As always I will start this one with a disclaimer. I purchased this mod for my own use. It wasn’t sponsored by anyone (unfortunately), meaning this review will be very impartial and as objective as possible. Please note that this is a mod only review, since I opted not to purchase the kit with the Skrr tank.
Back in the day (around summer 2018) I applied to the Vaporesso power user group (what a mistake on my side). Surprisingly I got accepted, and I joined their WhatsApp group. Beside a bunch of people glorifying Vaporesso and endless brainiac chatter, I got to see some early previews of the Luxe mod. It looked rather interested, so I started looking for a place that had it on pre-sale for a decent price. After finding such a place, I ordered the mod for a very sane price of $45 including shipping, and three months later, I got to enjoy my brand new mod
In all honesty, the only thing that drew me toward this mod was the design, and the vague notion that Vaporesso have good chip-sets (read firmware) in their mods. Around the same time everyone (and their grandma) came up with a mod that has a large color ‘touch’ screen (take the touch part with a huge boulder of salt).
The mod arrived in a standard Vaporesso box. Fluorescent green(ish) color, big logo on the front, and standard information on the back.
Inside the box the mod was neatly packaged in a soft vinyl bag, seated on a cheap plastic mold cradle. Both front and the back side of the mod were covered with protective film (of course).
Beside the mod, I got the obligatory (Vaporesso branded) USB charging cable, waranty card, and the user manual. This is the part where I found the first con. User manual comes in a plethora of languages, but it’s very brief, and not extremely helpful. It’s full of (non standard) abbreviations, and in all honestly it could have been a lot better with a little investment on the manufacturers side.
The first impression of the mod was it’s weight. It’s pretty heavy compared to mods of similar size, which is not that bad. It has a very solid feel in the hand, and the brushed metal surface is smooth, but it doesn’t feel slippery. On the other hand, the screen and the battery cover are absolute fingerprint magnets. Highly glossy and polished, and unable to remain clean for longer than 5 seconds.
Battery bay is opened by lifting the back cover using a little notch in the bottom. If you freshly trimmed your fingernails, this might prove to be a slight challenge, since there are no edges you can grab to lift the cover. The three magnets that hold it in place a on the stronger side, so there is no chance of it falling off, but do think about the previous sentence There is also no ribbon to pull the batteries out, so you will have to either pry them out with a fingernail, or smack the mod against your hand to force them out. This one also goes for a con in my book. I don’t like smacking my mods against anything (even if as soft as my left hand)
The 510 connector is well built, has a gold plated center pin, which is spring loaded, and has about 2.5mm travel (which is pretty good). The spring is a bit on the softer side, but it never gave me any issues. The mod will comfortably hold a 25mm (or even a 26mm) atty without any overhang, and due to the curved build, even larger atty’s (29 and 30mm) don’t look too bad on it
(I actually walked around for two days with this mod and a 30mm atty and wasn’t embarrassed by it :P)
The touch screen (which is not really a touch screen) is very bright, but the brightness can be adjusted from the menu. The touch screen buttons (which are not really touch screen buttons) vibrate when pressed, and the vibration intensity can be adjusted (and turned off) through the menu system as well. When I say that the touch screen is not really a touch screen, the intention is that the buttons are actually proximity sensors under the screen cover, and the screen surface itself is just glossy plastic. The great feature they did add is that the moment you press the activation button, the device will ‘lock’ and to change settings or access the menu, the device has to be unlocked (3 rapid clicks on the power button). To turn the device off and on, click the power button 5 times (as expected)
The power button is large, very clicky and very hard to miss.
The menu system is accessed by pressing the Vaporesso logo on the screen three times (that is after the power was clicked 3 times to unlock the touch buttons). Navigation of the menu system is rather simple with left and right buttons, and the logo button is used to select, set, etc … A nice touch was that when changing wattage or temperature, short single presses will move in 0.1 increments, while a long press moves in 1.0 steps
Main menu has all the operation modes, and unlike the standard ones we would expect to see in a similar mod, there is also the SP (Super Player) mode (boy I have a lot to say about this one) and the Variable Voltage mode (nice touch for folks who enjoy VV). The rest are the standard VW, TC (SS, NI, TI and custom TCR), There is also the pass-through mode and the custom curve mode.
Some parts of the menu system can be slightly confusing. When in TC mode, the way to change wire type (or the peak wattage) is to hold both left and right buttons down, and a new sub-menu opens with the much needed settings (I wonder why the user manual never mentioned this?)
The most confusing menu is the diy menu, which has different options for VW, VV and TC curves which are in my opinion useless, and mostly covered with other modes of operation.
The TC mode (which I mostly used) works very well. Temperatures seem to be accurate compared to my better mods, the vape comes smooth, but the big con is that it doesn’t sense dry wicks, and I got a few dry hits from hell from it (after getting used to Yihi TC which can detect a dry wick and curb down the temperature to give an advance warning)
Back to the SP mode (that I have a real beef with). SP (Super Player) mode is identical to the standard VW mode, with the exception of a wider resistance range. In this mode it will work with wires (builds) between 0.03ohm!!! and 5.0 ohm. Basically an invitation for novice builders to do something very very stupid. Straight out of the user manual, this mode is described as: SP (Super Player mode): in this mode, it will support broader resistance range from 0.03ohm to 5ohm which is adaptive to mainstream RDA tanks.
I don’t know who wrote this, but pleas, don’t ever build something as low as 0.03ohm even in a regulated mod that claims to support it. The math just doesn’t match…
Similar can be said for the pass-through mode that will allow builds as low as 0.05ohm. Please don’t be that guy …
The last menu has the standard device settings. Screen timeout, brightness, vibration settings, time (screensaver has options for analogue and digital clock) and a few cryptic options that I never figured out. Here is a photo of that page of the user manual, and if you manage to understand it better than I did, please tell me
Down to the specs
Dimensions: 90mm by 47mm by 30mmm
Dry weight: 186g
Batteries: 2x18650 (not included of course)
Color options: Too many to list
Pros:
Solid quality construction
Bright readable menu
Auto screen lock on first puff
Simple menu navigation
Accurate TC mode
Decent battery life
Cons:
Fingerprint magnet
Awkward battery removal
Potentially dangerous modes of operation
No dry hit protection in TC
Horrible user manual
To conclude this extra long review, Luxe is a solid mod. In my opinion the pros outweigh the cons, and if you can find it for a decent price (under $50) it’s definitely worth getting.
Would I replace this mod if lost or damaged: Probably yes. It’s a decent workhorse that was cheap enough not to care about too much (who takes a $200 Yihi mod outside? :D)
Would I recommend this mod to friends: I would actually recommend it to more experience vapers who won’t make stupid low builds and use stupid menu options that would potentially put them at risk.
Where to get the mod?
When I was shopping for it (pre-release) ave40 had the best price (even if their list prices are overblown, $35 after a massive discount is a very good price for this mod). Nowadays it should be available almost everywhere so take your pick and mind the overblown prices.