ForestMagpie
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- Feb 4, 2020
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Today for review we have the Freemax Marvos 60w which was kindly supplied to me by @Freemaxtech themselves. I am not associated with Freemax in any way nor am I paid for my reviews and all that follows are my own thoughts and experiences.
Freemax are marketing this as “inspired from Fireluke” along with it’s IP67 rating and are even claiming it’s “better than the best sub-ohm mod kit on the market”, a bold claim indeed! Does the reality match the marketing? Is it Marv-ellous or will it leave me feeling like Marvin the Paranoid Android from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the galaxy? Let’s find out…
“The chances of finding out what’s really going on in the universe are so remote, the only thing to do is hang the sense of it and keep yourself occupied” – Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
The packaging is all pretty standard but neatly done and in the box you get:
Marvos 60w Pod Mod
Marvos Pod
MS Mesh Coil 0.25ohm (rated 40w – 60w)
MS Mesh Coil 0.35ohm (rated 30w – 40w)
USB-C charging cable
User Manual
Warranty Card
The kit is available in 4 colours – Black, Blue, Gunmetal and the one I was sent, Red.
As you can see it’s got a 2000mAh internal battery and the pod is listed as 4.5ml but in TPD regions that will be the obligatory 2ml. It is powered by the Smart FM Chip 2.0, now, they will claim FM is for FreeMax but we all know they meant ForestMagpie and it’s about time my genius was recognised. I will not be fully appreciated in my own time but my legacy will outlive me. One day in generations to come I will be revered and celebrated with an FM festival where fires are lit and songs are sung around these fires in honour of my contribution towards mankind.
“I’m fifty thousand times more intelligent than you and even I don’t know the answer. It gives me a headache just trying to think down to your level” – Marvin, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
The Pod Mod
The mod is made from zinc alloy and liquid silicone rubber with a large screen to the front along with the fire button and the up/down buttons. The buttons are nice and clicky and respond really quickly and the screen is nice and bright. On the display you’ve got the wattage in a nice big font along with the mode, battery level indicator, Voltage Output, Coil ohm, puff counter and puff duration. I really like the screen, it’s got everything you need and I’ve not had any problems viewing it even on a sunny day and you also have the ability to change the colour quickly by pressing the Fire button & the down button together. This cycles through the colours – Green, Red, White, Blue and Yellow. It’s a nice touch but with the device being Red I’ve tended to stick with the Yellow screen of course.
5 clicks of the fire button turns the device on/off
3 clicks of the fire button changes the mode – Smart, Power – Bypass
Fire Button & Down – changes screen colour
Fire Button & Up – reset puff counter
Up & Down – locks the wattage buttons but allows you to still use the fire button
The SMART mode sets the wattage automatically to the lower rating of the coil and doesn’t allow you to exceed the upper rating. This is a great addition for people new to vaping as it’s going to help them avoid burning out the coil by putting the wattage too high. The wattage will increase & decrease in 1w increments and it doesn’t round robin, if once you hit 60w (or the top end of the coil wattage when using SMART mode) you’ll get a “Max Power” message on the screen.
The USB- C charging port is underneath the buttons and is accessed by peeling back a rubber port, it’s easy to peel back and access but it’s held in place by a relatively small piece of the rubber so I do have questions about the longevity of this but it’s easy to use and provides protection against dust and water.
On the back of the device is some Marvos branding and the airflow control slider. The slider has one of those nubbin mcgubbin things on which you slide across to control how much you want, there’s cyclops airflow holes on either side which are covered or uncovered as you slide this across. The slider has a decent resistance to it and isn’t likely to be adjusted accidentally which is great but I am just not a fan of the little nubbin that is used. I find that these kind of airflow options often get caught on things especially when removing from a trouser pocket and this one is no exception, I got it caught on things a few times it’s one of the better implementations of this method but it’s by no means ideal.
The mod itself is well built, it’s quite light for what it is and it’s comfortable to hold and use. It can take a knock too as I’ve dropped this on numerous occasions and it’s survived well.
“There is a moment in every dawn when light floats, there is the possibility of magic” - Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
The Pod
I was sent the TPD version just 2ml for me but there is a 4.5ml pod available along with a glass version of the pod. All the pods are cross compatible with the entire Marvos range meaning you can pick your favourite pod mod and use the pod on whichever you choose.
The pod sits nicely in the top of the device, it’s not the most secure but it does the job and because it’s only slightly tinted you never have a problem seeing the liquid level. Filling is done via a rubber bung on the bottom of the pod, peel this back to reveal the fill port and away you go. The fill port is big enough that I’ve not had a problem but if you have some of the larger nozzled bottles you may struggle a little. Once filled just pop the bung back in place, it’s all very nice and easy but I do wish more of these types of pods had top fill ports or even a side one so you didn’t have to remove the pod every time. There’s a removeable 810 drip tip should you want to fit your own tip but I was perfectly happy with the supplied one though it does seem to suffer from a build up of condensation in the drip tip and you’ll sometimes get some liquid build up under the drip tip, it’s nothing major but just something to note.
Coils are fitted by the tried and trusted push and pull method, just pull coil out and pop a new one in but you’ll have to have almost emptied your tank of liquid if you don’t want to lose any when changing the coil.
“Forty-Two” – Deep Thought, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
In Use
Loaded, primed and ready with my obligatory Unicorn Shake I started with the 0.25 coil (rated 40w – 60w). When I popped the pod on the Smart mode set the wattage at 50w so I knocked it down and started at 20w increasing the wattage every few puffs. I found the flavour really started to come through at 40w but I kept going up. After some playing around, I found that my sweet spot was at 54w with the airflow about 2/3 open. I’ll tell you something, Freemax sure know how to make flavourful coils and this is no exception, the flavour is fantastic, the vapor production is good the airflow is nice and smooth, if a little loud. All in all this is a really superb vape and left me suitably impressed.
Now on to the 0.35ohm coil (rated 30w – 40w) which again was used with Unicorn Shake. This coil provides considerably more resistance that the 0.25ohm coil and I found that I really liked this one with the airflow wide open at 32w. Again the flavour is really, really good and gives you a delightful tasty vape but I’d say this one was more RDL than DL but still hits the spot.
The coils not only provide superb flavour but I got about 2 weeks out of each coil before the flavour started to drop off which is not bad at all. I’ve had no leaks from the coils but there is some condensation build up underneath the coil so just keep an eye on it and give it a wipe every now and again. With the 0.25ohm coil the battery lasted me about half a day and with the 0.35ohm coil I was getting close to a full day but not quite, it’s not a huge issue as the battery was charging from flat to full in about an hour.
“This is the sort of thing you lifeforms enjoy, is it?” – Marvin, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy proposes that the answer to life, the universe and everything is 42 but as this is fiction and this is a 60w device we know this is just fiction. Do you ever sit and look at the stars pondering the meaning of life? Looking at their astounding beauty but realising that they are like looking into the past and the fact that those stars are now dead, long lost remnants of an ever evolving universe? Well, the answer to everything is penguins. They are black and white because they are a perfect balance of yin and yang and they are the ones who bring balance to the universe. Without penguins we would perish and the joy in the world would vanish but they survive, we survive and it is they who have reached a higher state of being and know all the secrets of the universe. They know that sharks existed before trees, which is obvious when you think about it but it still surprises you. This is very much how I feel about this device, I knew that it was going to be superb but it still managed to surprise me.
The build quality, the ease of use and the flavour are all superb. Both coils provide bags of flavour and a deeply satisfying vape. It’s IP67 rated so when I’ve taken it out on hikes or just out and about I’ve no worries at all that it will survive.
There is some condensation in the drip tip and under the coil, the airflow adjuster I’m not a fan of (personal preference), I would have liked top fill and I feel that producing an 18650 version of this would be a real winner as then I could swap batteries as the battery wasn’t lasting me a full day.
The “issues” aren’t major at all and to be honest when the vape is this good those really just disappear. I think Freemax have done an excellent job with this device and when the vape is this good any small issues just disappear. I’ve been using this since I got it and will be using this one for a long time, it’s already become my go to DL/RDL device for when I’m out and about.
FM Out.
