Five days ago, I ordered a Kanger KBOX 40W from 121vapes for $25.25 shipped, which arrived very quickly, in only three days.
People have been labeling this as an "entry-level" regulated higher-wattage box, but I think it's better described as a "budget mod." Rather than an LCD display with resistance and 0.1 watt incremental power adjustment, the KBOX uses tiny LEDs to indicate battery remaining and seven preset wattage selections: 8, 13, 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40 watts. Since it's a selectable wattage device, it's obviously calculating the resistance of the coil, but it doesn't show that to the user. That's no big deal to me, because I know the resistance of any atty or tank I use.
The KBOX runs on one user-installed 18650 IMR and doesn't provide USB-charging (so no micro-USB jack). Again, I don't care about that, since my preference is for battery-swapping and recharging on dedicated chargers. When turned on (with five clicks of the fire button), two rows of seven LEDs light up to indicate wattage and battery charge remaining. The battery LEDs turn off one by one from the top down to indicate how much charge is left on the 18650.
Far from itty-bitty, the KBOX is almost as tall as my ipv Minis (89mm versus 94mm). It also has a certain heft, although not as heavy as the iPVs. The shape is half rectangular (for the chip and buttons), at 22mm wide. The other half is round (for the battery), with a larger, 25mm diameter. Ergonomically, the KBOX feels very comfortable in my hand. I wrap my fingers around the round side and use my thumb to fire. The firing button isn't clicky, but it's smooth within a nice bevel, has a short throw to fire, and gives positive tactile feedback. I like this button a lot---a whole lot. It always fires and feels great. The 510 connector (with a spring-loaded floating positive pin) is centered at the top of the round section. Kanger designed the KBOX to match perfectly with a full-size Subtank, but it looks fine with 22mm atties and tanks. An 18mm diameter Subtank Nano might look a bit small and mismatched but would work fine.
I love the user-selectable presets on the iPV Minis and was slightly concerned that I might not like the KBOX's fixed presets at 8, 13, and 20 watts. Nope. Those wattages turn out to be nearly perfect for just about all the atties/tanks I use. And the higher four presets (25, 30, 35, and 40 watts) are ideal for sub-ohm tanks and drippers. The lack of an LCD display is more than offset by the ease of use and convenience of how the KBOX is set up. There's no logo to wait for when turning it on, no firing delay to put up with as a display reawakens from sleep, no aggravating puff count (does anyone like that?), and changing wattages is simple and fast using the small button that round-robins through the seven preset wattages. The actual power supplied at each wattage seems accurate to me. Chip efficiency/battery life is what we would expect from a current-generation mod with a single 18650 IMR, such as the 2500 mAh Samsung 25Rs I use---nicely extended at lower wattages, but significantly briefer as the wattage is increased. Swapping out batteries with the screw-on battery cap is quick and painless, however---about 30 seconds from start to finish---so changing batteries once or even twice a day is not an issue for me. Threads on the battery cap were initially crunchy, but a little noalox smoothed them right out.
The KBOX is simple, sleek, and surprisingly pleasing to use. It's performed well with every atty/tank I've tried on it: Atlantis, Subtank Mini, and my favorite big-flavor, deep-well RDA drippers---a Magma with a simple 0.7 ohm rayon-wicked single horizontal coil at 30watts and an Origen v2 with a similar 0.9 ohm build at 25 watts. While two days doesn't constitute a longevity test, the KBOX seems solid and well-built. For 25 bucks, what's not to like? (YMMV, of course.)
People have been labeling this as an "entry-level" regulated higher-wattage box, but I think it's better described as a "budget mod." Rather than an LCD display with resistance and 0.1 watt incremental power adjustment, the KBOX uses tiny LEDs to indicate battery remaining and seven preset wattage selections: 8, 13, 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40 watts. Since it's a selectable wattage device, it's obviously calculating the resistance of the coil, but it doesn't show that to the user. That's no big deal to me, because I know the resistance of any atty or tank I use.
The KBOX runs on one user-installed 18650 IMR and doesn't provide USB-charging (so no micro-USB jack). Again, I don't care about that, since my preference is for battery-swapping and recharging on dedicated chargers. When turned on (with five clicks of the fire button), two rows of seven LEDs light up to indicate wattage and battery charge remaining. The battery LEDs turn off one by one from the top down to indicate how much charge is left on the 18650.
Far from itty-bitty, the KBOX is almost as tall as my ipv Minis (89mm versus 94mm). It also has a certain heft, although not as heavy as the iPVs. The shape is half rectangular (for the chip and buttons), at 22mm wide. The other half is round (for the battery), with a larger, 25mm diameter. Ergonomically, the KBOX feels very comfortable in my hand. I wrap my fingers around the round side and use my thumb to fire. The firing button isn't clicky, but it's smooth within a nice bevel, has a short throw to fire, and gives positive tactile feedback. I like this button a lot---a whole lot. It always fires and feels great. The 510 connector (with a spring-loaded floating positive pin) is centered at the top of the round section. Kanger designed the KBOX to match perfectly with a full-size Subtank, but it looks fine with 22mm atties and tanks. An 18mm diameter Subtank Nano might look a bit small and mismatched but would work fine.
I love the user-selectable presets on the iPV Minis and was slightly concerned that I might not like the KBOX's fixed presets at 8, 13, and 20 watts. Nope. Those wattages turn out to be nearly perfect for just about all the atties/tanks I use. And the higher four presets (25, 30, 35, and 40 watts) are ideal for sub-ohm tanks and drippers. The lack of an LCD display is more than offset by the ease of use and convenience of how the KBOX is set up. There's no logo to wait for when turning it on, no firing delay to put up with as a display reawakens from sleep, no aggravating puff count (does anyone like that?), and changing wattages is simple and fast using the small button that round-robins through the seven preset wattages. The actual power supplied at each wattage seems accurate to me. Chip efficiency/battery life is what we would expect from a current-generation mod with a single 18650 IMR, such as the 2500 mAh Samsung 25Rs I use---nicely extended at lower wattages, but significantly briefer as the wattage is increased. Swapping out batteries with the screw-on battery cap is quick and painless, however---about 30 seconds from start to finish---so changing batteries once or even twice a day is not an issue for me. Threads on the battery cap were initially crunchy, but a little noalox smoothed them right out.
The KBOX is simple, sleek, and surprisingly pleasing to use. It's performed well with every atty/tank I've tried on it: Atlantis, Subtank Mini, and my favorite big-flavor, deep-well RDA drippers---a Magma with a simple 0.7 ohm rayon-wicked single horizontal coil at 30watts and an Origen v2 with a similar 0.9 ohm build at 25 watts. While two days doesn't constitute a longevity test, the KBOX seems solid and well-built. For 25 bucks, what's not to like? (YMMV, of course.)
I would like to know why there is the option to set it to DC-DC then. But no matter. It vapes, and it vapes well. A bit heavy for my taste, but so be it.
