Hi All, Anthony Vapes back here with my review of the Vandy vape AP Kit, please see the bottom for disclaimers and links. Note this is not marked as a sample
Introduction:
The Vandy Vape Apollo Kit (or AP kit for short as it’s commonly called) is the latest Beginner MTL kit from Vandy Vape. They probably don’t need much of an introduction these days as they have made many popular products. They also pump out a ton of products. I personally went back and looked at how many of their products i’ve reviewed since 2018 until now and not including this one 18 in total. So they make a lot of stuff. I also see they are quite up and down, they made some really good products like the Jackaroo mod, kylin 2 RTA, and Bonza and Bonza V1.5 RDAs, but also some not so good ones like the Bonza Mech Kit, Simple Ex kit, Maze rda, and Pyro V2 RDTA so they seem very hit and miss overall. The AP Kit is a MTL kit that comes with the AP internal battery mod and the AP MTL Subtank. The mod features an internal 900mah battery and is semi adjustable. It’s available in 5 colors, Black, Amber, Cyan, Green, and Red. Looking around online they are available in the 40-50 USD range. elementvape has them for 44.95 USD all colors in stock in the USA.
Manufacturer's Specs: Battery
album
AP Mod Rundown
The AP mod is an adjustable simple almost stick style mod with an internal battery, a fire button and and up and down buttons adjust voltage (adjusts by volts not watts) and adjust from 3.2-4.0 volts in increments of.2 (3.2, 3.4, 3.6, 3.8, 4.0). There is one group of LEDs under the fire button. They tell you the battery level by how many are lit up. There are 5 in total so each light accounts for 20% of the battery (example 4 lit is roughly 61-80%). You can fire to check the battery charge or press and adjustment button. Adjusting the voltage is down via an up and down button and lights up the LED for the setting labeled on the mod. Overall good job on the design and functionality of this Mod.
The mod itself is pretty nice. It’s small and lightweight and looks rugged thanks to the rubber coating. The body appears to be some kind of plastic which is the only thing colored on the different colors options and shows through some designs cut into the black rubber coating which covers most of the battery. It has a nice, simple, and tactical like design to it. The USB port is on the front under a rubber plug below the adjustment buttons and they don’t list a charge rate.
The only testing I did on this mod is the charge rate and battery capacity. I know i tested some in the past but based on the type of kit it is and what it’s used for I don’t feel it’s 100% necessary. I tested this using an inline USB meter and ran it 2 times overall. The charge rate max is .76A so they could have rated it as 1A but it does slow down a bit during charging at times. It’s more like .5-.8A charge rate but charges in about 1 hour and 45 mins so fast enough. The battery i tested between 1014 mah and 1028 mah so their 900mah rating is really good and sounds like the minimum rating. Even if the charge is 90% efficient that puts the battery around 910-920mah so really good rating there. It also features passthrough (vape while it charges) vaping as well.
Durability and Water Testing
All right let's get to some fun stuff. The AP mod is IP66 rated for dust and water. What that means is, Protected from total dust ingress, Protected from high pressure water jets from any direction. It’s also labeled as shock resistant. So like usual and any crazy person i had to test this. For the water protection based on the specs given on the rating I didn’t do my normal submerge test like IP67 rated ones. I followed the guideline and sprayed the mod down with a hose for a minute with high pressure water (enough to push it across my yard) and the mod survived without any issues. Then to the shock proof part. I did my normal 3 drop test drop from 1 meter, drop from 2 meters, and then thrown up in the air about 4 meter spinning so it lands in a random spot all onto concrete. The mod after all 3 tests not only had no issues but really didn’t look like it was ever dropped. So i figured i’d step it up a little more (although at this point it already passed what i’m looking for) and threw it into a wooden fence twice at around 40-50 MPH and the mod still looks surprisingly undamaged and works great so yeah huge pass for both water resistance and shock resistance for sure. Very durable mod.
AP MTL Tank performance
Quick rundown on the tank, it’s a 24mm diameter, uses a proprietary removable drip tip which is a black POM (type of plastic) one. There is only 1 glass size and it comes with a spare and both are straight glasses and hold 2ml of juice. The tank itself is all black regardless of the kit color, but the non black ones have matching kit color o-rings on the bottom based on the pics. The AP tank uses a screw off top fill and the threading is nice and smooth and it’s easy to screw on or off. The airflow is made for MTL vaping. Air comes in from 1 side only and you can only have 1 hole open and there are 6 holes ranging in diameter from .6mm to 2.5mm. The AFC is smooth and easy to adjust and on a stopper. The coil system is a simple screw into the base first so you need an empty tank to change them out. The tank glass is hard to remove by hand from the metal cage but they include a tool to make it easier. Personally I didn’t need to remove it metal cage to clean the tank although removing it would have been easier but didn’t seem worth the effort.
The AP tank uses the same coils as the Berserker MTL kit which has the same 2 options and one of each is included. A 1.5ohm Coil - rated for 7-13W and a 1.8ohm Coil - rated for 7-13W. I started with the 1.8 ohm coil and the flavor was barely existent. On top of that it only lasted about 5 mls. Not good performance there at all. Looking back when i used it on the BSKR kit it only lasted 4 ml and had poor flavor so seems like these coils are just bad in general. Then onto the 1.5 ohm coil. I found it best at the 3.6V setting but usable at the 3.4V and 3.8V setting as well. Flavor was just decent at best and it only lasted about 8ml. Looking back when i did the BSKR kit i came to the same conclusion back then but the choices were more limited for kits like this back when i did that review. Now we have the flint, tigon, and endura t18 2 on the market for comparison. The 1.5 in my last review (i used 3 of them) lasted me about 10-11 mls (minus the one complete dud i had) so pretty consistent but not great life, but could be worse. Overall though not a great performer on coils
Pros:
So with all that said, do I recommend this kit or not? I don’t like to do a hard yes or no, but this has to lean a little towards the no for me. It’s a nice kit overall but the coils kind of ruin it for me. If they made a better coil for it , i would recommend it but as it stands now there are better options for these little MTL kits on the market. I won’t be adding this to my sheet of recommendations linked down below and also in looking back at the original BSKR kit, i removed it as well due to better options out there now.
This is Anthony Vapes just keeping it honest, hopefully you all can say the same and i’ll catch you on my next review.
Product Disclaimer
This product was sent to me from Vandy Vape
Review Disclaimer
Due to possible QC difference your experience may vary.
Reviewer Disclaimer
I’ve been doing vape reviews since late 2016 and have done over 300 reviews to date. I enjoy helping vapers on forums as well and helping contribute to the great vape community. I’m not an “out of the box” reviewer. I do my best to be thorough at all times and have enough experience with many products to tell what’s good and what’s not. All mods get tested with an oscilloscope and stress tested and results are posted in my reviews.
Recommendations and Past Review Links
written reviews list here
Spreadsheet of Recommendations here
Best of 2018 list here
Best of 2017 list here
Introduction:
The Vandy Vape Apollo Kit (or AP kit for short as it’s commonly called) is the latest Beginner MTL kit from Vandy Vape. They probably don’t need much of an introduction these days as they have made many popular products. They also pump out a ton of products. I personally went back and looked at how many of their products i’ve reviewed since 2018 until now and not including this one 18 in total. So they make a lot of stuff. I also see they are quite up and down, they made some really good products like the Jackaroo mod, kylin 2 RTA, and Bonza and Bonza V1.5 RDAs, but also some not so good ones like the Bonza Mech Kit, Simple Ex kit, Maze rda, and Pyro V2 RDTA so they seem very hit and miss overall. The AP Kit is a MTL kit that comes with the AP internal battery mod and the AP MTL Subtank. The mod features an internal 900mah battery and is semi adjustable. It’s available in 5 colors, Black, Amber, Cyan, Green, and Red. Looking around online they are available in the 40-50 USD range. elementvape has them for 44.95 USD all colors in stock in the USA.
Manufacturer's Specs: Battery
- Dimensions - 74mm by 27.9mm
- Integrated 900mAh Rechargeable Battery
- Maximum Wattage Output: 20W
- Variable Voltage Output Range: 3.2-4.2V
- Coil Resistance Range: 0.6-3.0ohm
- TPE Material Chassis Construction
- IP66 Water Resistant
- Intuitive Firing Button
- Two Adjustment Buttons
- LED Indicator Lights - Voltage and Battery Life
- 510 Connection
- Available in Frosted Red, Frosted Cyan, Frosted Green, Frosted Amber, Frosted Black
- 22mm Diameter
- 2mL Standard Juice Capacity
- Pyrex Glass Reinforcement
- Superior Stainless Steel Construction
- Threaded Top Fill System
- Vandy Vape AP MTL Coil Family
- 1.5ohm MTL Coil - rated 7-13W
- 1.8ohm MTL Coil - rated 7-13W
- Refill Line Marked "Min" on Coil Indicates Need For Refill
- 5 MTL Style Single Bored Inlet Options - 0.6mm, 0.8mm, 1mm, 1.5mm, 2mm, 2.5mm
- POM Drip Tip
- Stainless Steel 510 Connection
- 1 Vandy Vape AP Mod
- 1 Vandy Vape AP MTL Sub Tank
- 1 1.5ohm Coil - rated for 7-13W
- 1 1.8ohm Coil - rated for 7-13W
- 1 Accessory Bag
- 1 User Manual
- 1.5ohm Coil - rated for 7-13W
- 1.8ohm Coil - rated for 7-13W
- Same coils as the bskr MTL kit
album
AP Mod Rundown
The AP mod is an adjustable simple almost stick style mod with an internal battery, a fire button and and up and down buttons adjust voltage (adjusts by volts not watts) and adjust from 3.2-4.0 volts in increments of.2 (3.2, 3.4, 3.6, 3.8, 4.0). There is one group of LEDs under the fire button. They tell you the battery level by how many are lit up. There are 5 in total so each light accounts for 20% of the battery (example 4 lit is roughly 61-80%). You can fire to check the battery charge or press and adjustment button. Adjusting the voltage is down via an up and down button and lights up the LED for the setting labeled on the mod. Overall good job on the design and functionality of this Mod.
The mod itself is pretty nice. It’s small and lightweight and looks rugged thanks to the rubber coating. The body appears to be some kind of plastic which is the only thing colored on the different colors options and shows through some designs cut into the black rubber coating which covers most of the battery. It has a nice, simple, and tactical like design to it. The USB port is on the front under a rubber plug below the adjustment buttons and they don’t list a charge rate.
The only testing I did on this mod is the charge rate and battery capacity. I know i tested some in the past but based on the type of kit it is and what it’s used for I don’t feel it’s 100% necessary. I tested this using an inline USB meter and ran it 2 times overall. The charge rate max is .76A so they could have rated it as 1A but it does slow down a bit during charging at times. It’s more like .5-.8A charge rate but charges in about 1 hour and 45 mins so fast enough. The battery i tested between 1014 mah and 1028 mah so their 900mah rating is really good and sounds like the minimum rating. Even if the charge is 90% efficient that puts the battery around 910-920mah so really good rating there. It also features passthrough (vape while it charges) vaping as well.
Durability and Water Testing
All right let's get to some fun stuff. The AP mod is IP66 rated for dust and water. What that means is, Protected from total dust ingress, Protected from high pressure water jets from any direction. It’s also labeled as shock resistant. So like usual and any crazy person i had to test this. For the water protection based on the specs given on the rating I didn’t do my normal submerge test like IP67 rated ones. I followed the guideline and sprayed the mod down with a hose for a minute with high pressure water (enough to push it across my yard) and the mod survived without any issues. Then to the shock proof part. I did my normal 3 drop test drop from 1 meter, drop from 2 meters, and then thrown up in the air about 4 meter spinning so it lands in a random spot all onto concrete. The mod after all 3 tests not only had no issues but really didn’t look like it was ever dropped. So i figured i’d step it up a little more (although at this point it already passed what i’m looking for) and threw it into a wooden fence twice at around 40-50 MPH and the mod still looks surprisingly undamaged and works great so yeah huge pass for both water resistance and shock resistance for sure. Very durable mod.
AP MTL Tank performance
Quick rundown on the tank, it’s a 24mm diameter, uses a proprietary removable drip tip which is a black POM (type of plastic) one. There is only 1 glass size and it comes with a spare and both are straight glasses and hold 2ml of juice. The tank itself is all black regardless of the kit color, but the non black ones have matching kit color o-rings on the bottom based on the pics. The AP tank uses a screw off top fill and the threading is nice and smooth and it’s easy to screw on or off. The airflow is made for MTL vaping. Air comes in from 1 side only and you can only have 1 hole open and there are 6 holes ranging in diameter from .6mm to 2.5mm. The AFC is smooth and easy to adjust and on a stopper. The coil system is a simple screw into the base first so you need an empty tank to change them out. The tank glass is hard to remove by hand from the metal cage but they include a tool to make it easier. Personally I didn’t need to remove it metal cage to clean the tank although removing it would have been easier but didn’t seem worth the effort.
The AP tank uses the same coils as the Berserker MTL kit which has the same 2 options and one of each is included. A 1.5ohm Coil - rated for 7-13W and a 1.8ohm Coil - rated for 7-13W. I started with the 1.8 ohm coil and the flavor was barely existent. On top of that it only lasted about 5 mls. Not good performance there at all. Looking back when i used it on the BSKR kit it only lasted 4 ml and had poor flavor so seems like these coils are just bad in general. Then onto the 1.5 ohm coil. I found it best at the 3.6V setting but usable at the 3.4V and 3.8V setting as well. Flavor was just decent at best and it only lasted about 8ml. Looking back when i did the BSKR kit i came to the same conclusion back then but the choices were more limited for kits like this back when i did that review. Now we have the flint, tigon, and endura t18 2 on the market for comparison. The 1.5 in my last review (i used 3 of them) lasted me about 10-11 mls (minus the one complete dud i had) so pretty consistent but not great life, but could be worse. Overall though not a great performer on coils
Pros:
- Build Quality of mod and tank
- nice looking kit
- Size and Weight for portability
- Accurate Battery Rating
- AFC is easy to adjust and smooth
- Battery Indicator is good
- Passthrough vaping
- good 2ml capacity for MTL
- color options (5)
- good battery life
- price point (under 50 bucks)
- screw off top fill is easy to use
- good voltage adjustability on a kit like this for power
- charges fast (about 1 hour and 45 mins)
- LEDs are bright and easy to see
- Very durable
- water resistance meets it’s rating
- Coil flavor is bad to decent at best depending on coil used
- 1.8 ohm coil is just plain bad
- coil life is subpar
- Proprietary tip on tank
So with all that said, do I recommend this kit or not? I don’t like to do a hard yes or no, but this has to lean a little towards the no for me. It’s a nice kit overall but the coils kind of ruin it for me. If they made a better coil for it , i would recommend it but as it stands now there are better options for these little MTL kits on the market. I won’t be adding this to my sheet of recommendations linked down below and also in looking back at the original BSKR kit, i removed it as well due to better options out there now.
This is Anthony Vapes just keeping it honest, hopefully you all can say the same and i’ll catch you on my next review.
Product Disclaimer
This product was sent to me from Vandy Vape
Review Disclaimer
Due to possible QC difference your experience may vary.
Reviewer Disclaimer
I’ve been doing vape reviews since late 2016 and have done over 300 reviews to date. I enjoy helping vapers on forums as well and helping contribute to the great vape community. I’m not an “out of the box” reviewer. I do my best to be thorough at all times and have enough experience with many products to tell what’s good and what’s not. All mods get tested with an oscilloscope and stress tested and results are posted in my reviews.
Recommendations and Past Review Links
written reviews list here
Spreadsheet of Recommendations here
Best of 2018 list here
Best of 2017 list here
