Enoch
Achiever
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2015
- Messages
- 2,295
Welcome to another Sacred Vape review and this time around we have something rather different. My Unicorn mod, I finally had chance to try one and it’s something very interesting indeed, the Smok I-Priv.
Before we start, this was sent to me for the purpose of review by Health Cabin. Massive thanks to them for finally letting me get my hands on one of these!
So the Smok I-Priv. Heard of it before? If you haven’t then you are in for a treat! It was released back in June last year which is like a century away for mods in general, Smok especially. The mod was something rather different though, the second (of 2) voice activated mods, and this one talked back to you…… I know right? Actually you are probably either thinking cool, or why? I know, it was a common reaction upon release as well. Except much like the previous Voice control mod, what was underneath was completely different to the face of the device. So let’s get into it, what is it and how does it work?
In The Box
· 1 X I-Priv
· 1 x TFV12 Prince Sub-Ohm Tank
· 1 x V12 Prince Strip Coil Pre-installed, 0.15 Ohm1 x V12 Prince Mesh Coil 0.15 Ohm
· 1 x Dual 18650 Battery Adaptor, Pre-installed
· 1 X Replacement Glass Tube
· 1 x USB Cable
· 1 x User Manual and VC pocket sheet
· Spare Parts
Specifications
· 95.5 x 56 x 35mm
· Wattage 1-230W
· Input voltage 6.4-8.4V
· Output voltage 5-8.2V
· Temp Control 100-315 Celsius
· AI Voice Control For Certain Commands
· Round Colour TFT Display With Various Colour Settings
· ‘Torch’ LED and ‘Disco’ LED from the bottom of mod
· Run s on dual 20700 or 21700s, or dual 18650s with the adaptor
· Mods: VW, TC and Memory
· ‘Dual Battery life indicator
· Firmware Upgradable
· Available in black, red, prism gold, prism blue, prism chrome, green, purple, prism rainbow (I have purple and prism blue!)
So let’s get into it shall we? First and foremost the mod fells really well made. Often with devices such as this you find that they run with the selling point and ignore the rest. It really isn’t the case here and the I-Priv is big, solid and feels well made. The design, based on Ironman looks really striking and stands out from other mods on the market. It has a back magnetic battery door and the whole design covers the mod giving it a really nice look. The front screen displays volts/ohms/watts/seconds/battery indicators and the device itself takes 2 x 20700/21700 or 18650 with adaptors included in the box. The device has a side fire bar on the left hand side of the mod with 2 navigation buttons on the front of the device. The screen is a round arc reactor style similar again to Ironman with a silver border which really makes the screen pop on the mod. The curved design really fits into your hand and despite the size, it doesn’t feel too heavy in the hand. The screen is well protected and comes with a multitude of different colours which can be done via the voice control. The top of the device can house bigger atomisers, possibly up to 30 at a push without overhang which is a nice touch by Smok.
Operating the device is nice and simple again with 3 clicks taking you into a list menu system with plenty of options. You get Watt/Memory/SS/TI/Ni modes with preheat settings and the rest what you would expect with a device like this and the menu system is really simple to operate. It is a far cry from the standard smok system from at the time and it represents a far better menu, well up until the Species released some months afterwards. Firing time is quick and the mod feels responsive with buttons all being clicky and firm. Battery life on the mod is pretty decent with dual 21700s, over a day before you need to charge so being an early adopter of the bigger style batteries, Smok delivered a decent battery life with this one.
Worth mentioning it by itself, it comes with a light on the bottom of the device which can be turned off and on. I love this feature, not one to keep on all the time in fear of blinding people at night but when activated by the voice control, it doubles up as a portable torch.
Cons
So we get up to the cons of the device now and honestly, the device is not perfect. The first thing I noticed using a different tank to the Prince is that there seems to be a delay after firing which is slight annoying. Using my tank on there it had a split second delay before stopping firing which was a little annoying more than anything. I prefer the mod to cut off when I stop firing it. The fact that the fire button doesn't lock the device is a little annoying as well, I prefer the fire button to lock the device so it was a hard habit to break myself back into after so long. The battery door has a slight wobble to it, no accidental openings at all but certainly a slight movement under your thumb or when moving the device. The batteries are packed into the device no matter which ones you pick, perhaps the 20700 being the best for it and the 21700 worst. It means even with the battery ribbon inside you run the risk of affecting your wraps on your batteries by catching them which again was a minor annoyance rather than a full blown con. For me, the fact it is a right handed mod is also a con for me being left handed so the fire button means I have to hold the screen in my palm rather than out in the open, but if you are right handed that isn’t an issue.
Voice Control
So significant I am giving it its own section. So the mod sells itself on the voice control and the voice responses on the mod. This is what a lot of people probably bought this on the basis of so it was very interesting to try it out. The voice is nice and loud with a choice of different voices from female, male and robot to name most of them. As you give it commands or do something you aren’t meant to (no tank on top for example) then it warns you are confirms what you have told it. So to be honest the voice talking back to you is quite cool.
How does the voice recognition work then? As you would expect, hit and miss. When it is picking up your voice then it is fantastic, change the colour, turn things off and on, increase wattage, lock/shut down device among the many things you can tell it to do It makes using the device very simple and very responsive….when it works. Because as you would imagine, it can really struggle picking your voice up most of the time. It starts with a Hello I-Priv and then each command but I found that some commands seemed to struggle with my scouse accent over others that worked nearly every time. So I don’t know what accent you need for this to be accurate all the time, certainly not a regional or northern English one” It is good fun when it works but would you be talking to your mod walking around?
Overall
So overall , the I-Priv certainly was a flawed gem on the market last year. The mod feels good, looks good and performs mostly good. The voices feature is really interesting and it makes the device stand out. However the inaccurate voice recognition, the slight battery door wobble and the slight firing delay means the device is not really going to be an all day device but more of a feature one. Sure, for the novelty of owning one it is brilliant and one of those you show off to non vaping friends as a ‘look what my mod can do’ but I think the device held itself back from being truly brilliant with a whole list of minor annoyances rather than flaws. At the prices its going for now, if you fancy something different to play around with then you do get value for money now but it probably won’t replace your usual mod.
If you want to pick one of these up then you can do so at quite a cheap price at Health Cabin on the link below. Link is not affiliate , for the record.
https://www.healthcabin.net/smok-ipriv-230w-kit--p/18055.html
