ZNA vs. Vamo

I've been mulling over this post for a while now, and I wanted to get my thoughts out there on my new, high-end mod, the House of Hybrids ZNA, especially in comparison to my old, faithful KSD Vamo V3 that I've had almost since I started vaping.

As I said, I've had my Vamo V3 for a long time, about a year at this point. I saw the reviews on it, the features, the looks, it had all the goodies I could want in a mod, especially when I got the full kit for under $50. It was a phenomenal value, and I will never understand why I don't see more of them. The only downside to the thing was the shiny finish and how easily it can scratch and chip, but I knew that before I hit the "Purchase" button, and to this day I say it just gives it character. I have beaten and bruised this thing. It's been dropped, knocked over, gotten wet, covered in juice top to bottom, gone hiking with me, left in the sun and sub-zero temperatures, gone on roadtrips, everything. It has never once failed me. The Vamo has out-lived and out-performed everything I've bought to date. The only negatives I have to say for it are nitpicky little things, like how the 510 connection is slightly too high to flush mount anything, and that the threads are kinda squeaky. Overall, I absolutely love my Vamo, and when it inevitably dies, it will either be framed and hung on the wall or given a Viking funeral. Well done, KSD, this thing's almost a perfect 10.

Like most people that vape, I am always looking for the next best thing, so I got a ZNA last month as an early Fathers Day/One Year Smoke Free present. I'd wanted one ever since I first saw it. Zen talked of perfection, durability, engineering, and how it was painstakingly made from all American materials, etc. Lucky me, Sky Vapor in Everett had one when I went looking to get it. No resellers from eBay for me! I paid my $300+tax for it, plus new batteries since I didn't have any 18490s (I didn't like the extension tube purely because of aesthetics). I was happy, I was excited, I finally had a quality device (according to propaganda apparently)!

Cut to about a day later. I was taking a good look at my ZNA and I noticed that the battery meter looked a little weird on the screen. I pulled up a picture of the DNA30 display screen and sure enough, my screen had a row of dead pixels running across the battery meter. Well that's not the perfection I paid for... I came across a post somewhere that said that you can sometimes turn a device on and off quickly to try to reset the screen, but that didn't work. It did allow me to notice the scratch that my battery cap came with though. I didn't send it back to warranty at this point, I had a vape meet coming up in two weeks!

Two weeks went by, and I figured I should clean off the threads on my ZNA, I didn't want gunk on my precious before the meet. My battery tube was surprisingly hard to remove. After slowly putting it on and taking it off a few times, I discovered that the threading wasn't the problem, it was how the threads on the ZNA were pointing. It was off center just enough to rub up against the body. I was kind of hoping it was the tube, but alas, it was not. I tried my tube on a fellow vapers ZNA at the meet and there was no problem with it. But it was ok, right? Just a minor annoyance on a product touted for its attention to detail.

Another week goes by and I'm taking a break at work when I think hey, I'm gonna bump up the power half a watt and see how she goes. I went from 10.2 to 30 with a single press of the button. It stuck. What made it better was that I didn't notice and got an awful burned hit from my kayfun. I was hoping it was a fluke, but when I tried to turn it back down, no luck. I had to pull the battery out before it would let me turn it back down. After a day I just didn't even mess with it, and for whatever reason it was fine. Ok, weird, but better not happen again. Once again, I didn't sent it back to warranty at this point since the issue seemed to self resolve, and I did really enjoy using it.

Last Saturday is when the final straw came that seriously shook up my faith in buying high-end products. My friggen fire button got stuck, while I was driving in heavy traffic no less. What the hell? Why was I having all these problems with my ZNA? I pulled out the battery and put it back in, hoping it would be like the wattage button problem and kind of take care of itself, and it did, for about 5 minutes. I now had a very expensive stainless steel paper weight. Off to warranty!

I kept wondering if I had somehow managed to mistreat this thing. I knew I hadn't done anything harmful to it. I kept it on my desk at home, not even out in my garage like the rest of my gear. I never dropped it or knocked it over. I wiped it down with a dry cloth daily. At work driving around I kept it in a little bed I made out of a beanie and a cup holder. I only used my kayfun on it since my igo-w4 is built way too low, so I know I never got juice in the internals (which I understand aren't sealed at all) as only the slightest bit ever even got on the 510 connection. I used the recommended batteries. I babied the hell out of this thing, and it still quit working after less than a month. Overall, I regret purchasing this device. It has failed to live up to the promise that is a Zen product. I could have bought any other DNA30 powered device and got the same vape quality, not to mention nice things like USB charging and the ability to use batteries other than nipple-top AW IMRs. Perhaps my opinion of the ZNA will change once it gets back for repair, but if all the problems aren't addressed, you can be damn sure I'll be letting you all know about it.

Now let me vent my frustrations. Skip this last paragraph if you don't want to read hatred. Why in the holiest of fucks did my brand spanking new, highly sought after, and allegedly phenomenal device turn in to a massive piece of worthless SHIT after such a short time? How the hell did this thing get out of the fucking shop with all these flaws, when it comes straight from your mouth that you won't sell ANYTHING with the slightest defect? I call bullshit on you, House of Hybrids. Buying this device wasn't a frivolous purchase from a collector with a large disposable income that just wants it to display. I didn't buy it for bragging rights. I bought it to FUCKING USE IT! I had to save for it. I had to beg my wife to let me get it. I had to get extremely lucky just to find the god damn thing! It was a huge fucking deal to me. I don't buy things for myself very often, and usually put extravagant purchases off by the way-side so I can make my family happy. I sacrifice for them all the things I want so they can have the things they want. You can imagine my anger when, not even after full month, this thing that people treat like it was shat out by God Himself stopped working. You assholes had better fix it right, and all of it. If you're just gonna sell mods to people just so they can say they have real Zen shit, then maybe consider putting a disclaimer on everything saying it's not actually meant to be used and in fact isn't worth its weight in pig vomit. I would definitely go as far as to say you were outdone by China, Zen. My allegedly low quality, cheap piece that you elitist types look down your noses at has been by and far more reliable and trustworthy than the snake oil you're peddling. Sure, it's made of chromed brass. Sure, the chip is in about a thousand different mods and makes a weird sound when it fires. Sure, it's mass-produced on a large scale. But you know what else it does? It works right, which is more than I can say about my ZNA. I feel better now. Rant over.