Hi ECF members, In this review i take a look at the Argus GT 160W TC Kit with PnP Tank from Voopoo. The VOOPOO Argus GT 160W TC Kit with PnP Tank was supplied for the purpose of this review by Ella from Sourcemore.
VOOPOO Argus GT Kit 4.5ml 160W TC box mod kit dual 18650
Introduction
Voopoo after their slow start resting on the success of the Drag for a while which utilised the Gene Chip which became their property after the take over of Woody Vapes then went on to score countless own goals through their business ethics and dealings with others that ...... many people off including me. In the last couple of years they have become prolific and upped the anti when it comes to the quality of their products while still living on the edge when it comes to their marketing but seem to be making more of an effort to get the marketing and their general behaviour right.
The Argus GT is their latest dual 18650 device powered by the Gene.TT chip which is paired with the Adapt PnP Pod Tank which basically allows the Drag X/S pods to magnetically fit inside a 510 adaptor which incorporates adjustable airflow. This compatibility between tank base, Drag X/S Pod and extensive PnP coil family is a real winner as cross compatibility is something we need more of. The device itself can of course be used with other tanks but the user interface is more akin to what we have seen on Voopoo's recent pod mods rather than their standard devices with Power, RBA and TC modes, let's check it out!
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In The Box
Contents:
Standard Edition
1 x ARGUS GT Device
1 x PnP Pod Tank (4.5ml)
1 x PnP-VM5, 0.2Ω
1 x PnP-VM6, 0.15Ω
1 x Type-C Cable
1 x User Manual
TPD Edition
1 x ARGUS GT Device
1 x PnP Pod Tank (2ml)
1 x PnP-VM5, 0.2Ω
1 x PnP-VM6, 0.15Ω
1 x Type-C Cable
1 x User Manual
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Aesthetics and Ergonomics
The Kit came housed in a military style strong plastic container which in turn is housed in outer cardboard packaging, love getting stuff in this sort of casing as it's just so useful for all sorts of vaping storage . All options have the same Black chassis with a speckled effect which i just don't get, when you look at the photos what looks like spots of liquid is actually the speckled effect which at first made me think i had a dodgy finish on mine until i found out that's how they are meant to be. Other than that Voopoo have done a great job both aesthetically and with the build quality producing a lightweight yet durable device.
The device has a Zinc Alloy construction with different padded leather spine designs which sweep around to also cover 66% of the device's sides, at least on the website it's referred to as leather but they look like different fabrics. I received the Dark Blue version which has a Blue Denim spine with "ARGUS" embossed into the Denim, on one side we also have "VOOPOO" and two rows of stitching in an English Mustard colour which reminds me of the colour combo of an Aspire device many years ago, the two colours compliment each other so well. The padded spine section is fixed in place with a bracket which on mine is Black at the lower part and fuses into Silver in the top section, it's the colour and design of the Spines and colour of the bracket which differs depending on the option chosen which are the following, Carbon Fiber, Vintage Grey, Dark Blue, Black & Red and Black & Blue.
The device is not that broad and with it's curved padded spine and lightweight i found it to be very ergonomic especially as a thumb firer in either hand. The face of the device has a rectangular fire button up top with round concave centre, this is followed by it's colour screen which in turn is followed by rectangular navigational buttons, finally at the bottom we have "Gene" printed in Silver. On one side of the device we can find the Type C silicone plugged socket and moving to the base we have the hatch door with grooves, branding and safety stamps.
Moving up top we have an air fed 22mm stainless steel 510 plate with Gold plated, spring loaded 510. Apart from the random speckles in my opinion it's an handsome looking device but look at the photos to make your own minds up!
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Argus GT & PnP Tank Specs and Features:
Size: 132.1 x 51.3 x 26.1mm
Power Range: 5-160W
Capacity: 4.5ml / 2ml (TPD)
Resistance Range: 0.1-3.0Ω
Output Voltage: 6.4-8.4V
Battery: Dual 18650 (not included)
Standard Coils: PnP-VM6 / PnP-VM5
Compatible Coils All of PnP coils
GENE.TT chip to ensure a stable performance
Temperature control/Wattage adjustment
Power, RBA & TC Modes
Pod to Tank design
Adjustable bottom airflow
Thread: 510
Colours: Carbon Fiber, Vintage Grey, Dark Blue, Black & Red, Black & Blue
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The Pod Tank
The PnP Pod Tank is made up of the PnP Pod that was included with the Drag X/S devices and a Tank base section with 510 that mimics the bay of the Drag X/S allowing the Pod to magnetically fit into the base section to complete the tank.
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The Pod
The Pod is rounded and one complete moulding, it's so slightly tinted it's almost clear and being one complete moulding gives me my first con being you can't use a drip tip of your choice. Looking at it's circular base we have 3 evenly placed strong magnets and a silicone bung kept attached with a metal stud. The bung has a flap which is easy to lift to pull the bung out revealing a very generous fill port plenty big enough for a quick, mess free fill, the standard pod holds 4.5ml of liquid while the TPD pod holds 2ml.
The coil head just gets press fitted into the pod as is the case with most of these style of pods!
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Assembling The Pod Tank
When looking into the base of the Pod tank it is just like looking into the Pod bay of the Drag X/S. The bottom of the base has the round central section visible with the rest of the floor which leads to the airflow slots being obscured by the perimeter having an upper metallic shelve for the pod magnets to attract too. Looking inside the bottom of the base we have a raised central positive and outer raised negative spring loaded contacts which look to have a silicone seal. When looking underneath the base section we have the 510 threading and it looks just like any standard tank. The base section has a dual cyclops AFC with no stopper but has knurling for grip and moves with a very nice tolerance.
The pod snaps into place and fits very securely, the dual negatives and metallic surround shelf design means the pod can be fitted without it needing to be lined up a certain way, it was a good design as a Pod set-up with the Drag X/S and the design works equally as well with this innovative Pod Tank design!
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The Coils
Included is 2 different coil heads none of which are pre-installed and both part of the Voopoo PnP range which are the coils used throughout the Vinci and Drag Pod Mod devices.
The 2 included coil heads are the PnP VM5 0.2ohm mesh coil head rated between 40 - 60w and the other included coil head is the PnP VM6 0.15ohm mesh coil head rated between 60 - 80w.
The Adapt PnP Pod Tank is compatible with the entire Voopoo PnP range which is quite extensive!
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Fitting The Batteries
The Argus GT accommodates dual 18650 batteries that get fitted via the hatch door on the base of the device, just slide the door forward (there are grooves to help) and lift up. Not a lot of light get's into the battery compartment and orientation on the underside of the door is just embossed onto the contacts, i would like the orientation to be labelled much more clearly.
When the door is shut we have no movement or battery rattle whatsoever, a really nice solid door!
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The Display
I do usually describe the display in detail but will skim through it as you can see from the photos throughout the review and i am suffering with Man Flu so just taking the easy way out on this occasion.
The Display is sharp, bright and colourful and has quite a different look between Power and TC working screens. I do feel the colour accents and large time of vape graphic is a little OTT and instead larger font and more information in the form of things like battery percentages would of been better, the display is very similar in look to the Drag X/S devices and in fact the whole user interface is more of a sophisticated Pod Mod set-up rather than standard device!
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Navigating The Argus GT
The Argus GT has quite a basic board compared to other Voopoo Gene standard devices, in fact when using it felt more of a pod mod set-up which of course suits the PnP Pod Tank very well.
The device can be turned on and off with 5 clicks of the fire button and once on fire and up locks and unlocks the whole device so it also will not fire, i can't find anyway of just locking the navigational buttons. Fire and down resets the puff counter and pressing all 3 buttons together brings up a screen showing the chip ID and level code which is actually left over from that immature award system that had a short lifespan!
The device has 2 Power modes which are Smart mode which is the default and RBA which is actually just standard variable wattage and then the device also has TC mode. Each 3 clicks of the fire button changes modes between Smart, RBA and when moving to TC a screen comes up giving the option of Ni, Ti or SS. When on the TC working screen pressing up and down together brings up another screen were you can manually enter the TCR value, wattage and alter resistance before locking. Both wattage and temperature adjust in 1 unit increments which i like for wattage adjustment but not really sure if it's a con or a pros when it comes to temperature or whether it really matters, when holding the button down both wattage and temperature adjusts at the rate of knots!
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Protections:
10s Overtime Protection
Over-current Protection
Reverse Polarity Protection
Short Circuit Protection
Over Discharge Protection
Balanced Charging
Overcharge Protection
Over-temperature Protection
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Charging
The Argus GT has Type C USB for data and balanced charging at 2A. The port has a silicone plug like we see on IP67 devices but adding a plug to keep dust out etc is a good idea and one i have seen on another couple of non IP rated devices of late.
While charging the percentage of charge on each individual battery is given but no estimated charge time left, overall good feedback!
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My Experience Using The Argus GT Kit And Thoughts!
First thing to say is i didn't test the TC and normally just wouldn't comment but i have heard there are a few unusual quirks regarding TCR values and i have been told despite this it works great in TC while the only actual review i personally read or watched said it didn't so if you are a TC user you need to get more information.
The only other thing i clocked on the review i read was the reviewer experienced a 3.5v cut-off which is different to the approx 3.3v cut off i have been experiencing and while i would like this to be 3.2v as suggested in the manufacturers specs i have actually found battery life to be very satisfactory when comparing to other dual 18650 devices. The only other thing that i have been told which is something that just didn't affect me as i don't vape at silly wattage's is once going over 100w the device is underpowered and disappointingly falls a distance short of the 160w top wattage but hopefully it can be fixed with a firmware update as there is no reason why the device shouldn't be near as damn doing 160w.
In my opinion how good this device is really depends on if you are using the device with the Adapt PnP Pod tank or standard tanks as it seems the user interface and smart wattage parameters are set to suit the PnP coils and i had quite a different experience when using an RTA. If using anything other than the Pod Tank i would suggest using the device in RBA mode which is basically variable wattage mode as the wattage's given by smart mode when using standard RTA's seemed way off what i would vape at with those builds, after saying that i used the device with a couple of RTA's in RBA mode and it worked great, firing instantly at set wattage and gave reliable performance.
When using with the PnP Pod Tank the smart wattage works great and i used three different coils (including the two provided) and when detecting a new resistance it altered close to my required wattage and the other advantage is it only allows the wattage to be set up to a limit which suits the resistance of the coils and to be honest i don't know why anyone would want to vape the coils higher than their recommended limit as i find the Voopoo PnP coils are actually better for flavour nearer to their lower limits and some struggle to wick when upping the wattage.
When it comes to flavour i can't be too specific due to as mentioned Man flu but they are the Voopoo PnP coils which give really good flavour so nothings going to be different with this set-up. As for the draw with the airflow wide open both supplied coils are full direct lung with the 0.2ohm having a touch of restriction while the 0.15ohm is full on! The airflow control ring with it's knurling is easy to adjust while the Pod Tank is on the device but i really don't notice any difference until it's half closed and then closing down further does start to give some restriction. The vape quality is very good but airflow while not being over turbulent for some reason does seem slightly more choppy than when using the pod with the Drag X/S.
I do love the whole idea of cross compatibility and the Pod Tank has been implemented well, i did find removing the pod on the Drag X/S to fill a con but actually compared to unscrewing a top-cap just pulling the pod out while leaving the base attached to the device to fill works great! With all the Voopoo PnP coils they will slowly leak while the pod is left standing but while testing i simply removed the pod when not using the device and before putting the pod back into the base to use again dabbed inside the base with a bit of tissue to pick up any moisture and i haven't had any escaping liquid through the airflow slots or on the device which is a better result than i get with the Drag X/S but then the slots on the Pod Tank are raised slightly.
Having Type C USB is a big pro so if you do need to charge in the device you can do faster and with much more confidence and the final con has to go back to the fact this is definitely designed as a kit which limits using other tanks without having overhang. The base of the Pod Tank is 24mm and sits absolutely flush so anything over 24mm will start to look a bit funky!
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Likes
very good build quality
Durable, rugged yet lightweight
Comes in useful good quality military style hard case
5 Colour options
Padded spine
Ergonomic
Small dual battery device
TC Mode (need more research if TC user)
Display bright, sharp and colourful (feel just could be better set out)
Smart mode works great with Pod Tank
In both smart and RBA modes fires without delay and instantly hits set wattage
Performed great at the wattage's i vaped at
RBA Mode (variable wattage)
Battery door fastens securely with no movement
Pod Tank uses existing Drag X/S Pods
Adjustable airflow
Compatible with extensive range of PnP coils
Very good flavour from Voopoo PnP coils
Type C USB (port has silicone plug)
2A balanced charging with feedback
Firmware Upgradeable
Cons
Device underpowered over 100w (based on hear say, i don't vape high enough to test)
Can't lock just navigational buttons
Pod complete moulding so can't fit own drip tip
Slight coil leakage (can be controlled)
Default smart mode only really suits PnP coils (just what i experienced)
Airflow with PnP Pod Tank slightly choppy
Any Tank over 24mm will have overhang
Poor battery orientation labelling
Feel display could have some information in larger font and more info given (some might find a lot of colour aesthetically pleasing)
I would once again like to thank Ella from Sourcemore for supplying the Argus GT Kit for the purpose of this review, thanks for reading and stay safe!
VOOPOO Argus GT Kit 4.5ml 160W TC box mod kit dual 18650
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