Vambo
Postman
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2020
- Messages
- 61
My EDC/Boilersuit-pocket, mod of choice, has been a Pico 25. Like it's little 75 predecessor and the bigger 21700, it take serious abuse - no crappy doors to launch another fivers worth of battery across the workshop floor when dropped for a start and well, it just works.
Bolt on some Arctic Fox firmware and it really works, but I hankered after something new, better, modern, with a similar form factor.
Enter the Vaporesso Swag 2 - The crabbit bugger review...
Screw talking about the the chipset, it works, and why would any mod nowadays have a shit chipset? Not enough technogy, user testing, not enough data, not enough feedback? Away and shite.
Oh, that's right the Gen mod was plagued with issues since last year and the consensus was; that the reason they called the chipset 'Axon' was because they couldn't fit 'Crippled DNA' on the bottom.
The Gen has had a couple of firmware upgrades to date, but that focussed primarily on TC, not the rest of the ergonomics.
So let's really talk Swag 2 - Well, it has the same Chip, Display and Settings as the Gen Mod and no updates, so not promising...
Is the Swag 2 comfortable? No,. Well... maybe, but in relation to what? Something I randomly picked out a skip perhaps. The Swag 2 is very angular with sharp edges - yes it has, look again - both edges, the base and the topcap.
Like many shittily designed mods out there, sharp edges are ubiquitous. Mods in my opinion (the only opinion which counts of course) should be pebble like - any size or shape, but smoothly bevelled.
Why would I want to hold a piece of Lego, I'm not playing fekn Jenga with my mod either. I've paid good money for a holdy thing, I want it feeling good to hold. Not, 'just get used to holding it and shut your noise'
Ahh but it's tradition since someone knocked up a rough mechanical block in his shed with a junior hacksaw and his tongue sticking out.
Pish - I don't ask for my car to have a solid axle and wood blocks for a brake. Nice mod mate, it'll be good when you've finished it...
That's it? Well ok...
If Vaporesso are touting the design style and good looks of the Swag 2 (and Gen) they better be walking the walk. But like the chipset, it's more hobble than elegant sashay.
The curve of the Swag 2 though! *Cough Coolfire etc. Meh, it wasn't required - style over substance - adds nothing a simple block with smooth, bevelled edges wouldn't. Innokin and others at least recalled a mod has two sides and people have two hands.
I suppose if you found it on a beach and held it sideways; you might, just might, think ''that's the very fellow for skipping across the water'
There's every chance you might find one on a beach, having been hurled across the water from the opposite shore...
Screen - aha, nice, crisp and bright, better than the old Pico, sure looks promising - but its crap.
Yup, you'll get a nice crisp, bright power display, but if you're looking for anything else - carry a magnifying glass. Is it a dealbreaker? Yes.
The battery indicator is just big enough, but the actual charge is shown as a miniscule percentage within the battery display. How quaint.
Discovered after wondering why my atty wasn't firing well and wondering why the Swag 2 was still showing a full charge for some reason.
Nah, the icon is lit like a 'full battery' display - but the actual charge left, is in microscopic detail within it.
They could have just used a big 'percentage' instead, or the traditional sliding battery bar - but they had another idea... nah, too kind - they had no idea at all.
There is an 'Auto Eco' function (selectable) which will apparently stop firing when you are at 40% and prompt to enter 'Power Eco' mode - So why worry? Well, maybe if you are already in 'Power Eco' mode it does (it doesn't, you'd already be in it) but not any other mode - like, oh I don't know, the other one I actually use maybe.
Then I'd like half a clue as to whether I should pop a fresh battery in, to get me through the next few hours, preferably before I hit 40%.
*Edit after a month testing, I discovered the 'Eco mode' does alert - but at 25% not 40.
By which point your battery is about done anyway - useless *
If I actually knew I had a low battery in the first place, without the aid of a jewellers loupe, I could 'manually' turn 'PowerEco' mode on, if it so pleased me - whatever the hell 'Power Eco' actually is.
According to the *cough* display, - when selected, it's a wattage mode - bog standard Wattage mode and that's how it vapes too. That's yer lot - enjoy.
Want a low battery warning in any other mode, tough shit. Don't have eyes like gimlets to read the battery level, tough shit - sucks to be you.
Anyway, I might just get a clue by making out my voltage - perhaps under the tiny, inaccurate resistance display - I'll just turn off the Puff counter and it'll show Voltage instead... errr.
'Turn off puffs' hmmm nope, Select 'Show voltage' errr nope - No voltage display available (unless you select VV mode...err then you have no current displayed, can't win) But thanks for trying.
Good to know my puffs though, great for conversation in the canteen - we speak of little else. Voltage and Current is overrated anyway - a bit like the Resistance it does show (puns, gotta love em... please yourself)
You do get a huge amount of screen real estate, showing the mode you've selected (in case you've forgotten) thereby squeezing everything useful over to one miniscule side.
It's handy though, because when your battery is dying and you had no idea, you'll be checking if you've accidentally stuck it in 'Shit Mode' Or is it 'Auto Eco, or Smart VW or TC? Oh yeah, same thing.
'Gen' owners may tell of the same woes - saves me wasting money on that one then at least.
"But it's a nice, small looking mod and it does work well in 'Diy Wattage, VV, Curve' and the default 'Pulse Mode' - you'll get used to holding anything if you have to - so stop moaning!"
Maybe I should just make my own mod if I'm so hard to please.
Well at the rate they're produced and the 'recommended' shit on the market I've spunked money on, I'll probably have to.
I could cut ceramic with the edges of most for a start - get some dosh back making stained glass artwork. 'The Temptation of St Anthony' perhaps - Patron Saint of Lost Things....like money.
"Is the Swag 2 a Pico killer then?" Nope.
"Isn't the Pico shit too?" There's plenty shit about the Pico, just a lot less shit than its competition in that form factor.
It's light, though, the Swag 2 - that's a plus.
"How light?" Well if you've just finished with your Armour Pro/ Aegis Solo/ Colossus/ Cube/ Cold Steel etc - you'll pick a Swag 2 up and put a battery in it - oh, there's one in there already!
The battery cap seems it might not strip as quickly as a Pico (jury is out on that though) The Swag 2 is a fair bit more 'plasticky' feeling than a Pico (though it's a light alloy frame) Is it actually as plastic as the AL85? No.
Christ, Smok should be shot in the face with that one, it'd just shatter though... before impact.
The Wallcrawler comes in a cardboard sleeve on a thin plastic tray - Nice, Vaptio used the same materials it's made of. The Capo was a blasphemy against sight - or was until I saw the Lucid - I wouldn't have shot that at GeekVape, I'd have shot it just for existing. I could go on...
The Swag 2 may still stand up to being accidentally drop kicked across the workshop floor though.
I'll find out next time I have to crawl out from under a job and go fetch a new battery, because I had no idea what charge was in it....oh it will get a good drop kicking test that day...
Piece of crap, style over substance, like the Gen.
Do I have buyers remorse? Yes. Will I keep using it? Yes. Will I cry if I lose it? No.
Buy one, stick a 'Gear' on it, you'll love it.
Next parcel please Postie !
Ooh , the new clothes I ordered, Emperor Style eh? I hear they're great...
Bolt on some Arctic Fox firmware and it really works, but I hankered after something new, better, modern, with a similar form factor.
Enter the Vaporesso Swag 2 - The crabbit bugger review...
Screw talking about the the chipset, it works, and why would any mod nowadays have a shit chipset? Not enough technogy, user testing, not enough data, not enough feedback? Away and shite.
Oh, that's right the Gen mod was plagued with issues since last year and the consensus was; that the reason they called the chipset 'Axon' was because they couldn't fit 'Crippled DNA' on the bottom.
The Gen has had a couple of firmware upgrades to date, but that focussed primarily on TC, not the rest of the ergonomics.
So let's really talk Swag 2 - Well, it has the same Chip, Display and Settings as the Gen Mod and no updates, so not promising...
Is the Swag 2 comfortable? No,. Well... maybe, but in relation to what? Something I randomly picked out a skip perhaps. The Swag 2 is very angular with sharp edges - yes it has, look again - both edges, the base and the topcap.
Like many shittily designed mods out there, sharp edges are ubiquitous. Mods in my opinion (the only opinion which counts of course) should be pebble like - any size or shape, but smoothly bevelled.
Why would I want to hold a piece of Lego, I'm not playing fekn Jenga with my mod either. I've paid good money for a holdy thing, I want it feeling good to hold. Not, 'just get used to holding it and shut your noise'
Ahh but it's tradition since someone knocked up a rough mechanical block in his shed with a junior hacksaw and his tongue sticking out.
Pish - I don't ask for my car to have a solid axle and wood blocks for a brake. Nice mod mate, it'll be good when you've finished it...
That's it? Well ok...
If Vaporesso are touting the design style and good looks of the Swag 2 (and Gen) they better be walking the walk. But like the chipset, it's more hobble than elegant sashay.
The curve of the Swag 2 though! *Cough Coolfire etc. Meh, it wasn't required - style over substance - adds nothing a simple block with smooth, bevelled edges wouldn't. Innokin and others at least recalled a mod has two sides and people have two hands.
I suppose if you found it on a beach and held it sideways; you might, just might, think ''that's the very fellow for skipping across the water'
There's every chance you might find one on a beach, having been hurled across the water from the opposite shore...
Screen - aha, nice, crisp and bright, better than the old Pico, sure looks promising - but its crap.
Yup, you'll get a nice crisp, bright power display, but if you're looking for anything else - carry a magnifying glass. Is it a dealbreaker? Yes.
The battery indicator is just big enough, but the actual charge is shown as a miniscule percentage within the battery display. How quaint.
Discovered after wondering why my atty wasn't firing well and wondering why the Swag 2 was still showing a full charge for some reason.
Nah, the icon is lit like a 'full battery' display - but the actual charge left, is in microscopic detail within it.
They could have just used a big 'percentage' instead, or the traditional sliding battery bar - but they had another idea... nah, too kind - they had no idea at all.
There is an 'Auto Eco' function (selectable) which will apparently stop firing when you are at 40% and prompt to enter 'Power Eco' mode - So why worry? Well, maybe if you are already in 'Power Eco' mode it does (it doesn't, you'd already be in it) but not any other mode - like, oh I don't know, the other one I actually use maybe.
Then I'd like half a clue as to whether I should pop a fresh battery in, to get me through the next few hours, preferably before I hit 40%.
*Edit after a month testing, I discovered the 'Eco mode' does alert - but at 25% not 40.
By which point your battery is about done anyway - useless *
If I actually knew I had a low battery in the first place, without the aid of a jewellers loupe, I could 'manually' turn 'PowerEco' mode on, if it so pleased me - whatever the hell 'Power Eco' actually is.
According to the *cough* display, - when selected, it's a wattage mode - bog standard Wattage mode and that's how it vapes too. That's yer lot - enjoy.
Want a low battery warning in any other mode, tough shit. Don't have eyes like gimlets to read the battery level, tough shit - sucks to be you.
Anyway, I might just get a clue by making out my voltage - perhaps under the tiny, inaccurate resistance display - I'll just turn off the Puff counter and it'll show Voltage instead... errr.
'Turn off puffs' hmmm nope, Select 'Show voltage' errr nope - No voltage display available (unless you select VV mode...err then you have no current displayed, can't win) But thanks for trying.
Good to know my puffs though, great for conversation in the canteen - we speak of little else. Voltage and Current is overrated anyway - a bit like the Resistance it does show (puns, gotta love em... please yourself)
You do get a huge amount of screen real estate, showing the mode you've selected (in case you've forgotten) thereby squeezing everything useful over to one miniscule side.
It's handy though, because when your battery is dying and you had no idea, you'll be checking if you've accidentally stuck it in 'Shit Mode' Or is it 'Auto Eco, or Smart VW or TC? Oh yeah, same thing.
'Gen' owners may tell of the same woes - saves me wasting money on that one then at least.
"But it's a nice, small looking mod and it does work well in 'Diy Wattage, VV, Curve' and the default 'Pulse Mode' - you'll get used to holding anything if you have to - so stop moaning!"
Maybe I should just make my own mod if I'm so hard to please.
Well at the rate they're produced and the 'recommended' shit on the market I've spunked money on, I'll probably have to.
I could cut ceramic with the edges of most for a start - get some dosh back making stained glass artwork. 'The Temptation of St Anthony' perhaps - Patron Saint of Lost Things....like money.
"Is the Swag 2 a Pico killer then?" Nope.
"Isn't the Pico shit too?" There's plenty shit about the Pico, just a lot less shit than its competition in that form factor.
It's light, though, the Swag 2 - that's a plus.
"How light?" Well if you've just finished with your Armour Pro/ Aegis Solo/ Colossus/ Cube/ Cold Steel etc - you'll pick a Swag 2 up and put a battery in it - oh, there's one in there already!
The battery cap seems it might not strip as quickly as a Pico (jury is out on that though) The Swag 2 is a fair bit more 'plasticky' feeling than a Pico (though it's a light alloy frame) Is it actually as plastic as the AL85? No.
Christ, Smok should be shot in the face with that one, it'd just shatter though... before impact.
The Wallcrawler comes in a cardboard sleeve on a thin plastic tray - Nice, Vaptio used the same materials it's made of. The Capo was a blasphemy against sight - or was until I saw the Lucid - I wouldn't have shot that at GeekVape, I'd have shot it just for existing. I could go on...
The Swag 2 may still stand up to being accidentally drop kicked across the workshop floor though.
I'll find out next time I have to crawl out from under a job and go fetch a new battery, because I had no idea what charge was in it....oh it will get a good drop kicking test that day...
Piece of crap, style over substance, like the Gen.
Do I have buyers remorse? Yes. Will I keep using it? Yes. Will I cry if I lose it? No.
Buy one, stick a 'Gear' on it, you'll love it.
Next parcel please Postie !
Ooh , the new clothes I ordered, Emperor Style eh? I hear they're great...
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I have a Tarot Nano too, not as comfortable in the hand, but I do like it.
