rune
Postman
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2014
- Messages
- 348
DISCLAIMER: I bought this mod with my own money and I am not employed by either Cloudmaker or Vapour Depot, the views in this review are my own.
A bit of back story first: The Whiteout has gained some notoriety. Announced last year by a start up of vape enthusiasts, the Whiteout was advertised as being a fully modular design. So like a desktop PC users would be able to upgrade any part including the board, so in theory if a new DNA board or the SX450J were released as build kits you could swap in the new one without having to buy a brand new mod. Pre-orders started July with an expected ship date of September. The date kept slipping and the first shipment finally went out in early January. Much gnashing of teeth and wailing cried out in the Interwebs, and it' still ongoing to an extent as not all the pre-orders have been fulfilled yet. Reviews online have been luke warm as well.
Personally the delays didn't bother me, I have other mods so it's not like it was stop me from vaping and I was aware going in it was a pre-order for a device that had not been manufactured yet so knew their was a high chance that things may not go smoothly.
So now with the Elephant kicked out of the room let's get onto the review.
I received mine from Vapour Depot on January 22nd. I wanted to use it extensively before writing this review to I could give as an informed opinion as possible.
Size wise it's definitely my biggest mod, probably at the limit of what I would be comfortable with. I have included pictures of it next to my Lavabox for comparison. You're going to need combat trousers or coat pockets if you want to carry this about (least that's what I use for mine). Shape wise it's a box mod so nothing revolutionary there, I do find it comfortable to hold though and as the frame and panels are Aluminium it is a lot lighter than it looks. It's only a hair breath heavier than my Lavabox (I was sad enough to weigh them, can't feel the difference when just holding them), and lighter than my SX Mini M Class and Vaporshark RDNA40 despite being much bigger than those.
The widest tank I've put on there is my 25mm TFV4 and it looks okay, I probably wouldn't go any wider though with something like the 30mm VCMT or Alpha Omega BFT. Everything I've used on it has sat flush; Aromarizer, Griffin, Crius, Serpent RTA, Aeronaut, Velocity, TFV4 and OBS T-VCT. Button wise they feel a lot more clicky and tactile than they look.
Performance wise it's a DNA200 chip so not much needed to say on that. Go watch PBusardos review of the DNA200 as it's far more detailed than I could manage. Suffice to say I love it, works in TC a treat and love the ability to load TCR curves for different metals via the companion software Escribe. Cloudmaker have included all the needed values such as mod resistance battery values and curve etc. My Lavabox came with none of these.
I have experienced some issues with mine. The screen died quite early on (known issue with the DNA screen ribbon), and cell 2 on the battery was imbalanced. On both occasions Vapour Depot got replacement parts out within a couple of days of informing them. The other issue I had was that the 510 pin sank down and wouldn't make a connection, I was able to take the 510 connector out and fix this myself though which was straight forward (wouldn't have dared to try this on my other mods). I bought the Whiteout as I've been building and upgrading PCs for years so the Whiteout struck a cord with me with the ability to upgrade and repair easily once the warranty had expired. The modularity is still just potential as Cloudmaker are concentrating on getting the pre-order shipments finished before moving on to build kits, dual 18650 sled and such. It certainly is repairable though and with the 3D designs having been released by CMT 3rd parties will be able to make custom panels and such (Vapour Depot having already spoken about doing this).
So the golden question, if I was to go back in time would I pre-order it again knowing what I know now? Hell yes, I love more and it's my daily driver. I want to get LEDs wired up to the board so they light up when I press the fire button, swap out the LiPo for a dual 18650 sled as I'd rather have longer battery life and be able to swap them and don't mind being limited to 133w. I plan on getting engraved panels and custom buttons so I can truly make this mod mine and know no one else has one quite like it.
If you're after a DNA200 mod that you only plan to use as is out of the box, then the Whiteout is probably a bad choice. And I feel this has been part of the reason for the negative reviews is some have looked at it as an end product rather than a starting point. If you do love to tinker though and don't mind a large box mod, then there is no other device out there with the same level of customisability.
A bit of back story first: The Whiteout has gained some notoriety. Announced last year by a start up of vape enthusiasts, the Whiteout was advertised as being a fully modular design. So like a desktop PC users would be able to upgrade any part including the board, so in theory if a new DNA board or the SX450J were released as build kits you could swap in the new one without having to buy a brand new mod. Pre-orders started July with an expected ship date of September. The date kept slipping and the first shipment finally went out in early January. Much gnashing of teeth and wailing cried out in the Interwebs, and it' still ongoing to an extent as not all the pre-orders have been fulfilled yet. Reviews online have been luke warm as well.
Personally the delays didn't bother me, I have other mods so it's not like it was stop me from vaping and I was aware going in it was a pre-order for a device that had not been manufactured yet so knew their was a high chance that things may not go smoothly.
So now with the Elephant kicked out of the room let's get onto the review.
I received mine from Vapour Depot on January 22nd. I wanted to use it extensively before writing this review to I could give as an informed opinion as possible.
Size wise it's definitely my biggest mod, probably at the limit of what I would be comfortable with. I have included pictures of it next to my Lavabox for comparison. You're going to need combat trousers or coat pockets if you want to carry this about (least that's what I use for mine). Shape wise it's a box mod so nothing revolutionary there, I do find it comfortable to hold though and as the frame and panels are Aluminium it is a lot lighter than it looks. It's only a hair breath heavier than my Lavabox (I was sad enough to weigh them, can't feel the difference when just holding them), and lighter than my SX Mini M Class and Vaporshark RDNA40 despite being much bigger than those.
The widest tank I've put on there is my 25mm TFV4 and it looks okay, I probably wouldn't go any wider though with something like the 30mm VCMT or Alpha Omega BFT. Everything I've used on it has sat flush; Aromarizer, Griffin, Crius, Serpent RTA, Aeronaut, Velocity, TFV4 and OBS T-VCT. Button wise they feel a lot more clicky and tactile than they look.
Performance wise it's a DNA200 chip so not much needed to say on that. Go watch PBusardos review of the DNA200 as it's far more detailed than I could manage. Suffice to say I love it, works in TC a treat and love the ability to load TCR curves for different metals via the companion software Escribe. Cloudmaker have included all the needed values such as mod resistance battery values and curve etc. My Lavabox came with none of these.
I have experienced some issues with mine. The screen died quite early on (known issue with the DNA screen ribbon), and cell 2 on the battery was imbalanced. On both occasions Vapour Depot got replacement parts out within a couple of days of informing them. The other issue I had was that the 510 pin sank down and wouldn't make a connection, I was able to take the 510 connector out and fix this myself though which was straight forward (wouldn't have dared to try this on my other mods). I bought the Whiteout as I've been building and upgrading PCs for years so the Whiteout struck a cord with me with the ability to upgrade and repair easily once the warranty had expired. The modularity is still just potential as Cloudmaker are concentrating on getting the pre-order shipments finished before moving on to build kits, dual 18650 sled and such. It certainly is repairable though and with the 3D designs having been released by CMT 3rd parties will be able to make custom panels and such (Vapour Depot having already spoken about doing this).
So the golden question, if I was to go back in time would I pre-order it again knowing what I know now? Hell yes, I love more and it's my daily driver. I want to get LEDs wired up to the board so they light up when I press the fire button, swap out the LiPo for a dual 18650 sled as I'd rather have longer battery life and be able to swap them and don't mind being limited to 133w. I plan on getting engraved panels and custom buttons so I can truly make this mod mine and know no one else has one quite like it.
If you're after a DNA200 mod that you only plan to use as is out of the box, then the Whiteout is probably a bad choice. And I feel this has been part of the reason for the negative reviews is some have looked at it as an end product rather than a starting point. If you do love to tinker though and don't mind a large box mod, then there is no other device out there with the same level of customisability.
