That Boxer mod looks quite nice and sturdy, not sure if it's my thing though.
OK, I know for sure that the 350J is an excellent chip. It hasn't missed a beat since I got it, no strange behavior, lockups, switching out of TC mode etc. The upgrades do work (after a bit of fiddling) and for me the Titanium mode is almost perfect.
Despite problems with the paint on my first Mini M, I actually just received a second one 4 minutes ago. It's the pink one (ooohhhh!!!
), and I got it at the reduced price of 124 EUR (instead of 199) which is a steal. I can see that the paint job on this is superior to my first one, so that only leaves the sometimes moody battery cap as a downside.
The DNA200 is a nerd's dream. It does actually produce a true 200W (none of the others come close), and that is the reason why it works on a Li-po pack. They did allow for a "downtuned" version using two 18650's and giving a true 133W. So far so good, but...
1) I hear from several beta testers that they still have issues and strange bugs - just like with the DNA40. On the other hand, they do provide USB firmware updates, so these issues may be resolved later on
2) LiPo packs are fine when used properly, but they react violently when something goes wrong. (yes, even more than an 18650). Most of the time, you will be fine though, it shouldn't scare you, but you need to be aware.
3) I'm not sure what you heard about the battery capacity, but most probably it was wrong. A 900mAh 3S Lipo gives out 11.1 volt nominally - whereas an 18650 gives 2500mAh (give or take) at 3.7 volts. When calculated back to Watt/Hours, the 900mAh Li-Po actually gives about 10% bigger capacity than a single 2500mAh 18650. Further more, they are also more efficient, have less internal resistance, and can support up to 40 (or even more) Amps continuous (whereas a single decent 18650 gives 20 amps - the only one that gives 30 Amps is the Sony VTC4 (not the VTC5). TL;DR: battery live is not a problem unless you vape at 150 or 200W continually, but that seems obvious to me.
4) While they are safe to charge inside the mod, there is no quick swapping; you will need to charge it inside the mod.
5) It only starts to actually work properly when you download the eScribe software and start tweaking it. For example, titanium is not supported out of the box - you need to create a profile for it and upload that to the mod. Another example: out of the box it does try to send 200W as preheat to your coil - even if you have set it at 30W or so, often giving you a weird taste. Sure, with eScribe you can fix that preheat. You can do 1001 things with that software - it's impressive - but is that really your thing, or do you just want to vape hassle free - as you stated?
Personally, I'm not impressed and miss the "wow" factor. It's like buying a kit car when you want a good car to commute and transport your groceries.
To make matters even more complicated: Yihi have just announced (like 2 days ago) the Mini ML version; same enclosure, but with a new chip/board that will provide support for silver, gold, stainless steel etc. No idea when it will arrive, but it probably means no more firmware updates for the Mini M. (grrrr.)
My advice: start looking for incredible deals on the Mini M (like I just did), unless you really need that 200W or love the tinkering. Also: the Mini M will only give you 50J in Ni mode (and 75J in Ti1 mode) - whereas the Boxer will allow for 150. Only buy the M if you can find such a deal though. Look around for coupon codes for this as well.
Extra tip: I just got a Yihi silicon sleeve for the Mini M, and it looks and feels pretty great for $7.