Dual battery box mod kits seem to have fallen out of fashion a little bit recently, so the Vaporesso Luxe II is a refreshing change…of course, we shall see if that’s the case in this review!
It seems like the pod mod is the new in thing, and finding a kit that has a traditional 510 attached tank is a bit of a rarity.
So I’m delighted to have been sent the new Vaporesso Luxe II kit, a dual 18650 box mod, with what promises to be a lovely screen, and a proper stock coil sub-ohm tank!
What Can We Expect From The Vaporesso Luxe II Kit
This is an update to the previous Luxe kit from Vaporesso, Laura-Ann reviewed the Luxe S Kit in July of last year, and gave it some good marks!
Vaporesso has upgraded its Omni board to use the Axon chip. It’s this chip that powers their “Pulse” mode, where they pulse extra power through the coil every 0.02 seconds.
It also has a massive (for a mod) screen. Full colour TFT measuring at 2″, so I’m definitely keen to see if that has much of an impact on battery life.
The NRG-S tank has been out for a little while now, and it uses the well respected GT coils. I reviewed the Vaporesso Swag 2 with the NRG PE tank, and was very impressed with what these coils are capable of.
So I’m keen to see if the big brother to that tank can match that performance with a larger e-liquid capacity.
This was sent over free of charge for the purpose of review, directly from Vaporesso – thank you – and as usual, this in no way influences by views, and I shall report back honestly with what I find.
Inside The Box
- Luxe II Mod
- NRG-S Tank
- GT Mesh Coil 0.18Ω (pre-installed)
- GT4 Mesh Coil 0.15Ω
- Replacement Glass Tube (5ml)
- Spare O-Ring
- USB Cable
- Manual and Warranty Card
Luxe II Mod Specs
- Dimensions – 89.9×47.8×29.5mm
- Weight – 185g
- Power Output – 5-220W
- Chipset – Axon
- Battery – 2x 18650
- Display – 2″ Colour TFT Screen
NRG S Tank Specs
- Dimensions – 30x56mm (with bubble glass fitted)
- Capacity – 8ml (5ml Spare Glass)
Design and Build Quality
Vaporesso Luxe II Colours
There’s a total of 9 different colours: Lava, Iceberg (which I received), Bronze Coral, Black, Bronze Stripe, Gorilla, Silver, Jade and Holographic Black.
These are really describing the rather lovely IML panel that covers your batteries, and they are matched by the colour chosen for the frame, either black, silver, bronze or gun metal.
Vaporesso Luxe II Body
The body is a fairly standard box mod shape.
But there are some nice little touches throughout. It has rounded edges that make it very comfortable to hold, and the pill shaped fire button is large and clicky.
Popping off the battery door is easily done by putting a nail in the little cut out at the bottom. It’s held on by three strong magnets, and there’s absolutely no wobble in the door when it’s in place.
Special mention goes to the warning printed inside, reminding everyone not to use batteries with damaged wraps!
Your top plate has your 510 plate, and you can fit up to a 28mm tank with a tiny bit of overhang. Anything below that is going to be fine.
On the base of the mod are some generous venting holes, and all the regulatory marks.
It’s a weighty little device, but to be honest that adds to the luxurious feel of it.
Vaporesso Luxe II Screen
One of the most impressive things on this mod is the screen, it’s a gorgeous 2″ TFT screen.
It shows two battery indicators at the top left, the mode in the middle and the time in the top right.
Below this is your current wattage, surrounded by a circle that gives you a visual indication of the wattage.
At the bottom it shows the coil resistance and puff count in the bottom left, and current voltage being drawn and puff timer in the bottom right. In the bottom centre is where it will show you the padlock if it’s locked.
One thing to note is that at least on mine, there was some light bleeding out from both the top and bottom of the screen (more at the top).
It’s not much, but it does knock half a point off the otherwise excellent build quality.
Underneath the screen is your USB port, and I’m sorry to say it’s a Micro USB. The sooner everyone switches to USB C, the better!
Vaporesso Luxe II Controls and Haptics
The controls on this are all touch sensitive with the exception of the large pill shaped fire button on one of the thin edges of the device.
Under your screen you have two little white dots, your + and -, with the Vaporesso logo in the middle.
Press the Vaporesso logo three times and it will let you into the settings. Helpfully if you try to do this whilst it’s locked, it will tell you on screen that you need to press the fire button three times to unlock it.
Whenever you touch these buttons, the mod will give a little haptic vibration. I actually quite like this, as it’s nice to have some physical feedback when you’re just touching a piece of glass.
If you don’t like it, or find it too strong, you can adjust it’s strength or turn it off completely in the settings.
Vaporesso Luxe II Modes and Settings
The top level of the menu has Vaporesso’s own modes front and centre.
- Pulse – Similar to wattage, but pulses the coils very quickly
- Eco – To save on battery life, this mode will also be suggested when your batteries hit 40%
- STC – Smart Temp Control
If you’re wondering where all the normal modes are, they are in the DIY section after those three. Within this menu you have your expected
- VW – Variable Wattage
- VT – Temp Control
- VV – Variable Voltage
- CCW – Custom Curves
- BP – Bypass
- SP – Super Player… no, I’m still not sure what this is, but it’s designed for very low resistance coils
After DIY you have the settings, and there’s a whole host of things you can adjust on the device: screen timeout, clock display, brightness, vibration, etc.
As I said in my review of the Swag II kit, I wish they put VW on the top level of the menu, as it’s the one most people will gravitate towards.
But I’ve given the Pulse a decent test this time around, and whilst I don’t think it makes much of a difference, I don’t actually have anything bad to say about it.
Vaporesso Luxe II – the NRG-S Tank
The NRG S tank takes the Vaporesso GT coils which have been around for a while.
It’s really nice to see a manufacturer sticking with tried and tested coils and continuing to use them, rather than some that bring out a new coil every other week!
In TPD countries the kit will come with the smaller NRG-S mini, holding 2ml. The NRG-S on the other hand, holds 5ml of e-liquid with the straight glass, or a massive 8ml with the bubble glass.
Happily they both use the same coils!
In Canada there is apparently a new certification that vape companies have to jump through, which is a “Child Resistant Certificate” or CRC. Due to this, they get the GTX 22 Tank, which looks like it uses different coils.
The drip tip lets down the quality of the tank a little.
It’s made of a cheap feeling plastic, although I haven’t actually managed to remove mine (I’m not sure it can be?), it looks to be a 510 connection that broadens out to be a very wide bore.
This type of design may well lead to some turbulence from the vape.
There’s a slide open top cap to refill, and it’s clear that some thought has gone into this. For starters, the silicone seal at the top is replaceable, and you get a spare in the box.
The way you can change it is also quite clever, as the top swing section is a two-parter that is screwed together. It’s reverse threaded, so you won’t accidentally start unscrewing it as you push the top open to fill it.
Other than that, it is quite a straight forward looking stock coil tank. Easy to grip airflow control ring around the base, but with enough tension that it’s not going to change on it’s own.
How To Fill The Vaporesso NRG S Tank
- Look for the little slide to open sign and push to swing open the top of the tank
- Fill with your preferred e-liquid
- Close the tank and remember to let it sit for 5 minutes if it’s a new coil
How To Change The Vaporesso NRG S Coil
It’s a more traditional screw in coil system, rather than the newer push to fit style coils. But I’m perfectly happy with this as it’s still plenty easy.
- Flip the tank over and unscrew the base
- Unscrew the coil from the base, and screw in your replacement coil
- Screw the base back on to the tank
Very simple coil changing, and because of where the chimney starts, you can get away with changing your coil when you still have about half the liquid left in the tank.
How Does the Vaporesso Luxe II Kit Perform?
I’ve been testing this kit out for a few weeks now, and I have been impressed with it throughout.
I’ve mostly been using the Ohm Boy Volume 2, Apple, Elderflower, and Garden Mint, at 70/30 VG/PG.
Vaporesso Luxe II – 0.18Ω GT Mesh Coil – Airflow and Cloud Production
Airflow is slightly restricted due to the fact it’s using a quite a narrow bore at the chimney and the start of the drip tip.
I would say it is at 7.5 on a 1 to 10 scale of really tight to fully open.
Clouds are lovely and full, especially at 70W+. They’ve got a rich creamy texture to them.
0.18Ω GT Mesh Coil – Flavour
Lovely flavour from this coil. It’s rated at 50-85W and it performs pretty flawlessly throughout that range.
50W is a bit weak sauce for me, flavour is fine but it is a very cool vape.
60W is where I would say that most people should start, flavour is a step up from 50W, though still quite a cool vape.
70W is starting to really pump out the flavour
80W is spot on, a warmer vape and loads of flavour
All in all it’s a great coil, with loads of flavour.
Vaporesso Luxe II – 0.15Ω GT4 Dual Mesh Coil – Airflow and Cloud Production
This is a slightly more restrictive coil. It’s a dual mesh design, compared to the single mesh on the on the 0.18Ω.
So on the 1-10 scale, this is a 7 in terms of restriction fully open.
Cloud production is quite immense, if anything, it gives a little thicker clouds as lower wattage than the previous coil. One thing to note is that my particular example of this coil registered as 0.19Ω on the mod.
This could mean that there’s something not quite right with mine, and this would explain some of my other results.
0.15Ω GT4 Dual Mesh Coil – Flavour
This coil is rated between 50 and 75W, with Vaporesso saying that it is best between 60-70W.
50W gives a very impressive vape, plenty of flavour from the outset. To be honest it was such a good vape at this wattage that if I were using it for myself, I probably wouldn’t even bother increasing it except out of curiosity!
60W and the flavour is still excellent, but I noticed that if I chain vaped at this wattage, I was starting to get the taste of a dry hit.
65W is usable, but definitely not for chain vaping or a really long draw. I needed to leave it a good 10-15 seconds before I had another vape, or I’d get a nasty dry hit.
70W and the dry hits are here to stay, very unpleasant!
So for a coil that is supposedly at it’s best between 60 and 70W, my one definitely isn’t!
As I said earlier, this could well be a dodgy coil, as it’s resistance isn’t where it should be. But I can only review what I have in front of me.
Interestingly it was also this coil that I had big problems with when I reviewed the Vaporesso Swag 2, although at the time they said that the coil was rated at 30-70W… strange.
Vaporesso Luxe II Battery Life
I was actually really impressed with the battery life on this mod, I thought that having the massive screen on there might make the battery life suffer a bit.
In use however, it wasn’t worse than any other dual 18650 box mods.
I tended to get a good day’s worth of vaping at 60W out of it. And I’m impressed that they managed to keep the battery life so good with such a large and bright screen!
Any other thoughts?
The drip tip is definitely one of the let downs of the tank. It feels quite cheap and thin, and because it goes from a narrow bore into the tank (looks to be close to 510 in size) up to a very large bore at the mouth, that results in quite a lot of turbulence.
The fact it’s quite lightweight plastic, also means that the turbulence you get is going to be quite noisy!
Pros
Luxe II Mod
- Luxurious feeling
- Awesome screen
- Good battery life even with such a large screen
NRG S Tank
- Great flavour from the coils (with reservations)
Cons
Luxe II Mod
- Slight like leakage at top of screen
- micro USB
NRG S Tank
- Narrow base of drip tip creates turbulence and noise
- 0.15Ω coil gave nasty dry hits when well within it’s recommended wattage
Final Review Verdict
I’ve really been enjoying my time with this kit, flavour from the two coils it comes with is absolutely spot on.
However my experience of the GT4 coil is pretty unfortunate, it may just be that I was unlucky, but I can only review what I have.
Up to 55W it was cracking, but 60W and beyond just led to it tasting very burnt, very quickly.
There’s a few things that I wish were a little bit tighter, the light leakage from the screen and the cheap drip tip being top of my list!
Having said all that, I still think it’s a lovely kit. The screen is beautiful and very easy to use, and it feels really nice in the hand.
