Steve K's Vaping World

Variable Voltage eGo e-cigarettes seem to be a hot commodity. I remember the days when I wished somebody would make one. Now it seems every time you turn around, there’s another take on the VV eGo concept.  The Vision Spinner is another entry in this category.  The Spinner has been around for a while now, but Vision just added a small 400 mAh variant to its family of variable voltage eGos. This review will cover the new, compact device as well as the Spinner family in general.

Design

I had tried to get a hold of a Vision Spinner for ages, but MadVapes sold out almost as soon as they got the devices.  When they added a compact version of the e-cigarette I decided to go with that version since I’m a fan of portable electronic cigarettes.

Going into this, I knew the Vision vari-volt unit wasn’t going to be nearly as small as the mini eGo devices on the market. The addition of the adjustment dial and variable voltage circuitry adds extra length, especially in a small device.

The Spinner is about 1/3 again as large as the 400 mAh eGo.  It’s actually slightly taller than a standard Joye 650 mAh model. While the Vision VV ecig was bigger than I imagined, it’s still considerable smaller than any other variable voltage device including the other eGo-style models.

Interestingly the smallest Spinner is very light. It weighs slightly more than the 400 mAh eGo and quite a bit less than the 650 mAh standard version.  The weight helps to make this model feel like a small device when it’s in use.

Aside from the smaller size, this model is identical to the 1300 mAh, except the 1300 mAh spinner varieties which come in several colors, the 400 mAh version is only available in black. The black finish has a matte rubberized which gives it an elegant feel.

The Spinner uses a dial at the bottom of the device to select the desired voltage from 3.3 to 4.8v.  The action is very similar to Joye’s eGo Twist. The existence of the dial means charging comes via an eGo charger (not included) and not a USB pass-through.

In sharp contrast to the Joye model is that the voltage markings are much easier to read thanks to white on black text.  The dial itself has a red line to indicate the voltage setting which means much less squinting when adjusting this e-cigarette.

The rest of this device is pretty standard fare, there’s a typical eGo activation button illuminated by a white LED.  Clicking the white button 5 times will toggle the unit on or off (handy for a small, pocketable device).  The top features 510 and eGo cone threads for maximum compatibility with whatever you want to bolt to it.

Using the Vision Spinner

Stay with me, because the comparisons to the Twist are going to keep on coming.  The reason is mainly that the Spinner is nearly identical to the Twist in terms of performance. If you’re not familiar with the Twist, that’s a good thing.

The Vision variable voltage model does a good job of holding the voltage to the set level during most of the battery charge cycle.  I didn’t really see any huge drops in voltage until the battery was very nearly drained.

When testing voltage output using a simple volt meter the Spinner held the voltage within .1v under load all the way up to the 4.8v setting using a 3 ohm cartomizer.  Using a high power demand, but low resistance cartomizer like a dual coil is where the load voltage departed.

Again like the Twist, the Spinner dropped the voltage from the requested 4.8v down to the highest voltage it could safely handle, in this case, around 3.9v with a 1.6 ohm dual coil setup.  This is fairly typical. I’ve yet to see a small variable voltage device with a beefy enough circuit to carry more than about 2.5 amps.  Considering many of the big devices can’t either, I’d have to say this is acceptable for a device of this size.

Naturally, with something with a modest mAh rating like this e-cigarette, battery life isn’t going to be exactly impressive.  The actual amount of charge you can get out of the thing will, of course, depend heavily on the resistance of your cartomizer and voltage selection.

I did most of the heavy lifting using a 2.5 ohm cartomizer set on the 4.3v notch.  With that configuration I usually clocked in at around 3 hours of moderate to heavy use before the button flashed angrily at me indicating some charger time was necessary.

That’s not really a bad run time based on the size of the battery, but this is definitely a model you’d want to have two or more of if you intend to use it all day.

Too Long; Didn’t Read

The 400 mAh Vision Spinner eGo style variable voltage e-cigarette is a very competent device.  The ability to actually read the voltage settings is a nice advantage over its closest competitor. Voltage output is steady for single coil cartomizers. Like every other device of this class, it lacks the oomph to power dual coils beyond 3.8v. If you’re looking for something small in comparison to other variable voltage eGos this is a good choice even if it means less run time.  You can pick one (or a few) up at MadVapes.

Pros:

• Easy to read voltage settings
• Good on-load performance
• Compact

Cons:

• No pass-through option
• Not great for dual coils
• Not quite as small as expected

Details:

Product: Vision eGo Spinner
Price: 21.99
Threading: eGo
Voltage: 3.3 – 4.8 continually adjustable
mAh: 400 (also available in 1300)