Joyetech eVic 1.2 MVR Update Explained

Joyetech eVic APV Firmware Guide

Joyetech just came out with their 1.2 Update for the Joyetech eVic and wow. It is now easily upgraded by downloading just the MVR software (firmware is built into it) – some features are 12hour clock- auto battery with vape cutoff, configure your battery, never go in standby, custom watts setting for a particular tank/clearo, easy menu, Fahrenheit option and much more- I quickly explain and show these features using my personal Joyetech eVic- here is the downlink for the new software

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After several days with the new, long-awaited, hi-tech PV, the Joyetech eVic, I’m happy to report that there are many things to like about this new, and different, PV. I don’t necessarily think it’s a game changer “at the moment”, but it has potential. I have subjected the eVic to continuous use with various cartomizers, Vivi Nova’s, and even a few clearomizers (Kanger T3’s mostly) and the performance was, well, more than satisfactory. I am pleased with it, yet at the same time the eVic remains a bit of a mystery. An enigma.

The Joyetech eVic is an anomaly of sorts. Equipped with far more electronics and software than any previous PV, the eVic is certainly the most sophisticated product in eCigLand, but at the same time it has to be difficult to appreciate all the seemingly useless information if the prime motivation for owning an electronic cigarette is to vape eLiquids to satisfy your urge to smoke. However, if like me you consider vaping more of a hobby than some nicotine delivery system then the eVic will certainly do much to justify that belief.

There are two parts to the eVic, the software inside and outside the actual device, and hardware (the actual device). Since the software suite is the more interesting aspect of the eVic I’ll begin with an overview of the software and then move on to the hardware.

Software – My Vapor Record (MVR) & Firmware Updates

Note* As a Mac user the only way I could download and install the MVR application (My Vapor Record) as well as the latest firmware update (v1.1) was through my emulation software, Parallels 7 and Windows 7. Sometime this month (January ’13) a Mac version is supposed to be released and when it is I’ll update this review to reflect the Mac experience with MVR.

Unlike other PV’s on the market the Joyetech eVic comes with a software suite that allows you to keep track of a lot of useless information. It also works as a hub for installing firmware updates. This software suite, a first for eCigarettes, gives you the ability to control many of the functions of the eVic and collect a lot of data about your usage, and is a major step toward pushing the electronic cigarette into the 21^st century, despite being a product born of the 21^st century. It is Chinese Hi-Tech Gadgetry at its most grandiose: cutting-edge and bloated. In the tech world we would call the software suite ‘bloatware’, but I’m not ready to do that.

While several eCigarettes are now equipped with variable voltage and variable wattage electronics on the ‘logic board’ of the device itself, the eVic is the first to add these features, and many new features and abilities, as well as the wherewithal to apply upgrades to them, to logic board of the device and through a software package from your computer. (You might want to read that again)

Overkill? Maybe. Maybe Not.

Frankly, much of the information collected through the onboard software won’t be of any use to the average Vaper, but there are a few unique and worthwhile features to the software suite that are worth discussion.

While it would be rather easy to ridicule the eVic like many in the community are already doing (without ever using one), I’ve decided to review the device in a “light most favorable to the defendant” sort of way.

Because the eVic is radically different than anything that came before, a natural reaction would be to criticize it. I’ve seen this happen a million times before in the Mac/Apple community. When Apple made the decision to drop the floppy disk from the brand new and radically different Gumdrop-shaped iMac in 1998 the community howled in unison that it was a stupid and silly move. As it turned out that radical decision served to push the personal computer industry forward in ways people never considered. Will the eVic bring radical changes to the eCigarette industry? Maybe, maybe not, but as someone that loves technology I’m willing to give them (Joyetech) the benefit of the doubt. I’m willing to at least try to understand why they included a ‘Puff Count’ without laughing at it.