Thursday, April 25, 2013

The J2P Pisces Mini

Pisces Mini with Mini-DID Clone

Pisces Mini with Mini-DID Clone


We recently received a package from the Philippines that included a couple new mods. One of these, the J2P Pisces Mini, is the smallest mechanical we’ve tested yet. It uses a 14500 battery, which is the same size as the familiar AA size. Adding just a small amount of overhead for a button on the bottom and a 510 connector on top, this little mod is about as pocketable as mechanicals get.


Small Fish in a Big Pond


In a world dominated by telescoping, 18650-powered mods, the Pisces Mini is really small. Take a look at that picture at the top of this post.  It doesn’t really give a good sense for how tiny this mod is, but get a look at the drip tip. That’s not a particularly large tip — it just looks huge because the mod is so small. We’ve got our Pisces Mini (without the atomizer attached) sitting next to a 30ml bottle of juice at the moment, and the entire mod would fit inside the bottle if the mouth was just a little wider. Yes, we actually just tried to shove it in there.


We’re not typically huge fans of bottom-mounted buttons, as they can be a bit uncomfortable to reach and use if you’ve got smallish hands, which we do, but we compensate by having frightening large feet. But we’re talking about the button here, and on a mod this small the bottom position really isn’t a problem, since the entire mod can easily be held in the palm of the hand. Reaching the bottom really isn’t a problem here. The button’s also got a good amount of tension, giving a decent enough amount of pushback to let you know you’re pressing it, but not so much that it feels stiff. Surrounding the ring is a reverse-threaded locking ring that prevents the button from being pressed when it is screwed out. Our Pisces Mini’s button is also engraved with the Pisces names and zodiac logo, as well as a serial number.  The engraving is deep and not likely to wear down any time in the foreseeable future.


Pisces Mini size compared to 18650 battery

Pisces Mini size compared to 18650 battery


The drawback to this mod, of course, is that a 14500 battery won’t last long. While the Pisces Mini is going to be very easy to carry around, you’ll need to keep in mind that the charge won’t last long, and it’s not always easy to find a way to charge them back up. So far, though, we’ve had no problems charging our AW 14500′s in the same chargers we use for 18500 batteries. They may fit a little loosely, but they seem to charge just fine. You may be tempted to recharge them in the sort of charger used for typical AA rechargeables. Don’t — not only will it not work, it may destroy your batteries in the process. Also, don’t use AA rechargeables in the Pisces Mini, unless vaping at 1.5 volts sounds like a good time to you. It certainly doesn’t to us.


The Scores


Build Quality: 8/10


While we’ve heard some complaints about imperfect threads and misbehaving buttons on other people’s Pisces Minis, we’re not seeing those flaws on ours. Not having experienced those type of issues ourselves, we won’t mark down the mod’s score based on them. Our Pisces Mini is a solid little mod with a good button and decent threading.


We do have some concerns about vent holes.  While there are two visible on the Pisces Mini, they are blocked by the battery, and we’ve got our doubt they would prevent the Pisces Mini from becoming a shrapnel grenade if the battery were to go Chernobyl on us.


Looks: 7/10


The small size of the Pisces Mini surely limits what could be done to make it look good, but a few mince touches have been added. The engraving on the button is particularly nice, and the brushed finish of the mod’s stainless steel is clean and consistent on our test unit.


Flexibility: 8/10


The tiny size of the Pisces Mini makes it one of the most pocketable mechanical mods we’ve used.This may be a no-frills mechanical without a lot of fancy features, but it can easily be taken just about anywhere, while occupying a minimum amount of space… as long as you don’t also have to carry a boxload of batteries to keep it charged up.


Performance: 8/10


The Pisces Mini scored well in our load tests, displaying a voltage retention rating of just over 89%. We frankly expected less, given the small amount of metal in the mod, but the solid build and the use of copper contacts at the top and bottom posts seem to go a long way toward providing good performance for such a small mod.


Price: 7/10


We acquired our Pisces Mini from a group buy on Facebook for $80. It’s likely that the price if bought directly from the Philippines would be similar, but without the savings we got by splitting shipping charges across a group, the total to get one in your hand might be prohibitively expensive.


Overall Score: 7.6



The J2P Pisces Mini

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