The Heatvape Invader Mini is the latest mod release from Heatvape, based out of the mod manufacturing hotspot of Shenzhen, China. The Heatvape Invader Mini boasts water resistance up to IPX 4 standard, crush, shock and dust resistance, 50W of power and also temperature control.
More recent devices featuring waterproof and shockproof properties are:
Heatvape Invader Mini – The ‘Tank’ Of The Vaping World?
With its rugged looks it is definitely one aimed at those who love to give their mods a fair bit of abuse as it is designed to take pretty much anything you can throw at it!
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Heatvape have a pretty good record with releasing solid mods, the previous Heatvape Defender and the Heatvape VMesh were received very warmly and sold very well. Let’s see if Heatvape are onto another winner with the Invader Mini…
In The Box
The Heatvape Invader Mini comes in a clear Perspex box with a cardboard sleeve around it bearing the Heatvape logo, a clear window to show the mod inside the Perspex box and Invader Mini at the bottom.
Inside the box you will find the Heatvape Invader Mini unit, and that is it. No spares, and the Heatvape Invader does not support USB charging so you won’t find a USB charging cable here.
Invader Looks and Build
Available in black, grey, green and blue, regardless of the colour you have selected one thing you will probably notice when you first look at the Heatvape Invader Mini is that it is ugly. Really ugly.
It looks like a Transformers finger, but for good reason, the ruggedized silicon outer skin is going to help protect your mod against shock damage, dust damage, water splashes (being IPX4 resistant means you won’t be taking it scuba diving with you, but it will withstand being splashed) and provide protection against being crushed.
You are really going to have to give this mod a serious flogging to break it- there are even videos circulating online of them being run over yet still working afterwards!
The chromed brass 510 connector is 22mm width to help your favourite vape tanks sit flush, the connector cap itself can also be adjusted up and down accordingly so that you can ensure your mods sit flush.
It is really smooth, but at the same time you still feel it is solidly built.
The power and up/down buttons on the side are very clicky and responsive and are placed around the OLED screen display.
Battery cap at the base boasts buttery smooth threading, this has to have one of the smoothest battery caps I have ever seen, making changing batteries a breeze. Button or flat top 18650’s fit in the battery compartment with no issues at all.
Once all together and everything is screwed in, the unit is completely sealed. This is one of the key reasons why USB charging was not included as that would leave an open port.
It feels pretty weighty in the hand once you have popped a battery in and screwed in an atomiser, the unit weights 217 grams without a mod and battery due to the solid build quality, so pretty hefty, but it still feels quite nice in your hand, and you don’t have to worry about breaking it should you drop it!
Features
- Waterproof Level – IPX4
- Crushproof, shock proof and dust resistant
- Accurate temperature control from 200F to 600F
- Innovative 510 thread with adjustable connection cap to fit any 510 atomisers without a visible gap
- Dimensions – 31.5mm x 39.5mm x 102mm
- Weight – 217g
- Made from eco-friendly Zinc Alloy, Silicon and Brass
- Output Power – 1W-50W
- Output Voltage – 1V-9.9V
- Ohm Limit – 0.1-1.0ohm in temperature control mode, 0.16-2ohm in normal mode
How Does The Heatvape Invader Perform?
Boasting a clone of the DNA40 chipset, but with 50watts of power instead of 40, I was a little apprehensive at first as my previous experiences with the clone DNA40 chipsets have not been good. Not so here.
This is one of the better clone chipsets out there, it reads resistance with ease and can differentiate between Kanthal and Ni200 builds almost instantaneously with a single button press when putting a new atomiser on the Heatvape Invader.
Whenever you change your atomiser, the Heatvape Invader Mini will ask you whether this is a new coil or not, by displaying a message saying ‘new coil up same down’.
This essentially means that you need to press the up button if you have changed your coil/atomiser, or if you have screwed in the same atomiser you used previously you just need to press the down button and vape away.
It is especially important that you make sure the correct resistance is set each time, I mistakenly just pressed down a couple of times when popping a new build on and I got an ‘atomizer short’ message when trying to fire. This is easily remedied however by unscrewing the atomiser and restarting the process, ensuring you press the up button rather than the down button!
I have had great results with the Heatvape Invader Mini in temperature control just by setting the temperature to 420F (Celsius is not supported here) which is the burning point of cotton, and adjusting the power accordingly to suit the juice in question. The Heatvape Invader Mini supports a huge range of temperature settings, from 200-600F. I have not had any issues or errors with the chipset and resistance is read accurately.
Of course, should you not wish to use the Heatvape Invader Mini in temperature control, you do not need to do so. You have 50 watts of power at your disposal here. 5 clicks turn on the unit and 5 clicks after that will lock it, after 2 minutes of inactivity the Heatvape Invader Mini will automatically power off to save battery life.
You are still prompted with the ‘new coil up same down’ message when screwing in an atomiser that does not have a temperature control build in it, but I have noticed that it will read the resistance anyway no matter what button that you have pressed.
Battery life has been excellent with a Sony VTC4 battery so this tells me that the chip used in the Heatvape Invader Mini is a very efficient one. I got easily a full days vaping from a single 18650 battery.
The Heatvape Invader Mini really hasn’t ever skipped a beat for me, so to sum up the performance it has been tremendous.
Final Thoughts
Heatvape have released an excellent mod here. I did not think I would like this at all, but I have found myself using it on a daily basis – it’s reliable, hasn’t skipped a beat and once you get used to the different functions and menu system it actually does become easy to use.
Yes it is hefty and ugly but it is also safe and you aren’t going to be able to break this easily.
Guess I had pre judged it based on its looks- never judge a book by its cover, or in this case a mod by its looks!
I have given it more abuse than a number of mods would be able to handle in my time with the Heatvape Invader Mini and it just still works as good as it did on the first day I got it out of the box.
A temperature control mod boasting this many features along with the rugged aspect is a compete bargain at the price point it is being sold at.
There are barely even any marks on the silicon sleeve of the Heatvape Invader Mini despite my best efforts! I am really impressed with this latest effort from Heatvape.
The only things that let the Heatvape Invader Mini down and stopped me from awarding it an overall score of 5/5 are the fact that it will turn off after being idle for 2 minutes and as mentioned it is not the best looking mod around.
Otherwise, I really highly recommend the Heatvape Invader Mini, it’s a really solid release from Heatvape and a really reliable unit that really will take anything and everything that you can throw at it!
The Good
- Completely rock solid- excellent build quality, very reliable
- Temperature control works perfectly well
- Very good chip
- Accurate resistance readings
- Will take anything you can throw at it
- One of the smoothest battery caps out of any mod
- Bargain price
The Not So Good
- It’s an ugly mod! (Subjective)
- Auto switches off after 2 minutes of being inactive
This mod ignoring the look I don’t have a problem with is the WORST most UNRELIABLE mod ever, I have gone through 3 of them this year.. Crushproof, shock proof and dust resistant?? NO impossible.. I don’t know about waterproof, I’ve never been anywhere near water with it. But considering when it’s not in use it’s in 1 of 2 places, either on my desk or in my pocket.
For no reason, no damage to it, never been dropped. It just stops working. Overnight it went from fine to completely dead, no change of battery no change of RDA’s no change of coils have any effect.
It is USELESS.. The worst mod I have seen. If you want a mod to last DO NOT use this Invader.