I received my UltraMax with RES late this morning, and have tried to put it through its paces so that I could give my impressions of the unit as a whole. A lot of what I am going to say has already been mentioned by other posters so I hope that you guys don't mind reading what I have to say. In all of my excitement, I set up my camera and lightboxes over the weekend so that I could take some pictures of the UltraMax when it arrived today. I hope that you guys enjoy the photos.
I'm not one that cares much for packaging, but I will say that I did appreciate the way that the PV was presented in the box. It was well wrapped and lined by foam, and included was a comprehensive 95 page instruction manual. That's something that I have never received from any other vendor, and it just shows how much time, thought and care went into this line of PVs. Even with a 17670 battery, the unit itself is very lightweight and compact. The finish has a nice brushed aluminum look that does a very good job at resisting fingerprints. Like another reviewer mentioned, the finish of the base unit is not exactly the same as the finish of the RES. The RES has a much duller sheen to it; you can see this in the photo below. Many won't mind it so much, but I'm a stickler for matching so the difference in finish does bother me a tad...but it in no way affects how the PV performs. The rest of the PV is immaculate. The cutout for the switch on the outer sleeve is smooth and free of any sharp or jagged edges. The corrugated surface of the inner battery sleeve gives a nice tactile feel to the PV and allows for a sufficient amount of traction for activating the switch.
I disassembled the unit and noticed that the threads were binding a bit, especially the threads for the RES top cap. I inspected the threads and found a few nicks on them, and that was probably why it was binding. I applied some Noalox to all of the threads, and that made it much easier to assemble/disassemble. Like I do with all my other mods, I also applied Noalox to all of the brass contact points. I inspected the switch since there are others that have had problems with theirs, and it appears as though I also received one of the switches that slipped through QC. The brass contact on the atty side popped out when I depressed the switch, but it was easy to put back into place. I also noted that the brass center post on the battery end would bind every now and then. I fiddled with it a bit, and the post can easily be removed from the delrin bushing. Since my center post was already out, I applied some Noalox to it and it does not bind anymore. I'll PM someone to let them know that I got one of the faulty switches, but it's very apparent that the customer service at InnoVapor is on the ball with this issue so I am not worried about it. The PV still functions with this switch, but I am confident that it will perform even better with the proper switch.
I followed the RES filling instructions that were posted in a previous video. It was simple to do and didn't take much time at all. I filled a syringe so that I could find out exactly how much liquid the UltraMax RES could hold, and I was able to use 1.8mL before the RES was completely saturated.
I'm a chain-vaper that takes fairly long draws (at least 8-10 seconds, 3-4 times in a row). With that vaping style, the RES can't really keep up when using a Joye 1.5Ω atty. The first two pulls will produce massive amounts of flavor and vapor, but the next few draws results in a dry atty taste. I did notice that taking some long slow pulls without activating the switch will allow you to get more juice into the atty, and that seems to help a lot. I also tested the RES out with a Boge 2.0Ω cartomizer, and I feel as though it performs much better with that setup. Use of a cartomizer also provides an airier draw than a Joye atty, but I actually prefer the tighter draw.
With all things said, I am still very impressed with the unit. The use of a ceramic core in the RES is a very innovative idea, and it performs extremely well. The 2mL capacity combined with a full cartomizer provides enough juice to last me through most of the day, and I'm sure that as each day goes by I will enjoy this PV more and more.
