Vape Mail! 2018

anon96380778 · September 28, 2018, 4:23pm

Nummy, Sparky?

Sprkslfly · September 28, 2018, 4:31pm

Yes. Nummy, Phil. lol

anon96380778 · September 28, 2018, 4:33pm

Can’t give you too much shit. I’m often guilty of really silly phraseology myself. Maybe not on an all adult forum, but still…

Sprkslfly · September 28, 2018, 4:36pm

I have to balance my tendency towards highly technical somehow… chuckles
And sometimes it’s nice just to be “light and whimsical” with the slightest air of “I just don’t give a fuck” (because “I care all too much” the majority of the time. Or so it seems).

anon96380778 · September 28, 2018, 4:38pm

Balance, the key to life. I guess you have to find the line between writing a technical manual and ripping off some Suessian banter wherever you can. Who’s a good Sparky? YOU’RE a good Sparky!!!

Sprkslfly · September 28, 2018, 4:44pm

Me in front right, Fizze left rear (after such a compliment…)

Jim22 · October 4, 2018, 9:57pm

Dang I need to stay away from the clearance bin.

RANKER

woftam · October 5, 2018, 2:56am

Woah this will be big!! The stack compared to my original non stack

woftam · October 5, 2018, 3:00am

Some awesomeness from Voltrove

woftam · October 5, 2018, 4:12am

Doesn’t need words

Jim22 · October 5, 2018, 1:20pm

Seems ok in wattage mode. Haven’t tried TC yet. Nice feel. Fire bar has a little wiggle to it. The screen is really dim even with the brightness on max. Why does anyone used smoked glass on their screens?

Mjag · October 5, 2018, 9:49pm

Ohhhhh, love the voltrove mini…yeah, mini compared to the 41mm…Lol. how do u like the MF RDA? Not crazy about that one myself, it is ok but nothing special, just comes in handy when you need a series deck

woftam · October 5, 2018, 10:29pm

Yup exactly that. It isn’t terrible but it isn’t stella either. But the price voltrove are selling for atm is stella. They have a few left over that had faulty glass so they are shipping them out with no glass top cap at a little under half price

SmilingOgre · October 5, 2018, 10:42pm

Holy crap! 8.5 volts on a stick! Get ready cause here it comes!!!

woftam · October 5, 2018, 11:01pm

ya is a pretty epic vape - to use @Steampugs words "hits like a drunken uncle " (at least I think it was pugs that used it if he didn’t he should lol)

Sprkslfly · October 5, 2018, 11:16pm

In guessing it’s the same as in the Charon Mini (by release dates).

I’ve already verified that the Cylon and Charon Mini are two completely different firmware.
And given I did a complete strip down on the Charon today (to find the chipset), I’m compelled to go ahead and break out the soldering iron and do the same on a working Cylon.
I can’t stand knowing (and reporting on) one, and not the other. Especially when it’s the superior one (Cylon) that I don’t know. lol

Stay tuned!

Sprkslfly · October 6, 2018, 12:14am

OK!! It’s official!
They are two WHOLLY different animals!

The Charon Mini operates on a “Holtek HT32F52352” ARM cpu (generic hunk of shit IMO), and the Cylon (gorgeous workhorse that it is) operates on a ST Microelectronics (long respected name in silicon for decades) STM32F412.

Charon Mini FW version: 1.3.1 (latest and current)
Cylon FW version: 3.0.8 (was on my original Tarnish, as well as the one much later, black)

HUGE difference in why the Cylon is so reliable (as well as the firmware tools/code) IMO.

Other interesting tidbit: My Cylon’s (Tarnish) CPU was made in France (“VQ” production code). Though there was a revamp to support the hugely popular chipset, and they extended production to their Taiwan Fab as well. So I’m betting that my black one’s cpu was made in Taiwan (though I have not confirmed this yet), and those have an ST production code of “9R”.

Even still, I trust ST Micro HEAPS more than I trust the Nuvoton crap, and until Smoant can show that Holtek is capable of stability, they’re not much above Nuvoton IMcurrentO.

Since they’re both the same form factor…(32F series, and 64pin)
I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that I could drop an ST chip in the Charon Mini, and with a bit of firmware finagling, could have another stable device! (but of course have to account for the difference in screen size, after finding a way to do a factory dump of the Cylon’s FW.)
Interesting, yet random thoughts abound… grinning

Eddie · October 6, 2018, 3:10pm

Makes me more curious what’s inside the Naboo.

Sprkslfly · October 6, 2018, 8:47pm

Makes me think they’re not doing their own thing (as I initially hoped) but are job-batching models (or even order runs) through different assembly houses, As each product is designed (and even possibly, as reordered).

Reasons for suspicions/questioning:

Different chip use from one product to another. (Holtek on the Charon Mini, ST on the Cylon)
Level of care/attention to detail during the assembly process (small things like glue around the lcd mounting on the Cylon, but not the Charon Mini)
Different lcd screens within the same product line (solid black backlighting on the Tarnish, blue tint on Black Cylon, obtained 6-8 months later)

And, there’s also the extreme outlying chance that I received a clone (Charon Mini), but I find that EXTREMELY unlikely. I’m more inclined to believe it’s a small team of devs/designers, batching jobs out…

Even though they’re obviously not making their own chips (as we’d previously been led to believe: the ANT versions) I do appreciate that they are currently “telling us” when they switch sources, and what chip is in which one (even though we need someone to translate what that actually ‘means’):
Ant 225 = Holtek
Ant 218 = ST Microelectronics

At least they aren’t obscuring the data by lasering off the top of the chip!

@Eddie
Given the product page says it’s the 225 chip…
http://smoant.com/naboo-kit-225w/index.html
I’d bet it’s the Holtek.
But that’s just an educated guess.

Grubby · October 8, 2018, 1:20pm

Nom Nomz Jamerang and pope brewers vanilla custard supreme