Snow Wolf 200W TC Mod Review
Snow Wolf 200W TC Mod
$92.99
Pros
- Intuitive operation
- Solid construction
- Temperature control
- 200 Watts
Cons
- Above 150 watts it's in pulse output
- Switching from Ni 200 to Kanthal coils can confuse unit
- Fingerprint magnet
It seems like just last week that mods capable of putting out 50 watts were all the rage, and only the day before yesterday that off-the-shelf sub ohm tanks with coils rated at 0.5 ohm were the new future of vaping. So fast is the vape industry innovating. And in the compressed time of vaping, temperature control seems to have burst onto the scene just this morning.
That’s not to say that temperature control has rendered standard mods and coils obsolete, it hasn’t. There are many fine examples of mods capable of 50 or so watts still hitting the market, and they make for an excellent vaping experience. That’s one of the many amazing things about vaping, there are so many choices that you’re bound to find at least one that works just right for you. Of course you may find eight or ten too. That’s all part of the beauty of this vaping lifestyle.
I recently received my first temperature control mod, courtesy of the folks at GearBest. The Asmodus Snow Wolf 200 watt mod. I’ve been using the Snow Wolf for a little more than two weeks, and it continues to amaze me. It’s a solid, simple, intuitive piece of equipment that has made the transition to temperature control vaping extremely easy. I can’t imagine a better first TC mod, though it’s robust enough to satisfy vapers of most any experience level.
The Snow Wolf is powered by two 18650 batteries, not included. The batteries can not be charged while in the mod, so you’ll also need a battery charger. It will fire both standard Kanthal coils and Ni 200 coils, but temperature control mode will only work with the nickel coils. The Snow Wolf will support atomizers from 0.05 – 2.5 ohm. The mod has a spring loaded 510 connector.
The wattage range on the Snow Wolf is 5.0 – 200 watts, but when output exceeds 150 watts the mod is in pulse output, and a “P” symbol will be displayed on the OLED to indicate that.
In temperature mode the range is 212° – 662° F and 100° – 350° C. Again, temperature mode is only available when using a nickel coil, and the Snow Wolf will recognize which type of coil is attached.
There are three buttons on the side of the Snow Wolf 200W, the fire button and the “+” and “-” buttons. To turn the unit on or off simply press the fire button five times. After 30 minutes it will “lock” and you’ll need to press the fire button five times to “wake it up.” The “+” and “-” buttons are used to increase or decrease wattage or temperature.
To switch from wattage to temperature or back, hold in the “+” and “-” buttons simultaneously. To switch between Celsius and Fahrenheit you have to scroll through the top or bottom setting of one to get to the other.
The OLED display shows battery level, resistance of the attached atomizer, volts (when firing), your selected temperature and wattage. When firing in temperature mode the display will show the actual temperature, volts and wattage as it attempts to maintain your selected temperature.
What’s In The Box
- 1 X Snow Wolf 200 watt TC mod
- 1 X User’s manual
Performance: The Asmodus Snow Wolf is a work horse of a mod. It fires every time you hit the button. And it’s a real miser when it comes to battery consumption, especially in temperature control mode. But even in variable wattage mode with a Kanthal coil attached and vaping in the 45 – 60 watt range, I got longer battery life between charges than on most of my 50 watt mods. And with an Ni 200 coil attached that battery life more than doubled. I’m getting as much as two days of vaping out of a charge.
Features: This is where the Snow Wolf could have been a little stronger. Not that it’s totally lacking features, it’s just a pretty simple box that does what it’s supposed to. Yes, the 200 watt top end and temperature control are features, but that’s like saying the 1200 cc engine on a Harley 1200 Custom is a feature. That’s part of the name of the motorcycle, so you kind of expect it to have a 1200 cc engine. Likewise with the Snow Wolf, 200 watts and temperature control are technically features, but also part of the name of the unit, so you expect them as the minimum.
However, there are a couple of features that may not seem so obvious, especially if you haven’t had much experience with temperature control mods. Some of the earlier versions of TC mods that I’ve read about and considered were a little more complicated to set up in temperature control mode. Not the Snow Wolf. It recognizes the difference between nickel and Kanthal coils and puts itself into TC mode when it detects an Ni 200 coil (though sometimes it takes it a minute to figure out when you’ve switched back to Kanthal, but I’ll have more on that in the quality discussion). It will ask if the atomizer is new when you’re switching to a nickel coil from a Kanthal coil. And you do need to make sure that the nickel coil is cool when you put it on in place of a Kanthal coil, or the unit may misread the resistance.
And the Snow Wolf has all the basic safety features, high and low voltage protection, reverse battery, low resistance, short-circuit and heat protections and will automatically quit firing if you press the fire button for longer than 20 seconds. But as far as extra bells and whistles or spare parts and accessories included in the package, there aren’t any.
Quality: Almost everything about the Snow Wolf says quality. It’s solid, heavy even, feels really substantial in my hand. It’s designed and constructed well. The OLED display is bright, clear and easy to read. The Snow Wolf has one of the tightest sealing battery covers I’ve encountered, thanks to the power of the magnets used to keep it shut.
There are two minor issues with the Snow Wolf when it comes to quality. The first seems to occur when switching between an Ni 200 coil and a Kanthal coil with the unit turned on. The display will show that it’s trying to fire the newly attached Kanthal coil in TC mode, with the wattage adjusting to try to reach your previously set temperature. After firing once or twice this corrects and the unit switches into wattage mode. In wattage mode the temperature reading will go blank when you fire.
The second issue is on the minor side and may be more of a design issue. Those “+” and “-” buttons are very close to the fire button and they are really easy to bump when picking up the unit, which results in inadvertent changes to the temperature or wattage settings.
Looks: I was impressed with the looks of the Snow Wolf from the moment I first saw it online. Up close and personal it’s even better looking, at least to me. It’s boxy, but it’s a stunning box, with that stainless steel and highly polished, dark mirror like finish on the front and back. One draw back to that finish though is that it really picks up and shows the fingerprints. Still, I really like the looks of the Snow Wolf.
Price/Value: Asmodus lists the Snow Wolf on their website at $129.99, and that’s not bad for a TC mod with a max output of 200 watts. GearBest, who supplied the Snow Wolf to Seven Report, has it available for $92.99. At that price it’s a real bargain. Even if you figure in the cost of four 18650 batteries (so that you’ll always have a fully charged pair available) and an external battery charger, you could pay a good deal more for a less robust unit. If you’ve been thinking about picking up a temperature control device but were a little put off by the complexity of the technology or the price, the Asmodus Snow Wolf would make a great introduction to the next big thing in vaping.
If you’re wondering about what type of tank to use on the Snow Wolf, just about any 510 tank will work, remember the Snow Wolf will fire Kanthal coils, you just won’t get the benefit of temperature control mode. But many tank manufacturers are now making Ni 200 coils to fit their standard tanks, and those coils are about the same price as the standard Kanthal coils.
I tested the Asmodus Snow Wolf with a Kangertech Subtank Plus Black Edition using an Ni 200 coil and a Youde Zephyrus tank with a standard Kanthal coil. GearBest provided the Asmodus Snow Wolf 200W TC mod for the purpose of this review.
Order the Asmodus Snow Wolf 200W TC Mod from GearBest.
(For details on Seven Report review methodology click here.)
