Review: Noisy Cricket II-25 by Wismec

The original Noisy Cricket by Wismec, designed by JayBo, has become quite a popular mod. It's a quite simple and effective mechanical box running two 18650 batteries in series, which means you need to know what you're doing when you're using it. If you don't know Ohm's law and understand how to use it to calculate the current drawn from your batteries given the resistance of your coils, forget about it. In fact... if you don't understand this, forget about mech mods all together or you risk creating a pipe bomb that will hurt yourself and people around you. The new version of the Noisy Cricket, II-25, do have some protection circuits making it safer, but you still need to know your Ohm's law and you need to know the limits of your batteries. If you don't know these things, or if you feel the urge to push these limits, you either need to do some reading up or just forget about this mod. If you on the other hand do know these things, please read on and join the fun. I said it in my last review of a JayBo designed device (the RX 2/3) as well, one mode of operation just isn't enough for JayBo at the moment.



In the box

• The Noisy Cricket II-25
• A warning card telling you not to use batteries with torn wrapping
• A user manual (or Quick Guide as they call it

Specifications

• 87 x 48 x 25 millimeters
• Uses two 18650 batteries (should be rated for 25A discharge)
• Atomizer Protection, Short Circuit protection, Low voltage protection
• Voltage regulating switch/wheel
• Can be run in series or parallell mode
• Direct output or constant voltage mode if you run it in series
• Battery life indication

Look and feel

I do like the simplistic look of this mod. It's got a nice brushed/satin finish, the
Wismec log on top on the black plate and a JayBo logo on the switch. It feels really solidly built and fits very naturally into your hand when you're using it. The button is nice and clicky and doesn't rattle too much. I mean there is some rattle there but not enough to annoy me at least. Actually it feels a lot more expensive than it really is. The only thing that looks kind of cheap is the plastic voltage adjustment wheel. They could have made this look and feel cooler.

In use

This is a quite simple mod to use to be honest. As I've mentioned before, you NEED to know your Ohm's law and make sure you don't push the limits of your batteries. Other than that, read the manual and you'll be up and running in no time.

The mod can be used in parallell or series mode as I've mentioned earlier. Either way you insert your batteries with the positive end first, so that the negative ends make contact with the battery lid at the bottom of the mod. To switch between parallell and series mode there is a plate kind of inside the battery lid that you just flip around. If you see two "P"s on the plate you're in parallell mode and you can only guess what mode you're in if you see two "S"s.

5 clicks on the fire button will turn your mod on or off, and you will see the indicator light behind the switch flashing 5 times to indicate that you managed to count to 5. This will also light up when you fire the mod, and when you release the fire button the light will either stay lit or start flashing at different speeds to indicate your how your batteries are doing. If it stays lit that means you have 60-100% left on them, flashing slowly means 30-59%, moderately is 10-29% and quickly means 0-9% and "go charge your batteries now".

When in series mode you can choose between direct output mode, which means you fire the mod with the voltage that your batteries are at, or constant voltage mode, that enables you to use the voltage adjustment wheel to regulate the voltage from 2-6V. To switch between these modes you need to turn the mod off (if its not already off) and then press the fire button until the light flashes three times and changes color. If it's white, you're in direct output mode, if it's red/orange you're in constant voltage mode. There is no indication on the wheel telling you what voltage you're on, it just says 0 on 100. At least on my mod 0 means full throttle (6V) and 100 means... well minimum throttle (2V). The wheel is also a bit difficult to turn. I see some people can't do this without using screwdrivers or pliers or whatever, but it's not really that hard. Stick your thumb nail in the middle and twist. One thing I noticed about the series mode is that it seems to always be in constant voltage mode if you've taken your batteries out and put them in again. Or just taken the lid off and put it on again  for that matter.

The battery lid is also kind of a tight fit and you need to use some force to get it on and off when you have batteries in there. I see some people complain about this, but I don't think it's a problem. If you struggle a lot with this you should consider working on your finger strength :)

Performance

There is not much to say about the performance of this mod I think, other than ... it t delivers. It really comes down to what you put on top of it. I've run it mostly with my Goon with different builds. In parallell mode you can run pretty low ohm build and get decent battery time. In series mode you can play around with higher ohms and really big-ass coils, blowing huge clouds of vapor. It's really a fun mod to try out different builds on and as I said, it delivers. And again, if you don't understand Ohms law or want to save money on cheap batteries with fake amp-ratings... don't get this mod.

Pros and cons

+ Great performance
+ Fun fun fun to play around with
+ Good price
+ Looks good except...
- The voltage adjustment wheel


Conclusion

I've already had lots of fun with this mod, and I don't think it will stop here. I think you can get it around $40 most places (499,- at pgvg.no), which I think is a makes it pretty cheap fun actually. Totally worth it ... again, if you know what you're doing. And I'm not only concerned about safety when I say that (although it's very important), but you'll also get much more out of it if you can safely play around with different builds.


Thanks a lot to Michael at pgvg.no for sending me the device for review. He also provided a discount code for my readers: pgvg2016 (10% off)

Disclosure:

• All my reviews are my honest opinion even if I am affiliated with the company manufacturing or selling the product.
• This review does not contain affiliate links.