Circumstances have caused me to pick up two different 26650 regulated mods in the past couple of months, so I thought I'd compare them if anyone is interested. In addition to my own experiences, I'll throw in some details I don't really care about, but which were consistently mentioned in reviews that I watched or read before purchasing them.
Both of these 26650 mods were used exclusively with my Aspire Triton.
Bear in mind I'm what I guess you'd call an intermediate vaper. I've been at this a few years now, but a few months ago the most advanced thing I'd used was a 40w Vamo with an Aspire nautilus.
So the Vamo suddenly died, and I wanted something with a little more headroom to replace it. I was pushing it right to its 40w max on the Triton clapton for the last couple of months I had it, and I suspect that might have contributed to its demise.
A lot of folks seem not too impressed by the difference in 26650 battery life vs 18650, but I wanted to try a 26650 mod, so I picked up the Sigelei 90w TC.
Right away I was impressed. It felt solid, fit nicely in my hand, WAY shorter (of course) than the Vamo.
It came with a Sigelei 26650 labelled as 4200mah and 40A discharge rate. I also immediately purchased a purple Efest 26650 with the same advertised specs. I'm not qualified to discuss technical details of these batteries or how true they are to their labeling, but I will tell you that both of them lasted far longer than when using a single Samsung INR18650-25R at the same wattage in my Vamo, as expected.
I have the feeling that the Efest battery goes for longer than the Sigelei, but I couldn't quantify it further. At 40w/.5ohms neither of them gives me the perception of falling flat before reaching the point where I'm ready to swap out for a fresh battery anyhow. I can vape them both well under 50%, and by that point I'm ready to swap in a fresh battery just on principle. I did get that feeling of dropoff on the Samsung 18650 in the Vamo often.
Well, not surprisingly I suppose (due to technology advances if nothing else) the Sigelei was superior in every way to my Vamo. From holding it, to the button quality, finish quality, and vaping experience. (The vamo may have been on the fritz for some time though.)
I liked the rounded side for gripping, solid buttons, no rattles. The magnetic battery cover was the first I'd used, and it was perfect - easy to remove, but never came off on its own. Heavily springloaded positive post kept the battery tight, but easy to remove, and it included a nice little ribbon to use for tugging it out. The screen was functional, but difficult to read in open daylight. It had a USB port on the bottom for charging while assembled, no wiggle to the port, and it felt solid.
Most of the things that I now think of as flaws are things I only thought of because these "problems" were corrected by its replacement. More on that below.
I used it as a basic wattage mode regulated mod. And for that, it was about as good as I thought I could want.
I don't use TC, but various reviwers lamented the lack of a Stainless Steel mode. Also the usb port is for charging ONLY. No firmware upgrades possible by the user.
Well you'll see I'm speaking of it in the past tense even though it's a recently released model. I dropped it a couple of times. Not huge drops, but big enough that I can't fault the device for being damaged. Physically, it's fine. Built like a tank. But it now randomly shuts off. Sometimes it does it constantly, even in the middle of vaping. Other times I can go most of the day without it happening.
As I don't have a collection of vaping devices, I didn't want to eventually have it fully die and find myself stuck again. So now it's sitting in its box in a drawer, as my backup device.
Enter the Wismec Presa TC100W.
I like everything about it that I liked about the Sigelei. Their shapes are not *too* different. But it has some definite advantages:
The shape is even more comfortable to hold. That "ergonomically designed" thing isn't just marketing. It fits my hand like they were made for each other.
I love the fact that the entire front is a button. No matter how you hold it, pressing or squeezing it to fire feels natural.
I *really* love the fact that the adjustment buttons can be locked out independently of turning off the entire device. I did have a problem accidentally adjusting the wattage on the Sigelei at times - a hard problem to solve in direct sunlight due to the screen washout. No such issue with the Wismec, since I have those buttons disabled except when I change to a different coil type. I should add that the display on the Wismec doesn't seem any more suited to outdoor daylight adjustments than was the Sigelei.
Not only can you turn it off in the usual way, but there is a physical lock switch at the top of the device. Slide this over and the fire "button" can't be activated. Super nice feature, IMO.
Build quality feels equal to or better than the Sigelei. Overall I think I'd give the nod to the Wismec. It seems just a bit more refined while being equally or more solid in the hand. The giant button on the front makes me a little worried that it will be less resistant to damage if dropped than the Sigelei was. So, I'm trying not to be a butter fingers.
Another solution to a problem I barely noticed - the charge port is on the front face of the device instead of the bottom. So I can charge it standing up. My triton leaks only when sideways, and only when I'm pushing more life than I should out of a worn coil, so being able to charge it standing prevents having a puddle under it when I go to pick it up. I rarely used the charge port on the Sigelei due to this detail.
A few additional points:
So in conclusion, I can't find major faults with the Sigelei for my usage case. But for more advanced vapers than I, it seems the Wismec adds some potentially sought after features. In addition, it "wins" against the Sigelei in a few areas which DO make for a better experience for me.
As they are not too far apart in price though, I'm sorry to say that I would probably not get the Sigelei again as long as I had the option to get the Wismec instead.
I hope someone finds this useful and/or interesting to read.
Both of these 26650 mods were used exclusively with my Aspire Triton.
Bear in mind I'm what I guess you'd call an intermediate vaper. I've been at this a few years now, but a few months ago the most advanced thing I'd used was a 40w Vamo with an Aspire nautilus.
So the Vamo suddenly died, and I wanted something with a little more headroom to replace it. I was pushing it right to its 40w max on the Triton clapton for the last couple of months I had it, and I suspect that might have contributed to its demise.
A lot of folks seem not too impressed by the difference in 26650 battery life vs 18650, but I wanted to try a 26650 mod, so I picked up the Sigelei 90w TC.
Right away I was impressed. It felt solid, fit nicely in my hand, WAY shorter (of course) than the Vamo.
It came with a Sigelei 26650 labelled as 4200mah and 40A discharge rate. I also immediately purchased a purple Efest 26650 with the same advertised specs. I'm not qualified to discuss technical details of these batteries or how true they are to their labeling, but I will tell you that both of them lasted far longer than when using a single Samsung INR18650-25R at the same wattage in my Vamo, as expected.
I have the feeling that the Efest battery goes for longer than the Sigelei, but I couldn't quantify it further. At 40w/.5ohms neither of them gives me the perception of falling flat before reaching the point where I'm ready to swap out for a fresh battery anyhow. I can vape them both well under 50%, and by that point I'm ready to swap in a fresh battery just on principle. I did get that feeling of dropoff on the Samsung 18650 in the Vamo often.
Well, not surprisingly I suppose (due to technology advances if nothing else) the Sigelei was superior in every way to my Vamo. From holding it, to the button quality, finish quality, and vaping experience. (The vamo may have been on the fritz for some time though.)
I liked the rounded side for gripping, solid buttons, no rattles. The magnetic battery cover was the first I'd used, and it was perfect - easy to remove, but never came off on its own. Heavily springloaded positive post kept the battery tight, but easy to remove, and it included a nice little ribbon to use for tugging it out. The screen was functional, but difficult to read in open daylight. It had a USB port on the bottom for charging while assembled, no wiggle to the port, and it felt solid.
Most of the things that I now think of as flaws are things I only thought of because these "problems" were corrected by its replacement. More on that below.
I used it as a basic wattage mode regulated mod. And for that, it was about as good as I thought I could want.
I don't use TC, but various reviwers lamented the lack of a Stainless Steel mode. Also the usb port is for charging ONLY. No firmware upgrades possible by the user.
Well you'll see I'm speaking of it in the past tense even though it's a recently released model. I dropped it a couple of times. Not huge drops, but big enough that I can't fault the device for being damaged. Physically, it's fine. Built like a tank. But it now randomly shuts off. Sometimes it does it constantly, even in the middle of vaping. Other times I can go most of the day without it happening.
As I don't have a collection of vaping devices, I didn't want to eventually have it fully die and find myself stuck again. So now it's sitting in its box in a drawer, as my backup device.
Enter the Wismec Presa TC100W.
I like everything about it that I liked about the Sigelei. Their shapes are not *too* different. But it has some definite advantages:
The shape is even more comfortable to hold. That "ergonomically designed" thing isn't just marketing. It fits my hand like they were made for each other.
I love the fact that the entire front is a button. No matter how you hold it, pressing or squeezing it to fire feels natural.
I *really* love the fact that the adjustment buttons can be locked out independently of turning off the entire device. I did have a problem accidentally adjusting the wattage on the Sigelei at times - a hard problem to solve in direct sunlight due to the screen washout. No such issue with the Wismec, since I have those buttons disabled except when I change to a different coil type. I should add that the display on the Wismec doesn't seem any more suited to outdoor daylight adjustments than was the Sigelei.
Not only can you turn it off in the usual way, but there is a physical lock switch at the top of the device. Slide this over and the fire "button" can't be activated. Super nice feature, IMO.
Build quality feels equal to or better than the Sigelei. Overall I think I'd give the nod to the Wismec. It seems just a bit more refined while being equally or more solid in the hand. The giant button on the front makes me a little worried that it will be less resistant to damage if dropped than the Sigelei was. So, I'm trying not to be a butter fingers.
Another solution to a problem I barely noticed - the charge port is on the front face of the device instead of the bottom. So I can charge it standing up. My triton leaks only when sideways, and only when I'm pushing more life than I should out of a worn coil, so being able to charge it standing prevents having a puddle under it when I go to pick it up. I rarely used the charge port on the Sigelei due to this detail.
A few additional points:
- It includes a sleeve to allow using 18650, with max wattage of 75w. Nice touch, but I'll probably never use it unless I find myself without a 26650.
- It is firmware upgradeable.
- For those who care, it supports nickel, Ti, and stainless for TC vaping.
- It has "bypass" mode, which is said to make it function like a mechanical mod. Not for me, but might be nice for some.
- It also has TCR modes, which are also beyond my experience. But I get the impression they are good to have.
So in conclusion, I can't find major faults with the Sigelei for my usage case. But for more advanced vapers than I, it seems the Wismec adds some potentially sought after features. In addition, it "wins" against the Sigelei in a few areas which DO make for a better experience for me.
As they are not too far apart in price though, I'm sorry to say that I would probably not get the Sigelei again as long as I had the option to get the Wismec instead.
I hope someone finds this useful and/or interesting to read.
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