Hellvape are perhaps best known for their excellent range of rebuildable atomisers alongside the odd sub ohm tank, but in their latest round of releases, they’ve branched out into new territory with their first ever mouth to lung starter kit, the Eir pod kit. They also have a brand new range of Eir coils which sit alongside it utilizing kanthal mesh coils, so let’s dive down and see how they stack up to the competition.
Specifications
- 106.5 x 24.5 x 14.3 mm
- 40 grams
- 800mAh battery
- Output 5 to 18 watts
- 2.5ml pod (2ml for TPD regions)
- LED screen
The kit is available in eight colours, and I was sent the black and green versions for testing. Inside the Hellvape Eir pod kit, you’ll find the battery section, one pod with a preinstalled 0.8ohm mesh coil, a brief user manual, USB-C charge cable, and a lanyard. I have to say that I was a little disappointed to find that only one coil is included in the starter kit but the Eir pod kit is offered at the lower end of the price spectrum (I’ve already seen it online below the £20 mark) so this can be forgiven somewhat.
The Eir pod follows the standard mouth to lung starter kit design with a slim aluminium frame with a pod at the top. The Eir can be used as an autodraw device but unlike many similar starter kits, you also get a power button and, unusually for this class of device, a small LED screen and adjustable wattage! The lightweight aluminium chassis makes this very pocketable as well.
Operation of the single button control is relatively easy with the usual five clicks on/off. Additionally two clicks will allow you to clear the four digit puff counter and three clicks will allow you to adjust the wattage. One annoying aspect I have found here is that when you remove the pod, to refill it for example, the Eir will always revert back to the suggested wattage for the coil. With the supplied 0.8ohm coil, this is 15 watts. Luckily it performs quite well at that so it isn’t too much of a problem, but if you prefer a higher or lower wattage this could get quite frustrating over time.
Another quirk I noticed during use was the autodraw system doesn’t activate the screen although a backlit Eir logo does appear at the base, this doesn’t give any indication of battery capacity though and is merely a decorative effect, however pressing the button does activate the screen allowing you to see your battery level. Performance of the autodraw system has been impeccable so I’ve largely used that and resorted to using the button if I want to check the charge before leaving the house.
The USB-C charge port is located at the base and in my test run, the Eir hit a peak charge rate of 0.8 amps achieving a final recorded capacity of 785mAh in 1 hour and 18 minutes. It’s not the fastest charge rate but remains quite acceptable, and it was nice to see that this came very close to the quoted 800mAh capacity so all day vaping on one charge is very achievable.
The pod is a snap fit design and has a satisfying click when you press it home whilst remaining easy to remove. You actually have a degree of control over the airflow as well as the base of the pod has two slightly different sized air channels at the base which line up with the single pinhole found on the side of the battery section. The difference between the two is fairly subtle, but as I prefer a slightly looser draw, I found myself gravitating towards the wider of the two.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Eir pod kit uses removable coils rather than the disposable pods that are more prominent at this end of the price spectrum, and the pod has a 2.5ml capacity (2ml for TPD regions) with an easily accessible fill plug on one side. The mouthpiece is comfortable to use and I’ve experienced minimal amounts of condensation even with prolonged heavy use of the kit.
Eir coils come in packs of three and utilise a modern mesh coil head, full marks to Hellvape for clearly marking the coils along with the coil material in use (kanthal). The extra coils I was sent were all the same as 0.8ohm ones included with the kit, but if you prefer a tighter draw, a 1.2ohm coil should also be available.
Pros
- Lightweight
- Good battery capacity
- LED screen
- Removable coils
Cons
-
Reverts to the default wattage every time!
Conclusion
I’ve enjoyed my time with the Hellvape Eir pod kit, and the 0.8ohm Eir coils have been right up my street with a slightly loose mouth to lung draw and pretty good flavour for a starter kit. The small screen and adjustable wattage is unusual to find in this class of kit, but the fact that it resets itself to the default wattage every time you refill the pod does render this a bit frustrating if you prefer a higher or lower wattage. Overall though, this is a solid first entry into this segment from Hellvape.
Antony Lord
Reviewer at POTVI 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.
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