My SVD arrived yesterday and (of course) I vaped it exclusively last night. I thought I'd weigh in with some initial impressions on the unit without doing a detailed review as there's plenty of those already.
This device has a reputation as being rather large, and I can confirm that it does, in fact, live up to that claim. With an 18650 installed and a vivi-nova on top, it absolutely dwarfs the ego-c/twist devices that I own. While I've read that it's much bigger than competing devices, I havent had occasion to handle any of those and can't make comparisons as a result. It's big, but it feels really good in the hand, at least for a relatively large-handed person like myself. "Burly" is the best word that I can think of to describe it. Although I really appreicate how robust the unit is, it's definitely a device to be used at home during the leisure hours. The odds of it travelling with me anywhere are basically zero and it might not suit everyone's taste.
The fit and finish are outstanding. For a device that cost under $40 (including shipping, from FT), it's actually pretty ridiculous. All of the buttons are very responsive (the +/- buttons are particularly awesome), the stainless finish is pleasant to the touch and to the eye, the threads on my unit are very smooth, the display is bright and easy to read... The list goes on. The main thought I had while vaping it was "holy crap, if this is a considered mid-level device, how over the top are the high-end devices?" IMO, the fit and finish of the SVD is good enough to please all but the pickiest folks out there.
The vape experience is also radically different from what you get on an ego-c or even twist. My initial expectation was that it would vape almost identically to my twist at the same voltage/wattage equivalent (I was actually worried that I wasted $40 for more battery life). FYI, I like to vape around 8W and typically use 1.8ohm atomizers because they're readily available at my local. I attached my ADV clearo (Vivi Nova with Flavour Crafters Dunhull @ 12%), fired up the unit, and had a vape. To my surprise the vape was much different (understatement), in a good way, as compared to an ego style setup. The thing that I noticed immediately was that the throat hit was much more pronounced - a huge plus for me. Likewise, the vapor production was noticeably higher. Finally, the flavour of the juice was subtly altered for the better.
I'm not sure exactly what the technical difference is, but it seems the method by which the current is delivered to the atomizer is different on the SVD and it seems to produce a better vape. I have never had problems with dry hits on my Vivi/ego combination, but did have a couple with the SVD. Since my intial tests were with the same clearo and juice that I use most days, this supports my suspicion that there is some difference in the way the SVD delivers the current vs. the ego.
I won't say that I'll never get another mod, but I can say that if the SVD holds-up this well over time, I'll be a happy man. If this had been my first PV, I can say that I absolutely wouldn't have bothered to look at anything else (oh, hindsight).
Those are my initial impressions. Hope this will help anyone still in shopping mode.
This device has a reputation as being rather large, and I can confirm that it does, in fact, live up to that claim. With an 18650 installed and a vivi-nova on top, it absolutely dwarfs the ego-c/twist devices that I own. While I've read that it's much bigger than competing devices, I havent had occasion to handle any of those and can't make comparisons as a result. It's big, but it feels really good in the hand, at least for a relatively large-handed person like myself. "Burly" is the best word that I can think of to describe it. Although I really appreicate how robust the unit is, it's definitely a device to be used at home during the leisure hours. The odds of it travelling with me anywhere are basically zero and it might not suit everyone's taste.
The fit and finish are outstanding. For a device that cost under $40 (including shipping, from FT), it's actually pretty ridiculous. All of the buttons are very responsive (the +/- buttons are particularly awesome), the stainless finish is pleasant to the touch and to the eye, the threads on my unit are very smooth, the display is bright and easy to read... The list goes on. The main thought I had while vaping it was "holy crap, if this is a considered mid-level device, how over the top are the high-end devices?" IMO, the fit and finish of the SVD is good enough to please all but the pickiest folks out there.
The vape experience is also radically different from what you get on an ego-c or even twist. My initial expectation was that it would vape almost identically to my twist at the same voltage/wattage equivalent (I was actually worried that I wasted $40 for more battery life). FYI, I like to vape around 8W and typically use 1.8ohm atomizers because they're readily available at my local. I attached my ADV clearo (Vivi Nova with Flavour Crafters Dunhull @ 12%), fired up the unit, and had a vape. To my surprise the vape was much different (understatement), in a good way, as compared to an ego style setup. The thing that I noticed immediately was that the throat hit was much more pronounced - a huge plus for me. Likewise, the vapor production was noticeably higher. Finally, the flavour of the juice was subtly altered for the better.
I'm not sure exactly what the technical difference is, but it seems the method by which the current is delivered to the atomizer is different on the SVD and it seems to produce a better vape. I have never had problems with dry hits on my Vivi/ego combination, but did have a couple with the SVD. Since my intial tests were with the same clearo and juice that I use most days, this supports my suspicion that there is some difference in the way the SVD delivers the current vs. the ego.
I won't say that I'll never get another mod, but I can say that if the SVD holds-up this well over time, I'll be a happy man. If this had been my first PV, I can say that I absolutely wouldn't have bothered to look at anything else (oh, hindsight).
Those are my initial impressions. Hope this will help anyone still in shopping mode.
