Don't mean to criticise you
@crazelee- what was your motivation to buy this knock off? Or didn't you know it wasn't a genuine one? Just curious.
Fair question, I think, but not one that 'demands an answer'? I can 'see' several sound reasons for doing so, and in fact have done so personally:
Back 'in the day' when Thermovape was on the rise I was Beta Testing their Revolution/DART, a very cool 'load as you go' concentrate vaporizer on the 510 Cartomizer format. A medium size e-cig. Serious performer if demanding to load at times. I heard rumors of a 'clone' from an outfit called Zolly, a clear counterfeit. After some soul searching I had a friend run one down at his LHS for $80.
I never tried it, since I took it straight to Thermovape for teardown. Looked genuine but like the example above was not 'under the hood'. In that case, the details were wrong. The metal in the heater was common not the wizz bang stuff TV used. Likewise, the ceramic was wrong in material but in a critical detail wrong in construction. It was conventional alumina moldings, much like the unglazed rim on the bottom of a coffee mug. Not porous like the TV (it's the reservoir that held concentrate), it would have been 'load A LOT more as you go for sure'. But a novice would, of course, never know what he was missing.
I don't think it was for lack of understanding, they didn't have the resources/desire to provide the same product. The main body of the TV unit was a single precision 'screw machine' part. A machine, worth many BMWs, took the end of a 10 foot rod of stock and machined away chips leaving the threaded tube to astounding (at least to me) routine tolerances (we're talking .001" overall being expected) dripping wet with coolant every 45 seconds or so all night long. It loaded bars of stock from the rack as needed. They could literally park a bin under the machine and come back the next day to thousands of precise parts ready for wash. A few of their parts needed deburr but most did not. Some were plated at an outside shop. The Chinese version was 3 pieces of much heavier material (I suspect brass soldered) since they lacked the fancy Swiss machines (TV had a couple, one larger than the other) I think. Too big an investment if the goal is to make some quick cash and run. Minimum runs at TV were 15,000 pieces. Yes, 15,000+. They were pretty keen on Beta Testing since a mistake meant huge scrap losses. Otherwise they had buckets (literally) of the most amazing precision parts at pennies each.
Sorry to ramble, but again, the novice would not really notice the differences in this counterfeit any more than I think a guy buying an Air copy.
I, for one, am grateful the OP went to the trouble to tell us and more so had to learn to post photos to show us an excellent quality photo? Bring more of that kind of information/knowledge on! The fact he doesn't recommend/support others buying one is a key point as well?
at $169 from puffitup, no reason to not go with the real thing - win win
Agreed, at least in the general sense. I need to remind myself that for many a hundred bucks is a hundred bucks. I'm blessed to have worked into a place where that's not a concern, but there were times when it was very dear indeed. Sadly, some are today. I'm glad to not be there (any longer) instead.
So yes, spot on, great price and you get to support a great guy (and strong supporter of this Forum). "Best deal in town" for most IMO, but if some other fellow decides to jump through a few more hoops and save a few of his bucks I've got room for that too? I suspect he worked as hard for his as I did for mine.....or will happily assume so.
Deep stuff for an early Friday. I must be coming down with something......
Regards to all.
OF