Honest review time: The Armor Prime Mod from Ehpro

Here’s a look at a fairly recent release from Ehpro that was sent over from the good folks at Buybest.com. From outward appearances it looks just like a mechanical tube mod but inside it’s got some built-in protections so it’ll be a bit more accessible to those who still aren’t completely comfortable with using a regular mechanical mod. Of course with any device learning about battery safety is critical but having some basic protections in place will definitely help. This is an extremely simple device so this one should be short and sweet. Here are my honest thoughts on the Armor Prime from Ehpro care of BuyBest.

Package contents:

Listed features and specs:

• Size: 24.7mm x 90.5mm
• Material: Brass
• Resistance Range: 0.2-1.2 ohm
• Thread: 510
• Battery: 20700/18650/21700 ( not included )
• Compact size and stylish design
• Compatible with both 18650 battery and 20700 battery
• LED light can indicate the battery capacity
• Spring-loaded 510 pin fitting for most atomizers
• Multiple protection for safety use

Packaging and contents:

The kit comes packed in a modest black cardboard box with a window on the front. Mine got a little scuffed up in transit but everything inside arrived safe and sound so no complaints there. In the kit you get the Ehpro Armor Prime mod, a plastic battery adapter, a battery safety card, a QC card, a resistance range chart and a user manual. The kit is pretty bare bones but it’s just a mod only and nothing else so I can’t really complain.

The Armor Prime Mod:

At a glance the Armor Prime is a really nice looking tube or mechanical styled mod but looks can be deceiving. Where most mech mods sport a bottom fire mechanical button the Armor Prime rocks a side fire momentary contact button and has some basic built-in protections to go with it. The button is modest and round but still has a decent click to it and doesn’t have any sort of rattle or anything to make it feel cheap. Having a side fire button on a mechanical style mod means no more arching your hand in awkward positions to try and fire it, just give it a squeeze with your finger or thumb and that’s it. On either side of the button there are tiny little holes where the LED indicators shine through which will indicate when it’s firing but also the remaining battery life and any protection statuses you might encounter. With the built-in protections it’ll fire as low as 0.8ohms but it might kick off the self-protection and Ehpro basically recommends you keep it above 0.15ohms to ensure the best experience. Ehpro even provided a little chart with the kit and on their site to help understand the ranges it will support and what sort of battery is required for them.

It’s incredibly compact for a mech style mod that handles 21700 batteries and is even shorter than some of the 18650 mechs in my collection. It stands at a modest 90.5mm tall with a 24.7mm diameter and sitting next to a 2×700 battery it’s only about 2cm taller. At 24.7mm it is a bit of an unusual diameter meaning 25mm gear will have a very slight overhang but all of your 24 and 24.5MM gear will match up pretty cleanly but it could still mean a 0.7 or 0.2mm gap if clean lines are a concern. It’s made of brass and supports 18650s with an adapter and 20700/21700 perfectly without. It fit all of my 18650/20700 and 21700 batteries with ease and no rattle even my Golisi 21700s which tend to be a tight fit in other mods popped in without any trouble. No internal charging or anything like that and to replace the battery you simply unscrew the bottom cap pop the battery in and replace the cap. The cap has two vent holes through it should anything go wrong and the inside of the mod and cap are well marked for positive and negative. The threads are obviously brass and quite long but they’re nice and smooth with no trouble screwing or unscrewing it from the mod. At the top of the device it’s also got a brass threaded 510 connection with what looks like a spring loaded gold plated 510 pin with a decent amount of play and so far everything I’ve tried on it sits flush.

It does sport some pretty aggressive branding with the word ‘Armor’ deeply engraved on one side just above their company name and a centurion style helmet on the other. I personally don’t mind the engraving and it’s done really well with no sharp edges or anything like that but taste is subjective so it’ll really come down to personal preference if the style of this one appeals to you. It’s available in a several colours/finishes such as black, brass, blue and red with the black and blue version sporting a sort of splattered effect. The finish on the black version feels durable and in the weeks of use I’ve had it for it hasn’t yet accumulated any scratches or anything with regular use.

I briefly tested it as low as 0.1ohms and it still fired but my batteries really weren’t rated for it so I didn’t push my luck any further and despite the built-in protections I really wouldn’t recommend using it below the recommended amp limit of the batteries you’re using. Even with those built-in protection like short circuit, over-heat, reverse battery and a 10 second cutoff it’ll function just like an unregulated mechanical mod so battery safety and ohms law are still strongly recommended despite them being in place. It uses the usual five clicks to turn it on and off and the LEDs will shine a different colour depending on remaining battery. If the lights shine green it’s 70% or above, yellow indicates it’s between 30-70% and red means it’s below 30%. If your battery is too low it won’t fire and will blink red five times, a short circuit will be indicated with ten red blinks, if it gets too hot it will blink yellow ten times and if you hit the ten second cutoff it will stop firing and blink green five time. In testing I really didn’t encounter any issues with it and it performed pretty much exactly like a mechanical mod would.

Likes:

• Compact size
• Looks
• Build quality
• Performance
• Built-in protections
• Affordable

Dislikes:

• None

Overall:

I was surprisingly impressed with the Armor Prime Mod, it’s well built, in my opinion looks great and with the built-in protections it’s safer to use than an average mech mod. To me it would be ideal for someone just making the transition to mechanical mods that still might be a little unsure of ohms law and battery safety and could use the added benefit of those built-in protections. For a protected mech mod it’s super compact which also makes it an excellent choice for those who like to keep things discrete and with the side fire button it’s just incredibly comfortable to use. This one easily made it in to my regular rotation and has been getting a lot of day to day use out of me!! Great job on this one Ehpro and a big thanks to Buybest for sending it my way!!!