Uwell Crown IV - Reclaiming it's crown? Or does it "tank"?!

It's back! Yes, the mighty Uwell Crown series of sub ohm, stock coil tanks returns for the 4th iteration (ish). The original 1st release Crown tank was a superb groundbreaking tank at the time of it's release and probably the best of it's type on the market then too. But then the 2nd and 3rd versions came along and probably ruined all of the great reputation Uwell garnered from that 1st tank. Both the 2nd and 3rd versions had plenty of issues (especially the 3rd) and most were never resolved, with the possible exception of the Uwell Crown SE-1 which did vastly improve upon the Crown 2.

So now we have the Crown IV which has been awhile coming. Have Uwell managed to reclaim the honour of producing a truly great tank, or will this 4th version suffer as bad as the previous two? I actually can't wait to find out, I'm genuinely excited about this one so let's rip the box open and find out

The colours available

Photos are at the end of the review to keep the page easy and quick to read.

Firstly, I need to mention that this review is for the standard 5/6 ml tank and not the 2 ml TPD compliant tank. I have also tried a TPD version courtesy of a friend however, so any differences that I remember then I will mention.

The packaging and contents are fairly standard so I'm not going to bother writing about that. What you're here for is the actual tank itself right? Well, even that looks fairly standard looks wise. However, when you start to open the tank up you begin to appreciate the quality of the build a bit more. Every thread, seal and fit is just right. The top fill cap is a nice, simple and an easy quarter turn bayonet style fitment. Push, turn, off. Easy peasy. When the cap is off you can see 4 fill holes which is great. The mouthpiece is a standard 510 size and not the wider 810 fitment which might be a negative to some people but on this tank it is actually more suited.

The glass on first use can be a little resistant to come off but it does come off with gentle coaxing. My non TPD tank actually came with the bubble glass pre-installed but I've heard of others having the smaller straight glass fitted straight out of the box. Either way, if you want to change the glass, put a drop of E-liquid onto the to and bottom of the glass you are wanting to install to ease fitting and removal. Apart from the glass, all good though so far. Now, let's take a look at the mesh coils.

Here we get to the first major gripe regarding Uwell and this release of the Crown IV. The installed coil is not a mesh coil, but a 0.4Ω Ohm - Dual Coil SS904L rated at 60-70 Watts. SS904L? Me neither but apparently it's a posh type of Stainless Steel that is also used in the construction of Rolex watches? Apparently it's a less corrosive metal than similar round wire coils so it lasts longer an gives a cleaner vape. According to Uwell at least. OK, perhaps the spare coil included in the box is the mesh coil? Nope, that's a 0.2Ω Ohm - Dual Coil SS904L rated at 70-80 Watts. Well, that's strange that Uwell didn't put at least 1 mesh coil inside the box considering that's the direction that every other manufacturer is going down. What were Uwell thinking, releasing a tank onto the market without an mesh coils? I'm actually surprised and a little bit annoyed about this to say the least.

So, after a little digging around, it looks like Uwell had the tank ready before the mesh coils were finalised and rather than delay the tanks release (which is what should have happened!) they went ahead with the tank release anyway. Right, mesh coils ordered and at least it forces me to use those posh SS wire coils and let you know what I think of them.

I have been swapping from coil to coil with each juice change and I've been using them both for about 3 weeks now and I have to admit that in actual fact, they are pretty dam good. These both give great flavour and are probably the best round wire coils on the market today. Both coils are still going strong with no sign of reduced flavour, no burnt taste and still full of vapour production. They aren't quite on par flavour wise as say the Freemax Mesh Pro using a triple mesh coil, but it's damn close. I am genuinely surprised. As for the better out of the 2, I can't tell the difference. I've tried them all ways using different flavours and they are both giving the same level of favour with possibly the 0.2 ever so slightly edging it when using creams or custards based flavours.

The tank apparently has a self cleaning technology or something. What that means is any E-liquid that gets into the bottom of the tank base is drawn back up into the coil and recycled. If you have ever noticed the top of your Mod getting covered in E-liquid or condensation at the air holes along the bottom of the tank for example then this is supposed to stop that from happening. It actually works too. Bone dry, from day 1 to today. Colour me impressed.

Now, onto the TPD version and here it gets interesting. The obvious difference is the tank only holds 2 ml of E-liquid to comply with the utterly ridiculous TPD regulations. The top fill has only 2 fill holes instead of 4. The rest of the tank appears to be the same albeit a shorter and thinner inner dimensions due to the reduced capacity. Non of that is the fault of Uwell though, we can thank the EU for that. I couldn't measure the tank as I was using a friends tank at my work place and I didn't have mine to compare it against at the time. Again, at this point the tank was only using the non mesh coil but the flavour on the TPD version was meh? It's weird because it was very muted here. Now, this was an entirely unscientific test because my friend had a completely different brand of E-liquid to that I use, so it may well just be the E-liquid itself that was meh to me? It did seem that the reduction in inner tank space made this an average tank at best. Why? I've no idea! What I do know is that there are extension kits available with a bigger bubble glass to make the tank 5 ml capacity. Make sure it includes the tiny chimney extension too or else the bubble glass will be useless.

After 20 days, the mesh coils finally arrived. Yay! Straight into the tank it goes. OK, I always start mesh coils slightly lower than the minimum rated and these mesh coils are 0.23Ω Ohm - rated at 60-70 Watts. I start at 55 Watts for about 15-20 minutes, then 60 and then go up 2 Watts every 15-20 minutes until I reach a level that is best suited for me. I find mesh a bit more delicate or more liable to "dry hit" if you start too high to begin with. Take your time and it will be worth the wait, I promise, because these mesh coils take this tank to the next level and some. Wow, just wow. The Uwell Crown IV is now my favourite stock coil sub ohm tank, beating the Freemax Mesh Pro although only just mind you. Considering the Freemax was streets ahead of any other though and it's quite an achievement in my opinion. As for longevity, I can't say as it's only been exactly 1 week that I have been using the mesh coil. It's still giving the exact same level of flavour so far though so only time will tell how long it actually lasts. If it fails in the next day or 2 then I will update the review as necessary but so far so good.

Well, that turned into a long review in the end so I apologise for that but with the different sized tanks and different coil types, it was hard to do a usual quick to the point one. Let's do a recap.

Pros:

• Quality build

• 510 drip tip for better restriction

• Easy open top cap

• Easy to fill - 4 holes

• 6 ml capacity

• SS904LCoils give great flavour

• Mesh coils give even better flavour!

• Self cleaning technology works

Cons:

• Glass hard to remove on first use

• No mesh coil included

• TPD version gives less flavour?

In concluding this review, all can say is the non TPD version is the best tank I've eve tried and if you can wait for it to be shipped from overseas then buy it, now! If you buy the TPD version, you do have the option of getting the extension glass kit (don't forget to get the chimney piece version) to increase the 2 ml capacity to 5 ml. Will it give the same level of flavour as the 6 ml tank? I honestly can't say. Have a look on vaping forums for TPD reviews or on YouTube etc. There is now also a full kit with the new Checkmate Mod if you are interested. Still no mesh coil included though so make sure you order a pack at the same time. Why Uwell, why?!

The photos