ForestMagpie
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Today for review we have the brand new Innokin Kroma 217 Z-Force Kit comprising of the Kroma 217 mod paired with the Z-Force tank which was kindly sent to me by @Innokin themselves. I am not associated with Innokin nor do I get paid for my reviews, what follows is my own thoughts and experiences.
Innokin have produced some excellent kits and mods recently including the Sensis & the Z80 with Zenith 2 so I was hoping for another cracking device from them but first let’s talk about the name… Innokin like to use the Z and this is no exception, the Z-Force tank comes with their new ZF coils so it all ties in nicely even though Z-Force sounds like a secret branch of the government they deploy to fight a race of alien penguins intent on freezing the earth for nefarious purposes. The 217 I am assuming come from the fact that the mod can produce up to 100w and 217 is the sum of all the numbers 100 is divisible by so someone was clearly paying attention during Maths class or it’s because it will take a 21700 battery, I’ll let you decide. So, does this all add up to greatness or will it be an algebraic equation no one understands what to do with? Let’s zap some aliens and find out….
The slogan Innokin are deploying for the Z-Force tank is “May Z Force be with you” which I’ll admit is clever and you’ll probably expect to find lots of Star Wars puns now but alas I will not be giving you what Yoda be expecting. For the Kroma 217 mod they’ve gone with “Intelligent Performance” which sounds like me at work, but they forgot to mention I’m ruggedly handsome as well. So does the mod have it all, brains and looks?
Innokin continue with their all recyclable packaging which is to be applauded and it’s all very simple but effective. Inside the packing you’ll receive:
Kroma 217 mod
Z-Force tank (5ml/2ml TPD)
0.2ohm ZF coil (50w-80w pre-fitted)
0.3ohm ZF coil (30w-45w)
USB-C charging cable
Spare O-rings
Warranty Card
User Manual
Quick Start Guide
You’ll also find an 18650 battery adapter inside the mod.
The kit is available in 5 colours – Glass Fiber, Carbon Fiber, Marina Blue, River Wood and Stealth Black.
There’s a whole list of specs which are available on the Innokin website – www.innokin.com/kroma-217 but the main ones we all really want to know are:
Dimensions – 132*45*30mm (86*45*30mm without tank)
Battery – External 21700 or 18650
Wattage Range – 6w-80w (18650 Battery with adapter) OR 6w-100w (21700 Battery)
Voltage – 1-7.5v
Charging Current – 5v/1.7A
It’s got a 510 connection and the mod has Innokin’s Coil+ and Refresh technology
THE MOD
“You started this. Show me everything. I can handle myself” – Ripley, Aliens
I was sent the River Wood and Carbon Fiber variants and I have to say that both are very good looking mods in my opinion, they are both quite different but they both look great. When you take them out they are actually quite light on their own but the battery will add weight to it as well as once you fit the tank. They’ve paired the Carbon fiber version with that beautiful, brushed gun-metal effect with the Silver tank which feels a bit of a mis-match to me but the River Wood comes with a Black tank with rather snazzy turquoise O-rings and drip tip. The 18650 battery adapter is already in the mod so to open the battery door turn the mod upside-down then firmly push the door down and slide with your thumb to open. Now, this will take both 21700 batteries and 18650 just pick your preferred battery and either use the adapter or not and fit. To close the battery door again just press with your thumb and slide into place and you’ll hear a click when it’s locked. It’s all quite smooth and works well and I’ve not had any issue changing battery or with the door suddenly popping open.
“Can I dream?” Newt, Aliens
The mod feels really nice in the hand and they’ve brought over the fire bar from the Sensis & Kroma-Z so all the screen is the fire bar and it’s nice and responsive. Give it a gentle squeeze and it clicks and fires the device. I do like this fire bar that Innokin make and think it was an excellent choice to implement here and means it’s easy to finger or thumb fire. 3 clicks turns the device on and 3 to turn it back off again. Pressing Fire/Down locks the wattage buttons and pressing Fire/Up allows you to choose to reset the puff counter. To adjust the wattage simply press and hold the Up or Down button, wait till it flashes then find your preferred wattage level from 6w to 80w (or 100w depending on battery) and it does round robin. If the wattage is below 20w then it will increase/decrease in 0.5w increments and above 20w it’s 1w which gives a little more precision to low watt MTL vapers. The screen shows everything you need it to and is easy to see but can be a little difficult to make out in bright sunshine.
Pressing Up & Down together opens the menu with the following options:
Coil+ - This mode sends a pulse of current through the coil at the end of every puff to increase coil lifespan
Power – Standard wattage or Voltage Mode
Refresh – This pulses the coil at 40% of the wattage set which draws in liquid and deters residue
Settings – Set the screen timeout, vape cut-off, check the device ID, perform a factory reset or Exit.
As you’ll see they’ve brought over the alien tech they took from deep space when they stole the Refresh and Coil+ from a race of hyper-intelligent wombats who used it as a giant fun fair just cos they like to shake and vibrate. We’ve seen this tech in the Sensis and Z80 and it really can add extra life to your coils so it’s a feature I’m glad has been included.
THE TANK
“We got nukes, we got knives, we got sharp sticks” – Private Hudson, Aliens
The tank invokes in me images that it sits atop the joystick of my spaceship and the drip tip is the fire button of my last space torpedo which I fire to destroy the alien mothership and save the universe in a way the last starfighter would or maybe it’s the fire button for my jet-pack and I fly around as a hero like The Rocketeer, maybe that’s just me but the reason it does this is cos I’m a secret hero, or because the tank is aesthetically pleasing enough. At the bottom is standard 510 threaded connection and then the airflow ring which has some etching on it and the airflow holes themselves. The airflow holes are an interesting design, maybe taking some design cues from the Nostromo as they look like no airflow holes I’ve seen before. There’s a set of these holes on either side of the tank and when you twist the airflow to close it off you can see in the holes it’s slightly curved as it blocks off the airflow. At the top of the tank there’s Z-Force etched which is where you push to open the tank to fill, press and the cap will slide open to reveal the fill port which is covered by a membrane. Push your bottle nozzle through the membrane to fill and slide the cap back into place. It has a bit of restriction to the slide which means that it won’t easily pop open in your pocket and it’s an efficient fill method and just works.
Unscrewing the base gives access to the coil which are push and pull to fit and the good news is you can change coil with a full tank due to the spring-loaded automatic juice flow control. What this means is that when you pull the coil out the juice flow is cut off as the chamber doors come down to prevent any leaking. It’s like shutting an airlock after blasting a xenomorph into space and it’s a well designed system as it’s worked every time I’ve changed coil, I’ve not lost a drop. The whole tank comes part easily enough for cleaning apart from the slide top which you’ll need a small hex screw to be able to remove.
“Eat this” Corporal Hicks, Aliens
Innokin Z kit this must come with the z-coils I hear you say! No, for this kit Innokin have produced some brand new coils which they are calling the ZF Coils. At the time of launch the kit comes with the 0.2 coil rated 50w – 80w and the 0.3 coil rated 30w – 45w which are both KAL with cotton flax wicking material but now with DuoPrime wicking! What this means is that “a second layer of mesh is embedded in the wick, which heats up first. This massively increases wicking action, resulting in better flavour, denser vapour and improved coil longevity”. It’ll be interesting to see if this new coil design will perform as described and what difference this makes as who doesn’t want better flavour and longer lasting coils?!
“What the hell are we supposed to use man, harsh language?” Frost, Aliens
In Use
The kit comes with the 0.2ohm coil fitted but I thought the 0.3ohm coil would be more suited to my vaping style so I started there. All primed I fitted the coil and filled the tank with Unicorn Shake ready for blast off. I opened up the airflow fully to start and the first thing to note is that even fully open there’s some restriction to it so if you’re looking for a wide open vape it won’t suit you but I like a bit of restriction so I was happy. I played around with the wattage and the airflow and found that the best place for me was around 40w with the airflow slightly closed. The flavour is good without being outstanding and it feels like the coil needs more as even at 40w it’s still quite a cool vape, you can warm it up by closing the airflow but that will give more restriction.
Now for the 0.2ohm coil (50w-80w) which again I loaded up with Unicorn Shake and fired all boosters. Now, bear in mind that I rarely stray above 50w as I find it just too hot for my vaping style as I generally find it hits my throat like I’m trying to swallow the sun. I found the best vape for me was between 65w-70w with the airflow not quite half closed. Again, I felt like this was cooler than other coils at this range but at this setting I was getting a lovely warmish flavourful vape with the perfect amount of restriction for me. The coil took a little while to really bed in but once it did, I couldn’t put this down, the flavour was really came through and I found myself chain vaping with ease meaning this was my favourite of the 2 new ZF coils. The DuoWicking seems to work well as I never once had a dry hit, in fact, you can see the bubbles from the wicking after every vape and neither coil leaked at all which is a bonus.
“I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.” Ripley, Aliens
Is this a bright shining star or a dying star destined to die off with a whimper to just drift off into the cold darkness of space never to be seen again?
Let’s get this out there first, Innokin have smashed it again with another exceptional mod. Yes there’s no TC and they haven’t included the F0 mode from some of their other mods but it will take 18650, 20700 & 21700 batteries, it has the Coil+ feature and it’s just a delight to hold and use. I have been using this every day with a variety of tanks and it just works, it’s not the most complicated mod but what it does it does superbly. Although it lacks the F0 tech of the Z80 it still ranks up there with it in my opinion and I don’t say that lightly.
The tank I wasn’t initially taken with but it’s really grown on me. The 0.3 coil gives good flavour but is overshadowed by the 0.2 coil which I was getting very good flavour from indeed. The design I am kind of ambivalent towards but the fill method works well as does the leak free coil fitting and the new DuoWicking seems to keep the coil saturated each and every time. The airflow won’t suit everyone as there’s some restriction to it and it’s not the quietest airflow as there’s almost a whistle and a definite whoosh to it when you vape. The base of the tank doesn’t quite sit flush with the rest of the tank as if you look closely there’s a very slight gap, this doesn’t affect the performance at all but you may notice it. The other issue is that at the wattages needed for the coils the tank is quite thirsty so the 2ml TPD issue come into play as you will be filling this tank a lot which isn’t actually that bad as filling is a smooth process but something to be aware of.
Overall I’ve really enjoyed this kit and will continue to use it for a long time as the tank and mod pair well together but yet again really the mod takes the limelight as it’s a belter and is a worthy entry into the outstanding Kroma range.
“That’s it, man. Game over man, game over!”
FM Out
