Pioneer4You IPV4 : Unboxing, detailed look and thoughts, and first problems found

[TheBloke]

Hi guys,

I thought I'd make a new thread as the other one is about pre-order, and now it's here (in limited quantities, at least.)

I made a video. It's long. If you want to see the ipv4 in huge detail, this is the video for you If not, I've put in some time links below to jump around, and a text summary as well.

It has a first unboxing, a long detailed look through the menus, a TC test, and also some first HW problems that occurred to me live on camera. It's working fine now, but at least one the problems was a little concerning.

My TLDR, spoiler summary of what's in the video:

• The form factor I like, it feels good in the hand while vaping
  
• Normal vaping works fine, of course
• TC works fine, and out of the box - the manual incorrectly states that you must apply a firmware update for TC; you do not, they already installed it.
  
• The screen is like a mirror and practically unreadable in sunlight / bright light
• I generally hate the UI
• It has loads of UI weirdness and inconsistencies and just plain stupid design choices
• It has five memory settings, which is great; but you can't set an arbitrary, non-saved wattage (or Joule) outside of the memory - you can only change watts by editing a memory (unlike the SX Mini M/J)
• It has no lock feature of any kind - either lock fire, or lock settings; it should do, and the manual tells you how to do it, but it doesn't work - I believe because the TC firmware update has hidden/removed the lock feature. This could be fixed in a future firmware update.
• I encountered two hardware problems, live on cam:
  • It randomly said "Too hot!" at one point, even though I hadn't even fired it for about five minutes. This persisted for several minutes.
  • I changed batteries twice, and both times the new set of (fully charged, brand new) batteries read only 50% on the battery meter. This went away after I pressed fire once.

All that said - which may sound exclusively negative - I have since enjoyed vaping on it. The actual vaping - when I'm not in the menus and changing stuff - is fine; good even. I like the form factor, I like the feel of it in my hand. That surprised me, because it is basically a bit of an ugly brick. But it feels good and comfortable in the hand. It vapes flawlessly, so far at least. The TC already seems preferable to what I'm used to in my DNA 40 (clone) device. It looks to be a good mod for general vaping, just less good for adjustments and menu use. And at least one of those hardware faults I experienced remains quite worrying.

Apologies if the video is not fully up to the standard you may be used to from YouTube. I hope to improve in future I do have nice clear, stable and non-shaky shots of all the menus and operation of the mod And in extreme detail - far more than most reviewers do!

YouTube video link:

Pioneer4You IPV4: Unboxing; detailed look and thoughts; TC test; HW problems

Shortcuts to video sections:

Unboxing (just the start of the video!)
Start of using the device
First sign of HW problems
TC dry cotton test (passed)

Embedded YouTube video:

 

[a tez]

I'm only at the part where you insert your batteries, but you should take the batteries out, pull the ribbon out towards the left of the device. Then lay each battery on top of the ribbon and then slide the door back on.

 

[TheBloke]

I'm only at the part where you insert your batteries, but you should take the batteries out, pull the ribbon out towards the left of the device. Then lay each battery on top of the ribbon and then slide the door back on.

Yeah I'm an idiot Moments later I realise I can't shut the door and redo the batteries with the ribbon underneath, though not neatly as you suggest, just jammed it in - I was live and wanted to make sure it definitely worked that time

I didn't find any problem getting the batteries out (which I have to do much later in the vid) with the ribbon hidden.

But yeah, what you said is how it should be done

 

[Petabread]

It's sad you don't like the UI! I really like it lol. It took a few hours to grow on me, but I like it! It might be because I came from the ipv3 as my daily driver, sorta feels familiar yet updated to me. To give you a comparison, I haven't had the "too hot" error message. But I have seen that battery 50% full one once, my first time setting it up. Not after that tho. Glad you're digging it!

 

[TheBloke]

It's sad you don't like the UI! I really like it lol. It took a few hours to grow on me, but I like it! It might be because I came from the ipv3 as my daily driver, sorta feels familiar yet updated to me. To give you a comparison, I haven't had the "too hot" error message. But I have seen that battery 50% full one once, my first time setting it up. Not after that tho. Glad you're digging it!

Yeah it may well be a personal preference thing, and also me being new and not used to it. I'm sure it'll grow on me. I do really like the idea of memories, it just feels they spoilt it a little by not having the ability to set a wattage outside of a memory, meaning I have to give up one of my memories to be my "random setting", and then always change to that when I want a different setting. Otherwise I risk getting into the habit of just changing whatever memory I'm on, which will defeat the whole object of memory in the first place - I want to know that M1 is always X and M2 is always Y, not find that, oh yes, last night I needed a different wattage and I just changed M1.

I think of it like a radio: any modern digital radio will have:

• Up and down button, to change the frequency
• Memory buttons:
  • M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, M6 (for example)

Pressing up and down will live change the current frequency. Pressing M1 or M2 will change to the stored frequency in that memory. Holding down M1 or M2 will store the current frequency into that memory.

Dead simple. Dead effective. Completely intuitive. Yes radios tend to have one button per memory, but that's not required.

Imagine the following setup for the IPV4, with three settings buttons instead of two:

• Up/down button, changes the watts - a live change, just like any basic mod eg. iStick
• Memory button:
  • Pressing it cycle to the next memory; if M1 is currently shown, go to M2. If a memory is not currently shown, go to either the first or the most recent (see example below)
  • Holding it will store the current displayed wattage -
    • hold for 2 seconds and it will flash last used memory number (e.g. "M1"); do nothing and it will store in that memory after 2 further seconds;
    • Tap again to cycle through the (flashing) memory, and stop pressing when the desired memory is displayed;
    • After that is complete, the screen will display the same wattage and the chosen memory number (no longer flashing as we're no longer in "store" mode.)

So now here's the example usage:

1. Out of the box, it displays "20W / M1" (as it does already).
2. I press M, it displays "40W / M2"
3. I press Up, and go from 20.0W to 23.5W.
   1. That's my new live wattage setting, which is shown on screen and I can vape at any time.
   2. It no longer displays "M2". The memory number is hidden, because I'm no longer using a stored memory setting.
   3. Ideally, the live wattage is displayed a little larger as a result, both to use extra space and to further highlight that this is a live, non-stored setting.
4. I now tap M and that clears my live setting, putting me on M1 and 20W.
   1. So I'm back in memory mode, as per step 1.
      1. I've assumed that, from a non-stored wattage, pressing M goes first to M1.
      2. Another option is to instead go first to the last memory that was used (M2 in this example)
      3. Another is to go to the next memory after the last one used, ie continue the cycle (M3 in this example.)
   2. Any of those three possibilities is fine, as long as it's consistent - I think either 1 or 2 is best.
5. I press Up again, going from, say, 40W to 42W.
6. I now hold down M
   1. After two seconds, it flashes "M2" at me (the last memory I was using).
   2. If I want to store 42W in M2, I do nothing and after 2 seconds it stores it in M2.
   3. If I want to store in a different memory, I tap M however many times to cycle to the desired memory, then stop pressing. After 2 seconds, it stores in the displayed memory.
7. After the store is finished, it will display 42W / M2 (or whatever memory was chosen) - it is back in stored mode.

I've explained that at great length and detail, but hopefully you can see in usage it would be really easy and intuitive. And it should be, because it's the re-use of a very well understood paradigm: the digital radio.

It's does have to be slightly more complicated than the radio because we're using one button for five memories instead of five buttons. But all the principles are the same, so people will understand it very quickly.

And it's a hell of a lot more usable than what we have now, and also than what the SX Mini J/M has, where you can do out-of-memory settings but only by going into the menu.

And all it requires is one extra button, and a trivially simple firmware code. This is what is bugging me about new mods, but especially Yihi mods. As I say in my review, it's kind of like mod manufacturers are fixated on three button mods - Fire, and Up/Down; as if that is how mods have to be. "No mod must have more than three buttons! This is the LAW OF MODS!"

The SX Mini M and J are a particular egregious example, because they go to such stupid lengths to avoid adding another button - in their case, the need to tilt it about like an idiot to change settings (better in the M, but you still can't disable it), and/or going into a complicated menu, and lots of multi-button combinations to activate various modes. When just adding one more button, which there's plenty of room for, would make life so much easier.

It just annoys me from a design point of view It feels needlessly dumb. It surely can't be a cost issue, especially on the $200 SX Mini. Hell, that gravity sensor costs way more than a third button. I just don't understand why they seem to think another button would be so unthinkable, when it would revolutionise the usage of their mods.

Anyway, rant over I'm sure that by end of year, someone will have come out with a mod that has memories and implements it better.

 

[TheBloke]

But I have seen that battery 50% full one once, my first time setting it up. Not after that tho. Glad you're digging it!

Oh yes, and on this point - I've seen it one more time. And this time I didn't even change my batteries, I simply took them out and restarted it (to check my FW version, after I learnt how to do that.)

So it seems like it might be a generic issue after the mod first boots up - ie whenever batteries are changed. I can't tell if it happened the very first time I turned it on, because I think the first button I pressed was fire, because I thought that would turn the screen on. And it seems to clear as soon as fire is hit, even without an atomizer.

So really just a display bug more than anything else - or rather, it is in practice; behind the scenes I guess it has something to do with the mod not properly probing the batteries until fire is pressed. But that manifests just as a minor display issue.

Hopefully it will be fixed in a future FW update.

 

[ThunderDan]

I will say its pretty evident this is your first p4y / yihi experience, haha. Not that that's a bad thing, kind of interesting to see your reaction to the UI and operating the mod coming from a strictly evolv/clone style UI.

Sounds like you've pretty much wrapped your head around the UI at this point.

Regarding M settings, one way you could look at it is keep M1 for your random wattage adj mode, and use the other 4 as presets. Although I think its a bug, in joules mode it doesn't save the presents like in power mode, so maybe that operates more to your liking. Hopefully that gets fixed though so it functions the same in both modes.

Screen cut off after fire button, looks to be same as ipv3/sigelei 150W, dims initially, then cuts off after 60 seconds. IIRC my ipv2x is the same way. Just how it is, I wouldn't expect a change there.

Another thing to note, if you want to see the firmware version / board info, take out one battery, hold the fire button down, and put the battery back in.

I haven't made it through your whole video, but got to the too hot part. I'm not sure if this has anything to do with it, but I did notice you had the Atlantis still on with a kanthal coil in joules mode. Maybe that made it freak out, just a thought, could be completely irrelevant.

One last thing, FWIW, I've had my M-class for three weeks now and have never once used the gravity sensor to change a setting in the menu, haha. The yihi UI really isn't bad once you get a bit used to it IMO. I prefer using my m-class and find it quicker and easier to get down and vaping than my dna40 most times.

 

[TheBloke]

Yeah I plan to use one M for random changes and try to preserve the other four for my regular settings. Right now I have 25, 30, 35, 40 programmed in to M1-4, but might change that to 2-5 as you suggest.

Oh wow, I didn't even notice that it doesn't save presets for J. That's a major bug, yeah. I guess that's a little like a normal live setting, so long as one never hits + and clears it out. So it disables the use of the memories completely.

Although it's a stupid bug (did they test this at all?) it's not the end of the world, as, at least for me, I can't imagine I'll use anything other than 50J, 40J or 30J. Well, I say that now, of course I haven't done a huge amount of TC vaping on it. Maybe I'll find that I need 35 or something for certain builds, then that would be a pain.

Yeah definitely my first Yihi I do think that kinda proves my point, though - a good UI is clear and intuitive to any first time user. No good UI requires a user to carefully learn all its quirks and inconsistencies: "well I can do this in this mode, but not that mode; it's this button now, but that button then." It should just be clear and apparent and consistent - like my radio example above.

I can imagine the M class is a much nicer beast - certainly has a whole bunch of extra features, and I know the M doesn't require the use of gravity (but I am told it can keep kicking in when you don't want it to, if you happen to hold it at the right angle.) But yeah, I can only comment on the Yihi chip I've seen, which I found pretty bad; I'm sure the M is altogether a lot nicer. And to be clear, I'm not holding the DNA 40 as any kind of example of a good design - that too has a lot of "hold two buttons for X seconds" type stuff when really just a third button would make life a lot easier. Or even just a menu - it should have a menu for stuff like Right/Left, and Temp, rather than multiple buttons after first locking it. That's bad UI as well.

I do think that vapers may have low expectations at the moment. And it's understandable. I've only been vaping for two months, but I can totally see that if I'd been vaping for 14 or 26 months, I'd just be so happy at all the new tech that we now have that wasn't available a year or two ago, that it would seem almost petty to complain about bad UI. When a year or two ago there were a few 10W APVs and 90% mechanicals, and now we have dozens of high wattage APVs and then a whole bunch of TC chips/mods like the DNA 40 and the SX Mini M, it's a whole different world. I guess I'm just picky But I don't have that background that makes me grateful; I started vaping just as sub-ohm came out, and TC was getting popular, etc. To me it's the status quo - so I may seem spoilt!

Interesting thought on the Kanthal coil in J mode, I didn't think of that. I never actually fired it, so it shouldn't do anything, but yeah it's something to think about. I don't think the QC is super high on this chip - lots of pretty obvious bugs found already - so some subtle/rare bug like that would be no surprise. I just tested that again now as I happened to have the same Atlantis on: I put it in J mode, flicked through the menu, even tried firing it which caused it to say "Dry Coil / No Liquid" immediately because I hadn't re-set the resistance so it thought it was 0.13 and so when it then saw the 0.55 coil, it must have thought it was at 500F or something. Anyway, no re-creation of the issue yet, but I'll try it again a few more times.

Thanks for watching the vid and the detailed comments!

 

[TheBloke]

Although I think its a bug, in joules mode it doesn't save the presents like in power mode, so maybe that operates more to your liking. Hopefully that gets fixed though so it functions the same in both modes.

Oh wow, I didn't even notice that it doesn't save presets for J. That's a major bug, yeah. I guess that's a little like a normal live setting, so long as one never hits + and clears it out. So it disables the use of the memories completely.

Thanks again for pointing this out. I've added an annotation to my video to mention it.

What I've found is that you can adjust to get an arbitrary Joules figure, vape with it, and that will persist as you switch back and forth between Joules and Power modes. But it's cleared if you press Plus - obviously, as that goes to next Memory. Unfortunately it's also cleared if you turn the device off, or change batteries.

Even so, it's not a huge annoyance really. Most users will in any case go between various different J settings depending on atty, so on any DNA 40 mod they'd be moving back and forth between values anyway. So it's a loss of an expected feature, but not so bad as to make the experience worse than competing mods (well besides the SX Mini of course.)

 

[ThunderDan]

You should try a provari p3 sometime if you get a chance, talk about bad UI. Lol.

I'm still looking forward to the ipv4, for the price I think it offers great value. Heck 7-8 months ago a sigelei 100w without a spring loaded 510, no firmware update capability, no memory settings, going for over $100. Now were getting this for under $100 with memory settings, spring loaded 510, TC, with a more ergonomic feel. Win in my book, but like you say, some of those things you would just expect as the norm. A year ago having a spring loaded 510 would have been a major selling point, haha.

 

[TheBloke]

Yeah I bet!

And totally - it's a good mod. I know I come across pretty negative in the video, and I really regret now that I didn't film a closing wrap up where I did point out that, besides all that criticism, I do actually like vaping on it! That's why everywhere I've posted the video I've put in a paragraph reassuring people that actually I do like it! The form factor is good - I really like the feel of it in my hand, that rubber grip feels surprisingly good, more so even than the Vapor Flask. Soft rubber versus cold, hard metal. Battery life is fine (seems similar, so far, to my parallel dual battery VF clone). TC is great, and for me doubly great because it's my first TC with spring loaded 510, which is also good incidentally - just the right springiness, in my view.

I think if I hadn't have had those two HW issues occur right at the end of my filming, I would have thought to do that wrap up. But I was kind of spooked and bummed out to have those two problems suddenly crop up live. The battery sensor I think I have figured out now and it's no big deal, but the Too Hot was worrying. So yeah, that kind of put me in a worried mood and so my wrap up was more about that uncertainty than about how the mod is good! And as you say, very good value for money.

I'm thinking I'll do a second (shorter!) video in a few days, more of a review than a detailed look, giving my thoughts after 7 days.

I will say for sure that all that stuff I mentioned in the video about the UI is not going to ruin my day to day experience. I've been vaping on it for 24 hours now and I've barely even noticed that UI stuff in normal use. I don't think I was wrong to bring it up, because I know from my experience with my other mods that I will come up against those annoyances and they will annoy me - especially stuff like the stupid delay on scrolling up and down and never being able to stop on the right number (which annoys me on the M80, and that doesn't even have the delay at the start.)

But it's not going to ruin my vaping experience, by any means. It'll be a regular mild twinge of annoyance Not more than that. I put all that out there as a sort of "full disclosure" type deal - that's how it is, viewer judges how big of a deal that will be for them.

Ironically and annoyingly, the one issue that really is pretty bad is the issue I talked about least - the screen brightness. That really is pretty terrible. I don't know when you watched the earlier part of my video, whether you saw the annotation I added to the screen brightness talk - about 5 hours ago? I added an "after 24 hours" update to the bit where I was talking about the screen, about 10 minutes into the video, saying that the screen was again unreadable while sitting in my car, and mostly unreadable even sitting in my office in the late afternoon (a few feet away from any window.)

That's the sort of thing that could be a deal breaker for people who vape outside (in sunny countries) a lot. I mean you really just can't read it, at all. It's pretty bad.

Maybe they can increase the brightness with a FW update, and I hope they do.

 

[Treeburner1983]

I've only been vaping for two months *SNIP* I started vaping just as sub-ohm came out

Thanks for the chuckle and for your review! Hope the UI grows on you!

-Treeburner

 

[TheBloke]

Thanks for the chuckle!

-Treeburner

Yes, a rather poor choice of words on my part

Naturally I meant, "became the in-thing such that all products released had to be capable of it" In particular, the big sub-ohm tank flood, kicked off I believe with the Atlantis and SubTank (actually I think those had been around a month or three before I started? But were still very much new and 'in'; it was the Smok VCT and GCT that I got first, which were released very shortly before I started, and were the second wave in the huge flood that's now washed over us.)

and for your review! Hope the UI grows on you!

-Treeburner

Thank you! I am sure it is going to be fine. I don't think I will ever like it, but I am certain I will be able to tolerate it easily enough; the rest of the mod is worth putting up with some annoyances (at least until another mod comes out with the same spec, features, price, and a better UI )

 

[TronCat]

I have a IPV2, any thoughts on it?

 

[TheBloke]

I have a IPV2, any thoughts on it?

Not from me, no, sorry - this is my first ever Pioneer4You mod, and my first ever Yihi-chip mod. I know a fair bit about the SX Mini J and M, having watched several in-depth reviews on them, but nothing at all about any of the others.

 

[Maverik_X]

Dude Has These In Stock And Ready To Ship Priority Get Em Before There Gone.
IPV4 from Pioneer 4 You IPV4 Tempreture Control Box Mod | eBay

 

[wooglins]

Dude Has These In Stock And Ready To Ship Priority Get Em Before There Gone.
IPV4 from Pioneer 4 You IPV4 Tempreture Control Box Mod | eBay

Thanks, ordered.

 

[wooglins]

That seller is legit. My IPV4 just shipped. 10 minutes after completing my order. Cancelled my Gearbest order.

 

[Maverik_X]

That seller is legit. My IPV4 just shipped. 10 minutes after completing my order. Cancelled my Gearbest order.

Good He's a good guy bought a bunch of stuff off him. You should check out his website.
http://www.ecigaretteempire.com/Default.asp

 

[wooglins]

Good He's a good guy bought a bunch of stuff off him. You should check out his website.
http://www.ecigaretteempire.com/Default.asp

Thanks for posting it, I had given up on the IPV4 for now after getting burned by Gearbest.