Unboxing! Here is the new Vamo Mukey Double Barrel.
Well some say this is not that new and it appeared a year ago as a 10 bucks conversion kit for your normal Vamo, and then as a separate Vamo Box device. You may remember my Vamo V5 review, if you don’t – go watch it. I playfully showed the main problem with all tube mods – there are too long without any actual reasoning beside that. They are really hard to carry around in anything but a bag, and as the center of mass is at the top, they topple over easily when standing on a flat surface. That aside, Vamo V5 was a cool device I enjoyed a lot, but I had to sell it because of some new local laws. But I quickly understood I can’t live without a vaping device, and as Fasttech is finally accepting my bank card, I went online to browse their goodies. First I was attracted by those Ego battery stands, allowing to reduce the size of the device by putting the battery alongside the atomizer. But you can’t really fit a nice fat atomizer here, and in general, the happy time of Ego is long gone, at least for me. I already feel nostalgia about them. And here I came across the two barrel Vamo Mukey Mod. Built around standard Vamo parts, it has a few additions which allow to place the battery alongside the atomizer, which reduces the height by two. Let’s order one. Fasttech accepted my order on 15 and then took 10 days to ship it. I think they don’t have any devices in stock and just start assembling them after they receive the payment, hence the cheapest prices. It took 20 more days for the postal services to deliver it, and I got my device in one month exactly. Right about time, as I’m sick and tired of vaping the wall socket. You may watch another review on how to do that with a USB pass-trough. Let’s start with pros. The first one is of course the size – the device is significantly smaller. The second one is the ability to stand vertically without falling. The third is an updated firmware. The interface is way better now. The main screen now shows current power output, coil resistance and battery meter all in one place. That’s really cool. The font is also bigger, thicker and bolder. I think this new time limit for each puff is a new feature – I don’t remember that on my old Vamo V5. The current and taste is stable, and the device fits nicely in a moderate sized male palm. Generally, the device is nice. Now go the the cons. The first one is the material used. If V5 was stainless steel, this double barrel is chromed brass. It will loose the finish eventually and will become yellow. But brass is lighter than steel, or the device will be too heavy with the added weight. By the way they now offer a two material version with the tubes from stainless steel but the mounts are still brass. I don’t like this aesthetically because of considerable color difference between the brushed steel and shiny chrome. The next con is the construction not designed well enough. See the upper mount slightly tilts against the lower one? To understand why this happens, we have to disassemble the device. These are all the parts. Everything is brass except for the long screws. They are stainless steel, and this is a huge problem, as they screw into threading cut in much softer brass. So if moved, they will damage the threading. So my advice – use some loctite or at least nail polish and screw them in to death. Now about the tilting of the upper mount. The problem is the control unit is not screwed into the lower mount, it is held by a springy contact in the bottom. On one hand, it gives the opportunity to rotate the button around, which I happily did to relocate the button on the side. But as the holes in the upper mount are not equal, and the battery tube has a 1mm space between the tube and the holder, while the electronics tube pushes the mount upward with the spring, and the screws are in the middle, the mount pivots to the battery tube. This may lead to poor electrical contact and in general, not too pleasing aesthetically. However, it could be fixed rather easily. All you need to do is to remove that 1mm gap between the battery tube and the mount. You may put an atomizer O-ring there or just make a ring out of plastic cut from a blister clam-shell package. This will make the construction more solid and give a third pivot point to eliminate the tilt. You may also make a step on the tube or put on a bigger tube over battery tube to let the upper mount rest on the lower. But don’t get too enthusiastic, as the lower ring which the battery tube screws into is not an integral part of the lower mount, and could be removed relatively easy. And the last con is the battery cover spring. It is fixed now, which is a big improvement over V5 where it constantly fell out. But here the spring is too short and soft, so if you jilt the device really hard the contact is lost and the device reboots. The issue may be addressed by using button top batteries instead of flat top as I do. By the way notice the hole used as an emergency pressure valve in case of battery explosion. Now it faces the user right in the eye. As for improvements I would like to see on this device. I’m desperate to find a decent mod with usb charging, but here the charging circuit could be easily mounted in the lower mount as there is a lot of free space. Probably, spare mounts with usb charger could be sold separately as an upgrade. You may also want to buy a tube extender to fit two batteries. I’m appalled they used 2 leftover Vamo tubes screwed together instead of a single one to optimize production costs. As you still have a high rising atomizer, if you buy a second tube, you can fit a second 18650 next to the atomizer. Vamo circuit board can accept 8v current no problem. In this case it would be difficult to access the mouthpiece, so you may buy an angled mouthpiece or an angled drip-tip adapter, which I will review when it finally arrives. So make sure you subscribe to my channel and don’t forget to like and share. In general, despite the design flaws, I’m pleased with the purchase.