Review Ijoy A160. Pre use inbox & impressions.

[philTBA]

ijoy A160



I got this to cover power needs until the xcube IIs become more available. As you can see from the image above, the outter sleeve is simple, and to the point. Next layer in, more of the same, with just a small logo. It's an unremarkable box, but has a 'feel' of quality.



Once inside the box, you find the usual book of words, and ego adaptor and of course, the mod itself.




If I'm honest, it's a very plain silver box, and I can't get the idea of a small silver house brick out of my head, and as someone who likes 'techy' stuff, almost a bit of a disappointment.
Here's the specs.

Size. 92x43x28mm
Battery support 2x 18650
510 thread
Output wattage 5-160w
Resistance range 0.03 - 3ohm.

Screen display.
Ohms
Voltage indicator
Current indicator
Battery indicator
Wattage indicator
Fire time indicator.
Five click lock/unlock
Power lock (press up/down power buttons simultaneously)

Error messages.
No atomiser
Shorted
Weak battery
Too hot.
These are all pretty self explanatory, the weak battery warning will show which of the 2 cells are lowest.
The screen will dim 10secs after firing, after 30 secs the screen will go off, and the device will go into sleep mode, pressing the fire button will 'wake' the device.
That the techy stuff out if the way, so now some 'pre use' first impressions.
Out of the box, it's a small, plain silver brick. A 3 button & screen affair, with logos on the front and rear of the device, albeit quite subtle and non 'shouty'





Fire button is a plain s/s, and power up/down buttons a plastic/rubber material. These are all easy to use with a nice solid click that you can hear & feel. The batteries panel slide off, and is a nice fit. Easy to slot in without being overly loose/rattley. The inside is neat and uncluttered, with battery orientation clearly marked.


It's back to basics to keep the battery door in place. It's held closed with 2 small rubber plug/spud type things. Simple, but do exactly what they designed to do very effectively. I've know idea how long these will last, but I'm sure there'll be replacements available, or could be replaced with magnets if they fail, or you'd just prefer a magnetic set up.



The door has machining marks on the inside, while these can be seen, I can't feel the marks. Personally, I like machining marks, that can be seen, but not felt.



The positive pin is a brass, sprung loaded setup.



I really wasn't sure about this when it arrived, it's plain, almost uninspiring, with proportions that just don't seem right somehow. I've been looking, prodding and poking round this for a couple of days while I'm waiting on batteries and charger arriving, so handling it a lot. Handling this doesn't fit with the appearance, it sits very nicely in you hand, and surprising comfortable. The fire button is exactly where it needs to be, for fore finger or thumb, power buttons are the same.
This mod looks basic, even clunky, but looks in this case are deceiving, with everything where it needs to be with a solid feel. In the midst of a sea of bright coloured shouty 'look at me, look what I can do' mods, this makes a welcome change. Simple non shouty looks , it just is what it is, a 160w VW box mod, that will just quietly get on with what it was made to do. I'll update this next week once I've been using it for a few days.
It hit me this morning, this is the Nokia 3210 of mods.
If your wondering what the hell a Nokia 3210 was, ask an older relative.
Comparison with MVP30 & M80

 

[dw1986]

ijoy A160



I got this to cover power needs until the xcube IIs become more available. As you can see from the image above, the outter sleeve is simple, and to the point. Next layer in, more of the same, with just a small logo. It's an unremarkable box, but has a 'feel' of quality.



Once inside the box, you find the usual book of words, and ego adaptor and of course, the mod itself.




If I'm honest, it's a very plain silver box, and I can't get the idea of a small silver house brick out of my head, and as someone who likes 'techy' stuff, almost a bit of a disappointment.
Here's the specs.

Size. 92x43x28mm
Battery support 2x 18650
510 thread
Output wattage 5-160w
Resistance range 0.03 - 3ohm.

Screen display.
Ohms
Voltage indicator
Current indicator
Battery indicator
Wattage indicator
Fire time indicator.
Five click lock/unlock
Power lock (press up/down power buttons simultaneously)

Error messages.
No atomiser
Shorted
Weak battery
Too hot.
These are all pretty self explanatory, the weak battery warning will show which of the 2 cells are lowest.
The screen will dim 10secs after firing, after 30 secs the screen will go off, and the device will go into sleep mode, pressing the fire button will 'wake' the device.
That the techy stuff out if the way, so now some 'pre use' first impressions.
Out of the box, it's a small, plain silver brick. A 3 button & screen affair, with logos on the front and rear of the device, albeit quite subtle and non 'shouty'





Fire button is a plain s/s, and power up/down buttons a plastic/rubber material. These are all easy to use with a nice solid click that you can hear & feel. The batteries panel slide off, and is a nice fit. Easy to slot in without being overly loose/rattley. The inside is neat and uncluttered, with battery orientation clearly marked.


It's back to basics to keep the battery door in place. It's held closed with 2 small rubber plug/spud type things. Simple, but do exactly what they designed to do very effectively. I've know idea how long these will last, but I'm sure there'll be replacements available, or could be replaced with magnets if they fail, or you'd just prefer a magnetic set up.



The door has machining marks on the inside, while these can be seen, I can't feel the marks. Personally, I like machining marks, that can be seen, but not felt.



The positive pin is a brass, sprung loaded setup.



I really wasn't sure about this when it arrived, it's plain, almost uninspiring, with proportions that just don't seem right somehow. I've been looking, prodding and poking round this for a couple of days while I'm waiting on batteries and charger arriving, so handling it a lot. Handling this doesn't fit with the appearance, it sits very nicely in you hand, and surprising comfortable. The fire button is exactly where it needs to be, for fore finger or thumb, power buttons are the same.
This mod looks basic, even clunky, but looks in this case are deceiving, with everything where it needs to be with a solid feel. In the midst of a sea of bright coloured shouty 'look at me, look what I can do' mods, this makes a welcome change. Simple non shouty looks , it just is what it is, a 160w VW box mod, that will just quietly get on with what it was made to do. I'll update this next week once I've been using it for a few days.
It hit me this morning, this is the Nokia 3210 of mods.
If your wondering what the hell a Nokia 3210 was, ask an older relative.
Comparison with MVP30 & M80

Good review there fella, I kind of like the simple silver design, not a bad looking little mod!

 

[philTBA]

Good review there fella, I kind of like the simple silver design, not a bad looking little mod!

Cheers. It's grown on me very quickly, it just doesn't look like it should feel as comfortable in your hand as it dose. The simplicity of it becomes quite appealing, sort of 'old school' style.

 

[dw1986]

Cheers. It's grown on me very quickly, it just doesn't look like it should feel as comfortable in your hand as it dose. The simplicity of it becomes quite appealing, sort of 'old school' style.

Is it enough to fire up those beasty coils you have been working on though? haha

 

[philTBA]

Is it enough to fire up those beasty coils you have been working on though? haha

On paper, it has what's needed. Batteries & charger should be here tomorrow, I have a .14ohm quad zipper build ready and itching for some power, so I'll find out pretty soon.

 

[dw1986]

On paper, it has what's needed. Batteries & charger should be here tomorrow, I have a .14ohm quad zipper build ready and itching for some power, so I'll find out pretty soon.

Sweet mate, get a pic over with those beauties fired up!

 

[philTBA]

In use update.

In use update.

First up, a couple of things missed out in the OP.
The A160 is an aluminium alloy case, and finished in silver, grey or black. This isn't paint, but seems to be an anodised finish of some type. It also seems to be pretty resilient, as I introduced it to this to check, and didn't leave any marks at all.



Friday morning seen a pair of Sony VTC4s and an Itellicharger i4 arrive, and put on charge.
At first, tanks look a bit odd on the A160, but that's more down to me being used to 22mm wide mods, and I very quickly got used to how it looked. A subtank plus will sit in this with no overhangs.
When using this with tanks, it packs a punch. I've been running all my tanks 5w lower on the A160 than any of my other mods, with the twisted messes (.5ohm fused Clapton) I was running it 10w higher than usual. Make of that what you will.
No matter what you put on top, it's nicely balanced, and sits well in your hand. This is a honest, 'no frills' mod, that shows relevant info on the screen, but with nothing there that you don't actually need. I had thought the power lock feature was unnecessary, but it isn't. In use, you can accidentally hit the power up/down buttons, and can change a lot, even if pressed for a second, so it is a feature I'll use.
To give this mod a bit of a workout, I dropped a twin zipper build ( @ .19ohm) into one of the 13 Heavens RDAs. This can chuck out some power, and copes easily, it also proper devours juice. This comes along with big flavour, and even bigger clouds.





When changing the watts, the display & power change in 0.1w increments, if the + or - buttons are held down for a couple of seconds, it then changes in 1w steps. The sprung 510 pin kept everything nice and stable, even my normally moody Zeph coils stayed rock solid. That made a nice change from the occasional 'Russian roulette' coil fire incidents I get when using the non sprung 510 on the M80s. Overall, this is just a nice, straightforward, simple workhorse. You can whack your preferred choice of battery inside, increase or decrease power, and get in with vapeing your favourite juice. Its pretty neat, feels solid in your hand and has a hard wearing finish. One you won't have to worry to hard about marking up when your out and about.
This was my first venture into removable battery mods, and I wasn't disappointed.