So I’ve been thinking about doing this for a while and finally figured I’d give it a shot. I’ve been vaping for about 5 years and in that time have tried a whole lot of devices. I figured if people find it helpful, I can provide some thoughts based on my experience. Just as some background, I mostly vape MTL type of devices (think kayfun Prime, Innokin Ares, Billet Box with Exocet with KF 5 Airflow reducer) so my views will be coloured by that. In the last 6 months or so I’ve started experimenting with POD devices and thought that would a good place to start with respect to providing some views. If people find it helpful / useful, I can try to do similar posts for MTL RBAs as well as some Restricted Direct Lung RBAs.
Provided below is my power ranking of POD systems that I’ve used from best to worst. I’ve also provided detailed thoughts on some of the devices and am happy to add details for the devices I didn’t go into in depth if there is any appetite for that.
Also, feel free to disagree. Your experience with these devices may be different than mine. All love. Hope you find this useful.
Power Rankings
Aspire Breeze
Style: Replaceable Coil Refillable Pod System
Draw: Loose MTL / Very Restricted Direct Lung
Price: $35
Battery: 650 mAh
Capacity: 2ML
Pros:
Overall this is a great device for the price. The cost to purchase and maintain it is reasonable. It also delivers a very satisfying hit even with 12 MG. The vapour is slightly warm which can’t be said for a lot of pod devices. There is an optional power bank that can purchased to double the battery life (although this does add some heft and takes away from portability). The only thing holding the device back is that the draw is not quite right. It tries to straddle between a MTL and Restricted Direct Lung and does a poor job on both fronts. See Tips / Tricks section below which may help with this issue.
Final Score:
Aesthetics: 8 / 10
Build Quality: 8 / 10
Performance: 7 / 10
Value: 9 / 10
Overall: 8 / 10
Tips / Tricks
You can stick an o-ring over the air flow on the chimney piece which adds some additional restriction and improves the MTL experience.
Aspire Breeze 2
Style: Replaceable Coil Refillable Pod System
Draw: MTL / Restricted Direct Lung
Price: $40
Battery: 1000 mAh
Capacity: 3 ML
Pros:
Cons:
Overall Impressions:
Of all the pod systems I’ve used, this one takes the cake in terms of performance. It delivers a very satisfying hit and with the improved / adjustable airflow (relative to v1), the draw is very good for MTL purposes. The battery life is excellent and the tank holds enough juice to get you through the day (for most people anyway). The vape has a nice warmth and the flavour is good for a pod system. The device is the largest of the ones reviewed here but still very portable. My only gripe with this device is that its kinda ugly but I recognize that is subjective. That said, what it lacks in looks it makes up in performance.
Final Score:
Aesthetics: 6 / 10
Build Quality: 8 / 10
Performance: 9 / 10
Value: 8 / 10
Overall: 9 / 10
Tips / Tricks
None, this thing works really well out of the box.
Suorin Air
Style: Refillable Pod System
Draw: Loose MTL
Price: $30
Battery: 400 mAh
Capacity: 2 ML
Pros:
Cons:
Overall Impressions:
I may be a little bias with this one because I love the form factor and aesthetics of this device; both of these are obviously subjective factors. That said, from a performance perspective, this device provides a very satisfying hit although airflow is on the looser end of the spectrum. The battery performs well and the device is built well. It is very portable and the 2 ML juice capacity is sufficient for this type of device. I did however find that the pods wick very inconsistently. Some are great, others give me dry hits. See Tips / Tricks section below for a fix.
Final Score:
Aesthetics: 10 / 10
Build Quality: 8 / 10
Performance: 6.5 / 10 - Docked points for wicking but otherwise hits very well.
Value: 8 / 10
Overall: 8 / 10
Tips / Tricks
You can stick a paper clip in from the end where you fill the pod and try to push some of the cotton in the slot at the bottom. This is something they should’ve done from the beginning but for some reason the cotton sits above the slot out of the box. Also try to fluff the cotton a little bit. Doing this once should get rid of any wicking issues for the life of the pod.
Vaporesso Nexus AIO
Style: Replaceable Coil Refillable Pod System
Draw: MTL / Restricted Direct Lung
Price: $35
Battery: 650 mAh
Capacity: 2 ML
Pros:
I was really looking forward to this device when I first heard about it. It looked great and promised advanced features like temp control and low liquid detection in a very nice form factor. I was also intrigued by the constant voltage option (which has 3 levels based on temp preference) because all of the other devices reviewed here tend to decline in power as the battery runs down. However, in my experience even at the highest setting the delivered hit is not very strong and the vape is very cool. This is disappointing considering everything else about this device works flawlessly. It looks great, is easy to fill, the draw is really nice for MTL and is very reasonably priced. If this device hit like the Aspire Breeze 2, it would move to the number 1 spot.
Final Score:
Aesthetics: 9 / 10
Build Quality: 8 / 10
Performance: 6.5 / 10
Value: 8 / 10
Overall: 7.5 / 10
Tips / Tricks
None that I’ve discovered yet.
Provided below is my power ranking of POD systems that I’ve used from best to worst. I’ve also provided detailed thoughts on some of the devices and am happy to add details for the devices I didn’t go into in depth if there is any appetite for that.
Also, feel free to disagree. Your experience with these devices may be different than mine. All love. Hope you find this useful.
Power Rankings
- Aspire Breeze 2
- Suorin Air
- Aspire Breeze 1
- Bo Plus
- Vaporesso Nexus AIO
- Juul
- Suorin Drop
Aspire Breeze
Style: Replaceable Coil Refillable Pod System
Draw: Loose MTL / Very Restricted Direct Lung
Price: $35
Battery: 650 mAh
Capacity: 2ML
Pros:
- Good battery life
- Well built and well priced
- Delivers good performance / hit for a pod system
- Juice capacity is good for a pod system
- Draw is not quite right for MTL and too restricted for direct lung
- While battery life is good, the 0.6 ohm coils will reduce usage time
- Filling can be a pain since it requires removing the coil
- Automatic switch is not instant (this is mitigated by the manual firing option)
Overall this is a great device for the price. The cost to purchase and maintain it is reasonable. It also delivers a very satisfying hit even with 12 MG. The vapour is slightly warm which can’t be said for a lot of pod devices. There is an optional power bank that can purchased to double the battery life (although this does add some heft and takes away from portability). The only thing holding the device back is that the draw is not quite right. It tries to straddle between a MTL and Restricted Direct Lung and does a poor job on both fronts. See Tips / Tricks section below which may help with this issue.
Final Score:
Aesthetics: 8 / 10
Build Quality: 8 / 10
Performance: 7 / 10
Value: 9 / 10
Overall: 8 / 10
Tips / Tricks
You can stick an o-ring over the air flow on the chimney piece which adds some additional restriction and improves the MTL experience.
Aspire Breeze 2
Style: Replaceable Coil Refillable Pod System
Draw: MTL / Restricted Direct Lung
Price: $40
Battery: 1000 mAh
Capacity: 3 ML
Pros:
- Adjustable airflow that works well
- Great tank capacity for a pod system
- Great battery life for a pod system
- Well built
- Reasonably priced
Cons:
- On the larger side although still very portable
- No way around it, its ugly
- No automatic switch (not a big deal for me but some people may perfer having that option like the v1)
Overall Impressions:
Of all the pod systems I’ve used, this one takes the cake in terms of performance. It delivers a very satisfying hit and with the improved / adjustable airflow (relative to v1), the draw is very good for MTL purposes. The battery life is excellent and the tank holds enough juice to get you through the day (for most people anyway). The vape has a nice warmth and the flavour is good for a pod system. The device is the largest of the ones reviewed here but still very portable. My only gripe with this device is that its kinda ugly but I recognize that is subjective. That said, what it lacks in looks it makes up in performance.
Final Score:
Aesthetics: 6 / 10
Build Quality: 8 / 10
Performance: 9 / 10
Value: 8 / 10
Overall: 9 / 10
Tips / Tricks
None, this thing works really well out of the box.
Suorin Air
Style: Refillable Pod System
Draw: Loose MTL
Price: $30
Battery: 400 mAh
Capacity: 2 ML
Pros:
- Love the form factor, although this is subjective
- Battery life appears to outperform the listed capacity (this is probably not the case but with the 1.2 ohm coils, it lasts a decent period)
- Hits well and delivers a slightly warm vape
- The coils perform well and in my experience can be refilled 5 - 8 times before degrading (this will depend on the juice you use to some extent)
- Automatic switch works really well
Cons:
- The wicking is inconsistent especially with a higher VG juice
- The draw is on the looser end for MTL (which works well for me but may not for people that like a tighter draw)
- The mouthpiece is not the most comfortable to use
Overall Impressions:
I may be a little bias with this one because I love the form factor and aesthetics of this device; both of these are obviously subjective factors. That said, from a performance perspective, this device provides a very satisfying hit although airflow is on the looser end of the spectrum. The battery performs well and the device is built well. It is very portable and the 2 ML juice capacity is sufficient for this type of device. I did however find that the pods wick very inconsistently. Some are great, others give me dry hits. See Tips / Tricks section below for a fix.
Final Score:
Aesthetics: 10 / 10
Build Quality: 8 / 10
Performance: 6.5 / 10 - Docked points for wicking but otherwise hits very well.
Value: 8 / 10
Overall: 8 / 10
Tips / Tricks
You can stick a paper clip in from the end where you fill the pod and try to push some of the cotton in the slot at the bottom. This is something they should’ve done from the beginning but for some reason the cotton sits above the slot out of the box. Also try to fluff the cotton a little bit. Doing this once should get rid of any wicking issues for the life of the pod.
Vaporesso Nexus AIO
Style: Replaceable Coil Refillable Pod System
Draw: MTL / Restricted Direct Lung
Price: $35
Battery: 650 mAh
Capacity: 2 ML
Pros:
- Great looking device
- Has advanced features like Temp Control and Low Liquid detection
- Very good battery life
- Adjustable airflow that works well
- Filling it is a breeze
- Has 3 “power” modes but even at the highest setting, the hit is not very strong and the vapour is cool
- Minor gap between the mouth piece and the body
I was really looking forward to this device when I first heard about it. It looked great and promised advanced features like temp control and low liquid detection in a very nice form factor. I was also intrigued by the constant voltage option (which has 3 levels based on temp preference) because all of the other devices reviewed here tend to decline in power as the battery runs down. However, in my experience even at the highest setting the delivered hit is not very strong and the vape is very cool. This is disappointing considering everything else about this device works flawlessly. It looks great, is easy to fill, the draw is really nice for MTL and is very reasonably priced. If this device hit like the Aspire Breeze 2, it would move to the number 1 spot.
Final Score:
Aesthetics: 9 / 10
Build Quality: 8 / 10
Performance: 6.5 / 10
Value: 8 / 10
Overall: 7.5 / 10
Tips / Tricks
None that I’ve discovered yet.
Last edited:
