A new vaper's review of Intellicig Evo

[pass77]

Hello all,

So, after a long time spent reading forums and looking at different types of e-cigarettes, I just recently started vaping. I did a quick initial test with an Intellicig disposable (just to see if I liked the taste), and about one week ago I got an Intellicig Evo starter kit. I mainly chose to go with them because of the certified quality of e-juice. Here are my impressions after one week of use.

Package:
The starter kit is basically just a small cardboard box containing a battery, an USB charger, an atomizer, an empty mouthpiece, and a small plastic bottle with four cartridges inside. You also get a maintenance guide/user manual booklet and a safety warning card. The bottle is kid-proof, it is like pill bottles, you need to press fairly hard on it to open. Cartridges are foil-sealed. All in all, the only complaint is that the box is quite thin and fragile, it was all crushed when I got it. However, the e-cig and bottle are quite robust, so nothing was damaged.

Build quality is very solid. Battery, atomizer and charger have high quality metal assemblies. Cart plastic will get scratched by your teeth (think of pens after a few weeks of use), but they hold onto the atomizer very well. I got the black evo, which comes with a cool blue led.

I must add I also ordered two 10 ml bottles of ecopure liquid (rich tobacco taste, low nicotine). These are like plastic eye-drop containers, also with kid-proof lids.

Ease of use with carts:
This e-cig is very easy to use. Screw the atomizer on the battery, pop on a cartridge and you are ready to go. The battery comes charged, so it was ready for use right out of the box (well, I still had to pop on a cartridge, as the atomizer was mounted in the empty mouthpiece).

Vaping:
The automatic battery is suction-activated (it used to be sound activated, but that has been changed due to unwanted activation issues). I must say you need to suck a bit hard in order to have consistent vapour production. Well, at least harder than I expected. Anyway, vapour is a satisfying amount, provided you get used to giving a "primer puff".
The rich tobacco taste is good although it does not really resemble burnt tobacco, it's a sweeter taste. I did not try the other varieties. The throat hit is moderate, surely due to the low nicotine content. I believe higher contents will yield better hits, however I'm a wussy and prefer the light juice.

Unlike I read in several places, the EVO never leaked juice from any part while I was using it, and I never got juice in my mouth. I believe you have to take some care about not overfilling cartridges.

One note is that the atomizer takes a while to wick after a cartridge is put on or refilled. If one tries to vape right away, nothing comes out. After letting the e-cig rest for about 5 minutes, things begin to work correctly.

Battery:
I got the longer (i.e., "genie") battery, which does last me about a day of normal use. Charging fully takes about 1.5 hours. The battery seems to vape consistently up to the point where it stops, so you might be taken a little by surprise when its led starts flashing and you don't get vapour all at a sudden. IMO it should start flashing earlier. Because of this, a second battery might be a good choice if you want to use the EVO on the go.

Ease of refilling:
The cart I put on at first lasted around a day, during which I vaped, well, quite a lot. On the second day I topped up with ecopure. Now, I was completely new at this. I had seen this video about how to refill EVOs, and I did exactly like that. It was very easy, although I couldn't avoid getting some very small amount of nicotine on my fingertips. I also tried with no tweezers, using just a paperclip like in intellicig's own video, however the tweezers make things definitely easier. it takes about 8 drops to completely refill a cart, a couple of drops if you just want to top up. A couple of minutes is what it takes timewise.

Before getting into vaping, I was worried that refilling might be a messy procedure. However, after trying, I found that refilling the EVO is easy and relatively clean (as long as you have a table and a paper handkerchief). Since a refilled cartridge can last quite a long time, this is not a process you will need to repeat too often. I would say that this aspect would be improved if you could have a sort of plastic plug for cartridges; in this way, you might fill a couple extra cartridges to bring with you without fear of the liquid leaking out or drying up.

Dripping/Dipping:
The EVO does not have drip tips. Dripping means removing the mouthpiece, dripping directly on the atomizer, putting the empty mouthpiece back on and vape. That is good for a quick nicotine fix. However, I find it impractical for most purposes, given how easy it is to simply refill cartridges. That might be just me though.

I tried dipping, which requires more or less the same manipulation as dripping. I found this consistently led to a flooded atomizer, so I would say again that for this type of cig refilling is the most practical way to go about.

Overall:
As a newbie vaper, I must say this cig is a no-brainer. If you don't want to mess with juice bottle just use it with the standard pre-filled cartridges; refilling is an easy process anyhow, so even the lazy guy like me will be able to quickly refill and reduce expenses. The certified quality of the ingredients Intellicig puts in the e-liquid is definitely a plus for this model.

I hope this review can be of help to other newbies like me who are looking for their first e-cig.
Cheers!

 

[pass77]

A small update: it has now been five months of use of my EVO, and here are my impressions about everyday use.

1) I ended up buying a second battery. The fact that batteries warn you at the very last moment before dying makes the purchase highly recommendable.
2) I also bought a small Nintendo DS case (this one) from dealextreme.com as a purse for my accessories. I typically carry around a paperclip, tweezers, one 10ml bottle of juice, a spare battery, the USB charger, a mouthpiece containing a cart (without any juice in it), and a small packet of paper tissues. This all fits nicely in this rigid 15x10x4cm purse. However I do use a courier bag, the purse itself would not fit in a pocket. I am curious about Intellicig's own holder, but it seems too small for my needs.
3) At first, I was carrying around a spare cart preloaded with juice. I quickly found out however that the juice tends to dry quickly, even if the cart is closed with a rubber plug (that Intellicig started providing if you buy a pack of empty cartridges). This is why I now carry an empty cart plus the bottle.
4) In my experience, maintenance should be kept to a minimum. What I do is, I wash the atomizer once a week under hot water, and properly clean the interior of the cartridge with a tissue each time I refill. I also rinse and thoroughly dry the spongy part of the cartridge before refilling. I do not dry the atomizer, I simply blow the water out of it, put a couple of drops directly on the atty, and wait a couple of minutes for it to wick properly. Then it "just works".
5) The EVO itself never leaked in my pocket. However I realized that if I have been carrying it around for a while (say more than a day), when I put it in my mouth there are good chances I will get some juice (a very small amount) on my tongue with the first draw. I prevent this by pulling the cart out of the mouthpiece before vaping if it's been a while since last time. The cart will invariably be wet on its exterior side, so I quickly wipe it and the interior of the mouthpiece with a tissue and I'm good to go. Hence my carrying tissues around at all times.
6) With respect to the duration of materials, suffice to say that I'm on my third cartridge in 5 months. I change them when I notice that the spongy part is very yellow even after rinsing it under water. Not that I ever noticed any difference in flavour or vapour production anyway, but still.
7) Attys also seem very durable. I have a spare one, but have never used it until now, I am still on my first atty since april. Might be related to my very conservative cleaning habits.
8) It is very easy to know when to refill. Apart from the decreased vapour, the strongest hint is a very distinct sort of burned flavour which appears suddenly.

All in all, I should say the experience of vaping an EVO is very similar, with respect to maintenance needs, to smoking a pipe; you need a little work every time you use it, and you need a deeper cleaning every few days.

Hope this is useful. Cheers!

 

[rocksmoot]

Thanks, nice review! I'm pretty interested in this kit - I don't like fiddling around with pieces and parts either. After reading this review I checked out their site and I'm struck by the sophistication of their packaging. Have you had a chance to use their support services at all?

 

[pass77]

I only contacted them once to ask about batteries. I order from their French site, and wanted to know if they were carrying the long battery as well as the short one (they don't). The answer was quick and helpful, they also explained why they don't sell the long one.
About fiddling, it must be said that you do need to have a table or some kind of surface when refilling: you will find yourself handling a mouthpiece, a cart, a piece of foam, tweezers, juice bottle, a tissue and the battery with a wet atty on it (you don't want to put that in your pocket). It's very hard to handle everything without laying it down.
Of course if you really need to refill on the go, you can always put a couple of drops on the atty itself. This is quick, easy, clean and more than enough for a quick vape.