Category: Site News

Current estimated lead time

25-30 business days from payment. See the FAQ for details on how the lead time works.

Additional delay updated

The transition to the new 510 was not as smooth as hoped, so unfortunately we’re back up to 3-4 days additional delay. We think this will be resolved fairly quickly but for mods that were hitting the far end of the lead time window this week, there may be a couple extra days of delay.

XPV ordering is: OPEN

As of this posting, XPV ordering is open.

Not much else to report; production is proceeding at full speed.

Current estimated lead time

25-30 business days from payment. See the FAQ for details on how the lead time works.

Additional delay remains in effect

Due to the pending launch of the new connector, we are leaving the 1-2 day additional delay in place for now to account for any issues.

XPV ordering is: CLOSED

As of this posting, XPV ordering is open. EDIT 6/13: XPV ordering is closed. Ordering will reopen next week.

New 510 connector launch

As of today we expect to begin shipping the new 510 connectors full-time. We have worked quite a bit on the details of implementation as this is not quite a drop-in change. All currently shipping orders are getting an additional spacer placed on top of the unit which makes the required room for the new connector. Example photo below. This spacer will be phased out in 2-3 weeks when we receive new, larger spacers that take up the room in a single piece. We have ordered new cases that are redesigned to eliminate the need for the large additional spacer, so in 3-4 weeks we expect to start phasing out the wide spacers entirely.

If anyone would like to opt to hold their order until either the new spacers or new cases come in, please contact us via the support form. At this time we are not taking in mods for retrofitting with the 510 or shipping the 510 for user installation. We want to get up to speed on incorporating the connector into production before we announce those options.

Opt-in queue processing starts

Building of the mods that are opted-in for the new 510 connector begins today. We expect to clear the queue in about a week. There is no need to request the connector anymore as all future mods will be built with it.

Colors restocking

As mentioned, we have ordered new cases and replenished several of the sold-out colors, including black, green and blue. As usual if you would like to change color to one of those, contact us via the support form.

Current lead time

27-32 business days from payment. See the FAQ for details on how the lead time works.

Shipping delay shortened

As of today we have actually caught up on the 3-4 day shipping delay incurred in the last board shipment. However since we are still right at the edge, we will keep a 1-2 day delay announced; we will hopefully be able to do away with this entirely as of the next update.

XPV ordering is: OPEN

Shortly after this post goes up, XPV ordering will be open.

Free shipping on DNA-30D boards

For a limited time, shipping is FREE on DNA-30D boards (retail box)! See listing for coupon code.

Connector preview

We have secured the deal on our new connectors and are very excited to get them integrated into the product. As mentioned this is one of the most significant improvements in the design we have ever been able to do, and we are hoping it might help with production rate as well. It should also reduce warranty/service inquiries and repairs.

Here is a preview of the new connector in a testbed installation. As you can see it is a stainless, low-profile main body, and it uses a brass spring-loaded center pin. In our testing all of our atomizers connected and fired with no adjustment needed. This connector is a collaboration with another well-known — or soon to be well-known — producer, and is exclusive to Protovapor.

We hope to be installing this connector by sometime next week. It is not 100% drop-in so we have to do a little figuring before we can release it.

Connector opt-in update

We have received quite a few opt-ins from people who are far outside the affected dates. Again, only if your mod was ordered around April 20th or earlier (certainly no later than April 25th), do you need to opt-in for the connector. After that, we are confident every mod will be having the connector installed by default. If we need to update the cutoff date, we will announce, but for now, if you ordered for example any time in May or later, you DO NOT have to opt-in, you will get the new connector by default.

Case reordering

We are running low on several case colors so we are working on securing the next batch. We hope to add another color to the lineup if possible, though we may phase out either grey or silver from the lineup as they are very close to each other. Comment on this post if you feel strongly about that.

Current estimated lead time

40-45 business days from payment. See the FAQ for details on how the lead time works. See below for an update.

We’re back in!

We made it home relatively unscathed, and are back taking care of business.

But …

Ohio, we have a problem. You may be aware that Evolv has been having some problems keeping up with demand for the DNA 30D. Our boards we ordered in early April were supposed to be here by last week at latest (3-5 weeks lead time) but should instead be arriving by the end of this week. We are completely out of DNA 30D boards, so as of right now we cannot build and ship any orders. We anticipate we will lose 3-4 planned build days due to this delay, so unfortunately we must now announce a 3-4 day delay in the listed lead times. So if your mod has not shipped yet, add 3-4 days to the lead time window. We will be looking for ways to make up this delay time over the next few weeks.

Non-DNA board repairs will be processed as usual.

EDIT 5/17: We did receive our shipment of boards and are building again. The delay still applies, but we are working to catch up.

Ordering on hold

In the meantime, XPV mod ordering remains on hold. We would like to reduce the lead time substantially and as mentioned earlier will make some changes to ordering to help reach this goal. We will announce when ordering reopens.

Thank you for your ongoing patience! We are chomping at the bit to get building again and will do our best to get back on schedule ASAP.

Current estimated lead time

40-45 business days from payment. See the FAQ for details on how the lead time works.

We’re off

We’re on vacation through early next week, as mentioned in the last post. Mod and other shipments are on hold, however email support will still be provided. Responses may be a little delayed, please bear with us.

XPV ordering pause

As mentioned previously, we have temporarily turned off XPV ordering while we are out of the office and will resume it some time after we return. We will be working out some new organization to hopefully help with our lead time; we will resume building and shipping mods late next week. Again, we did account for this time off in the lead times, and intend to remain on schedule by the published lead times.

VTC5 followup

There have been several inquiries, so for the record, any mod ordered with a Sony VTC4 battery after (and including) Order 397 has been/will be automatically upgraded to a VTC5 battery.

Current estimated lead time

40-45 business days from payment. See the FAQ for details on how the lead time works.

Protovapor out of office

We will be out of office the week of 5/5 and return about the middle of the following week. No mod or service shipments will be made during this time, but online support will continue to function. Lead times did take into account this out of office period, so we expect to remain on schedule.

XPV ordering throttling

XPV ordering will be shut down during the time we are out of office, and thereafter we will work out a policy of order throttling with the goal of reducing our lead times. This will mean ordering will be less available for a period of time, either through dark days, daily order limits, or some other method.

New blog efforts

We will make an effort to make additional posts to the blog here at Protovapor. Our plans are are to post more images of the mods being produced, so as to show different color combinations, and to link reviews and other media featuring Protovapor.

Hawaii legislation fails

As of the end of this week, Hawaii’s misguided anti-vaping legislation has died in conference. There will be no restricting of vaping in Hawaii by law this year! We thank everyone who supported our efforts to oppose these laws.

Current estimated lead time

35-40 business days from payment. See the FAQ for details on how the lead time works.

Restocked, new colors

We have restocked existing colors and have added 3 new colors to the lineup: gold, green and red. Right now quantities are limited as we gauge response. People with existing orders that have not received shipping notices can submit a support request to change colors; please try to do that within the next 48 hours as it will help greatly with stock management. Changes are subject to availability.

The new blue

We have restocked with a larger quantity of blue based on previous response, however the new blue is a slightly different color from the original. While the original was more teal/aqua, the new is more a royal blue. It is a very handsome color, but the aqua button no longer really matches it. We are looking into a few new blue button options, but just be aware for the time being. If you ordered aqua/blue and want to change, send a support request.

Sony VTC5 batteries

We are expecting to get a shipment of Sony US18650VTC5 2600 mAh 30A batteries sometime this coming week. At that time, we will switch all production from VTC4 batteries to VTC5. All orders with Sony batteries specified will be changed to the VTC5 battery automatically. You do not need to request this.

We are shutting down!

… ordering

… for a day or two

… to restock 🙂

We are receiving a new shipment of cases on or about 4/1, at which time we will take a day or two to reconcile all orders with available cases, then post the remainder up as available for ordering. At that time we will adjust lead time if possible. Current estimated lead time as of today remains 35-40 business days.

Thanks for your continued patience and support!

Current lead time estimate

35-40 business days from payment

How does the lead time work?

We have received some inquiries about how the lead time for XPV mods works, so we would like to clarify here. XPV mods are made to order. A production lead time, or delay between order and shipment, applies to all XPV orders. The lead time estimate posted at the time the order is placed is the one that applies to the order.

When we change the lead time, it is for new orders going forward. Orders will ship in general numerical order. There may be small order changes among local batches of mods (5-10 units) but generally all will ship close to each other.

Note that we will operate under the order acceptance policy posted on 3/10 until announced otherwise.