After reading about this device here, I managed to acquire one from a forum closer to my location.
The one I received was shiny with no logo on the door, and with a 22mm atty, and the newer style power switch and a baggie of spares.
This is my 3rd bottom feeder, but none have been a Reo. I still to this day have not held, or even seen a Reo in real life. So perhaps this is an awesome approach, I dont have any preconceived ideas. From reading other reviews, if this item is good, then a reo must be good or even better.
Ok, first off.
Weight. This is a zinc casting, not aluminium. There's reasons for this, and you can find some of them here http://www.brillcast.com/aluminum-die-casting.html
It means it is a bit heavier than a plastic/wood or aluminium box. But due to the size, it isnt so heavy that you cant vape with it. My previous bf (the Firebox) was close to 280g empty, no batt, no atty, no juice. So this actually feels lighter to me. Personally, I will investigate some weight-saving holes as I prefer light/feather touch etc type vaping.
(ignoring the 22mm atty for now...and just concentrating on the device itself)
Putting it together to get your first vape is childs play. Fill the bottle, screw it back in, whip in a battery, vape. Its that simple.
The front door is on magnets, and can slide in from the top or bottom with ease. Letting the door fall by itself in to the recess and the magnets grab it without a problem and lock it in place. Nice. The very bottom edge of the door on the left and right side is ever-so-slightly different radius than the box itself, so I'll fix that on some sandpaper tonight while watching some really incredibly exciting show that my wife chose on t.v.
Also, door doesnt rattle.
Battery does rattle though..it'll bang on the inside of the case if you shake the device. I can fix this easily with some padding or a bit of foam or (shock horror) ignore it.
The switch is a funny affair. It can press down too far, causing the black plastic cover to swivel and the battery to compress against the spring. My earlier reading led me to believe you can work this out by half-locking the switch, so that the button cant push down that far. I did this and it worked perfectly. But looked ugly. The solution (to me) was to fit an oring from a drip tip around the exposed brass threads.
I can now get the switch positioned such that it makes contact with only the lightest pressure being applied to the black plastic, which means it is not enough for the battery spring to compress (and the black plastic hardly even moves when no battery is in place). This means, the switch is quite light now, there is no "rasping" noise when firing (comes from battery spring and plastic moving) and it is almost a hair trigger. I like it so much more like this.
While doing this I took the switch apart and found it had two springs, intertwined. I dont know if this is from the factory to give it a stiffer button, but I was quite happy to remove one spring so the button is now feather light.
I have used the supplied atty for a bit, but as I had a tobh already coiled and in use I just swopped them over so I can compare (for reasons explained later). The 510 pin can be adjusted down or up to get the atty to sit flush, although I can tell if you had a longish positive post on your atty it'll be difficult to get it flat. My tobh post is almost bang on level with the outer section, yet the KUI screw had to be adjusted half a turn from the bottom to give a flush fit. Essentially, the adjusting screw is half mm too tall, and this is loads better than half mm too short. I can fix it if it is too tall.
Lastly, the supplied piping is leaving an absolute horrible taste. I said above how I swopped attys...this was because of a horrible taste issue I am troubleshooting. I've narrowed it down to the piping. I'll go boil it etc shortly, but I fear I may need to get some generic food safe piping and replace the supplied piping.
All said, taking into consideration the cost, I have not received a broken device, or a device that half works, or a blatant rip off of someone else's work+logo etc..... I've got a squonk box that works well enough and exceeds my expectations. Any finishing work that I have to do to get it 100% is negligible in my eyes, and totally forgivable.
I'll try address the Reo similarities.
The Pisces tube mod (which I own) is almost 100% identical to the M16 tube mod (which I own), if the two of us were sitting by a fire and I grabbed a napkin and explained to you how they worked without you ever seeing one. I could draw every part of it, and then later show you either mod and you would say I was talking about that mod. Yet nobody says one cloned the other. They are both originals.
I know this is perhaps the first chinese origin mechanical squonker, and I know it is a rectangular box with a button on top and a sliding door. And if nothing else, that is why people will say "its like a Reo". And it is "like a Reo" enough that if you tried to tell me what a KUI was and said "its like a reo" I would have a good idea what it was. But all the dimensions are different, the switch works only in a similar way..in fact this thing is further from a Reo than the Pisces is from the M16. To me, its a tube mod, when a tube mod alreadsy exists. There will be uproar (hopefully died down by now) but once the 28th different chinese squoinking box has been announced, perhaps then we can compare "squonking box mods" in the same light as we compare "tube mods". Most tube mods have the button on the bottom...why would it be a sin if most squonking boxmods have the button on top? No, we have to treat this device as the first chinese version of a device that already exists. Its another rectangular android phone with the speeaker on top and mic on the bottom and a home button in a sea of rectangular iphones. I promise you, if the evil-clone-empire wanted to make a thing jsut like a reo, it would be "just like a reo" in every sense...to the point that I could go buy a reo door and button and fit it. But this isnt that device. It works just like a reo, sure. And so does the Orange Steam Box I hacked together last weekend without ever seeing a reo in real life. There's only so many ways to do a certain thing. That said, I also convinced that whomever made this had at one time seen or used a reo, and thought to make theirs "like that". And the bloke who made the Stingray tube no doubt owned or saw a Nemesis. same shit, different country.
My only closing thought would be the 510 connector threads. I just dont have faith in it lasting me to the grave, so will dedicate one atty to this device and leave it on top fulltime. On receipt, the supplied atty screwed in just fine, but my tobh had a small amount of resistance on the final turn. One or two times screwing it back in and out again fixed this, so the threads were either a bit dirty, or they are softer than the atty was. As i received the device s/h I cant say for sure if this was the previous owners filth, or a manufacturing oddity, or if it is related to the type of material used for the 510.
The one I received was shiny with no logo on the door, and with a 22mm atty, and the newer style power switch and a baggie of spares.
This is my 3rd bottom feeder, but none have been a Reo. I still to this day have not held, or even seen a Reo in real life. So perhaps this is an awesome approach, I dont have any preconceived ideas. From reading other reviews, if this item is good, then a reo must be good or even better.
Ok, first off.
Weight. This is a zinc casting, not aluminium. There's reasons for this, and you can find some of them here http://www.brillcast.com/aluminum-die-casting.html
It means it is a bit heavier than a plastic/wood or aluminium box. But due to the size, it isnt so heavy that you cant vape with it. My previous bf (the Firebox) was close to 280g empty, no batt, no atty, no juice. So this actually feels lighter to me. Personally, I will investigate some weight-saving holes as I prefer light/feather touch etc type vaping.
(ignoring the 22mm atty for now...and just concentrating on the device itself)
Putting it together to get your first vape is childs play. Fill the bottle, screw it back in, whip in a battery, vape. Its that simple.
The front door is on magnets, and can slide in from the top or bottom with ease. Letting the door fall by itself in to the recess and the magnets grab it without a problem and lock it in place. Nice. The very bottom edge of the door on the left and right side is ever-so-slightly different radius than the box itself, so I'll fix that on some sandpaper tonight while watching some really incredibly exciting show that my wife chose on t.v.
Also, door doesnt rattle.
Battery does rattle though..it'll bang on the inside of the case if you shake the device. I can fix this easily with some padding or a bit of foam or (shock horror) ignore it.
The switch is a funny affair. It can press down too far, causing the black plastic cover to swivel and the battery to compress against the spring. My earlier reading led me to believe you can work this out by half-locking the switch, so that the button cant push down that far. I did this and it worked perfectly. But looked ugly. The solution (to me) was to fit an oring from a drip tip around the exposed brass threads.
I can now get the switch positioned such that it makes contact with only the lightest pressure being applied to the black plastic, which means it is not enough for the battery spring to compress (and the black plastic hardly even moves when no battery is in place). This means, the switch is quite light now, there is no "rasping" noise when firing (comes from battery spring and plastic moving) and it is almost a hair trigger. I like it so much more like this.
While doing this I took the switch apart and found it had two springs, intertwined. I dont know if this is from the factory to give it a stiffer button, but I was quite happy to remove one spring so the button is now feather light.
I have used the supplied atty for a bit, but as I had a tobh already coiled and in use I just swopped them over so I can compare (for reasons explained later). The 510 pin can be adjusted down or up to get the atty to sit flush, although I can tell if you had a longish positive post on your atty it'll be difficult to get it flat. My tobh post is almost bang on level with the outer section, yet the KUI screw had to be adjusted half a turn from the bottom to give a flush fit. Essentially, the adjusting screw is half mm too tall, and this is loads better than half mm too short. I can fix it if it is too tall.
Lastly, the supplied piping is leaving an absolute horrible taste. I said above how I swopped attys...this was because of a horrible taste issue I am troubleshooting. I've narrowed it down to the piping. I'll go boil it etc shortly, but I fear I may need to get some generic food safe piping and replace the supplied piping.
All said, taking into consideration the cost, I have not received a broken device, or a device that half works, or a blatant rip off of someone else's work+logo etc..... I've got a squonk box that works well enough and exceeds my expectations. Any finishing work that I have to do to get it 100% is negligible in my eyes, and totally forgivable.
I'll try address the Reo similarities.
The Pisces tube mod (which I own) is almost 100% identical to the M16 tube mod (which I own), if the two of us were sitting by a fire and I grabbed a napkin and explained to you how they worked without you ever seeing one. I could draw every part of it, and then later show you either mod and you would say I was talking about that mod. Yet nobody says one cloned the other. They are both originals.
I know this is perhaps the first chinese origin mechanical squonker, and I know it is a rectangular box with a button on top and a sliding door. And if nothing else, that is why people will say "its like a Reo". And it is "like a Reo" enough that if you tried to tell me what a KUI was and said "its like a reo" I would have a good idea what it was. But all the dimensions are different, the switch works only in a similar way..in fact this thing is further from a Reo than the Pisces is from the M16. To me, its a tube mod, when a tube mod alreadsy exists. There will be uproar (hopefully died down by now) but once the 28th different chinese squoinking box has been announced, perhaps then we can compare "squonking box mods" in the same light as we compare "tube mods". Most tube mods have the button on the bottom...why would it be a sin if most squonking boxmods have the button on top? No, we have to treat this device as the first chinese version of a device that already exists. Its another rectangular android phone with the speeaker on top and mic on the bottom and a home button in a sea of rectangular iphones. I promise you, if the evil-clone-empire wanted to make a thing jsut like a reo, it would be "just like a reo" in every sense...to the point that I could go buy a reo door and button and fit it. But this isnt that device. It works just like a reo, sure. And so does the Orange Steam Box I hacked together last weekend without ever seeing a reo in real life. There's only so many ways to do a certain thing. That said, I also convinced that whomever made this had at one time seen or used a reo, and thought to make theirs "like that". And the bloke who made the Stingray tube no doubt owned or saw a Nemesis. same shit, different country.
My only closing thought would be the 510 connector threads. I just dont have faith in it lasting me to the grave, so will dedicate one atty to this device and leave it on top fulltime. On receipt, the supplied atty screwed in just fine, but my tobh had a small amount of resistance on the final turn. One or two times screwing it back in and out again fixed this, so the threads were either a bit dirty, or they are softer than the atty was. As i received the device s/h I cant say for sure if this was the previous owners filth, or a manufacturing oddity, or if it is related to the type of material used for the 510.
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