Mod Reviews

YiHi SXmini MQ Class

If you are in the market for a new 18650 mod, the SXmini MQ Class might be just what you are looking for. It certainly impressed Antony!

by Antony Lord
Feb 24, 2025

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YiHi are old masters in the vape industry. They’ve recently updated their evergreen SXmini lineup and this included a rather nice looking compact 18650 mod, the SXmini MQ Class which caught my eye. I’ve had several SXmini products in the past and whilst some have remained in my regular rotation of devices, others have been a bit of a damp squib which have fallen by the wayside over the years, so with this in mind I asked our friends over at Sourcemore if they’d be kind enough to send out the SXmini MQ Class for review to see which side of the line this would fall on.

Specifications

76 x 25 x 36.75mm
77.4 grams
Single 18650 battery
Output 1~60 watts / 1~8 volts
Minimum resistance 0.1 ohms
USB-C charging

The SXmini MQ Class is available in just three very traditional colours: black, silver, and gunmetal, and I was sent the black variant for review. As this is only offered as a mod and not as part of a kit, you just get the MQ Class itself, a brief user guide, and a USB-C charge cable in the box. First impressions out of the box are “wow, that’s small”, honestly most of my other single 18650 mods dwarf this in comparison and it’s difficult to appreciate just how compact and lightweight it really is until you hold it in your hand.

The main body of the MQ Class is constructed from anodised aluminium sandwiched between CNC'd stainless steel plates at the top and bottom giving it quite a bold look. This has clearly primarily been designed with left handed use in mind as the stainless steel power button falls naturally under your thumb when held in this hand, I have found it equally as easy to use with my right hand as well though. The front of the device also sports a small LED screen perfectly suited to this application and stainless steel up/down buttons. The buttons protrude just a hair under 1mm from the face of the front panel making them easy to locate by feel alone, and they all have a satisfying positive click with absolutely zero button rattle so 10/10 so far on the design and construction.

The back has a bold stainless steel insert with a large MQ Class logo deeply engraved into the metal. This has been polished into a mirror finish which helps the engraved logo stand out but, as you might expect, it quickly becomes a fingerprint magnet which rather spoils the intended effect. It’s also slightly recessed into the main aluminium chassis so dirt and dust tend to accumulate along the outer edges and it can be quite tricky to get into all the corners when cleaning. This is easily the thing I dislike the most about the MQ Class and I rather wish YiHi had gone with the less polished finish found on the top and bottom plates as I think this would have looked much better whereas here it just has that annoying tendency to look a bit grubby no matter how often you give this area a wipe down.

The main chassis has a slightly asymmetrical design with nicely rounded edges which makes it comfortable for use in either hand. Up top we have a spring loaded 510 connector which can accommodate anything up to 24mm in diameter so this is best suited to what would be considered smaller atomisers by today's standards where 25mm is far more commonplace, find yourself a smaller (and ideally shorter) atty though, and this looks the bee’s knees, I’m currently using it with a 22mm Dead Rabbit MTL 2 in 2ml mode for example.

This is all powered by a single 18650 battery with a screw type battery cap on the bottom of the MQ Class with a spring loaded positive contact located at the other end (which is clearly marked). Whilst I understand this may not be everyone’s favourite design, it does help keep the size down and as YiHi have opted for stainless steel plates at the top and bottom, the threads are actually quite good once you catch that first thread. You’ll also find the USB-C charge port at the base should you find the need to use that particular feature.

This is all powered by the YiHi SX416J chipset which, as you might expect, features wattage, voltage, power curves, and of course their superb temperature control suite. Whilst there’s only 60 watts on tap here, you do have up to 8 volts to play with so this should be able to provide everything needed for the lower wattage vaper.

One area where I’ve criticised YiHi in the past is their menu/control schemes as they tend to be a bit left field and consequently difficult to learn. Not so here, the standard three button layout taken this time has resulted in a nicely streamlined experience which is quite intuitive, so I’ve never found myself having to refer back to the manual or being frustrated because I’ve forgotten how to access the menu! The only real oddity this time around is with the puff counter as this is reset by plugging the usb cable in to charge so if you’re an avid user of puff counters, then this gives you all the more reason to stick to a dedicated external battery charger whenever possible.

Conclusion

I’ve had a bit of a love/hate relationship with YiHi mods over the years; whilst I love their bold designs, sometimes the fit and finish hasn’t, if I’m being totally honest, been the best, and the menu systems have frequently frustrated me so much I’ve stopped using them after the initial rush of owning a new piece of kit has worn off. Not so here, in my opinion this is quite possibly the best bit of kit they’ve ever made and if you’re left handed, this should definitely be on your shortlist the next time you're looking for a new shiny toy to play with.

Many thanks to Sourcemore for sending the YiHi SXmini MQ Class over for review. As usual they’ve given me a discount code for you to use as well: SMCM will bag you this super piece of kit for just $40.39 making it an absolute bargain to boot.

Pros

Extremely compact 18650 mod
Top notch fit and finish
Easy to use menu system
Ideal if you’re left handed

Cons

That mirror finish back is difficult to keep clean
Puff counter is reset when using the on board charging

Antony Lord

Reviewer at POTV

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I was a twenty a day smoker for 25 years and like most smokers I was always going to quit "next week". Having hit my mid forties and having the usual smokers cough and difficulty with anything more than moderate exercise it was obviously time to give up the cancer sticks. I bought my first e-cigarette in 2013 when they were expensive, difficult to find and quite frankly... crap. I used it for about a week then went back to the roll ups, mark up another failed quit attempt. The fact that I had just changed jobs and was under quite a lot of stress probably didn't help. Move on to 2016 and whilst I was browsing eBay I noticed that one of the suggested items that would occasionally pop up was for a cheap e-cigarette. It looked similar to the one I'd bought 3 years earlier but it was only £5 (about 8 times cheaper than before) so I decided to give it another go on a whim. Once the kit arrived I managed to gradually replace the cigarettes with my new kit over a two month period and got into watching YouTube reviews for newer kit. My cheap and cheerful kit was replaced by a more upmarket affair, and being a noob I made a mistake once it arrived... I put in the supplied direct lung coil, this was of course a complete revelation and I haven't touched a cigarette since. Oh and I no longer spend the first five minutes of every day having a coughing fit either.