Smoant Charon 218W

The Charon 218W comes out of the Smoant stable, who are also responsible for the Battlestar, Knight and Mobula amongst others. It is a dual 18650 mod capable of outputting up to 218W, with a comprehensive temperature control mode included as well, supporting Ni200, Titanium, Stainless Steel and a TCR input, coming from the ANT 218 chip designed in house by Smoant’s own R&D team.

by Dan Willis
Jul 15, 2017

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It has been designed with ergonomics in mind so that it is comfortable to hold and operate, with an oversized power button present making it easy to fire. Four striking finishes are available, with Copper, Gold, Full Black and Stainless Steel trims complimenting a leather wrapped battery cover, giving the Charon 218W a real premium look about it. The Charon 218W certainly is a smart looker, and packed with features on paper, so let’s see how it performs...

Specs

Zinc Alloy construction
91mm height
25mm width
53mm length
Leather wrapped battery cover
Copper, Gold, Full Black and Stainless Steel finishes available
1-218W wattage range
Supports atomiser resistance down to 0.05ohm in temperature control
Resistance range is 0.1-5ohm in variable wattage mode
Takes two high amp 18650 batteries
Temperature control function
Support for Ni200, Titanium and Stainless Steel in Temperature Control
Custom TCR Input
200-600F temperature control range
Three memory mode
Large OLED screen
Oversized fire button
Ergonomic button placement
510 connector
USB port
Overheating protection
Reverse Polarity Protection
Low resistance protection

What’s in the Box?

Inside the Smoant Charon 218W retail box you get the Smoant Charon 218W mod itself, a Micro USB cable and an instruction manual.

Design and Build Quality

Smoant’s Charon 218W has been designed to be as ergonomic as possible, sporting a rounded battery cover to sit in the palm of your hand perfectly. It takes two 18650 batteries, and has a nice weight to it when carrying it around. The buttons have been placed so that they can be operated easily with one hand, there is a nice and tactile responsiveness to each button click. The oversized power button is a highlight, and you’ll have no issues firing the Smoant Charon 218W!

The Charon 218W is manufactured from Zinc Alloy, and you can get Copper, Gold, Full Black and Stainless Steel finishes, with the removable magnetic battery cover sporting a premium leather wrapped finish. A large OLED screen is found on the side of the Charon 218W, and this displays the current battery level, mode, output power/temperature limit (in temperature control), resistance and voltage. A USB port is also found underneath the plus and minus buttons. Ample venting holes are placed around the side of the Charon 218W, helping to keep the device cool during use.

Measurements of the Charon 218W are 91mm (height) x 25mm (width) x 53mm (length), and it weighs in at 195g without batteries. Personally I think it’s a real good looking mod, that pairs very well with the Smoant Battlestar RDTA, and it’s one that feels very nice and comfortable in hand as well.

Using the Smoant Charon 218W

5 clicks of the power button turns the Charon 218W on and off
3 clicks of the power button enters the temperature control menu system
Whilst in the temperature control menu system, pressing plus or minus will allow you to switch through variable wattage, Ni (Ni200 coils), Ti (Titanium coils), SS (Stainless Steel coils) and TCR input mode.
For a stainless steel coil (SS303, 304, 316 and 317) the TCR range is 150-60. For Gold, it is 300-340. For Titanium, it is 350-370. For Silver, it is 371-380. For Copper, it is 381-390. For Ni-Fe it is 391-500. For Nickel it is 500-700.
Simultaneously holding down the power and plus buttons will lock the power setting
Holding down power and minus will change the screen orientation
Reverse polarity, over heating, low voltage, overload/short circuit, no atomizer and overheat protections are built it, as well as a 10 second cut off.

Performance

The Smoant Charon 218W features the ANT 218 chip designed in house by Smoant Stability, and in variable wattage mode you have a power range of 1-218W available, resistance is fired down to 0.1ohm. This makes the Charon 218W a great choice for cloudchasers, with plenty of power available. The ANT 218 chip has been designed to offer no fire delays at all, and you really notice it when you hit the power button, with virtually instantaneous ramp up time.

Of course, when using the Charon 218W at high wattage, battery life is adversely affected, you can still get a full day’s usage out of it at least when using it up to 80W. I’ve got a good couple of days out of it when I’ve popped my Rose3 on top and used it at 35W, making it ideal for taking out and about. Over 80W however, you may well need to swap the batteries out at least once during the day. USB charging is included, you can charge the Charon 218W through the USB port, however I’d only recommend doing this if you have no access to an external charger as it isn’t the quickest way of charging your batteries.

A comprehensive temperature control mode is included, with support for Ni200, Titanium and Stainless Steel built into it. A custom TCR input is also included, meaning you can input the coefficient of a specific wire, and use that in TC mode. Performance in temperature control is very stable, I’ve not encountered any issues when vaping the Charon 218W in TC, and it offers solid, consistent performance.

Conclusion

All in all, the Smoant Charon 218W is a solid and reliable little performer, that looks good, is easy to operate, and offers great battery life. The build quality I found to be excellent with this device, it feels like a real high end mod, but at a price point of under £60- in my opinion this does represent a real bargain for a mod of this calibre. The Smoant Charon 218W is packed with features, has plenty of power, and has an accurate chipset. It’s definitely a jack of all trades! You can check out all of Smoant's products on their site here http://www.smoant.com/. We are giving the Battlestar and the Charon in our competition here.

Dan Willis

Reviewer at POTV

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Dan was an early adopter of vaping as a way to quit smoking and has seen and done pretty much all there is to see and do in the vaping world! From Ego batteries to mechs and from rebuildables to pods there isn't much that Dan hasn't tried.