Mods , reliability and where they are sold...a rant !

[freshy]

I've been vaping for around 10 years now , long before there were more vape shops then bookmakers in the average high street , I'm not sure of my first non pen type device , it might of been been a Vamo tube mod which chucked out around 30 watts and a Rda that had Silica instead of cotton.
The Vamo was a great device I owned and gave away after a year as I got bored with it and wanted something more powerful.
Since then , I have owned many regulated device's , which fail quite often within 6 months , usually 3 months , hence why i favour Mechanical mods. (yes vaping Is cheaper then smoking ) my last device a Geekvape L200 that I bought on the 3rd of January via an online shop ,works great , sometimes , though 70% of the time it doesn't even power up as I suspect their is an issue with battery contacts and the mod door .
I wont name the vender ,but after contacting them they wanted me to send a video of the problem !
Seriously , what other ac or dc device , a torch , radio , bathroom scales , toaster , kettle would you need to send a video to the seller before getting your money back or a credit ?
The last but one mod , an empire also failed within a week , only powering up to 60 watts .
Again , getting a refund from the high st shop I bought it , not an easy task.
Sold to me by a young girl who knows as much about vaping as I do ballet dancing but unable to give refunds or exchanges until the manger was back in the shop 3 days later .
I never abuse my mods by dipping them in water or throwing them in water buy just use them what they are designed for .
As vaping is the best thing since slice bread , isn't it about time major retailers , like Argos, Sainsburys, Tesco's moved into the market of selling mods as well as those £5.00 disposables ?
Imagine buying a faulty microwave off of argos and being told to come back later when the manger is around .
Within the last 5 years I bought a phone off 3 in 2019 which developed a fault which was exchanged , no questions asked , a pair of Brasher hiking boots in 2021 where the stitching come undone off of Blacks outdoors, again exchanged with no problem .
A nitecore head torch last year off an online vender , again exchanged without a hitch .
Yet vape shops and online line venders are not so keen to honour the the trading standard act 2015, right to return faulty goods without complications and hassle.

 

[Crispycritters]

I think our penchant for wanting something cheap has a marked affect (I am particularly guilty of this as I always wait until a device is six months old so I can snap it up for half-price and will seldom pay full list for gear unless I'm desperate.

I only started vaping 6 years ago, but I have definitely noticed the price of generic mainstream Chinese vape kits hasn't increased - if anything the newer stuff seams slightly cheaper in price. To do this they must cut corners, use the cheapest possible components that will do the job - for a while. The only thing keeping e-liquid out of the mod (and subsequently frying the board) is a tiny o-ring in the 510 - this o-ring is constantly getting hot and cold, which will age it quickly, this o-ring also has a sprung 510 pin sliding in and out of it and at times is coated in baked on juice deposits which can wear on the centre). The tanks we use also constantly get hot and cold, so even if it doesn't get a little incontinent it will have condensation on the base which accumulates in the 510. Juice gets thin when it gets heated and a few drops cover a large area when spilt - after 3 months the board in your new mod is probably sitting in its own indoor swimming pool. Almost every regulated mod I've had mysteriously died on me has had a juicy board when I opened it to investigate the problem.

I totally agree with you that it would be good to get a proper warranty, but to achieve it they will have to step up quality control, build quality and use better, more expensive components. All of this would cost.

If Vaporesso produced a dual 18650 box mod with a no quibble 12 month warranty that was made to a high standard and used top quality components that retailed for £120 how many people would appreciate the 'you only get what you pay for' aspect? I would have a hard time not thinking "that's great, but £120 will buy me three Geekvape mods".

I think the cheap bastards like me are to blame. unfortunately I think there are a lot of cheap bastards like me that have become so used to cheap shit that most Vape manufacturers will have a hard time getting us to accept it may be worth paying more for quality.

 

[zouzounaki]

argos have some innokin and smok devices. pretty small selection, though.

https://www.argos.co.uk/search/vape/category:800202/opt/sort:price:desc/

 

[LordOdin]

I find you get what you want buy paying what you want. I think my most expensive mod has been £125 ish and though i could possibly pay more, i think that is the most i would want to pay. I must of been very lucky because i haven't had a Mod fail on me. I did buy a Wotofo Mdura that had a couple of issues when i got it but it seemed to sort itself out. The issues were uneven battery discharge which was quite bad, one battery would be at say 90% and the other would be around 70%. After i had used it and changed batteries it never happened again. The other issue was when i set the power to 35w which is my usual vape wattage, it vaped like it was 75w, i think the issues were linked somewhere or somehow as when the 1st issue sorted itself the 2nd did. I would liken it to being unregulated at first. I am shocked usually when i read about some people having faulty Mods especially when i have and used the same Mod for ages. I own the L200 and have used it quite a bit without issue, i know the odd few will slip through the non-existent quality control. Still shocked by the amount that do fail though. I am shocked by the prices especially in China, you think you are getting something cheap then they add Tax and Shipping and you find that you could of got it over here cheaper. The other thing that annoys me is you pay shipping for 3 individual items then they get combined into one parcel. This is mainly Ali Express.

 

[Mutley1]

ive only had 2 mods die on me & i contacted both vendors & sent them back & they was replaced no quibbles, its one reason i use online vendors only rather than BM shops

 

[vapervince]

My vaping gear is just a tool to keep me off smoking, tools break, you replace them, 50 or 60 quid a year is still a lot cheaper than smoking.

 

[Netvaper]

I've never had a problem with any of the mods I've bought so I've no experience with returning them. However I did with an Arcana 22 I returned only to be told there was nothing wrong with it and they just sent it back to me.

 

[MarylinC37]

I must have bought at least a dozen mods over the last 10 years and only the first one, my Vamo, stopped working. I'm sitting here vaping on one of my Odin's which are well over 4 years old and still going strong. I also have a pair of Geekvape L200 Classic dual 21700's which I bought early last year and I haven't had any problems with them.

 

[JohnNada]

My vaping gear is just a tool to keep me off smoking, tools break, you replace them, 50 or 60 quid a year is still a lot cheaper than smoking.

Well said. That's my mantra too.

I've had a few cheap Chinese mods fail, but the vast majority last as long as I can reasonably expect given how much I use them.