Astral
Achiever
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2020
- Messages
- 2,530
Disclaimer: This is an independent review of a device kindly provided to me by @Healthcabin and is not associated to Planet Of The Vapes or any other organisation. The opinions here are purely my own and I am not receiving any payment or inducement for them.
If garishness is the order of the day, @Vaporesso has gone and joined the party in a big way. With the Luxe PM40 @Vaporesso has probably just launched the most shimmery pod kit of them all.
The fantabulously glittery holographic and iridescent colour schemes included here have more sparkles and twinkles on show than a My Little Pony Convention and it makes you wonder if the designer’s children were involved rather than just the designers themselves.
These things are like the holographic stickers you used to get in Children’s cereal boxes.
It's as if @Vaporesso are trying to get four year old girls into vaping - of course they aren't but it makes you wonder if it was ‘take your children to work’ day, because they’re the demographic that will love these reflective colour spectrum's the most.
That said, I adore them too and could spend hours gazing into the iridescent prismic effects - and I'm not in that demographic, I’m a slightly feminine adult male - so I'm not sure if that says more about me or the device!
You can have one in one of five different colour schemes - Lava, Jade, Silver, Carbon Fibre or Black, all of which come with some striking highlights, iridescence and a polished coating, making for a gloriously glossy reflective zhimmer and luxurious metallic finish.
I think this PM40 is stunning, and the shiny, vibrant colour schemes just add to making it an aesthetic marvel.
The other highlights include the silvery accented fire/power button on the front, the clear 4ml (or TPD compliant 2ml) clear plastic pod, making it easy to see your liquid level, a simple sliding air flow control on the back and a type-c charging port located neatly on the side below the screen.
The whole thing just oozes class, right down to the matte black @Vaporesso branded packaging it comes in. They’ve really gone to town on the presentation of this kit, and it shows.
Everything here is neatly laid out and fits in it’s own little tray perfectly- the mod, the spare pod, the coils and the USB-C cable all fit in here beautifully.
But if the presentation is so good it’s almost as if they’re trying to sabotage their own success with their slightly odd advertising pitch.
It all centres around their new GTX.2 coils and reminds me more of a washing powder commercial than a vape one, and centres around their new GTX.2 coils, saying "Buy our new coils", "They don't leak - unlike our last ones"
It's as if to say our Whites weren't as White as we told you they were when we sold them to you - but the new ones definitely are.
In truth though the old GTX coils did leak a little - and as a Gen Nano owner I can confirm this - and these ones don't, at least not the ones I had in the time I had them.
Fortunately the old GTX.1’s still work in this device, you just don’t get the extra leak protection the second O-Ring the new ones provide..
Still, time moves on and perhaps the original GTX coils were the peak of technology when they came out - they were certainly outstanding for flavour - but they're just not the market leaders now and the new GTX.2's might just challenge for that on all counts.
They come in 0.2, 0.3 0.6, 0.8 ohm mesh varieties and a 1.2 regular, with the 0.6 easily being the best of them. There's even an RBA if you've got the dexterity and eyesight to deal with it.
Much of this advance can be put down to the addition of a second O-ring and the introduction of a clever second 'catchment chamber' underneath the main pod itself which the coil penetrates through from underneath and then cleverly re-cycles any leaks back into the main pod.
The coil then picks up it's airflow from inside the second chamber - rather than underneath, and doesn't have anywhere to drop fluid into - clever. So simple and clever, in fact I suspect it’ll soon catch on elsewhere and become commonplace.
The 0.69" OLED side-screen is extremely bright and un-dimmable - possibly too-so - and rather more standard, but the functionality is a little limited - but then this is a pod device and not a mod kit, so I guess we should be thankful for anything at all.
It features all the basic information you need - battery level, wattage, puff counter etc - but it doesn’t offer much in the way of changing settings - something it would surely benefit from - and the inclusion of the AXON2 chip means you have a 5 - 40 w output range, VV and Pulse mode, plus the additional feature of a generous 1800mah battery gives you an all day charge if you're an MTL user.
The rest of the mod is more standard. It's a titchy, tactile and metallic to the touch unit. It’s easily pocket-able and a rounded, rectangular shape that measures just 96.45mm x 30.6 x 21.5 in size.
The pods have a nice top fill design featuring a removable mouthpiece that covers both the fill port membrane and air escape holes making for an easy and clean filling experience.
The vape itself is excellent too. It produces good vapour and a good hit and the coils are as good as the first generation, giving fantastic flavour and a decent life-span too. I had to change coils far before one died on me for this test and I suspect they would have gone on for weeks longer if my own Gen Nano is anything to go by.
The hits I got were always full and flavoursome. The vapour is as warm as an MTLer needs it, well rounded with a good mouth feel that always provided a satisfying inhale, but you have to think they missed a trick by making this a non-autodraw and button activated only kit. Surely auto-draw is a prerequisite for an MTL pod these days?
The pods themselves are smooth though, non-turbulent and quiet affairs, all problems I've encountered before on the GTX22 and GTX18 tanks I use on my Nano despite their usual universally good write ups.
There’s very little noise or gurgling to come from them, and very few dry hits or hot spit to note.
The mouthpiece is a flat, wide and cross-bodied piece but it’s very comfortable whether taking a quick hit or substantial draw. It never felt too hot, although it does naturally heat up the longer you draw on it.
All in all though, the quality of the vape will be down to you and the set-up you employ.
Your choice of coils and preferred wattage here is going to make all the difference, and that’s entirely subjective.
I'm an MTL user but like to use the 0.6 coil on low wattage settings which is well below their recommended range, and it handles that just fine producing a satisfying vape - and that’s all that matters - all l can suggest is you that try various set-ups for yourself and you’ll surely find something here that suits you. There’s just so much variation available.
Altogether this is a fantastic kit, from a fantastic company, from a fantastic retailer and I simply can’t thank HealthCabin enough for providing me with this wonderful device for me to test. Their generosity has allowed me to experience an early example of what could become a modern legend.
It’s not perfect, but @Vaporesso are certainly on the ball at the moment and leading the pack in a number of fields and I’m sure they’ll refine it in generations to come.
If you want one of these, and I strongly suggest you give one a go, you can get one from HealthCabin for £32.93 here but with 30% off if you log in to their site and a further 10% off if you’re a new customer - but with their levels of customer service I doubt you’ll be a new customer for long and soon become a regular like me.
A big thanks must go to Sue from their marketing department for arranging all this for me, the efficiency with which they do things really is as smooth as butter - and this @Vaporesso kit is a real no brainer too. If you like the colour schemes then just go for it. Everything else takes care of itself.
Link: HealthCabin Vaporesso Luxe PM40.
