Astral
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Lost Vape Grus 100w Kit.
Disclaimer: This is an independent review of a vape device kindly provided to me by @Sourcemore 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.
Groos? Gruss? Groose? Who knows, but I feel like a broken record.
Having already reviewed the wonderful Lost Vape Ursa Quest and opened my musings by questioning its name, I'm now right back where I was and doing the same thing all over again with its popular and cult-like little brother the Grus.
It's not much of an issue though. After all, I'm not reviewing a name, I'm reviewing a device, and I have to say I'm glad to finally be doing so.
After waiting what seems an eternity to be given the opportunity to do this kit, I now find myself having to temper my eagerness to get my hands on it and look at it objectively.
This wasn't too difficult though, I'm not prone to following the crowd and like to find things out for myself.
So, what did I find? Is it as good as people have said? Or am I going to upset the fanboys and slate their icon?
Well… no.
After a fair bit of use, and a fair bit of fondling, I'm more inclined to join them than upset them.
There's far more right here than there is wrong.
From the aesthetics to the performance, this is an excellently engineered and usable bit of kit.
In some ways it's arguably better than the previously aforementioned Ursa Quest too - and given that this updated Grus now uses the Quest's 2.0 chipset and UB pro tank the difference is minimal and really only aesthetics.
At 142mm X 40.5mm X 30.5mm this mod is a little smaller in circumference than its bigger brother, and consequently fits in my hand a little more snugly - but then my hands are on the smaller side.
At 176g it's also a little lighter, but oddly I find this weight a bit of a plus point as it gives it a bit of substantiality and a feeling of quality, premium to what the price point suggests.
It's made almost entirely from zinc alloy so it's still on the heavy side in relation to many of its rivals though and this may be off putting for some. Your choice of 18650, 20700 or 21700 external battery will also affect this.
Thankfully the plastic 26mm UB pro pod tank does keep the weight down a little or else it'd be an anvil!
As a so-called pod, it's also superior to most of its rivals too in the fact it's more of a plastic tank rather than a pure pod, and comprises a plastic upper shell with a 810 drip-tip and rubber-bunged side fill port that connects to the mod via an aluminium screw-on 510 base; there are no magnets here.
This forms a completely leak proof seal and the two only need to be separated to change the coil.
Airflow adjustment is via a base mounted free-spinning airflow control ring.
If, however, you'd prefer to use the normal UB tank instead, you can use this too - but unlike the Ursa Quest you do have to buy it separately.
This gives you a wider choice of coils and RBAs are available too.
The latter even has a 1ohm (8 - 15w) MTL coil available but the airflow for this is still on the looser side.
Naturally as it's 510 equipped, you can use another tank entirely if you like and anything up to a 30mm should fit the mod well.
Aesthetically, the whole package is pleasing to the eye and the mod looks good whether sporting a pod or a tank.
It features nice resin side-panels and comes in a range of nine metal and trim colours covering three series - carbon fibre, wood and universe.
The Universe is by far the most colourful with the other two being rather more discreet.
The upgraded user interface of the 2.0 Quest chip is attractive too and this has customisability of its own, with six colour options given for 0.96 TFT screen's display in the menu - blue, yellow, white, red, green and purple.
You bring this up by pressing the middle of the three, stacked oblong buttons sitting below the screen and using those directly above and below it to scroll through. Atomiser, brightness, user pre-sets and reset are the other options available.
On the home screen you have all your usual information like your battery level, wattage and resistance, plus your hard, normal or soft settings and your user pre-sets. You can also go through your wattage, bypass, voltage, VPC, titanium, nickel and stainless steel (316 and 904L) modes here too.
The pre-sets are a particularly nice option as they allow you to store your settings and give you the ability to set the mod up for different users. Not that you'd want to share!
The mod is powered by a typical five clicks on, five clicks off approach and the tactile, clicky, round plastic power/fire button is just as proficient for firing.
On the draw, the mod fires quickly and the included UB P1 0.15ohm (70 - 90w) and UB P3 0.3ohm (60 - 70w) both pack a punch.
The P1 vapes wonderfully at around 85w and the P3 was better towards the lower. There's no wanting for flavour or airflow with either, the Grus is abundant with both. After only a few puffs my front room was a real pea-souper. It took a full ninety minutes for the room to clear!
Lost Vape has engineered this product brilliantly and the quality is clearly seen throughout. Even the threads on the battery door run smoothly and that's not always the case.
Unlike it’s larger Ursa brother, the Grus’s screw-in metal door is recessed into the mod as well and has no table wobble at all. It sits there bolt upright. This surprised me after my experience with the Quest which rocked like The Who!
That said, I like how well Lost Vape presents their products and not just the mods, I like the quality of their packaging too.
This too is sumptuous and premium, and you get the full gamut of accessories and peripherals with it. You get your device, the UB Pro tank, your 0.15ohm and 0.3ohm UB Pro P1 and P3 coils, a USB Type-C charging cable, your 18650 battery adapter, four O-Rings and your literature.
Perhaps only the RBA and UB pod would make it better.
The only thing I really disliked about this kit is that the buttons are plastic, albeit thick, sturdy plastic. I feel if they’d been metal this kit would’ve been almost perfect.
All in all though, this is an excellent device and one I should've bought long ago. I wouldn’t have regretted it if I had.
I've enjoyed using it enormously and its quality far exceeds its cost. Its premium feel and outstanding chipset gives it a feeling of performance and exclusivity far beyond its competitors.
The weight is a bit of an issue but it's not enough to put me off and wont stop me adding it to my rotation.
When I received it I was apprehensive to find out if the Grus was as good as people have said as there's always extra intrigue and trepidation when something comes with a reputation, but now after having had my hands on it for myself, I'm pleased to say it is.
I guess you can say doing this review has made me a bit of a fanboy too and I've joined the chorus singing its praises, but as long as that's the only thing I'm singing I’m sure we can all rest easily! I'm no Roger Daltry!
If you'd like one you can get one from @Sourcemore here for the price of $62.99.
