More thoughts:
--- I totally missed the instructions to wash the unit and the bottles. After making my original post, I was made aware of these instructions. I washed the unit and bottles and now there is no plastic smell / taste at all.
--- Using the Silo cartomizer, I'm still not thrilled with vapor production, throat hit or flavor. The website site described the Silo carto that comes with the VMod XL a la Cart as "2.2ohm". I'm using an AW IMR 18650 battery that meter's (right after charging) @ 4.16 volts. (I don't have the ability to test under load at the moment). I put the Silo carto on my Provari to measure the resistance, it comes out at 2.6 ohms, not 2.2 !
I normally
vape a regulated 5.5 volts into a 3ohm carto which is a 10.08 watt vape. Assuming that the unregulated battery drops to 4.0 volts under load, a 2.6ohm carto results in a 6.16 watt vape.
This explains why I'm not experiencing what I'm used to. In order to hit 10 watts with this battery in a non-voltage regulated
mod like the VMod XL, I'd need a 1.5ohm carto / atty.
Vapage sells a 1.8 ohm Silo, so I think I'll
buy one of those and see how it goes. 8.8 watts is still far from 10.08, but it has got to be a better vape than 6.16 watts !
I'll also look around for some 1.5ohm cartos.
As far as the value of the unit plus attys @ $85. Well... I'm still up in the air. There is obviously a quality control issue of some sort with the packaging of a 2.6ohm Silo carto when it is supposed to be 2.2. But, hey, it happens... no one is perfect.
I'll post again after I try some different attys / cartos on it.
No matter what, I do appreciate the fact that these guys came up with a new product for us and brought it to market. I don't mean to sound like everything has to be perfect in order for me to be happy. I just need it to be close enough...
I received my VMod XL 18650 today. I loaded the bottle up with Ms T's Snickerdoodle 14mg that has been AGED ("steeped" is the wrong word) for ~3 weeks so it is turning nice and orange.
My first impressions after a couple hours of vaping it with the included AMG Hybrid atomizer:
1. I don't like the button. You only need to press it about an 1/8" (I estimate) in order to activate it, but the design of the button allows you to continue pressing it another (what feels like) 1/4" down. I guess I was hoping for a button experience like the Provari, but this is an "all mechanical" mod, so my expectations were unreasonable.
2. I tasted plastic with the atty and carto that come with it. Not as bad as a Smokeymizer, but it is still present.
I'm 99.9% sure that the plastic taste comes from the squeeze bottle outgassing. I'm going to take my juice OUT of this bottle, wash the bottle and let it sit out for a couple days so it can finish out gassing. Then I'll try this thing again.
If you can't taste the plastic in your vape with a Smokeymizer, you'll probably think the VMod XL tastes just fine "out of the box".
I double-checked the squeeze bottle being the source of the outgassing by examining the second bottle that comes with it. I took the top off, gave it a sniff and got a nose full of dense plastic smell.
Vapage.com would be doing their customers a HUGE favor by airing out these squeeze bottles before shipping (or having the manufacturer do it first... although I'm sure someone in Shenzen, China would laugh at our American sensitivity to plastic outgassing... their whole city is massively polluted)
3. I'm glad I only paid $85 "on sale" for this. If I had paid the $120 regular price, I'd have been ....... It doesn't feel like a $120 device (weird button actuation) and if it had been $120, I'd have expected it to be ready-to-vape out of the box. At $85, I guess I'm still not pleased that I have to set the bottles out in the open to finish outgassing for a few days, but I'll deal with it.
Bottom line, outgassing plastics can be a HUGE health issue when you are doing something like allowing them to go into a solution (like an ejuice) and then be heated with an atomizer. If you doubt this is an issue, look at the lengths NASA goes to to reduce outgassing for materials headed to orbital environments occupied by humans.
