Why a bad rap?

[Capslayer]

Why does Smok have such a bad rap?
I hear of warranty claims and faulty devices.
I started vaping 3 months ago and use the Novo. One Novo quit working finally after 3 months. Considering it’s a battery inside that gets drained and recharged almost daily that’s a pretty good life span.
The pods I buy are $1.50 each and last quite a while. 30 dollar bottle of juice lasts a long time. I figure monthly cost is maybe 40-50 dollars. Overall, I am very satisfied with this pod system.
Are the bad reviews from people who buy more expensive devices ?
Just thought I’d share my feelings after a few months of use.

I forgot to mention, the size of this device is what I love. It fits in my pocket and makes stealth vaping a breeze.

If there are similar size devices out there I’d be happy to try.

 

[Rossum]

One Novo quit working finally after 3 months. Considering it’s a battery inside that gets drained and recharged almost daily that’s a pretty good life span.

I disagree with this assessment. A Li-ion battery should be "good" (retain 70-80% of its rated capacity) for at least 300 and generally more like 500 full cycles. So even if you drain it completely every day, it should last at least a year. You might notice a drop in capacity after a year, but there's no excuse at all for it to stop working after just three months.

 

[Letitia]

Smok doesn't make bad products so much as they have terrible qc. Just so you know 3 months is a dismal life span.

 

[Skunk!]

3 months?
I think you have answered your own question about why smok gets a bad rap. I have an Innokin itazte vv internal battery mod that still works. Ibought it in 2013. I don't really use it much anymore but it was my main device for almost a year. An internal battery mod should last a year or two at least.

 

[GOMuniEsq]

Yes, there is an avalanche of competing pod systems on the market right now, in a similar form factor to the one you are using.

There's a phenomenon we see all the time in the new members forum on ECF. It goes something like this:

N: "Hi I'm new to vaping and I have a problem. My coils fail early / my mod broke / my finish flaked off / my battery died / there's a piece rattling around inside / it leaks everywhere / et cetera."
V: "Hi! OK what are you using?
N: "A Smok."
V: "Why'd you buy one of those?"
N: "It was on sale and seemed good enough."

Smok are very popular with folks who haven't tried anything else yet and that is their audience. If you like buying a new one every three months then that is the brand for you. Just be sure to keep a spare on hand.

We build cheap.
You buy cheap.
It break?
You buy another!
—SMOK

 

[Opinionated]

One Novo quit working finally after 3 months. Considering it’s a battery inside that gets drained and recharged almost daily that’s a pretty good life span.

the very first vape battery I bought was an Ego. I bought two so I could have a back-up, and used both daily as I was a chain vaper back then..

thing was those things were cheap, I mean dirt cheap even for back then.. it was 11 dollars for both for goodness sakes.

those two batteries lasted a year. the main cost of vaping as far as equipment goes isn't the batteries, it's the coils or for you the pods with internal coil systems..

those need regular replacement, and it's part of the cost of vaping.. but batteries should last 1-2 years, not 3 months.

it's just more proof of what kind of quality Smok offers its customers.

the reason long term vapers like myself complain is simply because we know how vape gear is supposed to behave; we know poor quality from good..

Look into the Innokin Gala or the Innokin EQ (I really love these newest Innokin offerings myself) or possibly something along the lines of a GeekVape Flint or Vandy Vape Berserker MTL kit

those are small reasonably priced devices you change the coils in instead of the pod, and you should easily find a difference in quality...

and of course vaping is far less expensive than smoking... far far far less even with cheap Chinese batteries - but good is just nicer than poor quality.

 

[zoiDman]

Why does Smok have such a bad rap?
...

I've been a Member here for a Long Time. Seen just about Every Possible Problem a person can have with about Every Mod out there. That Isn't all that Earth Shattering.

Because if you get Enough People together in One Place, you are going to find Someone who has had a Problem with just about Anything.

But there is One Brand that I have Seen Problems with Again and Again and Again (and Again). And that Brand is SMOK.

It's like they Don't Learn. Or they Don't Care. Or, IMO, Both.

 

[Baditude]

I can't speak for their tanks or pod mods, but the mods made by SMOK have had a notorious reputation for poor quality control, poor warranty service, poor expected lifetime usage for several years running.

Several years ago a whole model line of SMOK mods were recalled because they were auto-firing, literally smoking or catching on fire. Hardly a week passes on this forum that someone complains of a SMOK mod that won't turn on, loses its display screen, bursts into flames while charging, etc. I've read that SMOK doesn't honor their warranty. In 2014 I worked for a vape shop, and our store had more mod failures for SMOK than any other brand that we carried, to the point that we eventually stopped carrying them.

If SMOK invested as much money in their Quality Control and Warranty/Customer Service departments as they do in their Marketing and Product Distribution departments then they would probably be a much more reputable company. To me, the quality of a SMOK and a similarly priced Innokin or Geekvape battery device is night and day.

Rule of thumb: Don't buy batteries with the name fire; Trustfire, Sure Fire, Ultra Fire; don't buy mods made by SMOK. Their have bad mojo.

208 Smok Reviews and Complaints @ ...... Consumer
Smok

SMOK Stick Explodes While Charging While Family Sleeps Caught on Security Cam

 

[DeloresRose]

3 months is nothing. This, and two just like it, were my all day every day mods, charged and almost fully discharged every day for over 3 years. Still working all the way. This one was even run over with my riding mower. I still use it weekly at least.

You don’t have to spend a fortune on gear to get quality.

 

[bombastinator]

Why does Smok have such a bad rap?
I hear of warranty claims and faulty devices.
I started vaping 3 months ago and use the Novo. One Novo quit working finally after 3 months. Considering it’s a battery inside that gets drained and recharged almost daily that’s a pretty good life span.

No. No it’s not. A battery should last about a year, give or take. You got 1/4 life out of it.

The pods I buy are $1.50 each and last quite a while.

define “quite a while”. SMOK is known to have decent performing coils with middling to low life expectancy

30 dollar bottle of juice lasts a long time. I figure monthly cost is maybe 40-50 dollars.

I use RTAs and squonkers with DIY juice. My monthly cost is maybe a quarter what yours is. I probably vape a lot more though. I vape big cloud DL generally, and can go through 15-20ml of juice a day. 95% or more of my cost is juice.

Overall, I am very satisfied with this pod system.

if you’re satisfied you’re satisfied.

Are the bad reviews from people who buy more expensive devices ?

. Sure. Also people that don’t though. And shop owners who stopped selling SMOK stuff because it broke so often they couldn’t make money selling it. And first time users who’ve never owned anything but SMOK and had it fall apart one them and come here looking for fixes. There are a whole lot of those. Occasionally SMOK stuff doesn’t break. There are SMOK devices around that are a year old or more. They’re rarer than they should be though.
SMOK stuff doesn’t actually vape badly. It’s not necessarily the best, but it’s by no means bad. The problem is manufacturing quality. The stuff is held together with press fittings and unsupported sloppy solder joints, and hot glue, and too thin wiring and basically anything that will make it cheaper to make with no thought to whether it will hold up in normal use.

Just thought I’d share my feelings after a few months of use.

hey they generally work fine for a few months. It’s how they work after a year that people have a problem with

I forgot to mention, the size of this device is what I love. It fits in my pocket and makes stealth vaping a breeze.

of small and stealthy is where it’s at for you that’s where it is. There’s a lot of small and stealthy though. Generally not exactly quite as cheap, but surprisingly close.

If there are similar size devices out there I’d be happy to try.

Hmmm... this is not my strong suit. I’ve been vaping for a long time so the stuff I was vaping when I vaped little stuff no longer exists. Now I’m old and don’t care and I kinda like big DL so I vape big mods.

Stuff that is small that I’ve heard about here if not actually vaped:

Geekvape flint:
It’s bigger than what you use now but will likely vape better

Eroll MAC:
This one is new and I haven’t heard much about performance quality, but the original eroll wasn’t too bad and the things are literally the same size as a cigarette. You can even get them in white so they actually look like a cigarette.

Not much of a list but others will likely come up with a bajillion other options and possibly have experience to back it up.

GL

 

[Vapedog]

Why does Smok have such a bad rap?
I hear of warranty claims and faulty devices.
I started vaping 3 months ago and use the Novo. One Novo quit working finally after 3 months. Considering it’s a battery inside that gets drained and recharged almost daily that’s a pretty good life span.
The pods I buy are $1.50 each and last quite a while. 30 dollar bottle of juice lasts a long time. I figure monthly cost is maybe 40-50 dollars. Overall, I am very satisfied with this pod system.
Are the bad reviews from people who buy more expensive devices ?
Just thought I’d share my feelings after a few months of use.

I forgot to mention, the size of this device is what I love. It fits in my pocket and makes stealth vaping a breeze.

If there are similar size devices out there I’d be happy to try.

Hi. I have a couple of devices that have probably been drained and charged, internal battery devices, equivalent to easy 12 months use. One of those, the misses owns is a Wismec that is 2 yrs old and shows no sign of letting up. 3 months is garbage. Smok are flip the coin devices, heads you get a good one and tails you get a bad.

 

[sonicbomb]

SMOK's shotgun marketing style is just a natural expression of our consumer culture. Why make something to last when the consumer will want something new and shiny long before then. Analogous to the mobile phone markets two year redundancy cycle, guaranteed by non-replaceable lithium batteries, thrown in the scrap along with it's quota of irreplaceable rare earth minerals.

 

[PapawBrett]

First, I am no expert. I do an annual exercise here on the ECF called "The Unofficial Equipment of the Year Poll" which gives ECF Members the opportunity to compare their favorite Equipment.
E-leaf World has produced some very popular vaping devices (Istick and Invoke, among others) that is inexpensive and of much better quality than Smoktech. Maybe you could look into Eleaf Products if you would like reliable and inexpensive equipment ....

 

[dennism]

damn, these message boards get off track fast.

 

[Rossum]

The main theme still seems to be the same though “why do people hate SMOK” more or less.

Because they make cheap junk that has a propensity to fail prematurely, and occasionally those failures are spectacular.

That said, a couple of SMOK 1300 mAh "spinner" type batteries were my first upgrade after I made the mistake of ordering a starter kit with 400 mAh batteries. They never gave me any trouble in the short time I used them regularly, but I moved on to better things relatively quickly.

 

[Frenchfry1942]

For me, reading good and bad "rap" keeps me up to date. It also lets all the new members/vapers know what is good or bad. Many, myself included, came here with no experience.

I appreciate the honesty about users' experiences.

 

[mac-nutty]

@bombastinator, that's what I was getting at. If it works, an Engineer made it. If it looks nice and doesn't necessarily work well, a Designer made it.

But it also depends upon the Designer.

And as for RiP Trippers, he's somewhat entertaining but not necessarily informative.

riptrippers is mostly hated here in the uk the view is his videos are payed content

 

[Vape Muppet]

While I certainly don't think all Smok products are dreadful they do have an appalling habit of cutting corners, ignoring safety and promoting recklessness.

One of the worst examples of a Smok device (so long ago I can't even remember the name) had a battery compartment you had to unscrew. What was worse is there was no divider between the main board and the battery. My friend had one and in my opinion it was dangerous so I told him to throw it away and I gave him one of my spare brand new IPV's to replace it.

Then there's the Smok Alien which could potentially vent close to your face due the location of the vents. In addition that device had peeling paint issues. Plus the early TFV tanks they released with quad coils that needed excessive amounts of Wattage, up to 150W which I saw many a vaping newcomer using. I think they were chiefly responsible for the whole high powered mod craze which started at the time.

Then there was that bloody awful mod for about £75 they released with the internal tank, that would frequently leak into the internals and render the device useless.

Quite simply I am not a fan of Smok and would rather buy from a company like Innokin that tries to be as safety conscious as possible.

 

[zoiDman]

With these big successful companies you have to give them the benefit of the doubt. IMO they've made an informed business decision to seize the low end of the market by slashing costs and aggressively advertising, at the expense of everything else. They successfully bank on the fact that new vapers like OP will have no standards by which to criticise them. They are effectively setting the standard.

Yeah... But there's a Problem with that type of Business Model. And that is you Don't Retain a very high Percentage of Repeat Buyers.

Take someone like e-Leaf...

They Hit the Scene as an OEM who made Low Cost Mods/Atomizers. Captured a Lot of the Market in a Short period of time. But they also experienced some runs of Poor Quality. And Questionable Design/QC.

Instead of just Cranking out more Stuff with the Same Problems, and Ruining their Name, they addressed the Issues and tightened up their QC.

It Didn't take Very Long for people to forget about any Past issues. And to regard e-Leaf as a Reliable Company putting out Reasonably Priced hardware.

SMOK (IMO) is the Direct Opposite. They just Don't Care about what they make. Because SMOK patrols the ECF closely. As do all the Major OEM's. And knows that SMOK has got a Piss Poor name when it comes to Quality and Performance.

 

[vimagreg]

Well... My personal story with SMOK is: the day I bought my first new kit since I stopped vaping four to five years ago (I think), one friend bought a SMOK model. Mine was a Revenger X. Short story: I sold my Revenger X and it still performs great, as new. My friend's Smok one is in thrash can for some weeks, now. Then I bought a Pen22 for a friend. It presented defects and was changed two times until I gave up and changed it for a Vaporesso Mini. No more problems.

So SMOK, for me, never more.