iTaste MVP 2.0 Review

At some point in time, most vapers have owned an eGo or an Evod. Chances are they will advance to a twist or a spinner. While these are a step up, there are still some serious limitations to these devices. If you find yourself at this point and you are ready to move on, the iTaste MVP is a reasonably priced option that you might want to look into. Recently I won one of these devices in a contest over at Dirty Heathens, so I decided to do a quick review on it to get a feel for what it is all about and see if it is the next logical step in vaping. With both variable voltage and variable wattage, it has what most vapers are looking for in a device, but is it worth the money? First let's look at the specs on this device.

• Variable Voltage from 3.3 to 5 volts.
• Variable Wattage from 6 to 11 watts.
• 2,600 mAh Li-ion battery.
• 510 and eGo threading.
• Ohm meter.

These are the basic features of this device, and there are more that we will get into later. Let's start off with how the device arrived. I opened the package, took it out and screwed on an Evod clearomizer. It didn't work. I figured maybe it was the way that the Evod attached (perhaps the well was too deep or something) so I tried one of the iClear 16 clearomizers that came with it. Nothing. Next I screwed in a cartomizer and it worked, so I figured the pin in the 510 connector was screwed down to far. I pulled it up and everything worked correctly.

I wanted to take a moment to address this 510 issue. I mentioned it on reddit and someone commented that this was a "feature" of the device and was an "adjustable" connector. While on some level one could say it is adjustable, this is not a feature of the device nor is it a good thing. One should not have to make adjustments to a brand new mod to get it to work. Furthermore, if Innoken wanted to make the post adjustable they could have used a screw post or spring loaded pin which would adjust itself or allow for easy and accurate user adjustments. Having a pin that gets pushed in by one device and needs to be manually pulled out for another is unnecessary and flawed.

Moving along, I filled one of the iClear 16's that came with the device and it performed well. I have one of these and have used it before and happen to like them. The dual coil setup is nice, it produces great vapor and excellent throat hit. Even though I am accustomed to variable voltage, I set it to wattage and began to vape. I swapped the 2 ohm clearo out for a 2.5 ohm Evod and had to lower the wattage slightly because of the single coil. I took that off and attached a Pro Tank II with a 1.8 ohm head and it performed well also. The variable wattage seemed to be regulated correctly between the devices.

At this point I switched over to variable voltage and put the iClear back on. It performed as expected on the different voltage settings.

One of the nice features of this device is how easy it is to switch from VV to VW. Rather than a menu system, two buttons are located on the side of the device next to the led display. One has the letter "P" beside it and the other has the letter "U" next to it. Pushing the "P" button will both switch to variable wattage and allow you to increase the wattage. Pushing the "U" switches to voltage and allows you to increase the voltage. To go down in either mode you need to go up past the highest setting and then stop at the level you desire on the way back up.

One of the downsides to the device is the limitations of both settings. Topping out at 5 volts and 11 watts will limit the performance of some higher ohm atomizers and many dual coil devices. For example, the 2.5 ohm dual coil cartomizers that I use regularly perform best between 5.5 and 6 volts.

The size of the device is very manageable. For a box mod, it fits very comfortably in the hand. The fire button is a bit stiff, but not uncomfortable to push. The mod has a little weight to it but is certainly not a heavy mod. The construction of the device seems to be sturdy, and the texture is neither slick nor too rough so as to make it hard to hold on to or uncomfortable in the hand.

The MVP does have an additional interesting feature. There is an "On/Off" button on the bottom of the device. When switched to the the "On" position, the device will allow you to use the USB port on the bottom to charge another electronic device like a cell phone or an MP3 player. Also the MVP works as a passthrough so that you can vape on it while it is charging. This is important as it has a built in battery and thus eliminates the need for a secondary device while it is charging. It does, however, have the built in drawback of requiring you to be "chained to the wall" while it is charging and you need to vape.

On a side note, I had decided to pif this device to a friend. When I took it to her the pin had been pushed down again and needed to be pulled out to work properly with her mini pro tank. She used it last night and all day today and she contacted me to let me know that she loves the device and is very pleased with it.

Final Thoughts

It is hard for me to decide one way or the other on this device. On the one hand it is a pretty decent mod. For the price, it performs well within it's limited specs and unlike most VW mods in it's price range there is no need to buy batteries and a charger to go with it.This makes it very reasonable for someone just starting out. However, the specs are pretty limited for the serious vaper. In the end I can't seriously recommend for or against it. Let the buyer beware. If you are comfortable with the 5 volt and 11 watt limit, or if you need a cheap mod as a backup or "on the go device" then this might be what you are looking for. If you are wanting that "be all, end all" mod that will get the high performance to satisfy all of your vaping needs, I would suggest you pay a few more bucks and get something with a little more power than the MVP 2.0.

AtTheShop

OnDisplay

OpenForBusiness