A new mod arrived today. I bought this on a whim because the specs looked good and I liked the position of the fire button.
So, I present to you the Apollo Reliant.
It's a single 18650, 60W TC mod that appears to be using a custom chip that resembles the DNA devices in operation and display but has some features similar to the Smok and SXK devices. It currently costs £80 from Apollo but at the time I ordered it there was a discount running which took 25% off the price. This brought it down to £60 which I think is a fair price for the device.
The device itself comes in a nice presentation box with a magnetic flap.
There is a USB charge cable in the box as well as a detailed and easy to understand instruction booklet.
With regard to the size of the device, it's a little taller than a D2 or an iStick TC40 and about the same depth and width. Weight is similar to the D2 meaning that it's a fairly weighty device.
The device will fire down to a 0.2 Ohm load with kanthal and 0.06 Ohm with nickel, and up to 60W in power mode. There is no official support for titanium but the TCR can be changed to the correct value to give the right temperature readings.
The device has 3 firing modes that can be selected by holding down the "down" and "fire" buttons at once. You can then cycle through power, temperature and mechanical modes.
It has resistance lock and presents a very familiar screen when the atomiser is changed:
The battery is accessed by a coin-slot disc at the bottom and the device features reverse battery protection as you would expect.
So, what's TCR? TCR stands for Temperature Coefficient of Resistance and essentially means how the resistance of the coil changes with respect to temperature. Nickel and Titanium have different TCRs and this is why if your mod doesn't officially support titanium you need to set the temperature lower than if you were using nickel. The TCR of titanium is lower than nickel.
The TCR on this mod can be set between 10 and 100, with 69 being correct for nickel and 40 being correct for titanium. These figures are correct for this mod and may be different to the figures for other devices.
Like most devices these days it features a stealth mode that can be accessed by first locking the device (5 clicks to lock and unlock) and then holding down the "down" and "fire" buttons to select between normal and stealth modes. Also while locked, you can flip the display to be left or right.
Another feature that I really like is that the temperature is the main adjustment when in temperature mode. What does this mean? Well, it means that the power is fixed (you can adjust this by holding "up" and "fire" at the same time) but you adjust the temperature with the up and down buttons. I much prefer this approach to that which YiHi and DNA devices employ that make me delve in to menus to change the temperature.
So, how does it vape?
Quite well actually. It seems to over fire in power mode. 45W in power mode seems to be similar to 50W on the IPV D2 and around 47W on the SX-Mini. No big issue but something to be aware of. The device does feature step-down and can be fired down to 5W.
Temperature control seem to work perfectly and reminds me of a DNA40 device in the general feel of the vape. I've vaped it with both nickel and titanium builds in a Velocity dripper and it vaped exactly as I would expect.
In the hand it feels OK. There are a few sharp edges around the bottom that can dig in to the hand a little but the position of the fire button is great. The buttons themselves are metal and have a very light action and short throw. It's a little too light actually as you can easily fire the device while just resting your thumb on the fire button.
Overall I like the device but I think the price is too high when things such as the D2 and the Koopor mini are coming in at under £50 and are both solid performers.
Yep, those guys.
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