Astral
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Freemax Onnix 2.
Disclaimer: This is an independent review of a vape device kindly provided to me by @Freemaxtech and is not associated with Planet Of The Vapes or any other organisation. The opinions here are purely my own and I am not receiving any payment or inducement for them.
Ahhhh, Freemax, Freemax, Freemax. You listened! I love it when a company does that.
After releasing the original Onnix a little over five months ago, Freemax is back already with a new and updated version of their little baby to address a few of the problems many of us had with the original - namely that it was a little too loose for its target market. Apparently they were of the same opinion too, or at least they listened to the feedback.
Either way it doesn’t matter, the fact is they’ve returned with the intention of resolving those perceived problems and released a new more basic supplementary version of the Onnix that intends to do what the original should have done in the first place - MTL!
Considering who these pod devices are aimed at - first-timers and simplicity chasers - that can only be a good thing and the only question now is: does it?
Well, after receiving my Onnix 2 a couple of weeks ago and giving it a fair bit of use ever since, I’m pleased to say: “Well yes, it does”.
The issues we had with the original do appear to have been ironed out and this device is far superior for beginners and MTLers than the standard offering and they now have a device that can go up against the likes of Innokin’s Endura M18 and Uwell’s Caliburn without being an also ran.
That’s not to say the original was a bad device, it wasn’t, it was very good at what it did. It’s just that what it did was a little misplaced.
In all honesty though, not that much has changed.
It’s a little smaller than the original at 15.3 x 24.4 x 10.9mm, a little lighter at 47.6g and a little tighter. It’s also a little better looking.
These are not huge differences in themselves but together they change the whole look and feel of the Onnix and provide you with a much better vaping experience. Even the coils are interchangeable with the original, so if you’ve got some of those you can upgrade to this without having to buy new ones. Result!
More notably though, this supplementary Onnix is different to the original in the sense that this is a little more basic and has become very much a ‘what you see is what you get’ device.
Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing either as it looks so good and what you get stacks up too.
Its six colours - red, green, blue, silver, rose gold and black - and it’s rounded aluminium shell are all gorgeous, and its non-adjustable 15w max power output, 900mah battery and 60 minute, 5v/1.5amp USB Type-C charging are all respectable for the genre too - although unfortunately it doesn’t have any wattage or airflow control, meaning the only way to adjust them is via your coils.
Unusually for a pod device it doesn’t have the ubiquitous 180 degree orientational pod either which I feel is a shame, but it doesn’t matter as this second iteration of the Onnix is much tighter than the original, although it’s still very slightly on the looser side of things.
The coil choice does do an excellent job of mitigating things though, with the 0.8ohm being really quite warm and the 1ohm quite a bit cooler. The draw of both corresponds to this with the latter being much tighter than the former.
After giving both a fair bit of use I liked the warmer 0.8 ohm coil the best, but felt it the 1 ohm’s tighter draw most in keeping with the ethos of the device.
If you wish to take things either way though you can. There’s also a 0.5ohm coil and 1.2ohm available which will provide you with a warmer/looser or colder/tighter vape respectively.
Regardless of which you choose though, they’re all excellent, and together with the two included coils they comprise the FM SaltCoilTech series which are all dual vertical round wire affairs and use Freemax’s famous tea cotton fiber that provides both outstanding flavour and longevity.
The other advantage of the Onnix 2 using these coils is that they’re removable and not captive like we see in so many other kits these days. This does make for messy fingers but at least it reduces waste.
The reshaped drip-tip is also a welcome development and although it’s a standard duckbill design it’s much more comfortable in the mouth than the original and tapers nicely to the lips, keeping it narrow and feeling natural.
The capacity of the PCTC side-filling pod isn’t that great at 2ml but at these levels you shouldn’t be burning too much liquid anyway so both your juice and battery should get lighter users through the day.
On the down side, there’s no viewing window for your juice level but your battery’s charge is shown by way of three small vertical lights set down the front of the pod near the base.
One light is 0-35%, two 36-70% and three is 70-100%.
The device is turned on and off by the standard five clicks on, five clicks off, and a further three disables the button from firing it completely.
This is a handy addition and prevents unwanted pocket firing while still enabling you to use the excellent auto-draw - there’s no need to suck like a hoover to get it going. It’s plenty sensitive and its ramp-up time is almost non-existent.
The shell may however require a bit of polishing as the smooth, elongated body and its shimmering, jazzy, iridescent panels do have the unfortunate distinction of being smudge magnets despite all their pazazz.
Perhaps Freemax should provide a polishing cloth in the box!
It wouldn’t take up too much room in there as there’s only a USB-C cable, spare coil and your literature.
On the whole though, this is an excellent little kit and a big step up on the standard Onnix even though in some ways it's also a step down.
The retreat Freemax has taken rectifies so many of the problems identified with the original device and now makes this a worthy competitor to its major rivals, where I don’t think the original ever really was.
The rapid response they’ve taken to their criticism is a credit to them and shows sometimes big companies do listen which can only be beneficial to both.
And like the old adage says, sometimes you do have to take one step backward to take two steps forwards, and if you get something better at the end of it there’s no harm in it at all, and Freemax certainly has.
If we look at this review as a kit oriented one we can say it’s a good device but if we look at it as a corporate listening one we can say Freemax has done brilliantly and we can commend them for it.
If only all companies did the same.
