Hi ECF members, In this review i take a look at the Poker 218 TC Kit with Resin tank from Teslacigs. The Poker 218 TC Kit with Resin tank was supplied for the purpose of this review by Gloria from Tesla.
POKER 218 KIT
Introduction
Teslacigs mainly known for their WYE and Punk series of devices have been busy of late and here we have in my opinion a real looker the Poker 218. The Poker has the same screen layout and navigates identically to the WYE II but features a physical on/off switch. Unlike the WYE devices that have gained popularity for being super lightweight the Poker will please those that like a sturdy device with some weight behind it. In this kit we see it matched up with an existing Tesla tank which has a Resin finish and the genius name of the Resin Tank (i'm just waiting for a mod to be released called the "plastic mod" you just know it's going to happen). The Resin Tank uses high wattage mesh coils and has a capacity of 6ml (the EU version is 2ml). So i will get on with the review and see how the deck is stacked!
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In The Box
Contents:
1 x Tesla Poker 218 MOD
1 x Tesla Resin Tank 6ml (Resin 2ml EU Edition)
1 x TS-XX Coil (Pre-installed)
1 x TS-120X Coil
1 x Replacement Glass Tube 4ml
4 x Silicone Rings
1 x USB Cable
2 x User Manual
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Aesthetics and Ergonomics
The Poker comes in the usual Tesla style of cardboard packaging and on opening the look of the device more than lived up to the images i have seen. I received the Black version which comes with a Black Resin tank which is quite a good colour match up. The other options are Blue, Green and White, other versions have tanks which are not a great colour match up but all devices look stunning. Both sides of the device have a Ace of Hearts playing card design with a background in the colour of choice and camo effect, there are also carvings of what i have no idea. So it's all very busy which sounds a recipe for disaster but at the risk of repeating myself in my opinion the Poker looks aesthetically stunning. The device is heavy which will not to be to everyone's liking and being very boxy is not the most ergonomic but all edges have been tapered so no sharp edges. The main chassis is Gun Metal and on the front we have a protruding round Silver fire button towards the top. Underneath the fire button we have the Silver on/off switch followed by the screen, this is followed by Silver navigational buttons and finally central bottom the micro USB port. The spine of the device has "TESLACIGS" engraved on the vertical with grooved design, we have branding and safety marks on the base. Up top to one side we have a Silver 510 plate with Gold plated, spring loaded 510. The Poker made of Zinc alloy is a very sturdy well made device which will appeal to many.
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Resin Tank Specs and Features:
Dimension: 25.5 x 45mm
Capacity: 4ml(regular tube) / 6ml(with an extra bubble tube) (2ml Resin tank EU Edition)
Resistance Available:
TS-XX Coil: 0.18ohm (60W-110W, pre-installed)
TS-120X Coil: 0.15ohm (70W-120W)
Material: Resin+Brass
Latest TS-XX & TS-120X coil for great flavor
4ml/6ml (2ml EU Edition) e-juice capacity with easy top fill
Adjustable bottom airflow
Convenient plug-n-pull coil installation
Thread: 510
Colours: Black, Purple, Blue, Green, Yellow, Red, Orange, Grey
The colour with kit best suits the colour of the device but not a perfect match.
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Resin Tank Overview
I do like a resin finish tank but one noticeable difference between this and for example the Freemax or Alpha is the Resin base and top-cap isn't chunky and has a more delicate look (it's a compliment to the aesthetics not that the tank is fragile). The Resin has a top-fill method and rather than the perimeter of the top-cap being threaded it is threaded into place via the air-pipe with silicone seal keeping the tank air-tight. When the top cap is removed a metal plate is revealed with the usual dual kidney shaped fill ports. Moving to the base we have dual cyclops with very visible stopper and unscrewing the base reveals the coil is just press fitted inside the coil chamber and then the base gets screwed back on, the base of the coil head has an o-ring which in theory should prevent e-liquid seeping straight into the base. The Resin tank comes in both 2ml TPD version and 6ml bubble glass version, the spare straight glass is 4ml capacity. The Resin comes with 2 different mesh coils, the pre installed coil is the TS-XX 0.18ohm Mesh coil which is rated between 60w and 110w with a best of 70w to 90w. The other included coil is the TS-120X 0.15ohm Mesh coil which is rated between 70w and 120w, best at 80w to 100w.
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Poker 218 Specs and Features:
Dimension: 54.5 x 26 x 88mm
Material: Zinc alloy
Cell Type: 2 x 18650 cells (not included)
Output Wattage: 7-218W (in 0.5W increments)
Output Mode: KA / TC-SS316 / TC-NI200 / TC-TI / TCR mode
Max Output Voltage: 7.5V
Max Output Current: 50A
USB Charging: 5V/1.5A
Taste Mode: Norm/Soft/Hard/User
Memory Mode: M1/M2/M3
Resistance Range: TC & TCR mode/0.05-1.0ohm; KA mode/0.1-3.0ohm
Temperature Range: 100-300℃/200-600℉
Display: OLED screen
Made from advanced zinc alloy
Unique Ace of Hearts playing card design
Dual 18650 cells with 218W max output
Various modes offer you different vaping experience
Colours: Blue, Green, Black, White
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Fitting The Batteries
The Poker runs off dual 18650 batteries which are fitted by removing the side panel (or playing card). On the base their is a notch to help to remove the panel and once off the battery compartment is very neat and tidy and has installed battery ribbon. The ribbon is needed as the batteries sit deep inside the compartment so their is no room to get your fingers around them for removal but they don't fit over-tight so no issues with damaging your wraps. Yet again i can't understand why battery orientation is Black on Black (please White) but other than that nice job. The panel secures via large magnets top and bottom and snap strongly into place, it's very secure.
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The Display
The Display is very bright and sharp with detailed information given. The top of the display we have the battery status shown both as a bar and as a percentage ( a big pro for also giving percentage but would of got full marks if there was a battery bar for each battery). Underneath in large we have the wattage or temperature with unit. Underneath the wattage or temperature to the left of the display we have the resistance then underneath this is the volts which changes to watts when in temp control. To the right we have the memory you are on when "M" is displayed it means you are not using this feature. At the bottom of the display we have the preheat to the left and mode to the right, when KA for Kanthal is displayed it doesn't mean you must be using Kanthal coils it is just the mode for normal wattage.
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On/Off Switch
The Poker has a physical on/off switch which is a big pro. It's positioned underneath the fire button and slides horizontally to the right to turn on and back to the left to turn off (there are symbols on the device to indicate the correct position). With the switch in the off position when you first insert the batteries the device doesn't power up, to turn on you need to move the switch to the on position then the device powers up. When the switch is to the on position you can from then on use the usual 5 clicks to turn the device on and off or you can also instantly turn the device off by switching to the off position.
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Waterproof, Shockproof and Dustproof ? Rubbish
The Poker is a very well made device that seems very durable indeed but i have seen in the Specs on a certain vendors site that the Poker is Waterproof, Shockproof and Dustproof, even having this picture:
The picture does come from Teslacigs website but the caption has been added, i don't see any mention of such claims by Teslacigs and have no idea why this information has been given. The Poker has a battery panel that fit's like many others and wide open USB port just for starters, no shockproof materials are used, it's shell is completely Zinc Alloy. The vendor is well respected with a very good reputation so i'm not naming and shaming as i'm sure this is a genuine error so instead have contacted the vendor to point it out.
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Navigating The Poker
If you have used previous Tesla devices the display description will sound very familiar with all the same information displayed in the same way just a different layout of that information to suit the larger screen, if you have the WYE II the layout is identical. Navigating the Poker again works the same way as previous recent Tesla devices which i'll go through. Providing the on/off switch is positioned to the on position, to turn the device on and off is the usual 5 clicks of the fire button and once on the only combo press function is both navigational buttons pressed together which locks and unlocks the navigational buttons but the device will still fire. Unlike most devices where you go into a menu system to pick from options like mode, settings etc and then once choosing it takes you to another list of options to choose from the Poker cuts a lot of this out which it's partly able to do by not bothering about features like screen timeout, puff counter, adjusting brightness etc. One feature the Poker has is smart mode when first attaching an atty, this adjusts the wattage automatically to one that should suit the resistance of your coil but then you can of course adjust it if it's not the wattage you want, this feature is on auto and can't be turned on or off but has it's going to give a wattage close to what you want it quickens setting wattage when a new coil is detected. Navigating the device is easy you just move around the working screen using the navigational buttons and when what you want is highlighted press the fire button to select, first you need to press the fire button 3 times. The first item that is highlighted is the resistance which can be manually altered, other items you can highlight are the preheat, the mode, the memory and the battery status bar. When pressing fire when the preheat is highlighted it allows you to choose between Normal, Soft, Hard or User which allows you to set a custom curve, pressing fire when the mode is highlighted allows you to choose between Kanthal (wattage), SS316, NI200, TI and TCR. Memory is always shown on the screen and when highlighting and pressing fire you can choose between M (which means no memory slot has been selected, this will be shown on the screen at all times unless using a memory slot), M1, M2 or M3, finally pressing fire when the battery status bar is highlighted gives hardware and software information but funny enough it doesn't give battery stats. When in temperature control you get a couple of extra items highlight when moving around the screen, as well as the resistance highlighting the ohms symbol does which then can be selected to lock resistance, finally where we once had the voltage displayed we now have wattage which can be highlighted and wattage set for temp control.
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My Experience Using The Kit
The Poker is impressive and although i can't get data and doubt it's 218W claim like the WYE II it seems powerful doing the wattage's i tried well within it'self. As for temp control per usual i have to point out i don't vape using temp control so really would have no clue how it works. The device as you would expect fires instantly and i do like the clicky fire button that protrudes nicely so is easy to find, the physical on/off switch is a stand out feature for me and wish all mods would have this. The way this device is navigated makes it very user friendly and quick to alter anything, the curves feature also worked well and the preheats definitely work fine. The device alters in 0.5w increments which is another pro in my opinion as is the fact battery status is also shown as a percentage but would much rather both batteries were shown separately. The device will accommodate up to a 26mm atty without overhanging the device but does overhang the panels so 25mm max is a far better choice, the 25.5mm Resin tank overhangs the panels slightly which i found very annoying. It also supports 1.5A charging but as ever i would only charge the batteries in the device if it's your only option. I used the Poker mainly with other atty's i am testing but have used the Resin tank before. Last time i used the Resin tank i had a major issue with leaking but have now found once the coil is pressed with a bit more force into the coil housing it seals much better so gave it another whirl with the o.18ohm mesh coil which gave pretty decent flavour, my preference was 75w, despite solving the major leaking issue i still need to point out it's far from leakproof and not a tank i would leave on top of a device when full of liquid overnight, it's also quite loud. The picture is of me using the Resin tank that i got previously so the colour doesn't match and although i received the Black kit where the tank and mod match quite well in general the tanks don't match the device's very well at all. The efficiency of the device seemed good as battery life seemed better than expected but for both life and hitting closer to top wattage 21700 batteries would be much better, the Poker is also fully firmware upgradeable.
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Final Thoughts
The Resin Tank looks nice but is very average, flavour from the coils is not bad and i do like the way the top-cap is fitted and the 6ml capacity of the standard version but it's a bit leaky and quite loud. The Poker is another excellent device from Tesla with looks to match, nothing really to complain about apart from it's not super ergonomic and much prefer high powered devices in 2019 to be released with the capability of housing dual 21700's.
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Likes
Aesthetically stunning (in my opinion)
Very good build quality
Feels sturdy and durable
All colour options of device look good
Physical on/off switch
User friendly navigation
Fires instantly, fire button easy to find
No rattles from device whatsoever
High powered
Curve features
Pre-heats
Full TC suite (not tested)
Performed very well
Adjusts in 0.5w increments
Bright, sharp display
Good battery life
Firmware upgradeable
Nice top-fill method
6ml capacity (standard Edition)
Cons
Not the most ergonomic device
18650 batteries only
Black on Black battery orientation
Resin tank a bit leaky
Resin tank quite loud
Colours of tanks don't match device's well and overhang panels.
I would once again like to thank Gloria from Teslacigs for supplying the Tesla Poker 218 TC Kit with Resin Tank for the purpose of this review.
POKER 218 KIT
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POKER 218 KIT
Introduction
Teslacigs mainly known for their WYE and Punk series of devices have been busy of late and here we have in my opinion a real looker the Poker 218. The Poker has the same screen layout and navigates identically to the WYE II but features a physical on/off switch. Unlike the WYE devices that have gained popularity for being super lightweight the Poker will please those that like a sturdy device with some weight behind it. In this kit we see it matched up with an existing Tesla tank which has a Resin finish and the genius name of the Resin Tank (i'm just waiting for a mod to be released called the "plastic mod" you just know it's going to happen). The Resin Tank uses high wattage mesh coils and has a capacity of 6ml (the EU version is 2ml). So i will get on with the review and see how the deck is stacked!
___________________________________________________________________
In The Box
Contents:
1 x Tesla Poker 218 MOD
1 x Tesla Resin Tank 6ml (Resin 2ml EU Edition)
1 x TS-XX Coil (Pre-installed)
1 x TS-120X Coil
1 x Replacement Glass Tube 4ml
4 x Silicone Rings
1 x USB Cable
2 x User Manual
___________________________________________________________________
Aesthetics and Ergonomics
The Poker comes in the usual Tesla style of cardboard packaging and on opening the look of the device more than lived up to the images i have seen. I received the Black version which comes with a Black Resin tank which is quite a good colour match up. The other options are Blue, Green and White, other versions have tanks which are not a great colour match up but all devices look stunning. Both sides of the device have a Ace of Hearts playing card design with a background in the colour of choice and camo effect, there are also carvings of what i have no idea. So it's all very busy which sounds a recipe for disaster but at the risk of repeating myself in my opinion the Poker looks aesthetically stunning. The device is heavy which will not to be to everyone's liking and being very boxy is not the most ergonomic but all edges have been tapered so no sharp edges. The main chassis is Gun Metal and on the front we have a protruding round Silver fire button towards the top. Underneath the fire button we have the Silver on/off switch followed by the screen, this is followed by Silver navigational buttons and finally central bottom the micro USB port. The spine of the device has "TESLACIGS" engraved on the vertical with grooved design, we have branding and safety marks on the base. Up top to one side we have a Silver 510 plate with Gold plated, spring loaded 510. The Poker made of Zinc alloy is a very sturdy well made device which will appeal to many.
___________________________________________________________________
Resin Tank Specs and Features:
Dimension: 25.5 x 45mm
Capacity: 4ml(regular tube) / 6ml(with an extra bubble tube) (2ml Resin tank EU Edition)
Resistance Available:
TS-XX Coil: 0.18ohm (60W-110W, pre-installed)
TS-120X Coil: 0.15ohm (70W-120W)
Material: Resin+Brass
Latest TS-XX & TS-120X coil for great flavor
4ml/6ml (2ml EU Edition) e-juice capacity with easy top fill
Adjustable bottom airflow
Convenient plug-n-pull coil installation
Thread: 510
Colours: Black, Purple, Blue, Green, Yellow, Red, Orange, Grey
The colour with kit best suits the colour of the device but not a perfect match.
___________________________________________________________________
Resin Tank Overview
I do like a resin finish tank but one noticeable difference between this and for example the Freemax or Alpha is the Resin base and top-cap isn't chunky and has a more delicate look (it's a compliment to the aesthetics not that the tank is fragile). The Resin has a top-fill method and rather than the perimeter of the top-cap being threaded it is threaded into place via the air-pipe with silicone seal keeping the tank air-tight. When the top cap is removed a metal plate is revealed with the usual dual kidney shaped fill ports. Moving to the base we have dual cyclops with very visible stopper and unscrewing the base reveals the coil is just press fitted inside the coil chamber and then the base gets screwed back on, the base of the coil head has an o-ring which in theory should prevent e-liquid seeping straight into the base. The Resin tank comes in both 2ml TPD version and 6ml bubble glass version, the spare straight glass is 4ml capacity. The Resin comes with 2 different mesh coils, the pre installed coil is the TS-XX 0.18ohm Mesh coil which is rated between 60w and 110w with a best of 70w to 90w. The other included coil is the TS-120X 0.15ohm Mesh coil which is rated between 70w and 120w, best at 80w to 100w.
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Poker 218 Specs and Features:
Dimension: 54.5 x 26 x 88mm
Material: Zinc alloy
Cell Type: 2 x 18650 cells (not included)
Output Wattage: 7-218W (in 0.5W increments)
Output Mode: KA / TC-SS316 / TC-NI200 / TC-TI / TCR mode
Max Output Voltage: 7.5V
Max Output Current: 50A
USB Charging: 5V/1.5A
Taste Mode: Norm/Soft/Hard/User
Memory Mode: M1/M2/M3
Resistance Range: TC & TCR mode/0.05-1.0ohm; KA mode/0.1-3.0ohm
Temperature Range: 100-300℃/200-600℉
Display: OLED screen
Made from advanced zinc alloy
Unique Ace of Hearts playing card design
Dual 18650 cells with 218W max output
Various modes offer you different vaping experience
Colours: Blue, Green, Black, White
___________________________________________________________________
Fitting The Batteries
The Poker runs off dual 18650 batteries which are fitted by removing the side panel (or playing card). On the base their is a notch to help to remove the panel and once off the battery compartment is very neat and tidy and has installed battery ribbon. The ribbon is needed as the batteries sit deep inside the compartment so their is no room to get your fingers around them for removal but they don't fit over-tight so no issues with damaging your wraps. Yet again i can't understand why battery orientation is Black on Black (please White) but other than that nice job. The panel secures via large magnets top and bottom and snap strongly into place, it's very secure.
___________________________________________________________________
The Display
The Display is very bright and sharp with detailed information given. The top of the display we have the battery status shown both as a bar and as a percentage ( a big pro for also giving percentage but would of got full marks if there was a battery bar for each battery). Underneath in large we have the wattage or temperature with unit. Underneath the wattage or temperature to the left of the display we have the resistance then underneath this is the volts which changes to watts when in temp control. To the right we have the memory you are on when "M" is displayed it means you are not using this feature. At the bottom of the display we have the preheat to the left and mode to the right, when KA for Kanthal is displayed it doesn't mean you must be using Kanthal coils it is just the mode for normal wattage.
___________________________________________________________________
On/Off Switch
The Poker has a physical on/off switch which is a big pro. It's positioned underneath the fire button and slides horizontally to the right to turn on and back to the left to turn off (there are symbols on the device to indicate the correct position). With the switch in the off position when you first insert the batteries the device doesn't power up, to turn on you need to move the switch to the on position then the device powers up. When the switch is to the on position you can from then on use the usual 5 clicks to turn the device on and off or you can also instantly turn the device off by switching to the off position.
___________________________________________________________________
Waterproof, Shockproof and Dustproof ? Rubbish
The Poker is a very well made device that seems very durable indeed but i have seen in the Specs on a certain vendors site that the Poker is Waterproof, Shockproof and Dustproof, even having this picture:
The picture does come from Teslacigs website but the caption has been added, i don't see any mention of such claims by Teslacigs and have no idea why this information has been given. The Poker has a battery panel that fit's like many others and wide open USB port just for starters, no shockproof materials are used, it's shell is completely Zinc Alloy. The vendor is well respected with a very good reputation so i'm not naming and shaming as i'm sure this is a genuine error so instead have contacted the vendor to point it out.
___________________________________________________________________
Navigating The Poker
If you have used previous Tesla devices the display description will sound very familiar with all the same information displayed in the same way just a different layout of that information to suit the larger screen, if you have the WYE II the layout is identical. Navigating the Poker again works the same way as previous recent Tesla devices which i'll go through. Providing the on/off switch is positioned to the on position, to turn the device on and off is the usual 5 clicks of the fire button and once on the only combo press function is both navigational buttons pressed together which locks and unlocks the navigational buttons but the device will still fire. Unlike most devices where you go into a menu system to pick from options like mode, settings etc and then once choosing it takes you to another list of options to choose from the Poker cuts a lot of this out which it's partly able to do by not bothering about features like screen timeout, puff counter, adjusting brightness etc. One feature the Poker has is smart mode when first attaching an atty, this adjusts the wattage automatically to one that should suit the resistance of your coil but then you can of course adjust it if it's not the wattage you want, this feature is on auto and can't be turned on or off but has it's going to give a wattage close to what you want it quickens setting wattage when a new coil is detected. Navigating the device is easy you just move around the working screen using the navigational buttons and when what you want is highlighted press the fire button to select, first you need to press the fire button 3 times. The first item that is highlighted is the resistance which can be manually altered, other items you can highlight are the preheat, the mode, the memory and the battery status bar. When pressing fire when the preheat is highlighted it allows you to choose between Normal, Soft, Hard or User which allows you to set a custom curve, pressing fire when the mode is highlighted allows you to choose between Kanthal (wattage), SS316, NI200, TI and TCR. Memory is always shown on the screen and when highlighting and pressing fire you can choose between M (which means no memory slot has been selected, this will be shown on the screen at all times unless using a memory slot), M1, M2 or M3, finally pressing fire when the battery status bar is highlighted gives hardware and software information but funny enough it doesn't give battery stats. When in temperature control you get a couple of extra items highlight when moving around the screen, as well as the resistance highlighting the ohms symbol does which then can be selected to lock resistance, finally where we once had the voltage displayed we now have wattage which can be highlighted and wattage set for temp control.
___________________________________________________________________
My Experience Using The Kit
The Poker is impressive and although i can't get data and doubt it's 218W claim like the WYE II it seems powerful doing the wattage's i tried well within it'self. As for temp control per usual i have to point out i don't vape using temp control so really would have no clue how it works. The device as you would expect fires instantly and i do like the clicky fire button that protrudes nicely so is easy to find, the physical on/off switch is a stand out feature for me and wish all mods would have this. The way this device is navigated makes it very user friendly and quick to alter anything, the curves feature also worked well and the preheats definitely work fine. The device alters in 0.5w increments which is another pro in my opinion as is the fact battery status is also shown as a percentage but would much rather both batteries were shown separately. The device will accommodate up to a 26mm atty without overhanging the device but does overhang the panels so 25mm max is a far better choice, the 25.5mm Resin tank overhangs the panels slightly which i found very annoying. It also supports 1.5A charging but as ever i would only charge the batteries in the device if it's your only option. I used the Poker mainly with other atty's i am testing but have used the Resin tank before. Last time i used the Resin tank i had a major issue with leaking but have now found once the coil is pressed with a bit more force into the coil housing it seals much better so gave it another whirl with the o.18ohm mesh coil which gave pretty decent flavour, my preference was 75w, despite solving the major leaking issue i still need to point out it's far from leakproof and not a tank i would leave on top of a device when full of liquid overnight, it's also quite loud. The picture is of me using the Resin tank that i got previously so the colour doesn't match and although i received the Black kit where the tank and mod match quite well in general the tanks don't match the device's very well at all. The efficiency of the device seemed good as battery life seemed better than expected but for both life and hitting closer to top wattage 21700 batteries would be much better, the Poker is also fully firmware upgradeable.
___________________________________________________________________
Final Thoughts
The Resin Tank looks nice but is very average, flavour from the coils is not bad and i do like the way the top-cap is fitted and the 6ml capacity of the standard version but it's a bit leaky and quite loud. The Poker is another excellent device from Tesla with looks to match, nothing really to complain about apart from it's not super ergonomic and much prefer high powered devices in 2019 to be released with the capability of housing dual 21700's.
___________________________________________________________________
Likes
Aesthetically stunning (in my opinion)
Very good build quality
Feels sturdy and durable
All colour options of device look good
Physical on/off switch
User friendly navigation
Fires instantly, fire button easy to find
No rattles from device whatsoever
High powered
Curve features
Pre-heats
Full TC suite (not tested)
Performed very well
Adjusts in 0.5w increments
Bright, sharp display
Good battery life
Firmware upgradeable
Nice top-fill method
6ml capacity (standard Edition)
Cons
Not the most ergonomic device
18650 batteries only
Black on Black battery orientation
Resin tank a bit leaky
Resin tank quite loud
Colours of tanks don't match device's well and overhang panels.
I would once again like to thank Gloria from Teslacigs for supplying the Tesla Poker 218 TC Kit with Resin Tank for the purpose of this review.
POKER 218 KIT
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