Procyon by ProVape – The Definitive Review

Procyon by ProVape –  Julia’s Review

Yes, straight up; I’m a ProVape™ fan-girl. I have been since my first ProVari™. I purchased the ProVari™ Radius sight unseen, because I just knew how much these guys pour over every tiny detail to get it right. It was only a matter of time for me to bring the new ProVari™ Procyon into my ProVape collection (12 devices and counting!).

Fan-Girl and Bias

Even though I’m an admitted fan of all thing ProVape™, I intend to be completely honest and open about my weeks with the ProVari™ Procyon. I can, and will, tell you about my time with it, but when it comes down to whether or not you decide to invest in a ProVari™ will depend entirely on what type of Vaper you are. Not what type of e liquids you like, or if you are a Direct Lung Vaper of a Mouth-To-Lung Vaper, but want you truly want from a vaporizer. I’ve thought about this a lot over the past 4 years, and when it comes to vape gear, I’ve identified three types of vape gear buyers. I’ll discuss this below, however briefly.

How We Decide on Vape Gear Purchases

ProVape™ devices do not have mass appeal to the millions of vapers around the world. As much as I hate to say it, a whole lot of Vapers want to buy the cheapest mod they can, and they don’t really care if the mod is a knockoff, counterfeit, or clone. They want cheap, and ProVape is not cheap. I know this because of the huge interest in our piece on Clones and Knockoffs, and the backlash we received throughout the community on why buying clones and knockoffs was fine. I won’t get into that subject again, other than to say that in the past decade salaries for American workers has actually declined, and there are many people that want to quit tobacco use but cannot afford to buy authentic vaporizers or RDA’s, and who can blame them?

Then there is a very vocal, though not all that huge, segment of the vape community that absolutely must have all the bells and whistles possible, from Temperature Control to devices that use triple 18650 batteries or LiPo packs and even the ability to manually adjustable TCR values (for Temp Control mods). Right now, the popularity of full-color touchscreens are making a lot of noise in the community. This segment of the community doesn’t mind spending more on the vape gear, up to a point, but for each dollar spent there has to be a new and cool feature to play with.

My dear friend and writing partner Tom (McBride) is very much that type of Vaper. He is having a blast with this sudden flood of new products hitting the market, and when new packages arrive he’s the first to open them, hoping for something “new and cool” to review. I’m that way about Nikon gear; a new Nikon lens or body can be announced and I’m scouring the internet to read every article I can find, then finding a way to buy it when it’s in stock at Amazon. (best place in the world to buy camera gear)

Finally, there is a significant part of the community that will spend whatever it takes to buy a mod that offers the utmost safety, a mod that will function every time it’s used, a mod that can take punishment and still shine on through, and a mod that offers military grade durability and dependability. Vapers like this choose the term ‘invest’ instead of ‘buy’ when it comes to vape gear.

The main reason I will continue to buy ProVape™ devices when they come to market, which, by the way, isn’t very often, is because I know that ProVape™ developed a product over several months of engineering and machining to get it just right, unlike some Chinese manufacturers that push out product so fast you can’t possibly keep up.  (Honestly, the manufacturing process for the Chinese is unlike anything else in the world. They can design, prototype, manufacture and distribute a new product in 3 weeks or less.) Problems are ‘sometimes’ fixed after they’ve reached the marketplace, and sometimes they are ignored because an upgraded product is already in the works. Astounding really, and kind of scary.

Let’s Review the Procyon

Well, enough of my editorial, let’s get it on with the ProVari™ Procyon.

I suppose the biggest news about the Procyon is that it can push out 50W of pure regulated power. That’s 10W more than the marevlous ProVari™ Radius, and enough wattage for 90% of the sub-ohm tanks on the market. Anything with a resistance of 0.4-ohms and above will work just fine. Of course, the ProVari™ Radius features the vast majority of the feature set of the Procyon, and can even fire down to a resistance of 0.3-ohm with a constant amp push of 9.5A.

As I indicated above, owning a ProVape™ vaporize is not so much about bells and whistles, it’s about superb world-class manufacturing and a “Safety First” attitude. It’s about making the very best vaporizer on the planet, without regard for hot trends, or immature technology like Temperature Control, which, let’s face it, still needs some work before TC systems work as accurately as they are supposed to.

Focus on the Goal

Is it tough for the people behind ProVape™ to ignore the criticism they receive for taking deliberate steps in technology rather than glooming on to every new features that comes out? “No, not at all”, according to David at ProVape. “We never lost focus on what our original goal was, and that is to provide a reliable device that covers 95% of the vapers who don’t need all the glitz, the 200 watts, and all the fancy stuff”.  And hasn’t that always been the case with every ProVape™ customer since the beginning? It’s never been about the glitz, it’s about brilliant engineering, safety, and owning an awesome vaporizer that delivers a magnificent experience every time we use it.

When you buy a ProVape vaporizer you’re buying safety, luxury, and a device that will last decades, not months.  Other manufactures, mainly the Chinese companies, practice ‘planned obsolescence’ and making beta testers of all of us. Not so with ProVape™, which every owner of a ProVape™ vaporizer will attest to.

ProVape™ Procyon Manufacturing

The ProVari™ Procyon uses aerospace-quality manufacturing practices, but what does that mean? The short answer is that it means that every component, every threading, every piece of glass used for the display screen, is engineered and manufactured to the same quality standards that goes into creating space craft, NASA landing modules, onboard computer systems for space faring planes and orbiters, in addition to every tool taken along every mission to the international space station.

The aerospace products and components cannot fail (though they sometimes do), they must be manufactured as perfectly as possible, with zero tolerance for error and malfunction. I would go so far as to say that 98% of ProVari™ malfunctions come from user error, not product failure. But, to be unbiased as I can, there are rare occasions where a ProVari™ device can malfunction, but ProVape™ will make it right every time.

The Procyon is one of the most lavish yet commanding tube-style vaporizers on the planet.

Highlighted Feature of the Provape™ Procyon:

• Scrolling OTS (Onboard Troubleshooting System) that keeps the user informed in real time of any problems that may occur, and how to resolve them, with clear-cut directives.
• “Check All” mode that allows the user to see every critical setting at a glance with a single button press.
• Control the Scroll speed to allow the user to select the speed of the scrolling menu, from a crawl to a quick sliding menu items.
•  ProVape’s AccuSet® Technology which gives the user unequalled consistency, longer runtimes and incredibly rich vapor, even with sub-ohm tanks.
• End Cap – ProVape has developed a brand new high performance End Cap system that brings a 4x improvement in the electrical connection between the Procyon and its battery. What does that mean to the user? No springs to adjust, no spring to replace, and a slightly longer cap to make it easier to grip. Not to mention zero battery rattle.
• When a ProVape device is upgraded through Firmware, ProVape provides both Mac and PC apps. Unfortunately, the new Procyon, like the P3, does not have a USB port like the Radius. Therefore, upgrading the firmware has to be done by ProVape, or a vape shop that is ProVape authorized. I like the idea that the Procyon can be updated, but strongly disagree how it needs to be done.
• HotShotTM Boost mode gives the user a short power boost with each puff. It can be adjusted to allow the user to dial-in the favorite boost time setting.  Boost 1 – .25 secondsBoost 2 – .50 secondsBoost 3 – .75 secondsBoost 4 – 1.00 secondsBoost 5 – 1.25 seconds
• Save Profile feature allows the user to save favorite settings into 5 memory slots for fast recall.
• LED Color Changes – Using 4 clicks to get into the menu setting, click the fire button when SET appears above the wattage setting. Then allow the screen to scroll until it show LED. Click the fire button again when you see the color you want to use, or choose random, which is what I use. 7 colors are available, red, green, blue, aqua, yellow, pink, white, random, Rainbow. Make your choice, then Exit.
• The P3 connector – Now, sometimes the P3 connector can drive me crazy, but you have to admit it is a brilliant solution to allow 510-threaded, eGo-threaded, and native P3-threded atomizers to nearly all atomizers securely, with solid connections. Where it drives me crazy is when I tighten the atomizer a little too tight, and unscrewing the atomizer causes the enter P3 connector to come off with it. User Error, no?

• ProVape™ offers a full one-year warranty on the Procyon, not atomizers or accessories.

The above of some of my favorite features, but there is much more to the Procyon. The online manual takes you through every little thing you need to know. Access the Manual here.

The ProVari™ Procyon is, at its heart, a potent microprocessor controlled PV (personal vaporizer) that allows the user to adjust and fine tune the device to the user’s preferences. This is accomplished by adjusting the power along with a number of the new features.

Regulated Power – A ProVari Standard

A feature that I have always appreciated is the regulated power output which maintains the exact wattage output regardless of the remaining battery power.

As the battery drains, the ProVari Procyon will keep the power output consistent. And if you think about it, when using just about any other device, you know when it’s time to switch out the battery based on the quality of the vape experience. As the battery drains the hits get weaker and weaker. Not so with a ProVari™, it will provide the same excellent performance if the battery is fully charged, or 25% charged. If you are not looking at the battery life indicator, you’ll never know when it’s time to switch out the battery. The Procyon simply shuts down.

My Real World Experience

When you switch out the battery (ProVape includes a new Samsung 25R, which they recommend) the ProVape™ Procyon runs a system check and displays a series of colors through the fire button. If all checks out, including the battery itself, you’ll get the “All-Clear” green light. That internal checklist is an added safety feature that gives me the confidence that I’m vaping with a safe device.

The new end cap is brilliant, and in my real world usage, the battery is so secure you can shake it as much as you want and you’ll never hear a rattle.

Using My Sub-Ohm Tanks

I have the Silver model, my next one will be the Stealth, so I went through at least 20 sub-ohm tanks looking for tanks that look good with the silver. The black model will look great with stainless steel or black tanks, but personally, the black tanks I used didn’t put the best look out there.

What I wound up using, based on looks and the resistance of 0.4-ohms, was the Youde Goliath with its .5-ohm (actually 0.57) coil heads, the new OBS ACE RTA tank, the Theorem RDA by WISMEC, and the stainless steel Lyche tank from eLeaf. (review upcoming) But, that’s just me, and these are the tanks just looked better than any of the black tanks.

Battery life is pretty decent, but when you are pushing through 44W with a single 18650 2500mAh cell, the battery life isn’t going to last a moderate to heavy vaper more than a three hours. ProVari’s have excellent battery management, but physics cannot be denied.

Using my new ProVape™ Procyon provides me a vape experience that I thing is something special. I kind of forgotten just how nice a tube-shape mod can be. (of the twelve ProVari’s I own, not one is a ProVari P3) It’s so easy to hold, so easy to use. A single button controls everything.

I think the first thing you should learn once you have your own ProVari™ Procyon is getting into the menu system (4 clicks) and knowing that “SET” icon in the menu display will bring you down the rabbit hole where dozens of custom settings are available. Once you discover all the options to customize your device and your vaping preferences, you’re on the way to discovering the magic of own a ProVari vaporizer.

Conclusion

Not every Vaper is going to want to drop $220 – $260 dollars on a new mod, especially one that outputs 50W and doesn’t offer Temperature Control. That said, Vapers looking for the safest vaporizer on the market, the best made vaporizer on the market, and the only vaporizer that will last decades, the ProVape™ Procyon is a great buy and a great investment. There will always be Vapers in the community that despise ProVape™, and some will try very hard to convince you that there are cheaper alternatives with a whole lot more bells and whistles. All I can say to that is, you get what you pay for.

Grade: A+

“The best engineered, best manufactured, safest vaporizer in the world, the ProVari™ Procyon surpasses every other vaporizer in the market for safety, reliability, and value. For the discerning Vaper, it’s the only vaporizer worth considering.”

Julia Hartley-Barnes


The ProVari™ Procyon Kit Includes:

• 1 The ProVari™ Procyon 18650 Device – Silver or Stealth Edition
• 1 Samsung 18650 Battery (2500mah)

The ProVape Procyon is available in Satin Silver ($219.95) and Stealth ($259.95).

Official Specs for the ProVari™ Procyon

• The ProVari Procyon wattage can be adjusted from 3 – 50W in 0.2 watt increments.
• NEW high performance end cap provides 4 times better connection to the battery.
• Flat top design provides a clean hybrid look with the latest tanks.
• Self-adjusting center contact pin ensures maximum compatibility with tanks and atomizers.
• The new Procyon thread is a unique top connection which allows you to adapt multiple tanks including 510, Ego and P3 threaded tanks. As new connections become available, the Procyon will be able to adapt with screw-in adapters. Ego style adapters will be sold separately. As new tanks are developed with the P3 thread, they will adapt for a clean hybrid look.
• Built-in sealed OLED display with scrolling icon-based graphics allows you to visually adjust your settings.
• Each device has a unique digital serial number.
• A translucent seven color lighted push button acts as a low battery alert and allows you to select from seven color choices when the button is pressed. There are also two random options which rotate through all seven colors each time you press the button.
• On/Off mode allows you to shut the unit off completely.
• Safety cutoff turns off the unit if the button is held down for too long.
• HotShot™ Boost mode allows you to get more vapor with a short power boost with each puff. This setting is adjustable allowing you to dial-in your favorite boost time setting.
• Scrolling OTS (Onboard Troubleshooting System) keeps the user informed of any problems and how to resolve them with clear instructions.
• Sub-ohm capability – down to .4 ohms *
• Battery “mileage gauge” tells you how much energy is available to the atomizer.
• Smart safety features provide the highest levels of safety available on any device in the world.
• If you press the button and can vape, it’s safe!
• Thermal monitoring shuts the device off if it detects a high temperature condition.
• Left & Right handed mode allows the user to select which way the display reads.
• Check All mode allows the user to see all their critical settings at a quick glance with one button press.
• Save profile – Save all of your favorite settings into 5 available memory slots for quick recall.
• Scroll speed adjust allows the user to select the speed of the scrolling menu.
• OLED brightness adjustment lets you vary the display intensity.
• Exclusive reliable and safe electronic switch is designed for long life.
• Battery Monitoring shuts the unit off once a battery has reached end-of-charge.
• Reverse battery protection keeps the circuit safe if the battery is accidentally installed backwards.
• The Procyon is compatible with flat top batteries.
• No compromise components ensure a high quality and reliable device.
• Proudly made in the USA.
• 1 Year Warranty: Excludes accessories like batteries and atomizers.
• 4.8” L x 0.90” D without atomizer.