Apollo V Tube – A Variable Wattage/Voltage MOD
UPDATE: Check out our much improved Apollo V Tube 5.0 review.
Apollo E Cigs have been around for a number of years now being one of the main players in the US e cig market and for the last couple of years in the UK and Europe.
They have got pretty much all levels of vaper covered from the cig-a-like users right upto the vapers that require more power and control in the way they vape. Devices such as the Apollo Brez, Apollo Ohm GO and Apollo Evolve . Not to mention some truly superb e-liquid ranges, with favourites such as:
Today we will be taking a look at today with our Apollo V Tube review.
This kit was received free of charge for the purposes of this review. As always views are my own.
In The Box
The V Tube Starter Kit Comes with the following:
- 1 X V Tube 3.0
- 1 X Samsung IMR 18650 (2500 Mah)
- 1 X Trustfire Charger
- 1 X Kanger Aerotank
- Vaping Power Chart
- Instructions
Looks and build
First impressions of the V Tube are very good. The build quality is excellent and feels very solid in the hand. The grooves in the body of the MOD that act as grips add to the aesthetics while at the same time giving a nice tactile feel when in the palm of your hand.
The streamlined look is broken by the operating controls towards the top of the device. The power button is plastic, I would have preferred a stainless steel button to match the body personally but it still has a solid feel to it. Above this button and just below the OLED screen are the ‘+’ and ‘-‘ buttons which help control the main functions of the MOD.
All sit well and are easily controlled by the thumb when holding the device.
Here is a little run down on how the different button functions work
- 5 Click on/off – (Power Button)
- 3 Click to change from VV to VW or vice versa
- Pressing the + or – button will move through the selected setting (VV or VW)
- Voltage range from 3-6V in 0.1 increments
- Wattage range from 1-20W in 1W increments
- Holding down the ‘-‘ button will display the resistence (ohms) of the tank coil attached
- Holding down the ‘+’ button will display the current voltage of the battery which in essence tells you how much power is remaining in your battery. 4.2V is generally considered a fully charged battery and 3.4V will require charging.
So that’s it for the functions. It can seem complicated, especially for new vapers or those moving from a cig-a-like or a vape pen but it really is simple. 5 minutes of playing around and all becomes clear!
The OLED screen is clear although a little small. I would of preferred it if it wasn’t set back so far in the tube body, as it is at the moment it can only be read if you are staring straight on at the display. Not a huge issue though.
Battery / Charging
The battery that comes with the kit has a massive 2500 mAh capacity. Vaping the Aerotank with 2.0 ohm coils will give you loads of battery life. For me as a moderate vaper I was pushing into day 3 before I needed to charge. This of course will differ depending on how much you vape.
The threading on the bottom cap is good so nice and quick removing the battery. Batteries can only be charged in the charger, there is no USB charging function as you will find with box mods and the like that have a built in battery.
One thing that is worth keeping in mind here is that when the battery is charging there is no way to use the device. Might seem obvious I know but I think it is worth having a second spare battery that can be used in rotation. Nothing worse than being without your e cig!
The Trustfire charger that comes with the kit wouldn’t be my choice of charger, for that I would go for the Golisi S6 as a preference but it does the job.
Any down sides? Although the device does feel well built for me, at the time of writing (2015), it just seems a little dated.
This may purely be down to the influx of box mods hitting the stores. If however a tube mod is your preference, which it is for many, then you won’t have an issue with this.
How Does The Apollo V Tube Perform?
The Apollo V Tube paired with the Kanger Aerotank works very well indeed albeit the Aerotank is quite an old tank.
It does state on the Apolloecigs website that the V Tube comes with a Pro Tank 3, if yours does then the performance will be pretty much the same.
For those new to vaping in a VV/VW mode then you will undoubtedly find this opens up a whole new way of vaping .
I personally only use the wattage mode but whichever you go for I would suggest starting off your watts/volts setting low and work your way up until you get to the right warmth of vape for you.
I also tried the Apollo V Tube with the Aspire Nautilus 2s which performed as well as ever with my preferred setting being 11W.
The flavour of the Apollo Cherry Limeade flavoured e-liquid came through really well and the vapour volume was decent.
The only thing I could find fault was the way the tank sits on top of the MOD. I like my e cig to sit flush with the tank but the 510 threading on this seems to sit up just above the collar leaving a few millimeters gap between tank and MOD.
If the collar didn’t invert and was just straight this would also look a lot better, at least in my opinion.
Even removing the collar and using the beauty ring from the Aerotank package doesn’t improve looks too much.
Final Thoughts
The Apollo V Tube 3.0 is, overall, a decent MOD and a good starting point for those vapers making a step up from EGO/Pen style e cigs.
Having tried a huge amount of devices available on the market though the V Tube does leave me a little underwhelmed.
This isn’t to say there is anything wrong with the device itself, it’s more that this style of tube mod has been around for a good while now.
At £89.95 it is an expensive starter kit but this includes charger, battery and tank. It doesn’t however include e-liquid so be sure to add this to your order. There is also a 10% discount code for Apollo E Cigs to help save that little bit.
The Good
- Well built solid construction
- Removable battery
- Great battery life
- Just add e-liquid and you are ready to vape
- Very ease to use and get the hang of
- Performance good
- Kanger Aerotank is a good tank
The Not So Good
- The Aerotank doesn’t look great on the device (performs well though)
- The Aerotank is an older tank and while good would be nice to see a more upto date tank made available.
- Just seems a little dated overall compared to what is available today.
