AKSTON HUGHES SL

Although I certainly appreciate receiving the Akston Hughes SL pre-market, I may not jump on the bandwagon and provide you with a full blown video review on it (but then again, I still may).  Why?

• You can’t buy it.  Who knows what the final version will be.  I’d rather provide you with a detailed review of the version you can actually purchase.  Better and less confusing for you and less time for me.  If what I have does become what you can have, you can bet you’ll see a video!

Note that this is no longer being made by LoongTotem/Akston Hughes,  but still being manufactured in China.  Please note that I’m not saying that in a negative way at all.

I have the device, I’ve done some vaping and testing, and I’ve provided some feedback to Daniel.  In a nutshell:

THUMBS UP:

1. Looks – It’s a damn handsome PV.  The finish is nice.  Molybdenum finish (huh? well this is Daniel we’re talking about) resists finger prints.
2. Grips – The grips also act as the vents in the event of battery gas expansion AND they pad the batteries so no battery rattling.
3. Center pin – it floats.  No more post pulling?  Bummer, I enjoyed that at times 😉  Danial and I talked about a “spring loaded” center pin back in the early SVR pre-market days.  It’s nice to see the idea come to fruition.
4. It’s light but tough – Copper plated aerospace aluminum (did I mention that this is Daniel we’re talking about?)
5. Quick on/off with a mechanical power button on bottom of the unit.
6. Cone threading.
7. Power – It’s powerful.  The numbers are good.  Tech stuff – Cyclically Adaptive blah blah blah 🙂 It basically means that the Vavg reading on my scope is the closest thing to an accurate flat DC signal as any device I’ve measured that uses PWM and across different resistance cartos/attys.  The claim is : 8% more efficient and 4% more powerful at each setting – not sure I have the ability to measure that.

THUMBS DOWN:

1. The cap, the expansion cap, and where do you put them?  The SL has lost the SVR’s ability to screw the cap onto the base when not in use.  So you may not use them as much.
2. The expansion cap is an interesting idea but I’m not sure I fully understand it.  I’ve heard some call it a sort of drip shield.  That’s just silly.  A carto or tank shouldn’t need one and it’s too tall for an atty.  Also too tall for a carto, but it works well with a mega.  I haven’t been able to get a tank to fit in it, but see others have.  I may need to dig through my tank drawer again.  When it does correctly fit the device you’re using it does give a more clean and finished look, but makes it look very long (do I need to say it… ok I will, insert joke here).  Back in the SVR days, Daniel and I talked about a retracting connection so that tanks would sit flush on the body.  This may be the result of those discussions.
3. The battery warnings and the + – battery orientation indications on the device itself.  Ok, look, in a world where my Jeep manual says not to operate the vehicle while your body is outside of the sunroof, I get it, I just don’t want to see it.  I personally feel it detracts from it’s looks.
4. Power button isn’t recessed enough to allow the unit to stand up straight (I’m not saying it this time).  This is being addressed.  Never mind, it’s been addressed, I received a new bottom cap and it stand up straight as an arrow now.
5. No drip well… also being addressed with an add-on (I think).
6. Only works with 1.6Ohm and higher so you can’t use a 1.5 dually on it.  You’ll get a white flashing light and the unit won’t fire.   This will be a deal breaker for some.
7. Too Much Power? – Once again, due to the PWM, the “feel” doesn’t match the numbers.  Even though the Vavg looks true to the 4, 4.5, and 5.0 settings, the feel of the vape does not.  The 4V setting feels more like a 5V (and potentially even higher) setting on the ProVari, 5.2V to be exact.  The problem with this… even 2.0Ohm cartos may be pushed too hard by this device requiring you to be at 3.0Ohms or higher at all times.  I feel it may even be pushing my 3Ohm higher than my liking.  This is not a big deal on a device like the V-Max since you can set it all the way down to 3V, but on this, there is nothing lower than it’s 4V setting.
8. Air flow issues – After some long term testing, I’ve found some air flow issues when using the SL with some tanks.  Smoktech standard tanks without the expansion cap, Smoktech slim tanks when using the expansion cap.
9. Leaking through the center pin – I’ve found juice on my batteries which means there is e-liquid leaking through the floating head and through the control unit.  Not a good thing!!

OVERALL:

Can’t say.  Don’t know what the final version will look and behave like.  Don’t know what the final price point will be.

But again, I do thank Daniel very much for the initial look.  He’s put a lot of work and effort into this (as seen by the PAGES of information he sends me!!) and it’s taking shape nicely.  I hope to be able to review a full market version for you soon!