iJoy Captain PD270....20700 Beast

20700 batteries. Are they future or fad? iJoy quickly jumped on board and have released a device that primarily uses 20700’s. I was beginning to wonder if there was ever going to be more variety in battery cells. It appeared that batteries hit a wall in their progression… To be honest, mods haven’t progressed much either. Sure, they come in all shapes, sizes and colors, but they all basically do the same thing. What matters to me is how well the device does it’s job. It’s not always about cost either. You can have a $200 mod that has a squishy button, hard to see screen, and inaccurate readings…That’s not the case here. I’m here to talk about a mod that won’t break the bank AND gives you the performance you crave…The iJoy Captain PD270


Alright, it’s been out for a hot minute and many people have shared their thoughts on this bad boy for good reason. Lately, finding a lower priced mod that works good has been relatively easy. Manufacturers are making better products for less and in my opinion the Captain is right at the top. P = Performance… D = Dual… 270 = 20700. Yes those letters and numbers have meaning…kinda like tires on a car. In order to cover everything appropriately I’m gonna have to refine my format. Reviews are still new to me so bare with me folks.

Unboxing:
iJoy has perfected their marketing game and it’s easy to see in their latest products. The packaging is retail ready and looks like something you would see on a shelf at Best Buy. I’ve bought tablets for my kids that came in a crappier box. It has the standard information, warnings and scratch-off security code we come to expect as well as the recently added warning that it contains nicotine. Sure…if they say so. Once open, the Captain is beautifully displayed and held firmly in place with foam. Remove the foam piece and you can get to the extras like the charging/firmware cable, a neat silicone 18650 adapter, and two 20700 batteries that are individually packaged in mini boxes. Not all Captain mods come with batteries though so be sure you get the one you want when buying.

The Batteries:
These iJoy branded cells are rated at 3000 mAh with a continuous discharge up to 40A. Holy cow. Packing that much punch into a cell barely large than an 18650 is revolutionary in my opinion. No way it can make 18650’s obsolete, but an equal? Easily true. I get fantastic battery life along with full on power blasting right to the coils. I can’t wait to get a 20700 tube mech…which iJoy makes already. These batteries are legit… total bosses. Hell they were originally designed for the fastest production electric car…the Tesla. Thank you Tesla, thank you…

The Look and Feel:
The designers at iJoy have been rocking lately and the PD270 backs that up. The smooth lines coupled with sharp edges, carbon fiber accents, hidden screen and classy engravings all come together beautifully to give this a powerful look and high class feel. The big button is back again but it doesn’t ruin the appearance, it compliments and blends in with it. You can hate on the big button all you want but don’t judge until you use it. When you pick the mod up your trigger finger naturally rests on top of it in the perfect position. I can easily fire this mod without searching for the button, and it doesn’t matter if you’re finger or thumb firing. It sits flush with the body making it almost tactile when viewing from the front. There must be an invisible hinge on the bottom section of the button because you cant fire it when you press it there, but it works great when pressed anywhere from the center section up. I get the satisfying ‘click’ I look for in mods. No squishy buttons to be found.

The USB charge port is conveniently located below the + and - buttons so you can leave it standing to charge or update. The carbon fiber used is not the cheap-o vinyl we’re all accustomed to seeing on our budget mods. It’s the good stuff with texture and dimension. I almost want to say its padded somehow cause it sure feels that way. It also does a great job providing grip so it doesn’t slip right out of your hand. Knurling on mods could be a real thing. Unbelievably this thing feels like its made for my hand. It’s a complete iJoy to hold.

The battery door slides out and swings open exactly as it should. I haven’t had any issues with it so far. It’s easy to open and stays locked shut after you slide it into place. I can see the tabs that lock it down wearing out eventually but not for a long time. For a mod that uses such large batteries it somehow retains a small, compact frame, but it does have substantial girth… making it not so pocket friendly. I wouldn’t call it a tiny mod but it’s not huge either. The size is relatively similar to a dual 18650 mod that takes 30mm tanks with no overhang. The paint is good, the buttons are good, the materials all over are good. It’s a solid device with satisfactory parts, small body and an ergonomic hand feel…what more could you want?

The Guts:
How they fit all the necessary wiring, IWEPAL chip and nearly 1 inch screen into this mod is amazing after looking down into an empty battery compartment. It has to be a tight fit or a small chip because it looks like there’s no room for anything but the batteries which, when installed, have barely any room for wiggle. This along with the door pressure makes battery rattle non-existent. The battery contacts are pretty standard and reminiscent of the Noisy Cricket 2 if you’re familiar with that. They’re hardly spring loaded since the batteries are held in place with pressure from the door. All of the contacts (battery and 510) are gold plated so thats a pro. Speaking of the 510, it’s small with very little travel. A lot of my attys with long positive pins don’t screw down completely flush which is a huge bummer. It feels pretty sturdy, and it has a foam sleeve at the bottom to keep juice out which is awesome but the 510 in my opinion should’ve had a little more effort put into it. Otherwise this would have been a 5 star mod. The only thing I didn’t do while testing the Captain was take it apart. Eventually I will but first I have to find a star driver that will fit the screws. I’m not like DJLSB when it comes to the real guts of devices and testing voltage and current, but I do like to see what’s inside of mods once they get some age on them. Plus, you would be surprised at how much juice collects inside these things after a few months, especially for those who drip or use rebuildables.

The Workz:
I was a pro at navigating the menu screens in a matter of minutes. It’s ease of use should appeal to new and veteran vapers alike cause nobody likes reading a damn instruction manual when they get a new mod! What sucked was having to wait for the batteries to charge before I could use it! Yea, yea, I know I could’ve used the provided 18650 adapter and fired it right up but I really wanted to try out the 20700’s. I used the adapter just to make sure it worked and it does. I like the battery life I get from the 20700’s better so I’ll stick with those.

Back to the menu screen, it has a few features that I really enjoy. The main home screen is packed with info like wattage, voltage, individual battery meters, resistance, amps, puff counter, how long your last puff was, and finally what mode your in. When I say mode I’m talking about the ramp up controls. You can pick between Soft, Normal, Hard or you can select your own ramp up wattages in User mode. I can actually tell a difference in each of the settings and they’re super useful. With a big power hungry dual coil setup, I can run a lower wattage in Hard mode and get a fast ramp up that heats them up and then drops the power down to however hot you like your vape. If I have a coil that’s extra spitty I can run it in Soft mode and remedy that issue as well. It’s awesome! I didn’t have much faith in it until I gave it a whirl but now it’s one of my favorite features. In temp control mode, the mode box changes to show what type of wire you’re using instead of the ramp up setting. I’m not a TC vaper but I did test it on some SS coils and it seemed to work…I cant tell you how accurate it is though. You can easily adjust your wattage or temperature by pressing the up button first to adjust the power or press the down button first to adjust the temp. Once you press the first up or down button and figure out what you want to adjust the buttons work normally. Up goes up and down goes down. Whatever setting you adjust will be flashing to let you know you have the right one.

3 clicks of the fire button will take you into the menu screen where you can 1.) Choose the mode you want to vape at or create your own ramp up scale 2.) Select a wire type for TC vaping (Ni, Ti, SS) or you can select between 2 TCR’s that you set up 3.) This is where you configure your own TCR values 4.) Adjust how long the screen stays on before it sleeps 5.) Reset puff counter. It’s a simple but effective system that doesn’t require you to hold multiple buttons to navigate the menu screens.


Final Thoughts:
The rounded sides of the Captain make it so nice to hold and use. You couldn’t tell by looking at it…since it resembles the shape of a brick. I completely fell in love with this thing though and can’t say much bad about it. If anything I’d say it’s a pain to carry around for long periods but makes a great desk mod. Oh…and the 510 needs a rework.The color options are out of this world, and the paint was sure to be better than Alien…cause Captains destroy Aliens and Predators in all the movies right? It’s always some sort of military or police personnel that kicks the most ass! In this case I’d say it’s true. With those huge 20700 batteries you can feel the power difference between it and a dual 18650 device. The same wattage on a 2x18650 device feels weaker and restrained, while the Captain hits more like an RX200. If you’ve had this on your mind, and on the fence about buying… just go for it. Efun has it at a super low price and it’s the real deal. You can find it here on sale for $29.99 w/out batteries:
https://www.efun.top/ijoy-captain-pd270-box-mod-234w-5746.html

They have a discout code for an additional 10% off right now posted on the site so check that out.

Heres the version with batteries selling for $43.99. That works out to about $7 bucks a piece for the batteries which is a steal:
https://www.efun.top/ijoy-captain-pd270-box-mod-234w.html

Thanks a lot for reading! I appreciate the hell out of you. If you have any questions about the Captain hit me up in the comments! Or share your own personal experiences, that would be more than welcome. :v:

12 Likes

Well done on the write up, I think that you covered everything! We’ll have to see if the 20700 becomes more popular as a form factor. I think that ijoy and Sanyo are the only available batts at that size currently, and they are pricey, but that’ll change if they take off (be careful with the ijoy batts… paper insulator ring at the top, wtf?). I have an admiral on the way, I’ll let you know how she hits with the 20700 batts when I can get some (Sanyo “a” series is out of stock like everywhere), so I’ll be using the sleeve with my vct5a’s for a minute I think. This mod looks like a winner thus far though.

3 Likes

Thankfully these new breed of mods come with an adapter, at least until the batteries are easier to find like you said. That Admiral is gonna be awesome! You can build really low and not hurt the battery whatsoever which to me is the ultimate goal. I like a warm vape but its stressful on a 20-30 amp battery

1 Like

Great review! Thanks :+1: