*steps onto soapbox*
Having been away from the ecig scene for a long time, thanks in part to one of my favorite podcasts going away (Vaporcast), Ive been vaping away in my own little part of the world on a Provari V1 with a Zatty, probably for 2 years on the Provari and 1 year on the Zatty.
I decided to pop back on to the forums and I see nothing but insulting comments toward Provari owners and Zatty owners (Koolaid drinkers) as well as just pure negativity towards Provape.
There are two legitimate things I would fault Provape for (the makers of the Provari), not having come up with a variable wattage design and not reducing the price on their current devices. They are certainly these days WAY overpriced, especially when you consider you can pick up (from what I hear anyway), a far superior device such as the Vamo for $60 from Smoktech, tho, not in a smaller form factor, more on this in a bit.
Now, I have a Vamo sitting here on my desk along with an Ithaka attached (they are beautiful I might add) but I am unable to use either because I threaded the only wire sent with the Ithaka by mistake into the screw threads and clipped it (Clouds of Vapor is sending me a replacement). And I cant really use the Vamo because I REFUSE to go back to a carto tank (my Zatty wont fit on the Vamo). So, until I get a replacement, Ill just kick back and wait.
My Provari and Zatty have served me well and Im STILL very happy with both.
My purchasing decision on the Provari was a simple one, first, it was one of the first, if not the first to offer variable voltage off a single 18650 battery. Second, it provided more accurate power control than any other mod, I tried several even a year after I got my provari and I could literally feel the temp in the vapor going up and down on a single vape as well as the battery drain causing the vape to get weaker as the battery had less and less juice.
But, even tho there are several other mods on the market that are reviewed higher than the Provari, the one thing Provape has done is allowed for different form factors. Good luck finding a decent variable wattage design that doesnt take an 18650 battery (in other words, not everyone wants to carry what looks like a pipe bomb with a science experiment (ie. tank system) attached to the top of it). Sure, there are a small number of variable voltage devices with different form factors, my thinking is, if I want variable voltage, I want the best performing and to my point of view, for variable voltage, the Provari is still the best on the market.
If we are going to treat the Provari in the same style as some in the tech industry do for companies like Apple (ie. Apple owners clearly have too much money and are willing to spend too much on a product that is far overpriced), then we need to do the same for items like the Golden Greek line of products. And, I just want to state here and now, I do not agree with faulting people for spending money on good quality products. The entire point of this entire paragraph is to state the inconsistency of this bizarre argument that just because the Provari is overpriced that their users are suckers for buying them. I would argue that the Golden Greek line of products made by Imeo are overpriced. Beautiful as they are, one cannot deny they are probably more expensive than they should be. But their users are NOT suckers for buying them. I love my Provari. To be honest, I didnt use my GGTS all that much (3 weeks maybe and then it went into a drawer) but there are people who LOVE their GGTS. And you know what? Thats absolutely fine by me. Not every device is for everyone.
And yes, I have a GGTS with the terrible AVS tank system that was later upgraded to the same virtually terrible AFS tank system (I have both). This isnt a knock on Imeo so much as a general statement that we the users are the beta testers. Dare I say, the ecig industry STARTED the kickstarter mentality we are seeing today. We buy the products and then voice our opinions on how they can be improved.
There are overpriced mods and there are underpriced mods (dare I say, at least from what I read, I think Smoktech couldve gotten away with $80-$100 for the Vamo, one such example).
Tanks are also not an exception to this. Since I havent actually used my Ithaka yet, I cant say to the performance of it but what I can say is, its probably the most expensive tank you can buy at $200. And thats not even considering the additional tank extensions that are soon to be out that increase the tank size from either 4 ml to either 6 mil or even 8 mil (from what I understand, there will be two size upgrades available). And who knows how much these will cost.
There is also the Zatty, which for whatever reason, gets the same amount of hate as the Provari. Now, I understand the hate against its creator (not saying I agree with it), alot of people were put off by the way Zen handled that whole fiasco at last years vapefest, but that doesnt change the product itself. And the Zatty is priced at $150, again, another super expensive (and I might argue, overpriced) mod on the market.
As one final statement, no areas that I can think of outside the tech industry (I include ecigs as part of the tech industry) do we look down on people who spend money on products. Ferrari is generally considered a terrible performer and way overpriced but we dont frown on people owning them.
We need to mature in this industry. Its time to grow up. We are all adults here, free to make our own decisions. We also learn from those decisions and certainly do not need the peanut gallery (everyone around us) teasing, making fun of, or generally insulting the intelligence of our purchasing decisions, nor should we be snubbing our nose at companies trying to charge a premium on their products.
This is capitalism. This folks is how it works. Companies can charge what they want and we can purchase what we want and I am glad we have the freedom to choose and companies have the freedom to create and charge what they think their work is worth.
*exits soap box*
