Stentorian Basilisk Review - Photo Album
I was lucky enough to win this in a @Heaven Gifts giveaway recently. They shipped it via DHL express which costs quite a bit more than epacket. It took only two days to get here in Canada and it was very nice of them to opt for the shipping upgrade.
Aesthetics
As soon as you hold the mod you'll realize why it commands the hefty price tag. It looks absolutely beautiful. The metal parts on the top and bottom have a matte finish to it. It's very smooth, almost velvety to the touch. The Basilisk logo in a cursive font looks really classy on top of the mod. The resin on the body seamlessly wraps all four sides around the mod. The colors are vibrant and it's also very soft to the touch.
The mod also has a nice weight to it. It weighs exactly what you'd expect, neither heavy nor light for it's size. It also feels very solid and not hollow. It feels quality and premium when you hold it, something that sometimes even more expansive mods get wrong.
This mod has the nicest edge bevels that I have ever come across. It's not too rounded where the mod looks almost cylindrical like the back side of Therion, and it's not too sharp that makes it uncomfortable to hold like the Alpha One. I feel like it strikes a great balance between looks and comfort. You can tell they paid a lot of attention to this when you see a corner where 3 edges meet. It just looks super classy and adds to the premium feel of the mod.
The smooth texture of the metal parts make them fingerprint magnets. It's impossible to handle the mod and not leave prints. The metal also scratches very easily which is why they give you a set of 3 transparent gaskets to put between the mod and the atomizer. It's super thin, around 24mm in diameter and does a very good job of protecting the finish of the mod. I accidentally screwed an atty on without one and it left marks.
Components
Buttons don't rattle at all in this mod. They feel solid and clicky and require just the perfect amount of force to actuate. The screen is beautiful with no light bleed around the edges. Since it's AMOLED the unused pixels remain unlit, giving you very rich blacks. The screen layout is simple and minimalistic and uses a font size bigger than your typical mods. The design can feel a little plain at times.
The hinged battery door has a really nice heft to it and doesn't feel flimsy at all. When opened the door slowly glides down instead of just falling out. There is some kind of a dampening mechanism and it really gives the mod a premium feel. Without any batteries present there is a slight rattle to the door, but once you put the batteries in the door solidly locks into place. The battery tubes don't damage the wrap at all.
There is no USB port on this mod. As such you have to charge your batteries externally and there will be no firmware updates available for the Basilisk. This may not be a deal breaker, but I feel that these features should have been included considering the mod costs significantly more than it's competitors.
24mm attys fit flush with plenty of room to spare. I'm pretty sure this will fit a 26mm atty flush too. The spring loaded 510 looks press-fit so be careful when pulling out snugly fit top caps
Performance
Unlike most of it's competitors the Basilisk does not have a temp control mode. I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand instead of a poorly implemented TC mode, I'd rather have them ditch it and spend that time/money on making VW mode better. On the other hand I can think of several other mods that have great temp control while costing a whole lot less.
A side effect of not having TC also means you would get poor performance out of temp control friendly wires like SS/Ni/Ti etc. Resistance of coils made with those wires go up as they heat up, and a good chip like the Gene or the DNA chip constantly polls the resistance and adjusts the voltage to maintain the set wattage. Unfortunately the chip in this mod does not do that. It only polls the resistance once when you click the fire button and does not continue to poll it while it's firing. So you start firing at your set wattage, and as time goes by the wattage it's actually firing at keeps going down because the resistance keeps going up. Stick to wires like Kanthal that won't change much in resistance as they heat up.
The Basilisk has 4 sub-modes in VW mode. Standard, Powerful, Powerful+ and Rebuild. Powerful and Powerful+ are just curves that start higher and slowly drops down to your set wattage. Rebuild lets you customize the curve using six plot points. For example you can start at 60 watts, drop to 40 in the next second, jump back up to 70 in the next and etc.
So naturally you'd think Standard means it'll be a straight line instead of a curve right? Just fire at the wattage you set for the entire time you hold down the power button? No. For some crazy reason standard starts lower and ramps up to your set wattage. If you want the classic "same wattage the entire time" mode you have to use Rebuild mode and set all the points to the same watts.
Once you've got all those quirks settled the actual power delivery is better than average. It feels very smooth and I don't feel any PWM at work. I've been having a great time vaping on VW mode again this past week. I haven't gone above 60 watts so I'm not sure if it does anything funky at high wattages.
This mod fires slower than a DNA250, Alpha 1 and Aleader Funky 160. A lot of people are concerned with firing delay nowadays but I have yet to meet a mod that is not firing at full force by the time I pick it up and bring it to my lips. The Basilisk reads the same resistance as my Therion and Alpha One. 40 watts here feels like 38 watts in those mods.
Specs:
Dimensions: 55mm x 86mm x 26mm
Weight: 168 grams
Weight with batteries: 258 grams
Batteries: 2 x 18650
Material: Zinc Metal Allow + Resin
Max advertised wattage: 200W
Resistance range: 0.1Ω - 3.0Ω
USB charging: Not available
Firmware upgradable: No
You can get the mod in five different color patterns at Heaven Gifts, among other places. I especially like the Pink & Blue looks terrific! Make sure you look up coupon codes
Conclusion
All in all look and feel wise the Basilisk definitely punches above its weight. It screams premium. They paid a lot of attention to the little details and it shows. This is a mod that you take with you to a nice party or to a restaurant, or to work if it's a desk job. You'll quickly ruin that beautiful finish on the metal parts if you don't handle it gently.
The chip feels dated and has a few quirks of it's own. But if you stick to Kanthal and follow the workarounds it performs rather well.
And finally, a handcheck!
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