new Target Mini II thoughts

[United States]

The other day I received a PM from Chelsea asking me if I'd like to try out the new Target Mini.… the Mini II. Sure, why not?

All in on pods I kinda figured yeah, yeah, yeah another mini mod. My wife uses the Aurmor Pro so I kinda knew the Vaporesso way. But my initial mind set was another clunky device and I had switched to pods for portability. I figured it would be the end of the month before it arrived.

It arrived in the same week Chelsea sent the PM. Talk about fast. First thing I noticed was the box is about the same size as a Play box. That's a good thing. Once opened it revealed a nice looking little battery box with a familiar looking tank. I also noted the overall weight was surprisingly light even though it's all metal. The tank looks like an old school number with an airflow that can be a nice wide slot or 5 small holes, 4, 3, 2, 1, you decide. Screw off the top for a nice wide oval fill hole. Even eye droppers can be spill-free.

The typical 5 clicks of the fire button turns it on. It was set for watts. Adjustable by the tenth of a watt I quickly cranked it up to 11 watts while letting some juice soak into the supplied 1.0 ohm c cell coil pack.

Knowing a c cell supplies flavor very quickly my usual hour plus wait to soak was a mere 10 minutes or so. Hit the fire button, take a nice primer puff and my taste buds said "yeah it's ready". Take a drag and holy cow, this thing is smoooooooth. I cranked it up to 13 watts for a smidge more heat.


I handed it to Mrs. States to try. Her reaction was "smooooooth".

Ok, I've got a lot on my plate right now so I'll return and add more words later along with some photos. But I'll leave this post by saying "winner winner chicken dinner".

 

[United States]

Once turned on and adjusted how you want the battery box, 3 clicks of the fire button locks it that way. No accidental changing your favorite setting yet easy enough to unlock too.

Now I'm the type that never did figure out how to program my vcr much less a dvr or those apple tv gizmos. But I figured out how to dial in the device without even looking at the instructions, which by the way do not require a magnifying glass to read.

Now once I had it dialed to my favorite output it was time to vape it. My choice of juice is a complicated number that is not easy understand. It's called Sherburst. It gives hints of a lemon-lime soda with subtle cues of orange or tiny hint of a vanilla ice cream. No wait, there was strawberry in that one… Each puff in the right device causes my taste buds to wonder which flavor stood out that time. My nose smells Sprite but my taste buds think orange cream-sicle. And the Mini II really brought out the various notes like a Pink Floyd album through good head phones. Nothing overwhelmed. In my Zero the cream-sicle stands out. In the Play it was pretty good but with the Mini II it was like going from hearing an mp3 version of a jazz concert to being center stage in a nice concert hall. Amazing.
Hours later the delicious tastes still lingered in my taste buds. Now Sherburst is a treat to me and using a modular device is not my typical way to vape. So the Mini II will become a standby unit for the end of a long day.

At one point I used a small mods with various tanks and settled on Zenith tanks. Over time the push in coil packs would ooze liquid into the air chamber. Especially when they sat around in heat. Spit back and slurping grew old. Once I had discovered the Zero it was easy to put away the clumsy mods. No spit back, no slurping. No fire button. So my intial skeptisism about another modular device was soon replaced with the thought "finally somebody got it right". No spit back, no slurping, and a lightning quick on/off fire button for a predictable vape every time.

The designers at Vaporesso built the box with a flat area on the bottom that is large enough to easily stand as the grandkids shake to floors while round enough at the edges to feel pretty natural in the hand. The bottom has a few holes for venting heaven forbid. The tank has 3 windows surrounded by metal. No thought of a rubber tank band even entered my mind as it appears the glass bowl is very well protected. Yet the kit comes with a spare. It came with a 1.0 ohm c cell installed but in the package was an 0.6 mesh unit. Being a lightweight drag taking MTLr I stuck with the 1.0. With two holes it was a wee bit tight for me. With three it was a wee bit loose. The adjuster is so precise I was able to dial in about 2-1/4 holes. Yet it is tight enough to stay that way. Like goldilocks said about the baby bears bed "just right".

I'm not into clocks on a vaper but ended up leaving it on this one. The chosen blue screen is great outdoors, even turned way down. The little screen is set up with large enough characters with enough spacing to cause my 55 year old eyes to easily see what I'm looking at. I changed the date and clock without looking at the manual.

The toggle switch at the bottom is pretty accurate and the enter button is close enough to easily find but far enough away to avoid accidental push. There is a slight curvature in that area to assist in accidental activation prevention. Enough protrusion to feel the buttons in darkness yet not enough to become easily activated in pocket carry, again thanks to the curvature. But remember it has lockout so no issues there anyway.

There are probably a slew of options I haven't used, nor will I. Proper watts, lockout, proper airflow, I'm good. Oh, and the clock is set correctly. Will it know when the US government changes the time? No concern here as changing the clock is easier than in my automobile.

The box itself has two areas with a knurling that aids grip with sweaty hands or with gloves. Mittons? Probably not. The micro usb charge port is on the right side when looking at the screen. My sample was slightly off center but not enough to affect pushing in the cable end. When charging you see a sequential battery meter in 5 incriments with percent remaining and approximate time left to charge it to full. When I plugged it in it said 52% and 40 minutes. About a minute later it said 54 and 35 minutes. So unlike Windows computer OS downloads that say 2 minutes 45 second for the next 19 minutes this one gives a conservative reading. Nice surprise there. I snuck in a couple of tastey drags while it charged.

I'll probably think of more to say later, but right now I'm out of words.

 

[dennism]

Great review, although mtl isn't my thing, I'm a dtler, it was still a great review.

 

[United States]

Max airflow?

Or reduced?
You choose.
Note the typical 510 drip tip means you can use your favorite tip.

In the package

Versus some typical items.
Note the flashlight on the right is barely larger than the triple a battery that fuels it.

The fill point.
Note the slot in the center is what fastens down a piece that slides out and allows a glass bowl swap. It has a tool in the package for that but an ordinary screwdriver will suffice in a pinch.

What comes in the package.
Spare o'rings, the tool, spare glass, a spare coil pack, and the typical real nice charger cord Vaporesso includes with their devices.

The clock.
Also shows toggle and enter buttons. Note the gentle yet bright blue characters.

Shows what you see when pushing the enter button with it unlocked.
Simply toggle to the desired place in the menu then hit enter. Then toggle for desired change, then enter. Push the fire button when done. If you can text you can set up this device how you want it set up.

Setup in watts while chain vaping I've experienced zero dry hits and zero hot hits thanks to four big ole entry points to the wick. Now the glass allows viewing of the wick even with gin clear juice. It appears that the area Vaporesso chose to place the coil pack inside the tank makes it so the wick is located at the bottom of the tank. In other words you can vape it empty without getting dry hits.

It's the little things that set Vaporesso apart from the competition.

If you enjoy vaping from a mini-mod and you are on the fence about the Mini II hopefully these posts will help you come down off the fence and drive to a nearby vape shop to try one.

Well done Vaporesso.
Thank you for the opportunity to try one Vaporesse Chelsea.

 

[United States]

Great review, although mtl isn't my thing, I'm a dtler, it was still a great review.

Thank you.

 

[stols001]

Yay! I won one and it sounds great! I can't wait to get my sticky little hands on it,

Anna

 

[Vaporesso_Milo]

Thanks for your review!

 

[United States]

Day 6 and absolutely no spit back, slurping or any leak into the air chamber.

This is the first tank I've had the pleasure of saying that about. But tomorrow it goes with me to work where it will spend time is a scorching pickup truck. That is where the rubber meets the road in terms of leak-free vape devices where the Play and Zero fared well but not 100% ooze proof. (fingers crossed.)

 

[United States]

Today in my truck it was 133 degrees farenheit when I returned from a 2 hour meeting. The Mini II was sitting on a console in full sunlight with a 70% vg in the tank at about 80% full. When I had left it inside the truck the cab was about 72 degrees when I first left it there.

Absolutely no juice had oozed into the air chamber when I returned. None. It was so warm I had to use a rag around it to comfortably try it out.

Impressive.

I do not reccomend folks try that. Safety first.

 

[United States]

Being a die hard MTL vaper I find the Mini II a wonderful hybrid DTL machine.

After trying to find that perfect tight/loose drag from it I found myself pulling a direct lung draw instead. It's the only device I use that way. But it just feels more natural pulling a half second DTL. Perhaps if I went from 2-1/4 holes to 1-1/4 it might tighten up like my favorite pods like the Zero etc. Yet I have found that just right setting for a lightweight DTL so I'll just do that.

 

[United States]

Ok, so 2 weeks in and the Mini II is like an evening cocktail for this pod user. So from that perspective it replaces my big Aegis 100 with a Zenith tank on the coffee table.

For comparison I filled a Zenith tank with brand new coil pack and let it set over night with the SherBurst juice I'm using in the Mini II tank. Next morning the air chamber had juice in it due to not getting the Zenith coil pack seated exactly right. Once that hurdle was overcome it was time to vape. Not even close. For fairness, a Zenith coil pack takes about a tank full to become fully flavored.
The Mini II coil pack was fully flavored in just a few puffs. And after 2 weeks there is zilch spit back or slurping from the air chamber. None. Innokin had it pretty darn close with the Zenith set up. But the pita factor caused this user to keep looking for the ideal tank. Not the case with the Mini II tank. Like I said, the Mini II is my evening cocktail so it has not gone through a whole bunch of use. But unlike any tank I tried before, this one provides a hassle free vape everytime.

 

[stols001]

Glad you are enjoying it, mine got a bit lost in the shuffle/haze of life recently. I do plan on trying it out today, I will say I love its looks.

Anna