My world is full of coincidences, I reviewed the Drop RDA when my girlfriend was literally in labour and about to drop our second little bundle of mischief, and now I start to write up iJoy’s Diamond selection on the very day I offer the real thing to my better half, accompanied by a proposal of marriage…it’s only been 8 years and 2 kids later…and I know what your thinking…‘only fools rush in’ and maybe to some of you it might seem a little 'rushed’…but clearly her father was overjoyed about it, as he made his own request for the actual wedding, something I’ve never personally heard of before, but he would like me to marry her over his dead body…?
Obviously, me wanting to impress my new future father-in-law, I can only try my best to meet his request with a stiff upper lip…a steadfast attitude…and possibly a sledge hammer…I do after all want to make a good impression as I endeavour to impress my new family.
SO…Diamonds…as this weeks theme would appear to be…apparently a girl’s best friend. Even I have to admit to being rather enamoured by the shiny little blighters, comes with the territory - if you’re gonna spend your hard earned on something, you really have to know what you’re buying; so I did my due diligence and learned all about the 4 C’s…Cut, Colour, Clarity & CHRIST ALMIGHTY HOW MUCH?!?..I even put a hiatus on any vape mail being purchased…that’s right…I was actually taking it THAT seriously…which was a complete turnaround from my previous attitude towards tying the knot…
And my other half is now the proud owner of 0.0004 carat diamond ‘chip’ which possesses almost zero clarity and was probably cut with a spoon. What can I say…she’s a lucky, lucky lady…(?)
So how does this translate into our vape universe?..Is naming something that has a reputation for breaking - mere seconds after the warranty runs out - after one of the hardest wearing materials known to man a bit too much like wishful thinking?..Do they really have the right to call a glorified battery box the same thing as one of the most sought after and beautiful things in the world?..Could I really beat my previous marriage record of 6 short yet ever so terrifying months?..Answers to these questions and much, much more will be revealed after this…erm…line…it really is just a line…it literally means nothing (shrugs)
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Welcome back my beautiful, billowing, bling brigade. ‘Tis time once more for me to talk absolute codswallop about something or other…in the mere hope that you might glean some useful information about a couple of devices that you may or may not have your eye on…who knows…stranger things have indeed…happened. And this time we are returning to long time big hitters in the vape industry…iJoy.
Now, I understand I could have lost a few of you right there…and it has to be said…I haven’t had the best times with iJoy devices over the years either. I mean sure, they’ve been okay, but they’ve consistently been…well…inconsistent…at least that’s been my experience. It’s also been my experience that opinions are a lot like bum holes…everybody has one…unless you’re a complete arse face…in which case you probably have two…
and these opinions could very well differ from mine…and that’s absolutely fine…everyone has their cross to bear…
So have they learnt? Did they indeed listen?..Well they may have…but I certainly didn’t…I am yet again doing the double, two devices…one name…courtesy of my long time partners in crime, Heavengifts, I get down on one knee…and present to you not one…but two diamonds; the iJoy Diamond Mini mod and the Diamond VPC Kit.
Feel free to say “I do”…or at least…“I might”…
The Lowdown (Diamond Mini)
The iJoy Diamond Mini is a dual 18650, 225w device powered by iJoys own chip which boasts a full array of features which one has come to expect in a modern day regulated device, including a full TC suite.
It’s predominantly plastic with excellent ergonomics and a front facing, large OLED screen giving you all the information you will probably never need, in a very ‘Alien’ kind of way…the mod…not the skinny grey guy with the large black eyes…It’s even about the same size as the Alien and overall follows the same kind of form factor we have seen on a large swathe of dual 18650 devices in the last couple of years since the Alien’s launch, and it’s marginally smaller than its predecessor - the 234w Diamond PD270.
One very nice feature about the build is the centered, very Wismec-esque 510 (without the breakability) …and with enough real estate for a 30mm top…love that shit…nice and springy gold plated pin too…
Seems sturdy enough, and seen here with a 28.5mm Sherman.
A massive fat sack of kudos to them for housing a 30mm space on a mod that’s so compact, if only other companies would follow suit with this, I for one…would be a happy camper.
Moving on down we have the side fire button which…and I quote…has a ‘Diamond Cutting Surface’ …
Hmm…pretty sure that’s just moulded plastic, you can’t simply roll a dog turd in glitter, slap it on my wrist…and tell me it’s a Rolex…you can try…but I’ll punch you in the face…
Regardless of how they are selling you this new fandangled technology…I’m really not a fan of this fire button, it feels weird, it looks weird…and using it doesn’t give me any pleasure …can’t put my finger on why that is either…which is ironic…for something I have to put my finger on…(?)
Down towards the front we have the uninspiring OLED screen…
I mean…I know, I already sound like I hate this thing but the whole look is really dated to me now, this screen looks just like the Alien screen which was what?..Three years ago now?..It’s also behind that god awful tinted, plastic fascia - which makes it absolutely impossible to see anything in daylight…I mean really…not a fucking thing…
Such a massive fail with the screen - if you absolutely have to put a tinted front on it, then at least make sure the screen is bright enough to be seen through it when you’re outside…
On the back we have a hefty battery door, actually very well manufactured too, stays on real solid with help from two mahoosive magnets, giving absolutely no play at all. With the back off you can see just how compact this mod is…it’s barely bigger than a couple of 18650’s…
Now…to flip my current attitude towards the Diamond Mini…which is, let’s say…50/50 at this point. The absolute best thing, other than the 30mm top plate obv (selfish)…is the chip itself - and for reasons that I can’t really verify myself, because it’s all to do with the temp control. My feelings on temp control are well documented, I don’t use it, never have, never will, but from what I can gather during my research, it’s actually well above average in this device…apparently…
I guess there’s still a select group of vapers out there who will be pleased about that…whoever you are…erm…yup.
Everything else works perfectly well too, you can’t really get VW wrong so much, although it does give 0.1 increments which is a complete waste of anyone’s time…but it seem to give out what it’s meant to, is relatively efficient, and doesn’t give any uninvited battery lag without any warnings…something that I hate immensely on some devices…so…safe to say I’m a fan of the chip.
Now…for the next device in this review, I actually broke my own rules…
I know right…ever the rebel…
I’ll happily give my opinion on most things, but when dealing with requests from any new suppliers or manufacturers who require my immense knowledge (what?) and expertise (seriously?), I always say…“I try to avoid starter kits and I don’t do Pod systems”…just because I don’t use them…like…ever…I never even MTL anything…so I really feel unqualified to give a reasonable opinion…and when I agreed to review the Diamond VPC kit…I honestly thought it was just a tiny lipo driven mod…something I have a bit of a soft spot for…for reasons I’ve never really understood. However…I was pretty much bang wrong on all counts…it’s a fucking pod system…or is it…?
The Lowdown (Diamond VPC Kit)
The Diamond VPC kit is ‘essentially’ a pod system with one rather nifty…and cheeky AF…difference. On the surface it’s all fine and dandy with the iJoy BAE mod and it’s 1400mah internal 20350 battery…more on that later…giving a whopping (?) 45 watts of eye popping, raw and unadulterated power. By the way, if you don’t know what ‘BAE’ means…it’s kind of urban slang used affectionately by people describing their other half who can’t be arsed typing ‘Before Anyone Else’…because saying “I’m off to meet my Before Anyone Else”…sounds fucking ridiculous…as does ‘BAE’…in all forms…OR…I can simply explain it in one simple gut wrenching gif…
My soul just threw up a little…
The first thing you’ll notice…is this thing is TINY…
Yet solid and kinda chunky…I think if you threw this at someone hard enough…you could inflict some real damage…not that I would condone such behavior…
The next thing you’ll notice…is a doozy…iJoy have done something so spectacular with this mod, that you could be forgiven for thinking it would be borderline illegal…an odd thing to say I know, bear with…Firstly it comes with what looks like a little baby tank…but unscrew it…and you’re greeted with this…
A bog standard spring loaded 510…on a pod system?..”What in holy fuckballs is this witchcraft?” you may indeed…say.
Well…if you grab the drip tip on this tiny tank and pull it…what comes out is indeed a pod…that sits in a sleeve…
“What the cocking fuck nuggets is going on here then?” I hear you question…okay…now it gets real interesting…
within the whole package, you get a host of ‘umph and snazz’ - including a lanyard …I can only imagine this will be used on your keys because anyone found with a mod hanging around their neck will probably get strangled with it…
mmm…sexy…
A pod cap (the white silicone…pan(?)-looking thing)…a USB charge cable…and the all important black rubber, puck shaped grommet…seen here sat on the left of the box…
Now what this grommet does is sit in the sleeve instead of the iJoy pod…giving you the option to use a whole host of other manufacturers pods, including Juul, MYLÉ and Juno pods…how they got away with that I will never know …and…it doesn’t stop there…something I found immense amusement in when I searched through the menu settings - as well as a specific setting for ‘Power’, you get one for ‘Pod’ for when you are using iJoys pod system and it alters the voltage accordingly. But… skip past this and you will also find specific settings for ‘Jewel’ (Juul) ‘Myle’ (MYLÉ) and ‘Juno’…(erm…Juno…they didn’t even bother trying to disguise that one) …fucking brilliant, these companies must of shat bricks when they found out about it…and I would love to know where they found inspiration for their justification when asked ‘iJoy…did you really do that?..I mean…can you actually do that?!?’
Oh…well, that’s awkward…
The iJoy pod itself is fine if you like that kind of thing, gives a lot more vapor than I was expecting. But these things are really designed for high levels of nic in short bursts, not for flavour or cloud chasers…hence why I, with my poxy 1mg liquids, am not particularly interested in them…but it is what it is, haven’t really got anything to compare it too…I can tell you that trying to fill its 2ml tank through it’s tiny fill port is a PITA with my unicorn bottles, fine tip bottle will work but I had to dust off a syringe for this one…
BUT…and this is a big but…
The functionalities don’t stop there…let us not forget that the BAE does have a standard 510, so if pod systems don’t tickle your nethers then you can use it as a stealthy little mod with anything, as long as 45 watts is enough to power it, take a single coil RDA for example…
Why the fuck not, with the right build it would work just fine, although I wouldn’t expect a great deal of battery life from the tiny 20350…but as tiny back-up stealth mods go…perfect…and speaking of the tiny battery…here lies the second biggest eyebrow raising thing about the BAE - it really is a 20350 battery, no you can’t remove it…but inside is a normal battery sled, with a normal battery…it’s not even soldered, the damn thing even has a battery ribbon on it…which leads me to believe that at some point in the designing process this was meant to have a removable battery, which clearly would of been better, but no…it’s sealed up tighter than a ducks bum…Odd…especially when you consider that almost all pod systems run from an internal battery of some sort…albeit a hell of a lot smaller in most cases…so a removable battery on a pod system…and one that is indeed 3 times (generally) bigger, could have been a home run for iJoy…and on top of that…the pod itself has a 510…so IT can be used on any mod…fancy a pod system with dual 18650’s?..not a problem. You could stick it on a custom made Lipo if you really wanted to…you’d get like a week’s battery life out of it…you could even go completely nuts and stick a Juul pod in the iJoy sleeve and screw it onto a quad battery mod…you’d never have to charge it again!..You shouldn’t…but you could!..
Anyhoo…moving on…down the side we have a small yet functional screen…which unlike it’s bigger brother can actually be seen in daylight, and the same fire button that is apparently made using an incredible diamond cutting technology…or something…as well as a rocker bar for your function buttons…which don’t appear to have been lavished with the same extravagant technology…and a USB port for charging.
The Specs (Diamond Mini)
Main features:
● TC range: 200 - 600 Deg.F
● High performance VW / TC modes with easy operation
● Resistance range: 0.05 - 3 ohm
● 225W max output with dual 18650 batteries ( not included )
● 510 atomizer connector
● Charging time: 2h
Specification
Product Details Brand: IJOY
Accessories type: MOD
Battery Cover Type: Magnetic
Material: Zinc Alloy
Mod: Temperature Control Mod
Dimension and Weight Package size (L x W x H): 12.00 x 10.00 x 5.00 cm / 4.72 x 3.94 x 1.97 inches
Package weight: 0.2300 kg
Product size (L x W x H): 8.70 x 4.50 x 3.27 cm / 3.43 x 1.77 x 1.29 inches
Product weight: 0.1320 kg
Package Contents Package Contents: 1 x Mod, 1 x English User Manual, 1 x USB Cable
The Specs (Diamond VPC Kit)
Main Features:
Mod:
● Thread: 510
● Built-in 1400mAh Li-ion battery
● Resistance: 0.05 - 3 ohm
● Wattage: 5 - 45W
● Charging time: 1.5h
● Intelligent OLED display screen
● Multiple protectionsAtomizer:
● Thread: 510
● Diameter: 1.9cm
● Capacity: 2ml
Specification
Product Details Brand: IJOY
Material: PC,Stainless Steel,Zinc Alloy
Dimension and Weight Package size (L x W x H): 13.00 x 10.00 x 5.00 cm / 5.12 x 3.94 x 1.97 inches
Package weight: 0.2200 kg
Product size (L x W x H): 10.00 x 3.40 x 2.75 cm / 3.94 x 1.34 x 1.08 inches
Product weight: 0.2100 kg
Packing Contents Package Contents: 1 x Mod, 1 x Atomizer, 1 x VPC Unipod, 1 x VPC Adapter, 1 x Lanyard, 1 x USB Cable, 1 x English Using Manual
Final thoughts
OK…as far as the Diamond mini goes, it’s a good mod, TC users will love it for its temp control capabilities, at least that’s what I am led to believe. It’s compact, ergonomic, easy to navigate and fits anything up to a 30mm top. Apart from the screen, which for me is just a big oversight…or…undersight as the case may be…(I really can’t believe someone at iJoy didn’t go outside with one at any point during the design process)…the rest of it is…good? if not a little dated. It’s all going to come down to personal preference as to whether you dig the look of it…it’s wayyy better than a lot of other iJoy mods and of course…being iJoy, it’s available in kit form and in a whole rainbow of colours…including rainbow…(?)
Now as for the Diamond VPC kit well…this is simply a touch of tongue in cheek genius. It may well be a little bulkier than most pod systems on the market, but it’s beauty is in its versatility and functionality. The fact that you can now have a Juul pod with a massive (in comparison) battery life will grab the attention of many a pod user, and if you keep this thing for a while and the battery starts to wear down…you can take it apart and change the 20350 battery, with little technical know-how…it would have been so much better with a battery door though. The pod system itself is not really something I can say is good or bad…I literally own no other pod system to compare it to - it was better than I thought it was going to be, I’ll give it that much. What I have done, is take it off and put a mesh RDA on there - 45 watts is enough to get a pretty decent hit, so it’s now my little stealth dripper which sits in the coin tray of my car…for those little red light toots. And of course, once again…the VPC kit is also available in more colours than you shake a shitty stick at…
So all that’s left now…is the price…bit iffy this if I’m completely honest…
The price
The Diamond Mini mod on it’s own will set you back £50.57/$64.90 on Heavengifts site…which apparently is already discounted down from £75.86/$97.35…which is quite frankly ridiculous…there is no way on this planet that the Diamond mod on it’s own was worth nearly a hundred dollars…it’s just fucking ludicrous - think they may be taking the whole ‘Diamond’ thing a bit too literally there…£50 for the mod though?..mehh…no?..too expensive, you’d have to reeeeally dig the look of the Diamond to part with that amount of cash. The kit comes in at £63.82/$81.90 which is also discounted down from…are you ready for this…£95.73/$122.85…soooo many things I wanna say about those prices…
Find that deal here…
As for the Diamond VPC kit, well…I guess innovation and versatility also come at a price, currently Heavengifts have this on sale for £49.79/$63.90…and thats WITH a 33% discount…but hey…if you’re into your pod systems then it’s a one stop shop for a myriad of different manufacturers pods you might have…whatever your thoughts are on that price point…you can find it here…
All in all, the Diamond’s are a step forward for iJoy, they’ve had their fare share of disasters and these are definitely not from that category. I’ve been using them for over a month and neither have done anything untoward, they’ve been solid devices. Perfect?..Hell no, but as far as build quality and functionality goes, they’re good enough to go up against other similar kits…they just really need to work on their prices if they truly want to compete in today’s over-saturated market. That being said…I LOVE the nerve of the VPC kit, the whole idea behind it is an astounding lesson in Chinese business ethics…the cheeky little bastard.
As always, if you would like to see how both these devices measured up against other bits and bobs then my doors are open 24/7 over at Steampugs where you will find a plethora of awesome reviews from the steam team as well as a shop full of highly discounted vape gear, hope to see you there.
Now then…time to start making preparations for the big day…it only took us 8 years to get this far so don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of time to save up for my borderline offensive wedding gift list which I personally am overseeing/vetting/being a massive diva over 
Until next time
Pugs.
means a lot man! 
…might look like an angel but fml…
