The 50W Mini Box Mod from Smowell
Smowell are a Chinese manufacturer that don’t have a huge amount of product, just 5 at the time of review, but what they do have is priced on the budget side of the market. That is of course if you buy from the likes of Gearbest. 
The Smowell DPV 50 comes in just short of $32 which for a 50W device is pretty good going. It’s only a bargain though if the product itself is good so that’s what we will be taking a look at today.
This product was received free of charge for the purposes of this review. All views are however my own.
In the box / Presentation
The Smowell DPV-50 comes in a cardboard presentation box with the following:
- 1 X 50W Smowell DPV (no battery)
- 1 X micro USB charging cable
- Manual
- Screwdriver
Battery/Body/Build
The DPV 50 takes a 18650 battery, for those that don’t have one of these then be sure to buy one. Check out our guide to batteries for sub ohm vaping if you aren’t sure on what to go for.
The device itself has a 50W maximum output capable of firing coils from 0.2 Ohms. The body is made with an aluminium and zinc alloy which keeps the weight of the device down and while it feels good in the hand it doesn’t quite feel on a par with the likes of the iStick 50W.
One of the good things here is that the designers over at Smowell have at least tried to create something a little different to other box mods on the market. It actually looks like the result of leaving the iStick 30W and a SMOK Xpro in a room together with the lights down low.
Initially the curved body didn’t do much for me but after 15 minutes of use and getting familiar with the shape it sat nicely in the palm of the hand and the grooved sides add a tactile finish.
Smowell have designed the body this way to avoid getting sweaty palm by allowing air to circulate whilst holding. I’m not sure about this one but then again I don’t generally suffer from sweaty palms.
Moving to the front of the device where the OLED screen and buttons are positioned and things start to look familiar.
The screen itself is bright and clear although it looks like the internal board in mine has shifted slightly when I was putting the battery in as the display looks a little lob sided.
The buttons set on each side are a good size but suffer from a little pet hate of mine, button rattle. This isn’t confined to any particular buttons, all suffer from it in varying degrees. This of course won’t bother normal people, if that’s you then don’t let this bother you to much.
The functions took me a short while to get the hang of, for some reason they didn’t seem as user friendly as other box mods I have tried. Nevertheless once you nail them they are pretty easy to fly through.
Functions
- 5 Click On/Off
- 3 Click to enter the menu where you are presented with 2 options. Mode (Watts or Mech) and Power On/Off
- When the wattage/mech mode appears wait until it shows either Wattage mode or Mech mode (takes a couple of seconds) then click the power button again to switch between the two. Not all that slick moving between the two, I’m sure there would be better ways to make these selections.
- The second Power Off/On mode for me is a waste of time. I maybe missing something here but simply clicking the power button 5 times will do this. So not sure why they included this option?
There are also other safety features
- High Input: Replace battery when voltage is higher than 4.5V
- Weak Battery: Lower than 3V. Recharge needed
- Check Atomiser: If atomiser is lower than 0.2Ohm or higher than 4Ohm.
- Power reduced: System automatically reduces power by 5 W when battery can not handle power output.
- Cool Down: Warns to stop vaping when temp is too high.
Plenty of expected features but as mentioned above the second power on/off in the menu seems a waste.
Battery Replacement/Charging
This for me is where the DPV50 proves to be a bit of a pain. The base needs to be unscrewed when changing the battery. OK it only takes a minute but with other replaceable battery mods available with magnetic covers it can actually be a deal breaker for me. I’m a lazy sod though so keep that in mind! 
And yes, the battery can be charged in the device BUT it cannot be used as a pass through so if you want uninterrupted vaping you will need two batteries on rotation. Which means unscrewing every time.
Overall
The design of the DPV 50 was a little strange at first but it grew on me after a short while. The build is decent, not fantastic but it is light weight. The buttons however do rattle, the functions aren’ (for me) as user friendly as others and the battery cover needs to be unscrewed. No easy access by way of magnet.
Performance
The 50W Smowell will work with atomiser resistances from 0.2 Ohm to 4 Ohm so offers a wide range and makes it more suitable for advanced users that do their own builds and of course it offers a 50W power output.
Moving through the watts on the OLED screen works well with an accelerator kicking in after button has been pressed for a second. So it’s doesn’t take too long to scroll through the settings.
I tried two tank on this, the Aspire Atlantis 2 and the Eleaf Melo both of which sit flush thanks to the floating 510 pin.
At first I was having a nightmare with the power reducing automatically which basically drops the wattage by 5 if the device thinks the battery can’t handle the output. This happened with two different batteries, a high Drain Efest and the new Jacvapour batteries. This thing wouldn’t let me vape above around 19 Watts. Grrrrrrrrr.
After a lot of messing an changing batteries it all of a sudden decided to start working. I have no idea why it was playing up as I didn’t do anything specific?
Anyway, with that issue out of the way the 0.5 Ohm coils I used on both tanks worked well through the settings so in the end all was OK.
The Mech Mode isn’t a setting I personally use so I can’t comment too much on this. For those that find this an important feature it’s surely a plus point.
Overall – After the initial issues I had all worked well, selecting the wattage is easy to do and it offers lots of power for a device as small as this.
Overall – Final Thoughts
A bit of a mixed bag for me personally. While the design is decent I still prefer the look of other mini box mods. I can see this being a good buy for more advanced vapers looking for big power in a small unit with a smaller price to match.
I wouldn’t necessarily recommend for those vapers looking for their first mini box mod though, there are easier devices to start with. Check out the box mod review list here for more ideas.
Here are the good and not so good that I found:
The Good:
- Price is very good even when shipping from China
- Nice design.
- Very small build considering the 50W power.
- Replaceable 18360 battery.
- Lightweight
- Looks good with tanks up-to 23mm.
The Not So Good:
- Build a touch on the lightweight side in terms of quality. But still decent I suppose for the price.
- Function selections aren’t as user friendly as other box mods.
- Buttons rattle.
- Need a screwdriver (two screws) to replace the battery
- Cannot use as a pass through
