iPV 6X

Pioneer4You brings you the latest model of the popular iPV devices. The iPV 6X is a dual 18650 battery device and offers up to 200 Watts of power. It can be used in either Variable Wattage or Temperature Control mode and supports all popular wire types. The iPV 6X offers a compact and attractive form factor and allows the user the option to make firmware updates.

by VapeMaster
Jan 5, 2017

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iPV 6X

iPV 6X features

YiHi SX330 Chipset
Requires 2x 18650 Batteries (Sold Separately)
Wattage Range: 10W - 200W
Resistance Range: 0.05ohm-1.5ohm
Temperature Range: 212-572° F / 100-300°C
Joule Range: 10-100 Joules (120 for Titanium)
Minimum Atomizer Resistance: 0.05ohm
OLED Display
Compatible with Kanthal, Ni200, Titanium, & Stainless Steel
Supports SX Pure Technology
Magnetic Battery Door Cover

What’s in the box?

1x IPV 6X
User Manual
Warranty Card
Micro USB Cable

iPV 6X styling and build quality

If you consider older mods from Pioneer4You such as the iPV 4S and the iPV3 Li which were both fairly bulky in terms of their design, the iPV 6X by contrast is highly compact for a dual 18650 device. It is roughly the same size as the SMOK Alien 220W which we reviewed recently and significantly smaller than the Wismec RX2/3 in dual 18650 mode.

This means that the overall form factor of the iPV 6X is excellent and it feels not much heavier than holding two 18650 batteries in your hand. Everything is nicely rounded with no sharp edges present and this makes it feel very comfortable to use. The materials used are mainly aluminium and zinc alloy but in no way does it feel cheap or overly lightweight and it is certainly robust enough to take a few knocks.

In terms of the iPV 6X’s styling it does bear something of a resemblance to the Sigelei 213 and Fuchai 213 which is not really that surprising since Sigelei and Pioneer4You are apparently owned by the same parent company. What Pioneer4You have gone for here is a striking two tone design with the main body of the device (made from either aluminium or zinc alloy) having a painted brushed finish which is ever so slightly glossy and this contrasts really well with the rest of the device which features a dark grey matte finish.

Unlike older iPV models the 6X no longer has the 510 connector offset and is instead centrally positioned. The connector appears to be made from Stainless Steel and has very good threading. The 510 pin itself is made from brass and is spring-loaded so you will have no issues getting your atomizers to sit flush. The 510 pin does have a groove in it (older style of pin) which might initially suggest that it is in some way manually adjustable but that is not the case and I seriously recommend that you don’t mess with it unless you want to break your mod.

The main display is located centrally on the device and is nicely recessed which will help to prevent any scratching. I personally thought the display was excellent since it is very bright and clear, of a decent size being nicely set out and relatively uncluttered. All of the typical information is shown such as Resistance, Wattage and Voltage. In addition the current temperature is shown (when in that mode) along with the remaining battery life.

There are three buttons on the device and all of them feel good, and have a satisfying “click” to them. If I had one minor gripe I would personally prefer the fire button to be a little larger but I guess that comes from the fact that I am now too used to the larger fire buttons on my older iPV’s so in all fairness it’s a non-issue. The fire button is responsive but there does appear to be something of a slight delay when using the adjustment buttons to change the current Wattage or Temperature.

The iPV 6X is supposed to be fully firmware upgradeable but at present there is no new firmware available for download. However once it is you can update the iPV 6X via the Micro USB port located near the top of the device. You can of course also use it to charge the batteries if you don’t want to make use of an external charger. Ideally I would have preferred they had positioned the Micro USB port much lower down since if you ever have a very leaky atomizer there is the potential for juice to run down into there but you should hopefully notice it before that occurs.

The battery compartment is nicely done with the correct orientation clearly marked on the inside of the lid. The lid itself is the one area that lets this mod down a little, firstly it uses a press down and slide to lock style design just like the SMOK Alien 220W but it feels really cheap, very plastic like and actually wobbles around on the hinge when it is open. It is of course less of a problem when you close it and in fairness it does seem to be pretty secure providing you don’t knock it which causes it to rapidly eject your batteries but I do question its long term durability and I have read a few reports Online about people having to secure it with rubber bands after a very short amount of time so it certainly is one thing that Pioneer4You could improve.

Strangely enough the iPV 6X is absent of any noticeable venting. Clearly the device does have some form of venting somewhere since I never noticed the main body of the device getting particularly hot. However given that the device can achieve 200W and can potentially be upgraded to 215W once the new firmware is available I personally would have preferred that the manufacturer added some additional venting even if it was only in the battery compartment lid.

Ease of use

Just like any other device that uses a YiHi chip the iPV 6X is very straightforward to use even for a newcomer.

Five clicks of the fire button powers on the device.
Three clicks of the fire button locks/unlocks the device.
The menu is accessed by five clicks of the fire button when the device is switched on. The menu is navigated by pressing the fire button and options are confirmed with either the plus or minus button.
The device offers two modes. Power Mode for Variable Wattage Vaping or Joules Mode for Temperature Controlled Vaping.
The iPV 6X supports the following wire types in Temperature Control Mode: Ni200 (Nickel) Ti (Titanium) and SS316 (Stainless Steel 316). In addition you can also manually set the TCR value.
To switch off the device go into the menu and select the “System Off” function.
To set the Resistance when vaping in Temperature Control Mode hold down the plus and minus buttons simultaneously until the Resistance is displayed.
The manual states that you can lock the power by holding down the fire button and the plus button but this did not actually work on the item I received for review and since I have read other accounts of this particular problem it is certainly a common issue.

I should point out that the first run of iPV 6X’s had some noticeable issues and there was a voluntary recall which allowed customers to get their devices replaced proving they paid the shipping costs. The first problem was the fact that the device simply wouldn’t lock and after taking the device out of their pocket they found they were suddenly vaping at the maximum 200 Watts. The lock actually works fine on the model I received for review.

However what doesn’t work is the option to lock the power which the manual states can be done by holding down the fire button and the plus button simultaneously. This does create a significant issue since the adjustment buttons tend to protrude a little too far out and you can accidentally knock them when holding the device so always remember to lock the device when you put it in your pocket or simply switch it off.

The other problem was the lack of Reverse Polarity Protection which meant you could insert your batteries incorrectly and still fire the mod. Apparently this issue has been fixed in the newer models.

One feature that is certainly absent from the iPV 6X is that it no longer gives you the option to save pre-sets to separate memory slots which might disappoint owners of the iPV 5 or older devices such as the iPV 3 Li and the iPV 4S.

iPV 6X performance

Variable Wattage worked extremely well and I had no issues at all when using my Rose3, Kayfun 5 and Tilemahos V2 Plus. The vape was consistently the same as any other good mod out there.

To test the Ni200 Temperature Control Mode I used my Sense Herakles Sub Ohm tank which is currently fitted with a 0.2ohm Nickel coil and filled up with Savage E-Liquids Walter White. Vaping at 45 Joules with the Temperature set to 240°C resulted in a flawless vape with no obvious problems. I got great flavour, heat and vapour production from my tank!

To test the Stainless Steel 316 Temperature Control mode I used my Achilles II RDA which is currently fitted with a 0.5ohm 316 Stainless Steel coil wicked with Japanese Cotton and the well was filled up with delicious Manabush Powwow Sauce. Having first set the Resistance when the atomizer was cold by holding down the plus and minus buttons I then set my temperature to 400°F and the Joules to 24J. My first vape was distinctly lacking with almost no heat and very little vapour, frankly I was not impressed. Something was certainly amiss since the same settings on my SX Mini ML Class and Q Class, my Asmodus Minikin V2 and even the Eleaf ASTER and Wismec RX2/3 which I recently received for review all result in a great vape.

Increasing the power or the temperature didn’t really do anything and I was left feeling very surprised that the manufacturer wasn’t aware of this issue, did they actually test it before rushing it out of the factory? The possibility does of course exist that I received a buggy device but given that Ni200 Mode works absolutely perfectly it does make you wonder.

I went ahead and did some tweaking and the first solution was to go into manual TCR mode and drastically increase the TCR value which did result in the device vaping correctly with Stainless Steel but it is a very inaccurate way of doing things. Of course this lead to another issue which is the fact that the using manual TCR doesn’t seem to lock the Resistance properly.

Another solution which isn’t accurate either is to actually take a couple of vapes of the atomizer to get the heat up slightly and then reset the Resistance by once more holding down the plus and minus buttons. I don’t advocate that you ever do this when using Temperature Control but remarkably it did actually solve the issue and the device was finally reading the coils actual Resistance of 0.5ohm rather than its previous result of 0.4ohm.

For anyone who wants to vape Stainless Steel coils right away you have to do some considerable faffing around if all of the iPV 6X’s have this particular issue. Faults aside when you do get it working with Stainless Steel the vape is very good with a nice amount of heat, excellent vapour production and lovely flavour. I did plan to update the firmware which is also supposed to upgrade the device to 215W to see if it solves the problems with the power lock and Stainless Steel Mode but at present there is no new firmware to download on Pioneer4You’s website.

Battery life on the whole is pretty much what you would expect from a dual 18650 device and providing you aren’t using excessive Wattages you should get a full day or more out of it if you are a fairly heavy vaper and more modest users will definitely get far more mileage.

Conclusion

In terms of style, form factor and general performance the iPV 6X is a great offering from Pioneer4You at a very reasonable price. Sadly it has significant shortcomings which may or may not bother you namely a cheap feeling battery compartment lid and very sub-par Temperature Control performance in Stainless Steel 316 mode (Ni200 mode worked great) but you can get around this as I mentioned earlier even though it is a less than ideal solution. The other issue is the fact that the power lock option simply doesn’t work and Resistance lock in manual TCR mode also does not seem to function properly. Of course given the large volume of devices produced by Pioneer4You the possibility exists that not all of them I like the one I received for review.

It is likely that a future firmware update may correct the most serious issues but do keep in mind that Pioneer4You tend to release new devices onto the market with updated features rather than continually support their previous models and they are very prolific with new products (sometimes within a couple of months).

Apart from these issues the iPV 6X is certainly a decent enough compact dual 18650 device with a generally good build quality (apart from the battery lid). Despite the SS316 faffing and the other issues I must admit that I did actually enjoy using this device in the short time I spent with it but I think that had a lot to do with the excellent form factor and fact that I mainly used it in Variable Wattage Mode.

It would be unfair to completely dismiss it as a thoroughly bad product since it does most things well but I am left feeling that Pioneer4You have simply rushed it out of the factory without ironing out all the bugs. Given that the product has already been recalled once and due to some very noticeable issues and the current lack of firmware support I would be somewhat wary of purchasing it at the present moment in time (unless you mainly vape in Variable Wattage or Ni200 Temperature Control) and I suspect you may actually be better off waiting for the iPV 8.

If Pioneer4You concentrate on releasing updated firmware for the iPV 6X then I think this could become a very good device that might be well worth picking up!