Astral
Achiever
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- Aug 4, 2020
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Digiflavor Z1 SBS kit.
Disclaimer: This is an independent review of a vape device sent to me for review by @Sourcemore and is not affiliated with Planet Of The Vapes or any other organisation. The opinions here are entirely my own and I am not receiving any payment or inducement for them.
Do you remember that song? You know, the one with Joe Cocker. “You… Are… So… Beautifullll…”
“You are so beautiful”, that’s it.
It’s in my head now. I bet you’re singing it now too, aren’t you?
It’s one of the all time great love songs but I’ve never really understood why. I’ve always thought it was a bit of a backhanded compliment.
Given how he goes on to caveat his statement with the line: “to... me”, it’s as if to say you’re beautiful to me but nobody else. I think I’d be offended if someone said that to me rather than charmed.
The song is effectively saying: “You’re ugly but I love you”.
And that’s a bit how I felt about this new Z1 SBS kit from Digiflavor before I got to know it.
To say I thought it looked a bit of an acquired taste in the pictures is a little kind. In fact I thought it looked like something only an architect could love, with its industrial angularity and it's shell and stabwood adornments, I wasn’t even sure Norman Foster would’ve wanted it near his end of year shortlist.
It’s so angular, I wondered if the gunmetal actually was some sort of covert gun until I got my hands on it. Fortunately it isn’t and it’s my fire-arm we can focus on, not the Z1s.
Once I got it to see it in the zinc-alloy though, I started to get over my scepticism and was really rather taken with it. The textures of the materials were smooth and the lines were something I was happy to caress.
This was a mod I actually wanted to hold.
And hold it I did.
You see, in spite of my initial reservations I turned out to really like it. Perhaps I’m giving the game away here, but what can I say? It charmed me.
I still can’t say it’s the most beautiful out there, but it has character, it has soul and few do these days.
In a time of ubiquity and identi-kits, this kit has personality and that makes it attractive.
The voltage mode scroll speed may be slow and the 5v/2amp USB-C charge port annoyingly on the bottom - but if you can get past these little foibles this kit is well worth taking a look at.
The tall, 24mm, top-fill Siren 3 GTA MTL tank makes it almost all worthwhile in itself.
The draw is so beautiful and the build on the simple, large two post deck so easy it’s child’s play.
All you have to do is slip one of the sixteen provided premade Clapton coils - belly down - into the nicely sloped slots, tighten the flat-headed post screws and wick. Reassemble, and you’re done.
You get everything you need, the tools, the cotton and those coils - everything. Sixteen 2 - 2.5mm ID MTL coils in all, in four different resistances.
You can even fit your own 3mm’s if you want.
It’s a nice touch to include them too.
You can tell there’s been a lot of thought gone into the presentation of this kit from the moment you unbox it.
If first impressions count, they certainly changed mine here.
Unpacking it felt a lot like Christmas.
There was no scrimping out on the materials.
The box is a thickly constructed, sleeved, tightly topped, double tiered affair with a deep foam tray enshrouding the assembled mod and tank, all placed snugly on top of the boxed peripherals like the coil building kit, charging cable, spare glass, O-Rings, tools and paperwork.
By this point I was already starting to think I might’ve misjudged it.
It didn’t take much longer to realise I actually had.
Photography had not been kind.
The shimmer on the mock shell was really beautiful, and the edges of the angular architecture were far more tactile than I’d anticipated.
The colours were nicer in real life too. Mine was the Black Abalone Shell one, topped with a matching Black tank, but I imagine the other three - the Black Stabwood, Silver Gray Scallop Shell, Silver Gray Stabwood - are just as misrepresented.
Its detailing was really rather nice too.
There’s an elongated vertical Digiflavor badge down the sides, capped aluminium battery tube down the front and a small three button control panel on the back - with a nicely anodised power button bezel and a tiny screen!
And my goodness that screen is tiny!
If you can see anything on it bar your wattage you’re doing well - although your voltage, resistance and battery level are all supposedly there too...
Your single 18650 might give you 5 - 80w in power but your menu and functions are no more populous than those of a 1980’s Atari, and its modes are nomore abundant either. It only has three - wattage, voltage and bypass.
Perhaps it is utilitarian after all!
Joking aside, this is a deceptive little unit. It feels much smaller and lighter in the hand than its 49 X 25 X 105.7mm size and 176g would suggest, even with a battery in.
Something that wasn’t deceptive though was the quality of the vape. This was apparent from the first time I powered it on.
The power button clicked nicely into place and the crackle from the 1.0 ohm 2.5mm SS316 fused clapton coil was like Joe Cocker drawing his first breaths on a winter’s morning.
The vape was warm and smooth, and the flavour excellent.
The range of airflow was excellent too. The pull was whisper smooth and completely free of turbulence.
For an MTL vaper like me the range was perfect. You can go all the way from a tight, near pouty-faced, fish-lipped, golf ball through a garden hose draw to a middling RDL, and everything in between.
The Siren 3 GTA RTA really is an underrated little gem. Where’s it been all my life?
This is definitely a Siren of the sexy kind, not the audible.
A lot of people aren’t going to like that unusual, chimney-like metal drip tip though, but as it’s a 510 it’s easily changed if you’re one of them.
24mm is also an unusual size for an MTL tank too but it suits the mod nicely.
It’s not until you try a regular 22mm on the mod that you realise how large the Siren 3 is. Even some regular 24’s look a little undersized on the Z1 by comparison. It must be the GTA’s height that does it.
Despite my initial prejudices, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed using this kit and it’s proved me completely and utterly wrong.
I’d pre-judged it before I’d even seen it, and I shouldn’t have.
The Z1 SBS Siren 3 kit turned out to be a great mod with a great MTL RTA tank that has plenty to offer, and as long as you can get over charging it horizontally or externally, there really isn’t too much to complain about.
All in all, this is an enchanting device and after having had it in the flesh for a while, I’ve even come to appreciate its unconventional looks and see it as being quite beautiful after all…
I started off this review by singing Joe Cocker, I’m finishing it off by singing James Blunt.
It is beautiful... and not just to me.
Heaven help me.
If you want one, you can get one from @Sourcemore for the special price of $51.18.
Use the code：Z1SBS
