The variAnt at £600 is this the ultimate connoisseur kit ?

[VaperCaper]

It isn't creative apart from the pricing though. It is an overpriced,oversized box mod made with inferior components(inferior battery,circuit board & cables)and some supplier in the UK is definitely trying to cash in on the e-cig market with the mental £600 sticker price.

So all I've done is read this thread and given the todd review a quick skim.

I wouldn't pay £100 for one of those, mostly cos it looks like an iphone at first glance and I'd rather not have people thinking I use an iphone.

though for the record I *like* pulse width modulation, but I'd rather spend the money on the atomiser than the battery holder. If I was going to splash out for a top drawer mod I'd probably get a ZNA or a Mark Bugs Wizards evolved in titanium.

As far as markup goes for devices. A reseller is lucky to make 10% on a device by the time you factor in all the overheads for a piece of kit, a little less if it's a mass produced chinese piece of kit that everyone and their dog sells too.

We've just got in some shiny new atomisers that are really great, their not perfect and they are pricey, but I think they're worth the asking price. They cost £100 a go and of that £100 we make about a tenner. The only way to make a decent return in the devices end of the market is to make them yourself, and I've had conversations with engineers and CnC shop owners but I couldn't justify the outlay for me and would rather put the effort into juice, which is what I'm talented at, and leave the hardware alone for the time being.

 

[Colonelboom]

So all I've done is read this thread and given the todd review a quick skim.

I wouldn't pay £100 for one of those, mostly cos it looks like an iphone at first glance and I'd rather not have people thinking I use an iphone.

though for the record I *like* pulse width modulation, but I'd rather spend the money on the atomiser than the battery holder. If I was going to splash out for a top drawer mod I'd probably get a ZNA or a Mark Bugs Wizards evolved in titanium.

As far as markup goes for devices. A reseller is lucky to make 10% on a device by the time you factor in all the overheads for a piece of kit, a little less if it's a mass produced chinese piece of kit that everyone and their dog sells too.

We've just got in some shiny new atomisers that are really great, their not perfect and they are pricey, but I think they're worth the asking price. They cost £100 a go and of that £100 we make about a tenner. The only way to make a decent return in the devices end of the market is to make them yourself, and I've had conversations with engineers and CnC shop owners but I couldn't justify the outlay for me and would rather put the effort into juice, which is what I'm talented at, and leave the hardware alone for the time being.

My main bugbear about PWM in this is purely down to the fact there are more elegant ways in which to deliver power output and that in such a high priced device you would have hoped that VA had gone down the route of sourcing a chip and control system that would deliver a high end experience and not what looks to be on the surface an off the shelf bit of kit with no innovation other than the screen. Where is the huge battery life you could achieve with a device this size? Anything else pushing the envelope apart from the glass sides which are not really that expensive to produce with modern glass options.

Also for pricing, my issue isn't with the retailers as I know first hand what the markup is likely to be, instead my frustration is aimed at the mod makers themselves that seem to be getting way ahead of their station regarding overall design and manufacturing costs vs pricing. Most of this stuff is now mass produced CNC components which I know are likely to be more expensive than China, there is a lot of work getting the CAD design drawn up and of course there are the costs of materials to incorporate before even thinking of profit.

But the rest of that chunk is profit, pure and simple. I don't disagree with making fair profit at all, I also don't disagree with making a bit more profit due to your marque being considered high end. What I object to though is when mod makers are not doing enough to justify that profit by simply making a device that is realistically not much better than current mid to high end on the inside but making it look pretty and then doubling the market price on what it should be (£150 I would think is more reasonable on this type of device)

If they are over inflating prices to make profits before China gets the clones out then perhaps they could try and protect their brand in a better way.

 

[VaperCaper]

My main bugbear about PWM in this is purely down to the fact there are more elegant ways in which to deliver power output and that in such a high priced device you would have hoped that VA had gone down the route of sourcing a chip and control system that would deliver a high end experience and not what looks to be on the surface an off the shelf bit of kit with no innovation other than the screen. Where is the huge battery life you could achieve with a device this size? Anything else pushing the envelope apart from the glass sides which are not really that expensive to produce with modern glass options.

It's a really well finished box mid that you can crank safely to 120W (one hundred and twenty freaking watts? who the hell needs that much power?) I don't know what chipset they went with, but on the face of it I'm not sure there is an off the shelf chip that goes that high. Though I have no idea what's out there.

Also for pricing, my issue isn't with the retailers as I know first hand what the markup is likely to be,

My issue is. I resell stuff at RRP. the site that's selling these at £600 is selling at double the RRP, which pisses me off, but hey. At RRP you still make ~10% which should be plenty. I notice that the expensive website selling them is out of stock(!)

instead my frustration is aimed at the mod makers themselves that seem to be getting way ahead of their station regarding overall design and manufacturing costs vs pricing. Most of this stuff is now mass produced CNC components which I know are likely to be more expensive than China, there is a lot of work getting the CAD design drawn up and of course there are the costs of materials to incorporate before even thinking of profit.

The only ways to innovate with mods is in the design/artwork etc of the outside, or the quality of the switch assembly (or in the case of VV mods the electronics). The rest of it is really simple tech. The next big innovation is going to be in the atomiser market, where some bright spark is going to invent a laser atty or something that's more efficient and doesn't need a coil or a wick, I'd pay lots of good money for one of those, for a shiny box, not so much

I agree though that lots of manufacturers are extracting the micturation.

 

[Geordie Rob]

A multi-million pound up and coming emerging market where people crave,fight and get upset about not buying the 'latest' item.

Hmm I wonder why there might be companies looking to get a nice piece of the pie



We may not all see it on a daily basis but there's still a lot of money sloshing around out there. - With buyers who will buy. Wait till they make these things wi-fi compatible ! You heard it here first lol.

There is already bluetooth stuff that tracks vaping on iphones hehe, pure shite looking device like, wifi box mod that tracks your vape mail, audioble alarm when the postie is within five miles.

 

[Trungo]

It's a really well finished box mid that you can crank safely to 120W (one hundred and twenty freaking watts? who the hell needs that much power?) I don't know what chipset they went with, but on the face of it I'm not sure there is an off the shelf chip that goes that high.

Twisted420 just put up a review of a VV mod the goes up to 120+ watts and uses the raptor chip set I believe he said.
I also watched another review (think it might of been rip tripper) of a VV mod that goes over 200 watts.

 

[VaperCaper]

Twisted420 just put up a review of a VV mod the goes up to 120+ watts and uses the raptor chip set I believe he said.
I also watched another review (think it might of been rip tripper) of a VV mod that goes over 200 watts.

Maybe I'm just old or something.

I have a IGO dripper that I run 0.5ohm builds on when I feel like cloud chasing. Which is ~35Watts power drawing 8amps ish.

I can't understand why anyone wuld ever need more than about maybe 50-60 watts tops. 120 is just insane. *shrug*

 

[MrTeaTime]

Maybe I'm just old or something.

I have a IGO dripper that I run 0.5ohm builds on when I feel like cloud chasing. Which is ~35Watts power drawing 8amps ish.

I can't understand why anyone wuld ever need more than about maybe 50-60 watts tops. 120 is just insane. *shrug*

Raguri

Sent From My Galaxy S4

 

[Trungo]

Maybe I'm just old or something.

I have a IGO dripper that I run 0.5ohm builds on when I feel like cloud chasing. Which is ~35Watts power drawing 8amps ish.

I can't understand why anyone wuld ever need more than about maybe 50-60 watts tops. 120 is just insane. *shrug*

You should watch that review by Twisted420. It's so funny when he gets a dry hit at 120W lol

 

[VaperCaper]

@Raguri

Sent From My Galaxy S4

rags is teetering on the edge of certifiable

 

[Blackhack]

[I can't understand why anyone would ever need more than about maybe 50-60 watts tops. 120 is just insane. *shrug*

It's a fashion statement....much like you "Have" to get the same atomisers and mods that you already own in black or jumbo size....much like you "Have" to get a 28650 mod. and next week it'll be a 28650 in black.....I've no room to talk as I've followed on with the fashion parade for a while as well......Then realised that my VTR and protank 2 works as well as any other mod/atty combination I have....(currently 12 mods and 20 tanks/atties) So for me unless something really exceptional turns up I'm sticking with what I have.

£600.00 for a mod.......ha, ha, ha ha, ha, bonk (That's me laughing my head off)