I purchased the Armour S hoping it'd be pretty much an Armour Ultra, but driven by an external cell instead of the Ultra's built-in battery. And in some ways it is, albeit the S feels more like a Dewalt drill, & with most of the weight. But there are several additional differences which I neither expected nor welcomed in most cases.
Technically, the Armour S does actually perform very well in Power mode, & totally unaffected by the SS firmware bug. It handles stainless steel coils every bit as well as nichrome Ni80 or kanthal Ka1. And just like the Ultra, there's no plain old power mode in the menu, but once again it's achieved by selecting "Eco" mode with the "Smart" function disabled.
If you're wavering about buying one, then unless you're in love with the look/feel of the S, and can live with an internal non-replaceable battery, then IMO the Armour Ultra makes a far better bet as it's lighter, smaller, has an imo clearer display, bolder button profiles, a less confusing shape in the hand at higher intensity levels & avoids a potential longer term weak spot in the battery door.
However, I get that for many, the attraction of the 21700 or 18650 external cell may override the points above, but unfortunately mine has returned to its box for storage.
I suggest leaving it in Eco mode with Smart disabled where it'll perform very well as a plain old Power mode.
Just like the Ultra, Power Mode doesn't appear in the setup menu. It's achieved by selecting "Eco" with "Smart" disabled. I measured an acceptable ~2W down in the 30W 0.3Ω test, when compared my Aegis Solo V1. Also, it's totally free from the SS firmware bug (for details, see the Mod Guide).
It feels very square in the hand, which for me is a problem. In the dark at higher tripping levels, I find it difficult to determine which side is front. The flush profile of the buttons make the task of locating them even more frustrating, so I can't use it for my regular in-dark tripping sessions. The dual cell version of the S, the Armour Max, has a more asymmetric shape, but unfortunately it has the same button style.
The fire button incorporates a crude sliding lock function, applying a mechanical restriction of the button's inward excursion when slid to its upper position. It's rough & inconsistent, inspiring little confidence for longevity. When locked, the button feels more like it's jammed, and the absence of any "locked" warning message serving to reinforce this impression. Unfortunately, it's the only way to lock the fire operation (apart from powering down), as pressing up and down keys simultaneously disables only the up & down keys, not the fire button.
The Fire button with a mechanical restriction when slid to the upper position. Rough, crude & IMO disappointing
To simplify the design of its battery door, the entire supply current passes through a pogo pin between the main frame & door. The pin's outer diameter is ~2.85mm, meaning it'll likely be rated somewhere around 20ish Amps, but the mod can draw over 30A when set to full power. Also, be aware that pogo pins are highly sensitive to the slightest corrosion which is inevitable in the presence of damp. And since there isn't one scrap of ingress sealing on the door, we can expect problems to develop if mod becomes wet. I suggest regular inspection of this pin & mating surface, & keeping lubricated with a tiny amount of WD40.
Note that pogo pins are very common on dual cell mods, but only used for individual cell sensing/balancing. In this role they carry far less current and therefore an acceptable design feature.
As expected, it's impossible to obtain credible information from the manual, and only from bench testing was I able to determine how the modes operate.
There are 6 settable modes as follows:
F(t), Pulse, and Eco are all Power Modes but with slight variations.
- F(t) is exactly the same as "Boost" mode on the Armour Ultra and F(t) on the Gen 80S, giving approx 12% ish more wattage than dialled in (difficult to calculate accurately). An additive DC ripple is applied to increase the Voltage, similar to "pulse mode" but using a higher frequency
- Pulse is also the same as Pulse on the Ultra and Gen 80S, i.e. gives ~10% extra Wattage. So set 30W, and you'll have ~33W, set 20 and get ~22W, etc. Achieved by adding a slight 2Hz DC ripple onto the output Voltage.
- Eco is again the same its namesake Eco on Ultra, i.e. plain old Power Mode. The Wattage you set is what you get, or almost.
TC-SS, TC-NI & TC-TI are supposed to be temperature control modes for stainless steel, Ni200, and Titanium. Initial tests suggested these modes are completely non-functional, and I strongly suggest avoiding them.
Functions within Modes
Smart is an option in Boost, F(t) & Eco modes. This is the same as the Ultra, auto-setting the Wattage based upon the measured coil resistance A tiny 'S' icon is displayed when Smart is enabled, a more obvious indication would be preferable. Leave it disabled for Dimitri use.
🙂 Technically speaking, works well in power mode. Unaffected by the Stainless Steel bug and acceptable Wattage accuracy
🙂 Operates from external 21700 or 18650 (an adaptor is included)
🙁 Unnecessarily small display Despite a significantly larger case, the S's readout is marginally smaller than the Ultra. I suspect the reason for the S's undersized display is styling alone, probably to exaggerate the chunky look. But it's another unnecessary annoyance, with many microscopic illegible text fields.
🙁 Unsatisfactory charge level indicator Just 4 blocks on the display, no text of percentage remaining
🙁 Almost symmetrical square shape Can cause annoyance when tripping the dark at higher intensity levels as it becomes much harder to locate the front panel, let alone start the search for the fire button.
🙁 All buttons too smooth, hard to detect by feel alone, which compounds the above problem.
🙁 Concerns about battery door pogo pin Carries the full supply current and being ~2.85mm Ø, it's almost certainly not rated for the supply current for higher Wattages. These are notorious for poor connections resulting from the slightest corrosion so, especially as the door lacks sealing, problems can be expected in time
🙁 User confusion As per the Ultra it has functions with vague misleading names. User manual practically useless.
The battery door release button. A nice feature & works well, but I'd gladly trade it for chunky buttons, a ha'porth of sealing, an IP68 rating, a wider clearer display, a less symmetrical shape, or even a screw-in battery door which'd eliminate the need for that questionable pogo pin.
