamo and the Kick regulate the power differently, but I swear my vape isn't as harsh with this setup...

The only side effect is now I have to order one for my wife too, lol. Thanks fasttech for selling the neme in purple, now im obligated to order another one. lol