Here are my first impressions of the new Pegasus mod with TC. Aspire gave their fans a wonderful opportunity to get this new mod, including a premium battery and charging dock, for about half normal price and with reduced shipping fees. The wait was longer than expected, but we soon discovered that Aspire was updating the chipset to include Temperature Control, which was a pleasant surprise.
Aspire's packaging is always top-notch, and there were no surprises here. The Pegasus shipped with the battery already installed, but with a plastic tab to prevent discharge. In a separate box was the charging dock and cable. Both boxes were an elegant black with the Aspire embossed logo, and contained nice foam packing for the product.
The charging dock is substantially heavy, and would make an excellent paperweight for any desk. The USB cable is a bright orange that cannot be mistaken for another cable that might be in your work station. The dock has a polished chrome finish that looks beautiful, and it works perfectly.
The Pegasus with TC is a beautiful mod. Mine is a brushed slate finish, and has a clear coat that looks very nice, although it is a bit slippery. This finish tends to really show fingerprints, as it is so shiny. Controls are simple, with one button and one dial. The dial seems like it might turn in your pocket, but it is stiff enough that it has not been an issue for me. Clicking the button five times in two seconds will lock the mod if you prefer not to chance it. The dial will adjust the wattage in full 1-Watt increments, or turning quickly will adjust in 10-Watt increments, to quickly reach the full 70-Watt potential of this mod.
The display screen is nice, and quickly shows battery level, resistance and current power settings. A really nice feature of this display is that it will auto-rotate so that it is always right-side up. Naturally, if you switch to Temperature Control mode it will display the current TC setting.
I have found this mod to work very well in Variable Wattage mode. I have used it extensively with stock 1.8 Ohm coils for both the Triton and Nautilus tanks. I have also used it with subohm kanthal coils on my RDA. No issues with either, and I find the mod to be very comfortable in my hand. The button has a nice, firm click and everything feels well made and solid.
Temperature Control mode seems to have issues. First, it is an automatic selection, not a manual one. This means that it will pulse 30 Watts through your coil to try to detect if it is Nickel or Titanium. This could damage a high resistance coil, although personally I have not had any issues with Aspire's stock 1.8 Ohm coils. But be warned of the potential.
I have to preface the second issue by stating that I have not tried Nickel coils. I am not yet sold on the idea of heating nickel, but there are plenty of positive reviews for that aspect. Instead, I went with Titanium. I have to say, Titanium really needs its own setting. I tried four different Ti coils, and had a tough time getting the resistance in range. Unlike Nickel, Ti coils actually register a fairly high resistance that quickly climbs as it heats. Aspire recommends a resistance of 0.15 to 0.25 Ohms, and it really takes a small length of Titanium to reach that. My first micro-coil came in at 0.72 Ohms and was useless for TC. Finally I made a spaced coil that registered 0.32 Ohms and my Pegasus switched into TC mode. I set it at 320F and pushed the button. Nothing happened. I adjusted the wheel up to 600F and still the coil would not heat. I have to determine this mod is just not capable of using Titanium coils. After removing the coil and reattaching I heated the coil to glowing in about 1 second at 30 Watts. Not something you want to do with Titanium, as it produces Titanium Dioxide, and can actually combust.
In conclusion, I think the Pegasus is an absolutely beautiful mod to hold. It has excellent craftsmanship and just feels like it will last forever. Aspire is showing some real innovation with the controls, and especially the automatic TC features, and I don't want to dissuade that. However, I think we are better off for now with separate manual TC settings for Nickel and Titanium. I do really like the wheel control instead of +/- push buttons like most competitors. I also love the charging dock. Keep on innovating Aspire! I can't wait to see what comes next.
It sounds like your experience with the titanium is quite similar to my efforts with Ni200 - I've covered my experiences so far in my "First Impressions" post.
I'm interested in any updates about the titanium coils if you try those again :)