Can Vaporesso Offer Pro Value in The Gen S Budget Mod?
While manufacturers sponsor many of my professional product reviews, sometimes I buy a personal product that gets me excited enough to review it as a hobby. That has happened with several products lately. The most notable I think is this one, though: the Vaporesso Gen S kit with a Vaporesso Gen and an SKRR-S tank. Here is an in-depth Vaporesso Gen S kit review.
Full Disclosure: I am a Sigelei Fan
This Vaporesso Gen S kit review just wouldn’t be fair if you didn’t know where I stand when it comes to electronic vaporizer mods. I have been most loyal to Sigelei for the past eight years. If they’re not all sold out, I will always choose a Sigelei electronic mod for my main vaporizing device upgrade. I love Sigelei because they build ultra-heavy-duty mods that never break down on me and still provide a superior vapor experience. Unfortunately, this was one of those times that all the Sigelei models were gone.
The Low-Down: Why I Bought The Vaporesso Gen S Kit
I owned a Vaporesso Revenger a few years ago, and while I didn’t have any major complaints about it, the mod didn’t impress me, and it also did not last long until it broke. I’m easy-going with my mods, so it’s not normal for a mod to die on me before its time. If one does, it usually indicates poor build quality. In this case, e-liquid got down into the display. I did not overthink it at the time because e-liquid getting in displays was a pretty common occurrence. Now, most manufacturers have improved the designs to be more leak resistant.
So, I can’t say I wasn’t curious about the Vaporesso Gen S kit when I saw it. What convinced me to buy it was the description of the body design (it sounded like it was heavy-duty and made to last) and the Axon chip features. For those who are yet uninitiated in the features of the Vaporesso Gen S, it includes a ton of innovative “auto” adjustments for temperature control, battery saving, wattage, and more. It also consists of a “Super Player” mode, which provides all the standard features like manual temperature control. Newer features are included in Super Player mode, too: the device can mimic a mechanical mod, and you can also modify the wattage curve to create a truly customized drag.
Along with the .03ohm minimum resistance and 220w range, the Vaporesso Gen sounded like the perfect mod to replace my Sigelei Top 1. It certainly was valued at the same price as my Top 1. Only it came with a tank, too; my Top 1 came standalone. So, this seemed like a pretty sweet deal!
SPECIFICATIONS
- Tank capacity 8ml/2ml
- Battery 2×18650 (Not Included)
- Output power 5-220W
- Charging current 2.5A
- Display 0.91′ OLED screen
- Resistance range 0.03~5Ω
- Coil GT4 Meshed coil (0.15Ω, 50-75W), GT Meshed coil (0.18Ω, 50-85W)
The Whole Package: But Does It Gift Well?
I do not know about you, but I always love to get a well-packaged kit even if I’m not giving it as a gift—a beautiful box just adds to the feeling of being pampered by getting myself something special. Thankfully, Vaporesso didn’t go dirt cheap on the packaging for the Gen S mod kit. It comes as a gift wrapped in a cute purple box with a catchy marketing slogan on the front. Inside, you’ll find a registration card for the warranty, an instruction booklet, two coils (one quad .15ohm and one dual .2ohm), extra glass and parts for the tank, a USB cable for charging and updating, and a scratch label so you can make sure it’s a genuine product. Overall, it feels like opening the box on a brand-new cell phone: it’s the same size as a cell phone box, with similar décor concepts.
It’s marketing, but at least it’s pretty marketing! The inside presentation is pleasing, too.
She’s A Brick House: Will the Vaporesso Gen S Kit Survive Your Carelessness?
This is definitely the most beautiful vape mod build I’ve ever seen made with a plastic body.
The Vaporesso Gen mostly lived up to my expectations for its build quality and exceeded them in some areas. The biggest disappointment of all for me is that it is plastic. I tend to prefer steel or even aluminum mods, as plastic mods tend to be more prone to cracking and splitting at seams if there are no screws (or the screws breaking off the plastic).
However, this mod is an exception to that rule. I’m not sure what kind of plastic Vaporesso used. It looks like PVC, perhaps. It is exceptionally light, but also HARD. There’s a solid feel to it that I’m not used to seeing in plastic mods. I find myself strangely optimistic that this model might defy the usual conventions.
Vaporesso did not play around with the paint job on this mod at all. The description says it uses four coats of a soft-touch coat, and you can tell it. It almost feels like rubber. It has texture but still feels smooth. It’s an exciting feeling for sure when paired with the lightweight feel.
Using The Vaporesso Gen Mod
It should be noted first that the Vaporesso Gen S kit does come with an updated version of the Vaporesso Gen. It comes with the Gen, period. The S in the title might arise from the SKRR-S tank that comes with the Gen S mod kit. There seems to be much confusion about this online: many reviewers are saying the Gen S mod is identical to the Gen. There is no such thing as a Vaporesso Gen S mod, however.
Using the Vaporesso Gen mod is much like using any other box mod. You have two buttons for up and down, along with a function/power button in the middle. Then there’s the firing button towards the top. You can lock all the buttons except the firing button by pressing the firing button three times. Press it three times again to unlock. Pressing it five times will turn the device off while pressing it five times again will turn it on. Pressing the middle function button three times will open the menu.
Vaporesso Gen Menu & Features
The main menu lets you choose between economy mode (battery saver), variable-wattage pulse mode, DIY mode (manual modes), and smart temperature control modes. DIY is where all the “pro” functions are like variable-wattage pulse modulation, manual temperature control, super player mode, and bypass mode. The pulse modulation setting lets you customize the electrical output on each puff. The super player mode supports a broader range of coil resistances for RDAs. Bypass mode mimics a mechanical mod by removing the wattage and temperature controls to feed power to the coil directly from the battery.
Customizing the pulse modulation of each puff is way more challenging to do with the Vaporesso Gen than it was when this feature was on the Joyetech Evic mod. I never could find a custom setting that suited me better than the defaults. However, if you can master this function, you will be able to take complex e-liquid flavors and customize each puff to cover a broad range of the flavors used, just by modifying the electrical throughput to rise and fall.
Thankfully, the manual modes all work like the modes on Sigelei’s latest chips. It’s also impressive that the Vaporesso Gen also has smart controls. I didn’t expect myself to like the intelligent controls, but I prefer them to manual modes. As soon as you attach a tank, the device calculates whether to use temperature control or variable wattage. It also figures out what temperature or wattage to start out using, and you can adjust it from there. When the battery gets low, it can automatically kick into an economy mode to make the battery last longer.
The texture on this vape mod combined with the color gradient creates a very cool visual and tactile effect. It’s a basic display, but it gets the job done using way less power.
Vaporesso Gen Power Consumption
The Gen is genuinely a device you can just slap a tank and batteries in, load up some juice, and go. No fiddling with controls is necessary. However, that is not what I find most impressive about this mod. What impresses me about the Vaporesso Gen is the battery life. I had some 18650 batteries that didn’t last long enough in my Top 1 to be worth using any more. I was about to toss them out but wondered how they would do in the Gen. They lasted all day—4 hours.
That is at least due in part to Vaporesso using an old-fashioned OLED display and controls on the Gen. While the obvious benefit of using such a display is lower production costs, there’s also a less obvious benefit. A handful of LEDs uses 20x less power than a small full-color screen does.
The Battery Chassis: Nightmare or Dream Come True?
I have noticed hardly any reviews ever discuss the battery chassis. I’m not sure if it just doesn’t occur to them that others would like to know about that part of the device, too, or what. The battery chassis is essential. After seven years of vaping, I’ve seen a lot of lousy battery chassis designs destroy my joy over getting a new device or (worse) break the device before I’ve even owned it for six months. Not cool.
I was a bit worried about the Vaporesso Gen because it uses a magnetized door. My Vaporesso Revenger was one of the mods with this kind of design that taught me to watch out for it. These magnetized battery doors tend to be flimsy and fall off (along with the batteries) any time the device gets dropped. They also are prone to allowing dirt and debris into the battery chamber, which creates a potentially hazardous situation.
Thankfully, Vaporesso seems to have improved upon these points with their Gen mod. The magnets are strong enough to hold the door in place, where it fits neatly into a tight groove going around the device. It holds so well that it’s a little challenging to get the battery door off even though Vaporesso thoughtfully included a notch for your fingernail to slip in there.
The Vaporesso Gen vape mod comes with a magnetized battery compartment which fits so securely, you need this notch in the bottom to open it. The battery chassis holds batteries well without making them too difficult to swap out.
There’s also a black ribbon inside to help with battery removal. I’ve only seen Vaporesso do this with their battery chassis, but I wish other vaping manufacturers would do this as well. It makes battery removal so much easier. It can be a little tricky to fit fresh batteries into their chambers, in any case. Vaporesso made it a tight squeeze!
Using The SKRR-S Tank
Overall, I’ve been highly satisfied with the quality of my vape with this mod, no matter what e-liquid or setting I’m using. The vape quality is comparable to what I was able to obtain with the Sigelei Top 1. Smooth, stable, thick, with little to no spit-back on any tank I use with it. So far, I’ve used it with a Horizon Falcon, Advken Manta, Freemax Fireluke, and a Sigelei Moonshot. The performance was fantastic across the board.
The air intake turns quickly but doesn’t feel so loose that it could be prone to changing positions without anyone deliberately changing it. It does have that annoying habit of collecting humidity from the vaper’s activities and then leaking it out of the air intake valves. I don’t think any manufacturers have been able to fix that problem yet with any air intake.
The replacement coil screws into the tank from the bottom, and the juice goes in the top after you screw off the cap. The e-liquid intake will not leak thanks to Vaporesso improving the threaded top design.
There’s only one hole for refilling eliquid, and it’s just large enough to accompany any style bottle. The top is ringed in silicone inside to create the tightest possible seal. This makes the SKRR-S tank one of the few truly leak-proof vape tanks on the market.
Let’s Talk About the Whole Package
To summarize this Vaporesso Gen S kit review, the kit is quite an attractive deal – because it Is one. While the higher price tag of $80 seems steep to me for a mod kit that is mostly plastic (even if it is durable plastic), somewhere around $60-70 is where I would think it’s the best value. If you find this for any less than $60 and don’t plan to buy it, please drop me a line to let me know where I can stock up!
I would recommend this kit as a gift to either a new vaper or an intermediate vaper (someone that vapes a lot but does not do competitions). I think an actual competition vaper may find this a bit too fancy for their needs. But hey, if you know someone that also loves to play with innovative gadgetry, they may get a kick out of getting this or the Vaporesso Gen by itself as a present, too.
If you’re a heavy casual vaper that just wants the best drag for your buck; you will not be disappointed with this kit. Especially if you are someone that enjoys a premium vape but feels like you should go to vaper rehab if you start dropping more than $80 on a vape mod device. That is as good as it gets before you start breaking through past $100 in kit prices.
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