Dovpo Limpid and Venus Nano Community Review

[hack400]

Dovpo Limpid and Venus Nano Community Review​

Hello fellow apes, and welcome to another community review. This time we’re looking at the new Pod devices from Dovpo, the Limpid and Venus Nano.

First off, a quick thank you to Andy @dovpo_uk for organising the kit, sending it out and providing support. We would not be able to do these events without Andy’s support.

The testers for this event are made up of a few apes from the Dovpo Green Room (past testers), and we also ran a random pick from a sign up for an additional 3 members from the forum.

@Phrasing provided much needed support
@Astral
@Chris K
@ForestMagpie
@LDotKDot
@PhilBox
@RAPTOREX
@Razuddin
@RichieRich
@Sam Andrews
@Shetland Sam
@Smokeandsteam
And myself, @hack400

Before I get into the review, I’d like to thank all of the testers for their time and input into the event.


And so…what are we looking at.

Intro to the Pod Kits​

The Limpid and Venus Nano are 2 new pod kits from Dovpo. They both use the same pods and are the now common pairing from manufacturers as far as shape and size. The Limpid is a stick mod, and the Venu Nano is a smaller form factor square shaped mod.

The devices are clearly aimed at new vapers, with ease of use clearly in mind. That said, I have had similar devices for a while now that I use with nic salts, and I find them extremely handy as a throw in pocket and not worry device. They both lean towards an MTL vape, although the Limpid is a looser draw. I was very curious to see how Dovpo’s first pod kits fared up.

Here’s some of the Dovpo blurb.

The Limpid

The Venus Nano

The Review​

This review will be done a little differently, because the 2 devices use the same pods, so rather than repeating things there will be a mix as well as specific conclusions and comparisons. Enjoy.

In the Box​

Both kits come packaged with the same contents, the device, a pod with a 1ohm coil, a handy lanyard, charging cable and instruction manual. The packaging is a simple box, with the Limpid box coming in green and black and the Venus box being all black.

The Limpid

And the Venus Nano

The kits come with only one pod and while that is quite common in these types of kit nowadays, it did draw attention from the testers. If you get a dud pod, then your out of luck and have to either buy additional pods or a new kit. Fortunately, we were all provided with a pack of additional pods!

“The packaging is typical of any modern pod kit and everything is easily accessible. However, some of the pieces are placed under the vacuum formed tray which made me feel they're a bit 'throw-in'. I would also have preferred to have a second pod instead of a lanyard.” – Astral

“Really like the Limpid packaging, the green and black looks really good. However it reminds me of Wotofo branding. Simple packaging, no extras, just the key stuff that’s required. Perfect for a noob to not get confused or overwhelmed.” – Razuddin

“I like the fact they have adult packaging. They'd both have got 9 if they were 100% cardboard.” – RAPTOREX

“Pretty Average packaging, nice and light to keep costs down I presume, does it's job” – ForestMagpie

Construction​

Both devices are made of plastic and are very light coming in at 38g on my trusty scales. Despite that they are solidly built and don’t feel too flimsy in the hand.

The Limpid has a nice smooth feel to it and has a see-through body exposing the board, and also has some very bright LED’s that are used to show the battery level (they go red when the batter gets low). Unfortunately, they serve as flashlights especially in low light. Most of the testers were not particularly fond of them and some resorted to attempts to hide their glare, although one tester was quite happy with them (no names).

The Venus has a ridged faux panel on each side, which personally I wasn’t too fond of, but that’s just my opinion. The LED’s on this device are placed on the bottom and are far less obtrusive, however, it does make it very difficult to actually see the device battery status.

The testers had a fair bit to say about the construction.

“Feels really nice in the hand and I really like the colour and the overall aesthetic. The finish is good and it feels a touch above the normal pod quality. That you can see through to the board is a nice touch and gives it a futuristic feel.” - ForestMagpie (Limpid)

“It's not that the build quality is bad as it's not as the finish is nice, the waves to grip feel decent and it's lightweight but it feels a little erm tinny. It feels a little cheap if I'm honest.” – ForestMagpie (Venus)

“For its price point, can't complain. Nice finish to it but those LED's are BRIGHT!!” RichieRich (Limpid)

“While having the appearance of a nicely built pod kit, the plastic feel of this didn't fill me with enthusiasm. it was however, very light compared to other devices i've used in this form factor.” – RichieRich (Venus)

“Very small device, smaller then my Xros which was my daily driver. Battery life is slightly worse than the Venus and I think this is where it’s let down. Had absolutely no issues with mine in terms of construction. The LEDs are bright however they don’t bother me, however these could bother a lot of people as they are very bright. Additionally, I think the LEDs could be utilised better to show battery life, it goes from flashing White to Red which isn’t great and doesn’t allow you to plan ahead and charge the device in advance.” – Razuddin (Limpid)

“Can’t really fault this device, small, lightweight and packs a decent punch. Battery life is very good on this considering the size of the device. The LEDs on this are less bright, I’d even say it’s quite dim which makes it hard to see how many flashes it’s making etc. I think the placement of the LEDs could be much better for this. Additionally, my comments on the LED showing battery life for the Limpid also apply here.” – Razuddin (Venus)

“Pretty solid little thing, very light. I personally don't like the pen/stick shape but appreciate it's smoothness. I do not like the lights. Far too bright. Ended up using the elastic on the lanyard to try to cover them up. Not one for use in bed without blinding your partner, and the lights seem to serve no function other to blind and annoy. I also wouldn't recommend for anyone with epilepsy.” – PhilBox (Limpid)

“Very small and felt even lighter despite being the same weight as the Limpid. I prefer the square form. It fitted well in the hand. Someone else mentioned that it felt like it came from a Christmas cracker and I couldn't have put it better myself. The lights on the bottom to indicate battery life are a bit pointless because you can't see them.” – PhilBox (Venus)

Continued...

 

[hack400]

The Pod​

The Pod for these devices comes in 3 versions, 0.8, 1.0 and 1.2ohm and have a 2ml capacity. They have a rubber bung to seal the pod, which is handy, but the coil is built in and when the coil is dead you have to throw away the pod. I would prefer it if the coil itself was replaceable, the pod was perfectly fine after the coil ran its course. I do feel this is something that the manufacturers should pay more attention to. That aside, the pod is also well constructed, and clicks nicely into place on both devices. On the Limpid there is a little bit of wiggle, but on the Venus the pod is securely seated.

There’s a seal on the bottom of each pod, so make sure you remove that before use!

“It couldn't be simpler. Fitting the pod is entirely intuitive. It snapped into place securely and never threatened to come loose.” – Astral

“pod fit is OK but not as good as on the Venus, there is a slight side to side movement too” – Phrasing

“Piece of piss, magnets are very strong and you can use the pod to pick up device which you cannot do with some pods. The negative, my god does the pod rock about on the limpid. I’m not particularly fussed about this. I just use it as a fidget toy but I can see this being a big issue for some. For this reason its lost out some points from me. It’s almost as if the pod was solely created for the Venus and adding it to the limpid was an afterthought, such is the tolerances in fitment” – Razuddin

“one of the simplest kits I've used, pod clicks in nicely, caps easy to click off” – Sam Andrews

“Very easy to fit the pod, but the pod did wobble slightly which I found incredibly annoying.” – PhilBox (Limpid)

“Fitted in easily and solidly. No wiggle room, held on tight by the magnets. I trusted that I could pick it up by the pod and nothing bad would happen.” – PhilBox (Venus)

Filling the pod is simple enough. The mouthpiece comes off easily revealing the rubber bung. Make sure to lift the right side of the bung (several of us didn’t). The fill hole is sized well enough for thin nozzles, which are common with 10ml Nic Salts, although you might have difficulty with stubby tips.

“the top fill is a great idea but needs some work the tolerances aren't quite right so when I'm trying to fill the pod I end up accidentally removing it instead. having used the "crack to fill" on various uwel pods I'm not impressed. points for trying though as I hate bottom fill pods.” – Phrasing (Limpid)

“because the pods fit a little better in the Venus it was easiest to fill of the two.” – Phrasing (Venus)

“Nice and simple, snap the top off then remove bung and fill. The bung is a good idea to prevent any leakage but occassionally the whole thing would pop out and i'd have to push it back in again. Not a deal breaker by any means but something to note.” – ForestMagpie

“very easy, click top cap off and move bung to side. only problem I had on one pod was the bung was loose and fell out so caused leaking” – Sam Andrews

“Again, this is entirely intuitive and couldn't be simpler. The mouthpiece simply snaps off and the rubber bung is secure and seemingly strong enough not to break. However, the fill hole is possibly a little too small and the rubber bung doesn't have any markings to tell you which side to pull, which is a minor negative, but the visibility through the transparent plastic means you can easily see the long stalk on one side and the short plug on the other, so it's pretty easy to figure out.” – Astral

One thing that drew a lot of praise was the visibility of the juice. A lot of pod devices seem to want to hide the juice level, but with this pod it is easily visible. I won’t quote the testers, let’s just say they all agreed.

So, now that you know all about the hardware, let’s get into the important part of the review. How do the devices and coils perform. As I noted at the start, I am not new to this sort of device, so I have some expectations to be met. There are a few things that are important to me, I want good flavour, a decent battery life and I want to recharge it quickly. I won’t harp on about the coils being integral to the pod, just note it again as a negative.


When it comes to flavour, I found the pods matched closely to all of the similar devices I have used. I think Dovpo have done a great job with the coils. That said, we had some mixed results among the testers, although they were mostly positive.

The Venus Nano has a tighter draw, which some testers found provided better flavour. I preferred the Limpid, and that device got the most attention from me, although I always lean to a looser MTL even with an RTA.


“Hmmm I’m not sure how to describe this. The flavour from the limpid especially with fruits seemed a little off., it didn't seem to matter as much for tobacco It wasn't bad by any means, the flavour was actually quite good but it felt like maybe it was putting a little too much power through it and just taking the edge off the flavour to generate the warmth. I liked the flavour and for a new vaper it would be absolutely fine. Overall, the flavour is good but there are better pods for flavour than this.” – ForestMagpie (Limpid)

“I liked the flavour from this better than the limpid. It seemed to be more rounded and have a certain depth that the limpid didn't. The cherry liquorice and the Creme De Tabac especially were better in this than the limpid. It's up there as really good flavour and I liked the warmth and the airflow was better on this for me which added to it being just a nicer more flavourful experience.” – ForestMagpie (Venus)

“flavour is surprisingly good for Dovpo's first step into the pod market, both coils have decent flavour.” – Phrasing (Limpid)

“because the Venus has a slightly tighter airflow it beats the limpid on flavour” – Phrasing (Venus)

“For me this is where these kits excel. The flavour from the 1.0 ohm pod is superb, and I really do mean superb. They've had me loving juices I only liked in other devices and made my fruity juices taste incredibly succulent. I'm reluctant to ever give anything a 10 out of 10, but these pods come very close... Unfortunately, I didn't have the 0.8 ohm pod to try, but I imagine it's the same. The pod lasted me well over a week which was impressivle, although the flavour did tail off after about five-to-six days which I felt was pretty normal.” – Astral (Limpid/Both)

“Flavour was good, the only issue I had was a slight burnt taste sometimes. This would only occur once I threw the pod on one of the devices when they were fully charged It almost felt like the power was too much for the pod. This happened straight after I swapped from the Venus to the limpid the day after I started using the Venus. Every time I swapped the pod to the charged device, to charge the other device I would get a burnt taste for the first few minutes which would fade away as the battery life went down. After a few minutes you couldn’t taste any burnt taste and it was fine.” – Razuddin (Both)


Battery life and time to charge are both important factors, and I will say that for a device with USB-C I found the charge time a little too long. The Limpid has an 800mAh battery, and only a 500mA charge. The Venus has a larger 1000mAh battery, and a slightly stronger 650mA charge (Dovpo’s web site say 2A, but the manual differs). A full charge on the Limpid took 50 minutes, which for me is too long. I have a similar 850mAh device that charges in around 20 minutes, and that’s more my expectation nowadays. That said, this is probably another reason the devices are so well priced.

Neither device lasts me a whole day on their own, but I don’t vape them all day long. For my use, which is a throw in the pocket while I am out and about, they both perform adequately well.


“4.5ml from a full charge” – RichieRich (Limpid)

“5ml from a full charge” – RichieRich (Nano)

“I get that the device is small etc and has a lower battery capacity then the venus, but genuinely the positive impressions of the venus soured my view on the limpid. I think the battery life on this could be better.” – Razuddin (Limpid)

“Really impressed with the battery life on this device, considering its size.” – Razuddin (Venus)

“neither would last me a whole day without my normal setup, but as a compact stealth vape for traveling or ar work they both last an adequate amount of time.” – Phrasing

Battery charging took a hit from most testers.

“a faster charge time would have been nice but charging them slowly means the battery will degrade slower which is a worthwhile trade off imo. limpid loses a point here again for the stupid LEDs” – Phrasing

“No fast charge option, but ok if you are not in a rush. Website advertises 20 mins to full, I got nowhere near that” – RichieRich

Coil longevity is another important factor, and again we had some mixed results. This was probably down to juice choice, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there were some dud’s as well, something that gets reported quite often with stock coils. I probably squeeze more out of a coil than many, and I was able to put over 50ml of 50/50 nic salts through a 1.0ohm coil before I found it needed replacing. I suspect that’s an outlier.

Some testers reported a burnt taste when first using a new pod. I only suffered that with the Venus, but for me I felt it was the tighter draw that was to blame.

One also reported having burnt taste on a pod in the Venus that had only had a few ml though it, and that turning the pod around stopped this.

The pods themselves are pretty much leakproof, although some testers managed to have some issues with the rubber bung. You do want to make sure you open the bung at the right end, otherwise you can end up having to fiddle around. It is a pretty easy fix, to be honest, but if you lose the bung (no names) then it can get pretty messy.

One tester did report a build-up of condensation.

In general, though, there was very little if any leakage/condensation at all. I didn’t experience any.

Conclusion​

This was an interesting tester event to run, we had several testers that had not used this sort of device, and some were sceptical that they would enjoy the device. That makes for a good test from my perspective, because you can get some good critical feedback.

When it came down to it, both devices were well received, and I suspect will continue to get good use from most if not all of the testers.

They have not yet been released to UK vendors, and pricing is difficult to find, but the Limpid is $12.99 and the Venus is $14.99 on Dovpo’s website, and a 2 pack of pods is $5.00. That is a fair indication that these will be at the right end of the scale for the price conscious vaper and is incredibly good value.

The biggest negative is the fixed coil. I’ve noted that a couple of times now. That is not uncommon with pods though. Coil longevity could be another thing that Dovpo need to look at, but I found them to be on par with other pod devices.


Scores on the doors (Limpid / Venus)

Astral – 8.2 / 8.3
ForestMagpie – 7.7 / 7.7
PhilBox – 7.2 / 8.3
Phrasing - 8.0 / 9.4
RAPTOREX – 8.3 / 8.5
Razuddin – 8.1 / 8.4
Sam Andrews – 7.5 / 7.3
RichieRich – 9.0 / 9.0
smokeandsteam – 8.0 / 7.4
hack400 – 8.3 / 8.2
Average – 8.0 / 8.3

I think the scores are fairly reflective of the devices, they really do their job well but fall down in a couple of areas.

You can read the testers feedback in the attached scorecards and I will also post all the photos that were gathered during testing.

Well then, that’s that. I’d like to say thank you to all the testers for taking the time to participate in this test event. And lastly, I’d like to thank you for reading this review. I hope it has been informative, and balanced. If there’s anything that has been left out, please ask questions below.

** See below for your chance to win both kits. Thanks to @dovpo_uk we will be giving away a set.

 

[hack400]

Full size photos in thumbnail

 

[Phrasing]

Well done everyone, pods can be tricky to critique since they're so simple but the testers and @hack400 did a bang up job.

The Venus nano is going to stay on as my cycling mod despite my usual aversion to pods which is the highest praise I can think of

 

[hack400]

Last, but not least.​

@dovpo_uk has kindly offered a giveaway for a set of both devices. Thanks Andy!

Enter over here in the Giveaways forum.

 

[JohnNada]

Another well written and informative review @hack400 and fellow testers!

I'm not target audience for these type of devices but they seem like a decent enough option if you are.

 

[TP 72]

What a great review, thanks to everyone involved, I was really looking forward to the outcome of this review but both kits do seem a bit average and certain things let them down.
Well done to all the organisers and reviewers for their time and effort for a great review.

 

[Astral]

I just want to send a massive thank you to Andy @dovpo_uk for letting me participate in this event. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and more to the point, thoroughly enjoyed using the kits provided.

To anyone thinking about getting a pod, I can genuinely recommend these and Dovpo have done a bang-up job again as usual. I just hope they find some major stockists now because they both deserve it.

On a purely personal level, this was just what I needed at this point in my life, and the timing couldn't have been better. I just hope I can keep getting myself some replacement pods, I think I might be needing them for a while yet!

Peace, love and blessings everybody.

 

[hack400]

What a great review, thanks to everyone involved, I was really looking forward to the outcome of this review but both kits do seem a bit average and certain things let them down.
Well done to all the organisers and reviewers for their time and effort for a great review.

Thanks @TP 72! To be honest, at the price point these will be at they're pretty hard to beat. The only downside for me was the lack of replaceable coil, but that's extremely common. Other than that I can't really fault them. My Limpid is getting daily use.

 

[TP 72]

Thanks @TP 72! To be honest, at the price point these will be at they're pretty hard to beat. The only downside for me was the lack of replaceable coil, but that's extremely common. Other than that I can't really fault them. My Limpid is getting daily use.

It’s great to see other people’s opinions about different kits it makes for interesting reading and we can decide on which ones would suit our needs and enjoyment better. I did like the look of the Venus Nano but I haven’t been persuaded by it, I think for now I’ll stick with the Argus pod and Argus P1 as they suit my style of vaping and are really good kits and you get two pods as standard. I know price is a factor but I’d sooner pay a bit more for the extra pod, just my opinion.
Great review though I enjoyed it thanks.