Gentle Friends,
I too have taken the plunge here, unable to pass on a $72 Pinnacle.... Needless to say, I too am impressed with the little guy once I got past the expectations and other garbage I brought to the relationship (where have we heard this before?). Like many other vapes I've come to think are outstanding in their own way, once I accepted PN as it was and tried to work with it on it's terms I became a fan as well. Other vapes like this I think are the various TV products, MFLB and Vapman. Solo is sort of in this group, with it's easy 'learning curve'. Interesting concept, that, all the learning is on the owner end. The change of opinion that so often comes from 'I can't get this POS to make vapor' to 'this is great' is entirely on the human side, the vape itself doesn't seem to change much.......
Anyway, a couple of quick observations/ideas. No particular order. I think the bullets are a keen idea. Guys that get better results (for them) without it have changed the vape from convection (mostly) to conduction (mostly) in the process. I also think an 'all screen' bullet would not be wise, the whole idea as I see it is the SS body and everything in it is heated by the airflow. That's why we get such uniform ABV.
From what I know now, Polycarbonate is an excellent choice of plastic. It's commonly used in tobacco pipe stem for the same reasons (Vapor Genie uses it). Pound for pound it's probably the toughest stuff available. Under the GE trademark, "Lexan", it's the world's standard for bullet proof 'glass'. It's what you screw a thin sheet of over the basement window to make it baseball proof until the neighbor kid's aim improves. It's not the hardest (scratches easily) and does have a fair tendency to discolor and show other 'pore related' problems.
Battery life will be an issue, more with some. To get small size and useful performance they've had to really push the battery. We're discharging at a very high reate, even with 'tapering off' after making temperarure it's not even good for an hour. Like Cera, Persei and others that push this hard, 300 cycles is probably about what you can expect. More if you're careful, but I dont' think we are. That means the battery is good for a little over 1000 sessions on average. More is nice, but don't expect it. The battery plugs into the board (like Solo, VB2 and others) so the battery pack should be easy enough for owners to swap out, once the parts are available. I think the maker will do this, or some of the owners (Pipes, got your ears on????) will rise to the call. IMO it's not a job for the average 'shade tree mechanic', but there's lots of sharp folks around, all it really takes is the will, time and money.
I did a quick temperature measurement using a small thermocouple like I've done with Ascent and Solo. Like with those two, it immediately showed some surprising information that I think will prove useful. There's a HUGE temperature gradient in the chamber with no air flow. Hottest at the top no less? I'm talking like 50 degrees C, from say 150 to 200 C as you move up the walls. Airflow obviously spreads that around and makes it more uniform, but idling it's a factor (especially for those going 'bulletless' without the air gap). None the less, changing ranges caused a very repeatable 10 or 11 degree C shift (up or down) in a half a minute or so. Very responsive.
So here's the fun idea for the day. There are four leads from the heater assembly to the PCB inside. Two for the heater, two for the temperature sensor. I think I can frig the sensor channel to put a fixed offset in so (being 'inside the loop') that the normal 370/390 setting can be moved up or down. The range between (20F) is fixed, but we could make it say 350 and 370 for the light vapor guys or 390/410 or even 400/420 for the cloud chasers (staying within the Pro range of course). Fooling the software if you will.
All in all I think it's a great little unit as is. Probably a top choice for a 'first vape' given simple operation and all. Even for 'old hands' it's a great performer within it's element I think. Small, compact, better made than many. The biggest drawback is the price, but the $72 sale fixed that.
I'll be poking more of course, but I see lots of potential and am glad I got it.
Thanks for your kind attention.
OF
