The Joyetech eVic with MVR 1.2

The Joyetech Evic

The eVic is no longer a new device, and there are plenty of reviews out there about it, but on looking at our listings in our review summary, it does seem conspicuously missing.  We figured a write-up was in order for this very popular device.

The eVic and Ohm’s Law

The eVic is a variable wattage device, meaning that you can adjust the power output not just in terms of how much voltage is sent to the atomizer, but also by setting wattage.  Wattage is a calculation determined by Ohm’s Law: W = V² / R, where W is wattage (also often called “power”), V is voltage, and R is resistance. What this means in terms of the eVic and other variable wattage devices is that you tell the PV what wattage you want, and then it takes the atomizer’s resistance into account and calculates the amount of voltage it should produce.  The upside to this is that it is intended to provide a consistent vape across different atomizers. For example, if you set the eVic to 8.0 watts, and have a 2.0 ohm atomizer, the eVic will send 4 volts.  If you then attack a 2.8 ohm atomizer, it will send about 4.7 volts, to compensate for the added resistance and produce roughly the same vape.

While this all sounds great in theory, in practice you may still find that you’ll still need to tweak things a bit to get just the kind of vape you want for a particular atomizer, or the juice you’ve got in it.  That’s where the eVic’s user-friendly controls come in handy.  Adjusting wattage (or voltage, if you have the eVic set for variabble voltage mode) up or down is as simple as turning a dial below the eVic’s head to fine-tune the setting. It a rather easy interface to use, if somewhat inconsistent in how it reacts to adjustments. Sometimes it will simply bump the numbers up in predictable intervals, and other times it will seem to start auto-incrementing, flying past the setting you want and making you dial it back to where you want it, though this does seem to happen less often as you get used to the sensitivity of the controls.

My Vapor Record

One very unusual feature of the eVic is My Vapor Record (or MVR), the eVic’s software interface. Installed on your PC or Mac, MVR can be used to track the usage of your eVic and configure its settings.  It can be convenient to be able to set a lot of the eVic’s configuration without having to use the more cumbersome input of the eVic itself, and we appreciate being able to set a lot of features, such as screen blanking and power shutoff timers and temperature sensor warning levels, simply by typing numbers on a keyboard. While the graphs showing things like how many puffs you’ve taken over time can be somewhat interesting, we’ve found the usefulness of them to be somewhat limited, and they feel a bit gimicky after the initial wow factor wears off.

Another interesting feature of the MVR software is the ability to set up complicated power output settings.  For example, you can set the eVic to provide a high output for the initial seconds of the vape to heat the coil faster, then drop to lower voltage for the remainder.  In variable voltage mode, different settings can be used for different resistance ranges.  In theory, this provides a degree of extreme control not possible with simpler mods.  In practice, however, the interface can be rather intimidating, and it’s questionable how useful control this fine-grained will be in practice. We don’t doubt that the vaping experienced can be improved to some degree by this kind of fine-tuning, but have some doubts about how practical it is in practice.  You’ve got to be pretty dedicated to perform the kind of experimenting that would probably be needed to see any real benefit out of this feature.

Another important upside of this software is that it allows the firmware of the eVic — the internal software of the device itself — to be updated.  While this obviously won’t allow upgrades to the base hardware of the device, it does allow new features and behavior to be added in the future.  We’ve already seen a lot of improvement and new functionality in the two firmware updates that have been provided by Joyetech since the eVic’s initial release.

We have experienced a high degree of bugginess with our Windows-based MVR software.  It often will not recognize when the eVic has been connected to the computer, and particularly since the 1.2 revision, seems to crash regularly, particularly when certain features are used.

Hopefully the Third Time’s the Charm

All in all, we’ve been very pleased with the performance of our eVics.  They have vaped quite well, and the variable wattage feature is handy for get the eVic to automatically dial in to approximately where we want the power output to be set when we switch atomizers.  However, we’ve had major issues with the reliability of the device.  At the time this review is being written, we are on our third eVic.  The first failed after about a month, presumably due to juice having leaked down into the unit from a cartomizer tank, frying the circuitry.  The second lasted only 10 days before the button failed, rendering it unusable. We’re several days into using our third eVic, and while it’s still working so far, we’re not feeling very confident in the eVic’s longevity at this point.

The Scores

Build Quality: 5/10

While the various parts of the eVic mesh together well and it seems to be a fairly well-built device, we’ve had major issues with ours, with two of three having failed within the 30-day warranty provided by the vendor (the third is still within its first 30 days, so we’ll see how that goes). Complaints of the button failing seem to be fairly common.

While we do like the ease of use of the dial control, there’s quite a bit of play in it, and it tends to rattle, and the head is encased in plastic that is easily scratched and clearly not as durable as metal mods.

Looks: 8/10

The eVic has a simple, sleek look befitting its high-tech design. It is available with a brushed stainless finish, and recently, an all-black version has been appearing for sale at some vendors.

Flexibility: 6/10

The variable wattage feature of the eVic makes it easy to use with a wide array of atomizers, minimizing the need for adjustment as they are swapped out. While it will only accommodate an  18650 battery as sold, accessories are available to allow the use of an 18350. Due to the eVics popularity, other after-market add-ons, such as telescoping bodies like the bOd by Leo, are also available, giving a wide range of customization options.

Performance: 5/10

The eVic has a top-end limitation 5.0 volts, and tests indicate a power limit of 10 watts.  Some people are going to find these limits unacceptably low, though may others will never exceed them.

We’ve found the accuracy of the device to be unimpressive.  At lower voltages, such as 4.0 volts, our eVic was very close to the mark, registering 3.9 volts in our tests. However, accuracy decreased as voltage increased, and at the upper limit of 5.0 volts our eVic was only registering an output of 4.5 volts. Coupled with the fairly low output limit, this drop in voltage from the level at which it was set is very disappointing.

Price: 7/10

Pricing on the eVic was varied widely over the past months, from over $100 at the highest to around $60 at the lowest. As Joyetech has pressured vendors to keep prices up, over time it seems to have settled near the $100 mark for the kit, which contains the eVic, a battery, a USB cable and a wall charger, to around $85 for just the body.  While $100 is certainly more expensive than other variable wattage devices on the market, such as the Vamo, the buyer will have to weigh the additional features of the eVic, as well as the somewhat low performance, to determine whether this increased price is worth paying.

Overall Score: 6.2

 

The Joyetech eVic with MVR 1.2