What advantage does it have over a regular 510 PT besides superior construction and the awesome ergonomics of an SB?
I'm just wanting to get my feet wet with the PT experience in a cheap way before buying quality. Do they deliver the same power and can they both be used with the variable power adapter?
First, a Joye 510 delivers about 3.1 or 3.2v to the atomizer.
There are 2 different types of 510 passthroughs. One has a battery in it (although you can't use it without plugging it in) and one doesn't. I think they both deliver something like 3.4 or 3.5v? to the atomizer. The voltage is not selectable. Basically it's about the same (although a bit more voltage) as the battery. It's just that you won't have to recharge a battery.
The 510 passthroughs have an end on them that's like a 510 battery (with the threads and barrel) so you wouldn't be able to use it with the SB top.
The Silver Bullet passthrough (it will be just like the BB passthrough but with the SB bottom form factor) is a true passthrough. You provide the power supply. It does come with a USB cable (USB on one end and the 2.5mm plug on the other end that plugs into the passthrough bottom.
Now the thing is current or how much juice it draws. You're going to need something like a minimum of 1.5amps to power it. Most all USB ports on a PC will supply 0.5amps and are not sufficient even though they are 5v (just not enough juice so the voltage will drop at the atomizer). The USB cable would be used to plug into something like a powered USB hub/charger that will supply 1.5amps or more. 2Amps is what you want.
You can buy various fixed voltage power supplies rated at 1.5 - 2amps or more or... you can buy a variable voltage power supply rated at 2 amps. That would be like the Enercel 3v - 7.5v, 2Amp power supply everybody gets from Radio Shack. Little slider switch to select your voltage on the wall wart part. You're talking something like $36 - $39 for the power supply and the size "N" plug (2.5 mm). It is a "universal" type of power supply that comes with a set of plugs/tips and you can buy others for it so you could use it to charge different things maybe. With the switch you can select 3v, 5v, 6v, 6.5v, 7v, 7.5v. For our purposes you're probably going to only use 5v or 6v (and maybe 3v even -- definitely what you'd want with the new 1.5 ohm 510 atomizers).
So... the 510 passthroughs are going to get you 3.4v. The SB passthrough will enable 5v and 6v vaping.