The Poldiac: Another Olympic-Class Greek Mod?
Poldiac “Full Satin Edition” with optional satin brass pants
We’ve had the Poldiac on our “must have” list for some time, based purely on the glowing reports we’d heard of its performance. However, not only is it a rather expensive mod, with prices starting at €150.00 (that’s about USD$195 at today’s exchange rates), but it’s sold in small batches at erratic intervals. When we saw the “Full Satin Edition” stainless steel model go on sale at Greek-based Metal Madness Vapors a short time ago, we decided to go for it.
The wait was agonizing, but extremely short for an overseas order. We placed the order on March 25th, and there was a very short delay due to one of the parts we’d ordered being out of stock, a problem quickly solved via email shortly after the purchase. Our Poldiac was marked shipped on the 29th, and was handed off by the UPS guy on April 1st. Having grown accustomed to waiting a week or more for anything from another continent, receiving the Poldiac two days after it left Greece was a very pleasant surprise.
It may seem like a small thing, but we have to mention that the packing for our Poldiac and assorted other parts was the best we’ve seen from any vendor. Each tube, and the Poldiac itself, came surrounded by pressboard with grooves cut in it to hold the tubes inside, like a block of wood with a cylinder cut through it. The box could have been bumped, dropped, punted and probably thrown off a small building without any damage to anything inside it. We’re pretty careful with our mods here, but our Poldiac will probably never again be as protected as it was inside that shipping box.
Playing Dress-Up with the Poldiac
You may note from our photo that our Poldiac isn’t all satin-finished stainless steel like we mentioned at the beginning of the review. The Poldiac is very modular, and it’s very simple to change its appearance. While we’re still using the stainless satin “shirt” (the sleeve that goes around the head of the mod, with a hole cut in it for the button), body tube, and caps, we’ve replaced the stainless “pants” (a tube which slides down onto the body) with a satin-finished brass one, because we’re masochists and can’t help loving brass even though it will mean a lifetime of polishing to keep it looking shiny. All of these various parts, from the head and body to the shirt and pants, can be swapped out for different looks, and to accommodate various battery sizes. Some of them aren’t even necessary for the mod to function — it’ll work just fine without the shirt and pants, for example, if you happen to have nudist tendencies. It will, of course, look a little strange naked, but admit it, most of us do.
The Poldiac has a side-mounted magnetic button with a relatively short throw that’s very comfortable to use, and has reliably fired for us every time. Even without a spring, the button has a good amount of pushback to it, and having it flush with the head makes it difficult to accidentally press it. Even so, the shirt can be rotated to lock the button in place and prevent accidental firing, if desired. It’s also possible to configure the Poldiac so that the button is mounted at the bottom.
The silver-plated center pin is widely and easily adjustable, making it simple to allow atomizers to sit flush with the mod, using just a twist of a screw. One potential gripe here, though: the head of the Poldiac is completely flat, with no air grooves cut into it. While this gives it a very clean, uniform look when used with something like a Genesis-style atomizer, it could prove problematic for anything that needs to pull air in through the bottom. If this becomes enough of an issue, we may see the release of a different top cap style in the future, but an upside of the modularity of the Poldiac is that the addition of a new cap would be as simple as screwing off the old one and replacing it with a new one.
A downside to the modularity: The Poldiac is a complex beast. The first thing we did when we got ours was to take it apart to see how it ticked, and then we had to hit Google up for advice on how to put it all back together. There are a lot of parts involved, and while they all fit together very well, it’s not always obvious which parts go where, particularly a few minutes after the box has been opened. Piecing together our Poldiac was a lot like trying to build an Ikea desk without the instructions. It was possible, but there was a little frustration involved, and a few choice curse words. If you’re the type to disassemble new mods, we recommend paying attention while you’re doing it to save yourself some grief.
The Scores
Build Quality: 10/10
Frankly, we just can’t find anything to complain about as far as build quality goes with this mod. It’s substantial and just the right amount of heavy, the various pieces all fit together precisely, and the careful packaging for shipment ensures it all arrives just like it was sent out. This is an extremely well-built mod that is going to get to you in pristine condition.
Looks: 9/10
The Poldiac we received is gorgeous, as are all the combination we’ve put together using the extra tubes we ordered along with it. You have a choice of brass or stainless steel, in polished and brushed finishes, for each of the various parts. This affords a lot of options as far as how your Poldiac looks. While it may not be possible to always find the parts in the material and finish you want, they do seem to go up for sale fairly regularly at Metal Madness Vapors, so if you don’t get the exact look you want the first time, you can probably find it shortly thereafter.
Flexibility: 8/10
By swapping out the body and pants of the Poldiac, it can be reconfigured to work with a range of battery sizes from an 18350 to an 18650. The button can be moved from the top to the bottom, if desired. However, some people may not like the unslotted top cap, which can make the Poldiac difficult to use with atomizers and tanks which require airflow from the bottom, unless a gap is left between the atomizer and the head.
Performance: 9/10
With its silver-plated contacts, the Poldiac is one of the most conductive mods we’ve tested here so far, scoring a voltage retention of over 91%.
Price: 7/10
While the Poldiac is not an inexpensive mod, at under $200 it is also not by any means obscenely priced for something of its impressive build quality, which we think compares very favorably to other mods similarly or more expensively priced. Cosmetic options are relatively inexpensive, with extras like shirts and pants selling for €7.00 (~USD$9.00) and €10.00 (~USD$13.00) respectively. The Poldiac as sold will accept one battery size; to be able to handle anything from an 18350 to an 18650 will require an extra €16.00 (~USD$20) body tube and pants for each additional size beyond the first.
Overall Score: 8.6
The Poldiac from Metal Madness Vapors
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