Thoughts on the Smoant Cylon 218W Box Mod?

[Mysteron]

My screen too, packed up yesterday. Manufactured Jan 2018. Mailed Smoant with pictures of the mod, QC Card, box and also the receipt (I always keep boxes just in case I decide to sell something on). Waiting on a reply from Smoant. AFAIK I'll have to pay $20 for a replacement to be shipped. Not too impressed to be honest. Like the mod but, once bitten, twice shy.

I've ordered a Paranormal 250C to take it's place as the daily driver reg mod. The replacement Cylon will be used as a travelling spare. The old Cylon, when it fails, I'll use it as a atty holder to pull off caps that have become a bit stuck (a role currently performed by the paint flaking, though still working fine, Battlestar).

All mods can develop problems but Smoant has to come off the list for me now.

 

[Mysteron]

Fair play to Smoant, responded same day. Offered to ship out a replacement for $15. What's more interesting though is that they offered to replace it with a Charon 218. Buddy of mine recently bought one of these and I have to say I actually prefer the feel of it in the hand, smaller and not so chunky.

Makes me wonder if the Cylon is at the end of it's production life, or maybe they are just more confident of the screens on the Charon. Either way, I'm happy with the result but will still be sticking to DNA boards for daily driver use.

 

[Myk]

My screen too, packed up yesterday. Manufactured Jan 2018. Mailed Smoant with pictures of the mod, QC Card, box and also the receipt (I always keep boxes just in case I decide to sell something on). Waiting on a reply from Smoant. AFAIK I'll have to pay $20 for a replacement to be shipped. Not too impressed to be honest. Like the mod but, once bitten, twice shy.

I've ordered a Paranormal 250C to take it's place as the daily driver reg mod. The replacement Cylon will be used as a travelling spare. The old Cylon, when it fails, I'll use it as a atty holder to pull off caps that have become a bit stuck (a role currently performed by the paint flaking, though still working fine, Battlestar).

All mods can develop problems but Smoant has to come off the list for me now.

I'm not taking all Smoant off the list. Battlestar is still as good as it was on day 1. I'm just leery of any big screens and won't be jumping to buy any Smoant big screens without a lot of time and research.

If I would've jumped as soon as I knew the problem I could've had it under warranty but I can't seen sending good money after bad. $15 is better but it still adds $15 to the cost of a mod that may die.
The swap for a Charon would've temped me.

 

[Mysteron]

Screen dead completely now. It's now a build stand

 

[Myk]

Screen dead completely now. It's now a build stand

Wow, that was fast.
If you were actively using it, it must be proportional to how many times it's turned on. Mine mostly sleeps and is progressing slow. I have a line below the temperature now, when that fills in to meet the lines above it will be unusable.

 

[stols001]

For some reason this situation reminds me of say, a Twilight Zone episode (ooh, the one that crept me out worst was the mannequins, I still don't like them) or some other dystopian futuristic event where the protagonist like, is forced to slowly watch his screen disintegrate..... Not that I'm saying that's connected to some horrible health or public health event....

I'm just saying what it reminds me of. I wish your lines slow progress and your batteries much life, and well, maybe they should have come with a warning, like "Can only be turned on X number of times."

Anna

 

[Mysteron]

Wow, that was fast.
If you were actively using it, it must be proportional to how many times it's turned on. Mine mostly sleeps and is progressing slow. I have a line below the temperature now, when that fills in to meet the lines above it will be unusable.

Yes, very! Actually I've been away about 5 days over which time the mod wasn't used at all, at the time I went it was OK in that there were lines when I turned it on which then faded to become visible but not intrusively so. Came back yesterday, turned it on and nothing legible at all. Just a grey dimly lit panel with a shadow of the Smoant logo which comes up briefly before cutting to a blank grey screen.

Anna, yeah it's more in the style of the Doctor Who episode with the stone angels where staying alive was a matter of "Don't blink". Here it's blink and your screen progressively dies each time LOL.

 

[stols001]

Mine just sprouted a BUNCH of lines .I'm not happy. Since I vape it at the same wattage all the time, I'm wondering if there's a way to just lock the wattage? I took a hasty trot through the menus, but didn't see that option. If I could lock the dang resistance I actually wouldn't need the display.

I am also Very disappointed indeed. Oh well, I have other mods that can come out to play worst case, but I'd be happy just locking the wattage I'd be happy though LOL.

Anna

 

[Eskie]

Anna, how old is your Cylon? Really trying to figure if the problem was corrected in later versions or the later versions haven't been in use long enough for the screen to fail.

It's too bad as it's a good looking mod checking off all the right boxes for a centered 510 design. Even with working temp control, which is still an issue for other manufacturers to reliably provide

 

[stols001]

I ordered it on June 20th from FT? If you are asking me what version I have though, you're gonna have to give me step by step instructions on how to figure that out, as I have no clue as to how to figure that one out or how long it sat at FT. I never updated mine either. So.... IDK?

Anna

 

[madstabber]

Now I’m getting worried. I bought mine back in January and didn’t update. No problems, knock on wood, hopefully it stays that way because it is my favorite and gets used the most.
Also for you twilight zone fans, check out Black Mirror. Netflix has the episodes but I think it’s a British show. I’ve watched the first two seasons but now my brother canceled his Netflix and I piggybacked on his account so I’m poop outta luck unless Comcast starts airing episodes. Anyway it reminds me of the twilight zone episodes and it’s very entertaining. On a side note if anyone wants to let me watch Netflix on their account send me a pm. I think it costs $1 to add another person to your account and I’d be happy to pay the $12
In advance for a year.

 

[Mysteron]

I ordered it on June 20th from FT? If you are asking me what version I have though, you're gonna have to give me step by step instructions on how to figure that out, as I have no clue as to how to figure that one out or how long it sat at FT. I never updated mine either. So.... IDK?

Anna

That sucks Have you still got the box? Inside there should be a Quality Control card which will have the manufacture date on it. It's claimed that the problem was fixed post Feb 2018 but there have been instances of units failing even after that. Just take a photo of that (regardless of the manufacture date), the back of the box (with the bar code), your receipt and the dying screen and mail it to 'service@smoant.com'.

AFAIK there's no way to lock it down plus you'll hit problems as soon as you remove the atty with the new coil registration. In addition, I can't swear it but I'm sure mine started to hit harder once the problem developed, as if it was about 8-10w higher than I'd set it at. Interesting that you ordered in June, makes it a couple of months old (depending on when you received it), mine packed up after a couple of months of use too. Clearly though, the problem is not limited to updating the FW and loading a wallpaper, if indeed that has any impact at all . Makes me wonder whether the Cylon will disappear from their mod line-up.

If you're lucky your lines won't spread but I think it's just a question of time. If you still have all the the items you need I'd mail Smoant asap and get it replaced. I think I can understand why they are sending out Charons as replacements now

 

[stols001]

Good to know and yes I have the card. I will take pics of everything and email them. I can still see "through" the lines, but I really would like a replacement so I guess I will see what they say (and I've heard good things about the Charons.)

Anna

 

[Fidola13]

Anna, how old is your Cylon? Really trying to figure if the problem was corrected in later versions or the later versions haven't been in use long enough for the screen to fail.

It's too bad as it's a good looking mod checking off all the right boxes for a centered 510 design. Even with working temp control, which is still an issue for other manufacturers to reliably provide

If you like centered 510 pin mods try the Modefined Lyra. Looks similar to Cylon just sleeker. Also the Revenge series (I have 5 Xs) and Polar all by Vaporesso all are excellent mods.

 

[Fidola13]

All this talk of failing screens on the Cylon had me checking my manufacturing dare which is 5/2018. I haven’t used it a few weeks so I think I’ll put it back into the rotation. If the screens going to fail I’m hoping it does so sooner than later so I can warranty it.

 

[Eskie]

All this talk of failing screens on the Cylon had me checking my manufacturing dare which is 5/2018. I haven’t used it a few weeks so I think I’ll put it back into the rotation. If the screens going to fail I’m hoping it does so sooner than later so I can warranty it.

I believe mine is with 4 or 5/18 as well. It's been in moderate use since I got it and so far is fine. I guess it's hope for the best, and prepared for the worst. It won't be a disaster if it goes belly up but I sorta like it.

 

[stols001]

I have a Revenger that is not being used right now. If my Cylon dies, I'll probably pull it back out especially now that I've been shamed into menu systems and learning how to use them after merciless teasing by the kid and husband. It also has a clock, and I liked it. I actually put it away because I dropped it in the dark, and hadn't been able to find the battery cover but the husband located it when he removed the old couch and replaced it with a new one.

The fortunate thing about THIS couch, is there's enough space to see underneath it, so with a broom handle I can retrieve anything. He also found the end of my magnetic charger, so I got to decide which radius would have it. I went with the more elderly one.

LOL.

Anna

 

[Mysteron]

Yeah, given the somewhat alarmingly high rate of these units failing, if I had one that was in warranty I'd be using it as much as I could for a month or two to try and push it to failure if it's going to happen. At least you'd get it replaced rather than it being money down the drain if it's out of warranty.

 

[T0mmy1977]

If you want to bypass a screen all together, the iJoy Zenith 3 Mod is gorgeous and takes 2 20700 batteries. I have one and love it.

www.myvaporstore.com/iJoy-Zenith-3-Mod-p/lim-znt20.htm

 

[score69]

So seeing more complaints of the screen issues it seems with the Cylon?

Mine hasn't really been in use other than the first few weeks I got it since soon thereafter, I began squonking. Most of my non-squonk gear has been packed back in the boxes except for a few mods I puff on here/there.

Have there been any reports of this with the Ranker? Didn't that mod use the same chip as the Cylon? Maybe the screen isn't integrated into the board though, maybe the chip is the problem, I dunno.

Kind of wondering if this is isolated to the Cylon or not. I'll be bummed out if I begin to have screen issues when I get back to using mine. It's a great mod if this issue doesn't surface.