I’m back today with my second review for JWEI (Eleaf). This time I’ll be taking a look at the iStick i40 mod kit that was sent to me by JWEI in order to provide another fair, honest, and hopefully informative review on this device. The i40 kit comes with the i40 mod which has an internal 2600mah battery that is charged via a 5V/1A USB-C charging port on the mod. It is a simplistic device that offers only VV or VW. That being said, I usually only run VW on my mods anyway so it’s no big deal that it doesn’t have TC or any other modes. The tank included is the GTL D20 which is a pod tank with a 3ml capacity and uses the GTL series coils. I don’t see many 40 watt devices on the market that are actually mods any more but am guessing this one is targeted at the MTL crowd since it comes with the two higher resistance coils of the GTL series.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX?
1* iStick i40
1* GTL D20 Tank (3ml)
1* GTL 1.2Ω Coil
1* GTL 0.8Ω Coil
1* USB Type-C Cable
2* User Manuals
1* Warranty Card
SPECIFICATIONS:
Product Size: 34.8mm x 25.2mm x 131.3mm
Battery Capacity: Built-in 2600mAh battery
Charging Current: 5V/1A (USB-C)
Variable Wattage (VW): 1-40W
Variable Voltage (VV) : 0.5-8V
Tank Capacity: 3ml
Filling: Top filling
Airflow: Adjustable airflow
Fit For: GTL Coil
Color: Cyan, Neon Orange, Fuchsia Pink, Greenery, Black
FEATURES:
1. Combines leather with metallic materials
2. Minimalist design and comfortable grip
3. Built-in 2600mAh battery
4. Optional VW / VV mode
5. Adjustable and precise airflow
6. Magnetic connection
7. Easy slide-and-fill system
8. 3ml e-juice capacity
9. Fit for GTL Coil and GTL D20 Tank
10. Plug-and-play coil replacement
INITIAL THOUGHTS:
The packaging for the iStick i40 is almost identical to the packaging I saw with the FlasQ that I very recently reviewed. They arrived in a black box with the large green Eleaf symbol on the front and back with a small picture of the device on the front and the name. The back just has the same symbol and a warning near the bottom.
Eleaf once again decided to put the contents list, specifications, company information, and a bar code on one side. The opposite side has an authenticity code and some icons with a few features listed. I’m not sure why but just like the last one I reviewed, the sticker letting you know that the kit comes with the new black mesh GTL coils is attached on the corner of the box.
Once the tray is slid out of the box, the iStick i40 is visible sitting in a foam insert with the GTL D20 tank sitting beside it. Underneath the foam insert is where you will find the remaining items included in the kit. They are a warranty card, user manuals for the mod and the tank, a USB-C charging cable, and two black mesh GTL coils. The coils included with the i40 are the .8 ohm GTL coil that we saw before in the FlasQ kit which is rated for 12-18 watts and the 1.2 ohm black mesh GTL coil rated for 7-13 watts.
The i40 is wrapped in what feels like a padded fake leather material on both sides and around the back. I received the orange and pink versions for my review. On one side of the mod there is the iStick i40 name stamped into the material and on the opposite side is the Eleaf name and insignia stamped. The back side is just smooth. It has a nice feeling in the hand and is very lightweight.
The top of the mod holds the slightly raised 510 connection with a gold plated spring loaded center pin and there are two torx head screws holding the top plate in place. Not much to look at on the bottom but there are three battery vent holes which is something we don’t see on all mods. I find it interesting that the 510 outer plate has four grooves cut out in it which would make me think of old mods and tanks where the airflow came in from the bottom or something.
The i40 has a maximum output of 40 watts and has an internal battery rated at 2600mah which should provide at least a full day of vaping for most people depending on the topper used. Of course it does have a standard 510 connection so you could run any tank on it but will be limited by the 40 watt output.
The front of the i40 has a large round fire button on top followed by an OLED display screen, the + and – buttons, and the USB-C charging port on the bottom which only charges at 1A. I would have thought it would have been good to have a 1.5 or 2A charging rate with a 2600mah battery. The display on this one is rather simple like the FlasQ. It shows only Coil Resistance, Set Wattage or Voltage, and a Battery Level Indicator. Although it is a simplistic mod, it does have a few button operations. They are as follows.
The tank included in the kit is the GTL D20 which is a magnetic base pod with a 510 threaded base connection. As always, I recommend disassembling and cleaning any tank before using it. The tank is broken down into three parts which are the 510 threaded base, the pod portion, and the 510 drip tip. When the unit is first received, there is not a coil installed in the pod.
The base of the pod portion has four magnet to hold the pod into the 510 base. The GTL coils are simply pushed into the pod to make a leak resistant seal. The inside of the 510 base has a metal ring around the upper outside giving the magnets on the pod a place to attach. Below that are two spring loaded gold plated contacts that apply the power from the mod to the coil. The pod has a sliding top cap that you simply push to one side where the arrow is on the top cap to expose the fill port. I like that it doesn’t have a fill gasket.
The D20 has two separate sets of airflow holes to allow the user to obtain a nice MTL or a somewhat restricted RDL experience. The airflow adjustment ring is built into the 510 base. There are four smaller holes for MTL and four larger holes for RDL. The airflow ring does have a positive stop.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
To me the iStick i40 brings back memories of old school mods. Back in the day I had a handful of the original iSticks like the iStick 30. The display on the i40 is simplistic yet gives the necessary information that you need. Would it be nice to have a puff counter? Yes but not really needed. I like that they made the i40 with a standard 510 connection instead of making it a pod mod connection. This way you can also use any of your tanks that will operate with less than 40 watts of power. With a maximum voltage of 8V it obviously has a boost circuit which should help with higher resistance coils. It’s very lightweight even with the D20 tank installed and could see it being used as a pocket carry mod. However, with the magnetic pod base you can knock the pod off the base. The 2600mah battery should be enough to last most people for a full day at least.
The D20 tank holds 3ml of liquid and surprised me as to how long it lasted especially when using the 1.2 ohm GTL coil. I decided to use a 24mg salt that I had left over from another review to test this coil and ran it at 12 watts. Flavor production was pretty good and even with the four smaller airflow holes open it was a fairly restricted MTL. You can close off more holes if you like an even tighter MTL.
With the .8 ohm coil I ended up at 17 watts but could easily run it at the maximum rating of 18 watts. I had all four of the larger airflow holes open and got good flavor but it was still a little too restricted for an RDL that I like. I think if there had been one more of the large holes then it would have been a better fit for me.
So, would I recommend the Eleaf iStick i40 for you? If you are a low wattage vaper and like smallish lightweight mods then yes I would. I’ve really enjoyed testing it. I would like to thank Eleaf and Adela for sending the Eleaf iStick i40 samples for this review. Thanks to you the readers also as always. Stay tuned because I have more reviews coming soon. Below is a link to the Eleaf website for your viewing pleasure.
Eleaf iStick i40 with GTL D20 Tank - Eleaf Official Website (eleafworld.com)
WHAT’S IN THE BOX?
1* iStick i40
1* GTL D20 Tank (3ml)
1* GTL 1.2Ω Coil
1* GTL 0.8Ω Coil
1* USB Type-C Cable
2* User Manuals
1* Warranty Card
SPECIFICATIONS:
Product Size: 34.8mm x 25.2mm x 131.3mm
Battery Capacity: Built-in 2600mAh battery
Charging Current: 5V/1A (USB-C)
Variable Wattage (VW): 1-40W
Variable Voltage (VV) : 0.5-8V
Tank Capacity: 3ml
Filling: Top filling
Airflow: Adjustable airflow
Fit For: GTL Coil
Color: Cyan, Neon Orange, Fuchsia Pink, Greenery, Black
FEATURES:
1. Combines leather with metallic materials
2. Minimalist design and comfortable grip
3. Built-in 2600mAh battery
4. Optional VW / VV mode
5. Adjustable and precise airflow
6. Magnetic connection
7. Easy slide-and-fill system
8. 3ml e-juice capacity
9. Fit for GTL Coil and GTL D20 Tank
10. Plug-and-play coil replacement
INITIAL THOUGHTS:
The packaging for the iStick i40 is almost identical to the packaging I saw with the FlasQ that I very recently reviewed. They arrived in a black box with the large green Eleaf symbol on the front and back with a small picture of the device on the front and the name. The back just has the same symbol and a warning near the bottom.
Eleaf once again decided to put the contents list, specifications, company information, and a bar code on one side. The opposite side has an authenticity code and some icons with a few features listed. I’m not sure why but just like the last one I reviewed, the sticker letting you know that the kit comes with the new black mesh GTL coils is attached on the corner of the box.
Once the tray is slid out of the box, the iStick i40 is visible sitting in a foam insert with the GTL D20 tank sitting beside it. Underneath the foam insert is where you will find the remaining items included in the kit. They are a warranty card, user manuals for the mod and the tank, a USB-C charging cable, and two black mesh GTL coils. The coils included with the i40 are the .8 ohm GTL coil that we saw before in the FlasQ kit which is rated for 12-18 watts and the 1.2 ohm black mesh GTL coil rated for 7-13 watts.
The i40 is wrapped in what feels like a padded fake leather material on both sides and around the back. I received the orange and pink versions for my review. On one side of the mod there is the iStick i40 name stamped into the material and on the opposite side is the Eleaf name and insignia stamped. The back side is just smooth. It has a nice feeling in the hand and is very lightweight.
The top of the mod holds the slightly raised 510 connection with a gold plated spring loaded center pin and there are two torx head screws holding the top plate in place. Not much to look at on the bottom but there are three battery vent holes which is something we don’t see on all mods. I find it interesting that the 510 outer plate has four grooves cut out in it which would make me think of old mods and tanks where the airflow came in from the bottom or something.
The i40 has a maximum output of 40 watts and has an internal battery rated at 2600mah which should provide at least a full day of vaping for most people depending on the topper used. Of course it does have a standard 510 connection so you could run any tank on it but will be limited by the 40 watt output.
The front of the i40 has a large round fire button on top followed by an OLED display screen, the + and – buttons, and the USB-C charging port on the bottom which only charges at 1A. I would have thought it would have been good to have a 1.5 or 2A charging rate with a 2600mah battery. The display on this one is rather simple like the FlasQ. It shows only Coil Resistance, Set Wattage or Voltage, and a Battery Level Indicator. Although it is a simplistic mod, it does have a few button operations. They are as follows.
- Press the fire button 5X to turn the device on/off
- Press the fire button 3X to enter the Setup menu
- Once in the setup menu, press the + or – buttons to navigate to VW, VV, or Screen to turn on/off the screen(stealth mode)
- Press the + and – buttons to lock the adjustment buttons but the mod will still fire
- Press the fire button and the – button to flip the screen 180 degrees
- Low Volt = Battery is below 3.3V and display will show alert and shut off until charged
- Short = Alert will show on screen if coil resistance read is below .2 ohms
- Over 10s = Unit has a 10 second cutoff
- Check Coil = No coil is detected
- Unit has a resistance range of .4-3.0 ohms
The tank included in the kit is the GTL D20 which is a magnetic base pod with a 510 threaded base connection. As always, I recommend disassembling and cleaning any tank before using it. The tank is broken down into three parts which are the 510 threaded base, the pod portion, and the 510 drip tip. When the unit is first received, there is not a coil installed in the pod.
The base of the pod portion has four magnet to hold the pod into the 510 base. The GTL coils are simply pushed into the pod to make a leak resistant seal. The inside of the 510 base has a metal ring around the upper outside giving the magnets on the pod a place to attach. Below that are two spring loaded gold plated contacts that apply the power from the mod to the coil. The pod has a sliding top cap that you simply push to one side where the arrow is on the top cap to expose the fill port. I like that it doesn’t have a fill gasket.
The D20 has two separate sets of airflow holes to allow the user to obtain a nice MTL or a somewhat restricted RDL experience. The airflow adjustment ring is built into the 510 base. There are four smaller holes for MTL and four larger holes for RDL. The airflow ring does have a positive stop.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
To me the iStick i40 brings back memories of old school mods. Back in the day I had a handful of the original iSticks like the iStick 30. The display on the i40 is simplistic yet gives the necessary information that you need. Would it be nice to have a puff counter? Yes but not really needed. I like that they made the i40 with a standard 510 connection instead of making it a pod mod connection. This way you can also use any of your tanks that will operate with less than 40 watts of power. With a maximum voltage of 8V it obviously has a boost circuit which should help with higher resistance coils. It’s very lightweight even with the D20 tank installed and could see it being used as a pocket carry mod. However, with the magnetic pod base you can knock the pod off the base. The 2600mah battery should be enough to last most people for a full day at least.
The D20 tank holds 3ml of liquid and surprised me as to how long it lasted especially when using the 1.2 ohm GTL coil. I decided to use a 24mg salt that I had left over from another review to test this coil and ran it at 12 watts. Flavor production was pretty good and even with the four smaller airflow holes open it was a fairly restricted MTL. You can close off more holes if you like an even tighter MTL.
With the .8 ohm coil I ended up at 17 watts but could easily run it at the maximum rating of 18 watts. I had all four of the larger airflow holes open and got good flavor but it was still a little too restricted for an RDL that I like. I think if there had been one more of the large holes then it would have been a better fit for me.
So, would I recommend the Eleaf iStick i40 for you? If you are a low wattage vaper and like smallish lightweight mods then yes I would. I’ve really enjoyed testing it. I would like to thank Eleaf and Adela for sending the Eleaf iStick i40 samples for this review. Thanks to you the readers also as always. Stay tuned because I have more reviews coming soon. Below is a link to the Eleaf website for your viewing pleasure.
Eleaf iStick i40 with GTL D20 Tank - Eleaf Official Website (eleafworld.com)
