Pizza Dave Delivers - A Kit Review - The Mechman 228w Kit by Rincoe

INTRODUCTION

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Hello Everyone and welcome to Pizza Dave’s Vape Reviews and today I will be going over the Rincoe Mechman kit. This dual battery, 228w mod is one of their latest to hit the market. This, along with it’s little brother, the Mechman 80w, have been out for a while, but I finally got one for review so here I am. The name doesn’t really make a ton of sense, but I am not here for the name, I am here for the performance. So, stick around and I will let you know what I think of it! Let’s get right to it eh?


Disclaimer: This device was sent to me by Rincoe for review.


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WHAT YOU GET

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• 1 Mechman 228w device
• 1 Mechman sub-ohm tank
• 1 4.5ml bubble glass
• 1 spare 4.5ml bubble glass
• 1 .25-ohm single mesh coil (40-60w)
• 1 .2-ohm dual mesh coil (50-80w)
• 1 spare parts bag
• 1 Micro-usb cable
• Paperwork

- Available in three different frame designs in black or stainless color. Each of these comes with inserts on one side which vary from camouflage to flags of different countries. My sample is the steel wing frame shape in solid black.


STOCK SHOT


PACKAGING


UNBOXED


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MOD OVERVIEW

• Measurements – 90mm x 53.8mm x 29.2mm
• 1-228w range
• Dual 18650 battery
• 8V max voltage range
• .96” OLED display
• Zinc Alloy body
• Centered 510 pin
• 24mm max atomizer without overhang

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OPERATION


The Mechman is a simple workhorse of a mod, with a unique exterior. Batteries are installed via a magnetic side door which has a ribbon for battery removal. The door is held on decent but has a little bit of movement. Alright, so batteries are tossed in, the device is powered up, time to run the thing! Since this device has no “menu” system, so all of the settings are completed with button combinations.


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BUTTON COMBOS



---- Clicking the fire button 5 times will turn the device on and off (with a neat little startup animation).


---- Clicking the fire button 3 times will highlight the mode at the top of the screen, and from that point it is cycled with the up and down buttons.

• Variable Wattage
• Bypass
• TC Ni
• TC Ti
• TC SS
• TC TCR

---- When in a temp control mode, pressing the fire button and down button together will highlight the preheat wattage down at the bottom. It adjusts all the way up to 228w and round robins.


---- Pressing the up and down buttons together will lock adjustments, but the device will still fire.


---- That is about it. Nothing too crazy with using this one.



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HOW IT VAPES


Like I said in the intro, I am not really here for the name of this one. The Mechman name seems a bit odd considering both this and the 80w version are regulated devices. I assume they are referring to the styling, which is mechanical in nature, and rather robotic. Alright, so how does this REGULATED device do? A lot of my testing was done with the included tank, but I ran this through it’s paces using rdas and rtas as well. When operating in wattage mode, I found this to provide decent power output, but with a little bit of delay. Since there are no adjustable preheats, it felt like it was lacking some of the initial punch that we are getting used to feeling with modern day regulated mods. With sub-ohm tanks or smaller coiled rebuildables, the ramp time was fine. I only really felt it when attempting to vape at 100w or so with more complex coils. Once it ramps up and gets going, all is well, and this provides a decent vape, I just wasn’t expecting the laggy performance considering I never felt that on their previous devices. I did a few tests in temp control, just because people always seem to ask. I NEVER vape in TC, but as always, I put a fresh SS round-wire build in an RDA, wicked it up, and set to TC SS. What I found was the 400-degree setpoint felt a bit hotter than that, maybe more like 430 degrees. The hit was fairly smooth, and it never did that funky juttering power output like I get with some other devices. As I vaped this dryer and dryer, vapor was still beginning to back off, but the output was not. I started to get dryer, and dryer, and dryer, until finally…. Full blown dry hit. It began to taper off slightly, but it still provided an awful dry hit that I was not enjoying. Cotton burned, and completely dry. That being said, I can’t give this one a pass, unless the TCR mode offers up some miracles that I did not dig into. This appears to be a wattage only device if you ask me!

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MECHMAN TANK REVIEW

Alright, so like I just stated, much of my testing was completed with the Mechman tank on top of this device. It matches the mod well, has a snug sliding top fill, a nice looking 810 drip tip, and 4.5ml capacity. The first coil I tested was the single .25-ohm mesh coil. I set it to 50w, and it was a very cool, almost flavorless vape. I cranked it up to 60w, and the flavor kind of started to get better, but it was far too airy and cool. Closed off the air flow to half, and it didn’t seem to help much. Just to see if I could get more from this, I cranked up to 65 and two puffs in and the coil was getting dry. 60w was the cutoff before the danger zone, so this accurately rated coil was tapped out. I ran this coil for 10 refills, got bored, and switch to the .2-ohm dual coil mesh. I set this to 60w and out of the gate, it was WAY better than the single. The draw was restricted a little more than the single, the vape was warmer, and flavor was alright. This didn’t blow me away with flavor by any means, but now in the acceptable range for a tank included in the kit. I am not certain if there are other coils that fit this or not, so it may be hard to find replacements. This is just an OK tank that doesn’t live up to the standards of many other mesh tanks on the market. Ok as something in a kit to get someone going, but I would replace this right away if you buy this kit.


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TANK PROS

• Matches the mod and sits nice on top
• Decent looking drip tip
• No leaking
• Snug sliding top fill, so I don’t see it popping open in a pocket

TANK CONS

• Coils are just meh, with the single being terrible
• Flavor is subpar
• Can whistle with airflow cut down to 1/3 or so

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PHOTO GALLERY


Mechman Album










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FINAL THOUGHTS


We talked about the mod, we talked about the tank, so what do I think of this as a kit? First off, don’t buy it as a kit. If you dig the mod, don’t get the tank. It just isn’t good. Secondly, don’t get this if you like temperature control. I don’t have the time or the tools to dial in TCR, but my test of TC in stainless steel suggests there are some wonky things with TC on this one. Other than these couple of things, I don’t really think this is a bad device. It has some good things, but also has some bad things going on. The first thing I noticed was the overall weight of this with batteries inside. The zinc alloy frame has some heft to it, so for a mod as small as this, she’s heavy. However, there are times that I appreciate that extra weight. It has a feeling of quality and when combined with the shape of the device, it felt great in the hand. Also, since it has a trigger finger design, this works for right-handed or left-handed users. Speaking of the users, the simplicity of this thing makes it a good option for a beginner just getting into box mods. This works well enough as a wattage device, but it has as few things that they need to work on. First of the cons is the narrow base. I tipped it over a ton, and when this heavy thing tips, it really tips. The next con I found with it is the battery door sloppiness. It bugged me more and more, as I found myself racking it back and forth constantly. The magnets hold the door secure, but there is some minor slop in all directions. Another con with design is the narrow 510 plate, making this only good for 24mm and smaller. One could get by with 25mm and hardly notice overhang, but anything larger will be an eye sore. The last nitpicky con is how the wattage and temp scroll. They kind of go at their own pace, randomly scrolling in .1-watt increments, or 2-5-watt increments, then it goes into turbo mode and scrolls stupid fast. Not a big deal once this is set to what you want, but when first getting this and playing with different atomizers, it was quite annoying. With all of that rambling out of the way, I have come to one big conclusion. If you like the designs that this comes in (and there are a lot) and are a wattage vapor with standard sized atomizers, then this may be something for you to look at. I like it, but I don’t love it. I used it a ton, but I am kind of over this one now. I don’t foresee myself using it much beyond the review period.



OVEN TEST

If I this were to accidentally fall into my pizza oven would I go out and get another? Nah…. Mechman schmeckman.




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PROS

• Looks cool in my opinion
• Several designs and shapes to choose from
• Easy to use and operate
• Ambidextrous design
• Nice feel in hand

CONS

• TC performance was weak
• Little laggy on wattage performance on large-mass coils
• Bit on the heavy side
• Tippy base
• Battery door movement in all directions

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Thank you all for reading and thank you to Rincoe for sending this my way for review. This has been out for a while, but I am still seeing them online for about $45-50 as a kit.


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Pizza Dave – Delivering real reviews, with no extra toppings


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REVIEW CRITERIA: I use each item for about two weeks to ensure I have collected enough data to adequately write a review. I use the same e liquid in tanks or rdas throughout all my reviews to ensure that I am comparing apples to apples between all modern equipment. I do not post reviews until I feel confident that I have used it enough to give an educated review. The reason I started doing reviews was due to poor purchasing decisions in my vaping infancy about two years ago. Back then, I purchased several different pieces of hardware without really enjoying it and I hope my reviews can guide people into spending their hard-earned money more wisely than I did! ****Keep in mind that some items I receive may be pre-release and not in retail packaging. Quality may be less than the finished product and what is in the package may differ from the retail package as well.