Honest review time: The Crown IV kit from UWell

Here’s a look at a recently released kit from UWell. It was sent over for review from the wonderful folks over at Sourcemore, an online retail and wholesale company that specializes in electronic cigarettes and e-cig related products. The kit they sent over pairs one of UWells most popular atomizers the Crown IV with a dual battery regulated mod that’s styled to match the tank. It’s a pretty swanky looking setup that’s sure to turn some heads. Here are my honest thoughts on the Crown IV kit from Uwell care of Sourcemore.

Package contents:

Listed features and specs:

Packaging and contents:

The kit comes packed in a black and gold emblazoned box with a sleeve over it. On the sleeve it shows a stylized image of the kit on the front, a listing of the contents, some company info and some warnings on the back. It also sports a “This product contains nicotine” warning across the front and back. It’s a nicely presented kit and inside you get the Crown 4 Mod, the Crown 4 Tank, a spare 6ml bubble glass tube, a pack of replacement o-rings, a micro USB cable, a user manual, a drip tip cover, one Dual SS904L 0.4ohm coil pre-installed and one FeCrAl UN2 0.23Ohm mesh coil. While the kit doesn’t really come with any extras beyond the drip tip cover it does come with everything you’d expect with a modern kit and everything you’d need to get started.

The mod:

The Crown IV mod is a real eye catcher with it’s crown and fancy filigree design emblazoned on each side of the device. It’s a dual 18650 mod with a max output of 200W that comes in a variety of colours including red, silver, blue, green, gold and purple. I got the gold version and it definitely stands out in a crowd. The frame of the device however is always black with only the side panels really changing colour. For a dual battery mod it’s quite compact standing at only 84mm tall, 52.5mm long and 25mm wide. It’s feels solid in hand being made of zinc alloy, PC, some ABS and Aluminum and weighs in at a decent 169g.

At the top of the device it’s got a raised 510 connection that to me looks like stainless steel with nice smooth threads and a gold plated spring loaded 510 center pin. It’s got a nice smooth finish but the 510 connection itself is raised from the top of the device so anything beyond the diameter of the 25mm 510 plate will likely overhang. That raised bit does extend the full width of the device though even despite the curved edges that the mod has all around but the actual 510 plate ends about 1mm from the edge. With the included tank there isn’t any overhang or anything but with some atomizers it might be a possibility. Those curved edges make it really comfortable to grip and hold but I noticed they went a little overboard and even rounded the bottom edges making the footprint of the device a bit wobbly. They tried to correct it by adding some rubber feet to the bottom of the device and while they do prevent scratches on the bottom it still leaves a slight bit of wobble when setting the device down. A series of holes is also drilled through the bottom for venting should anything go amiss with the batteries.

Accessing the batteries is as simple as removing one of the side panels. There’s a little fingernail cutout on the bottom that help to remove it and inside there’s a ribbon which will help with removing the batteries once installed. The battery sled is well marked with positive and negative and the battery door is held firm with a set of three magnets on the door and on the device. Absolutely no wiggle or anything with the door installed. A micro USB port is located on the bottom of the working face which lets the device charge at a rate of 1A. No mention on their site or anywhere else if it will be firmware upgradeable but at the time of this review I didn’t see it listed anywhere. The device of course includes all of the usual safety features we expect in a modern device including low voltage, temperature protection, reverse battery and short circuit protection.

Down the working face of the mod is the fire button, the OLED screen, the adjustment buttons and the micro USB port I already mentioned. The fire button is round with an embossed Crown symbol on it and it matches the aesthetic of the device perfectly. The OLED screen is pretty standard looking but has all of the information on it well laid out and easy to read. It shows the firing time, the mode, current watts, volts, resistance, two battery bars but also an overall battery percentage. They don’t list the size anywhere but I’d guess it’d be 0.69″.

It’s also just as easy to operate with the usual five clicks to turn it on and off and three clicks to change the mode and on screen settings. Clicking the fire button three times highlights the mode which has options for Power, SS904 and TCR. It’s a pretty simplified interface with fairly limited options but it gives you the main features most people tend to use and drops a few things that the average user likely doesn’t care about. Pressing up and fire will lock the buttons while pressing both up and down flips the screen. Performance wise I mostly used it in Power mode but also briefly tested it in TC mode with the included SS904 coil. In power mode it felt accurate and responsive and in TC mode though it’s not my mode of choice also seemed to function reasonably well from my quick test.

The tank:

The Crown IV is the latest evolution in the Crown series of tanks released by Uwell. The original Crown and Crown mini subohm tanks were highly regarded for their incredible performance, rich flavour and solid construction. With the Crown II maybe not so much but with the Crown III Uwell redeemed themselves producing one of the most convenient, flavourful and downright beautiful tanks on the market. It managed to hold the title as best in class for quite some time but was pretty recently deposed thanks to a particular bird branded tank but for many it still holds its place in the pantheon of top performing subohm tanks on the market today. With the release of the Crown IV Uwell looks to have refined their Crown line even more producing the most polished Crown tank I’ve seen yet.

The Crown IV is a 25.7mm diameter stainless steel subohm tank, 28mm if using the included bubble tank. When I say it’s the most polished Crown tank yet it’s because each one has been hand polished resulting in a gorgeous mirror like finish. At the top it comes equipped with a really nice two tone 510 drip tip. It looks like it’s made of delrin with a metal band running around the bottom edge. It’s wide bore, comfortable on the lips and while not quite as flashy as the tips that came with the Crown III they still have a very refined and elegant look to them. I like them better as they’ll match up nicer with more of my gear compared to the three colour tips of the III. Like previous versions the Crown IV has a top fill system with a quick turn cap but with the IV it now takes less turns than ever to access the fill ports. Just a quick 90 degree turn will remove the cap exposing four very recessed kidney shaped fill holes. I haven’t had any issues filling up with needle tip bottles but blunt tips won’t be able to get down in to the recess to fill it. Not that it will cause any issues as just pouring your juice down in to the holes is all that’s needed.

The kit comes with a straight glass tank installed which allows the Crown IV to hold a comfortable 5ml of liquid but with the included bubble glass it can hold a whopping 6ml of liquid. It actually manages to hold 3-4ml of liquid more than the Crown III mini but comes in about 1mm shorter. Sure it’s a bit wider at 25.7mm or 28mm with the bubble tank but since they’ve also shrunk the size of the coil it manages to hold more liquid in a much smaller footprint. A slight taper on the bottom of the tank also means it lines up with the 25mm wide mod perfectly. Another improvement in the Crown IV is the placement of the wick holes. In the III they are set quite high meaning you need to top up before your liquid level gets to the bottom of the tank but with the IV the coil is a bit more recessed in the base and the wick holes sit lower in the tank meaning you can pretty much vape it until empty without as much worry of dry hits.

Airflow on the Crown IV is nearly identical to the Crown III with three cyclops style slots around the base that can be adjusted by turning the airflow control ring. The ring is quite firm with stops at either end with some aesthetic lines cut in to it which also helps with grip. The airflow for me is comfortable at full open giving a nice direct lung hit with just a tiny bit of restriction and although it’s a little bit swishy it doesn’t whistle and isn’t too loud or obnoxious. Another new feature which is built in to the base is what they call their patented self-cleaning technology which is supposed to reduce leakage and waste by re-absorbing condensation buildup and vaporizing it. There’s a plastic tripod sort of thing in the base with the three legs acting like straws to suck up any condensation buildup and sort of draw it back in to the coil. I’m not exactly sure how it works but they have an animated demo on their site that shows it in action. So far I haven’t seen any real buildup in the base so I suppose it is working.

The Crown IV uses a similar plug in coil system as the III and III mini which is one of the most convenient systems out there for swapping coils. Just unscrew the base slide the old coil out and pop in a new one. The coils don’t have any threads on them and are basically friction-fit in to the tank using o-rings to help secure them. The coils that come with the IV are shorter with a wider base but are still just as convenient to use as the previous series of coils. Another upgrade to the coils is they now use SS904 instead of SS316, the same stainless steel used in high end watches which Uwell claims will provide better flavour and longer life. With the included SS904 coil I’ve been getting some fantastic flavour and vapour production but to be honest I’m not seeing a vast improvement over the previous Crown. I’d probably rate the coils right alongside the 0.2 and 0.4ohm SUS316 coils of the III. However with the new UN2 0.23Ohm mesh coil installed I saw an incredible boost in performance as you’d expect going from a straight wire coil to a mesh based one. Flavour is rich and full as are the clouds and despite using pretty much the same amount of power I found it was pretty much a night and day difference from the SS904 coil.

Overall:

Although Uwell aren’t exactly known for their mods they’ve been quietly producing some very good ones like the Ironfist, the Nunchaku and now the Crown IV mod. While it might be considered a bit limited on functionality it definitely provides a very simple easy to use interface that I think most vapers both new and old can appreciate. Paired with the Crown IV tank this kit is one to contend with!!