Mech vs VW - Long & Rambling Questions

[petecarlucci]

I've only been doing this for a short while but I've found big benefits from learning and implementing the techniques and devices described on these forums. The progression was profound from BluCig to cheap tank & battery to quality tank (Kanger Protank II, mini & reg) and quality battery (Innokin VVv3 & MVPv2) to RBA (Igo-W). Once I got the hang of winding my coils (BIG flavor improvement over factory coils) in the Igo, I assumed that it was time for a mech as a logical next step so I bought a Smoktech Magneto v2. I've tried it with single and dual coils, cotton, silicon, and a variety of resistances from 0.5 (dual coil parallel) to 2.5 ohms (single coil).

Q. Is the only purpose for a mech to produce big clouds? I really imagined some sort of difference in flavor quality as opposed to quantity but I haven't noticed anything better smoking the Igo with the mech over my MVP except that the latter didn't work at 0.5 ohms. The MVP, like any VW, is much easier to operate (On/Off, discharge warning, button location) than the Magneto.

Q. I know that there are better mechs out there but are they better in any qualitative way? IMHO, big clouds are not preferable because I'd rather not put a larger volume of contaminants (no, Mildred, it isn't just water vapor) in my lungs than need be to satisfy.

Q. Have I stumbled out of the "improved experience" area of the hobby into Tweakerville where Godzilla is the primary role model?

Q. Same question for dual coils over single coils. I find that they take an extra second to heat up and I don't really notice any better or warmer flavor. I have taken great care to match my pairs both in resistance and wick. I see that there are quad coils? I could ride my bicycle in the Woodward Dream Cruise with that and folks'd think I'm just another smoke-shrouded Hemi.

 

[Xaiver]

I'll see if I can help out a bit here.

1: There are a few things that Mechs do better than VV/VW devices, or anything with electronics in them, really. The most important of which is that there are fewer parts to break. Your mech stopped working? Check the battery. No? Check your atty/carto/coil. No? Make sure that something didn't loosen up. Done. That's it, simple, straight forward.

Your VV device isn't working? Check the battery. No? Check the atty/carto/coil. No? Make sure everything's tight, and the battery is making appropriate contact. No? Maybe the switch went out. Maybe there was a short. Could your coil be too low to fire?

Mechs also will throw out much higher wattage because they're not limited by the switch like a VV device is. You can get your battery up to a 30 amp draw with a mech if you wanted. The electronics in the others will stop way before that. The reason that you see the big high end mechanicals like the nemesis and such is because it's a niche market. The people that prefer high wattage and sub-ohm vaping are willing to pay for pretty toys.

Keep in mind with a mechanical too, it's subject to battery charge drop off. Sure, you'll start at 4.2v with a fresh battery, but that's the peak, and it'll only go down from there. By the time you change batteries, you'll be dealing with 3.4 or so.

3: I think that both of those categories are the same, honestly. I mean, what is tweaking really trying to accomplish other than improving the experience? See, a few years ago you would have been hard pressed to find half of the stuff that you're even seeing now. Back then tweaking was de-bridging your atomizer so you could directly drip onto the coil.

4: I prefer single coils, mostly for what you said, taking longer to warm up. You're also getting a cooler vape from 2 coils than you would from one, since they're both getting approximately half of the voltage. Some people love them...I'm not one of them. Keep it simple.

Hope this helps.
-X

 

[tmcase]

I can't really add much more then what Xaiver said. I love VV and VW because no matter what ohms I'm using I can raise or lower the voltage or wattage to find just the right spot. And I like that they maintain the voltage until the battery gets too low so you get a good vape throughout the battery charge. I also like mechs because there isn't much to go wrong with them. I use VV most of the time but I'll have my mechs when the electronics break down on my VV mods but I don't expect that to happen for a very long time with the Provari's.

Also, the high end mech's are beautiful and keep getting fancier all the time and that is what a lot of people care about, a pretty mod.

The difference between a good mech and a great mech is materials, workmanship and of course quality control. A great mech is sturdy, has smooth threads, made of quality material, doesn't rattle and doesn't need modding. Not many clones fit that description.