Aspire Zelos 3 Kit Review – Topped With the Nautilus 3 Tank

The much anticipated Aspire Zelos 3 kit review, and it’s a case of all the 3’s as this one’s topped with the new Nautilus 3 tank.

I think it’s fair to say the Aspire Nautilus tanks are among the best loved and the original took the vaping world by storm.

The Zelos kits have proved popular too, a mix of simple stylish elegance with premier league performance, so let’s hope the new version does the legacy justice.

OK, Aspire really doesn’t need much of an introduction given it is one of the most popular and long standing vape companies.

From the launch of the incredibly impressive Cleito sub ohm tank – right through to the latest collaborations with high end designers for the Aspire Neeko RTA and the Aspire Paradox mod to name but two, it is really is ‘upping‘ its game.

Right, let’s see if the Aspire Zelos 3 kit – and especially the tank – can live up to its stable mates glittering reputations.

For the record the kit was sent to me free of charge from the lovely folk over at UK Aspire Vendor – thank you – and as always my thoughts and opinions are not swayed by freebies.

Apologies for the poor photos – having real issues!

Inside the Box

• Zelos 3 mod
• Nautilus 3 tank
• Nautilus BVC Coil 1.8ohm
• 0.7ohm Nautilus 2S Mesh coil
• USB Type C Cable
• Spare drip tip
• O-rings
• User manual

Aspire Zelos 3 Specs and Features

• Size: 81x38x28mm
• Battery: 3200mAh (internal)
• Display: 0.96in colour TFT screen – colour theme and brightness adjustment
• Output: 1-80W (0.5-8.4V)
• User modes: VW, VV, Bypass, TC, TCR, CPS
• Type C USB charging – 2A charge rate
• Temperature control limits: 200-600°F / 100-315°C
• Resistance range: 0.1-3.5ohm
• ASP Chipset

Nautilus 3 Tank Specs and Features

• Size: 24×48.5mm
• Capacity: 4ml (standard) / 2ml (TPD)
• Coil: Compatible with all Nautilus series coils
• Adjustable airflow
• No leak coil change
• Slide top fill cap

Aspire Zelos 3 Kit – Key Features

Let’s kick off with a look at upgrades to the Aspire Zelos mod and it’s not just the design either.

The original had a 2500mAh internal battery and the new Aspire Zelos 3 has been bumped up to a whopping 3200mAh.

That means the max power is now 80w compared to 50w which in turn means you can top the battery with more power thirsty tanks and drippers.

Given the Aspire Zelos 3 kit comes topped with the new Nautilus 3 tank – and given the included coils are low wattage this also means longer vape time.

The Aspire Zelos 3 mod has plenty of vaping options too including: Variable Wattage (1-80W), Variable Voltage (0.5-8.4V), Temperature Control, TCR, CPS and Bypass.

The chip also allows you to swap the colours on the screen and dim or brighten and the menu is as you’d expect from Aspire very simple to use:

Aspire Zelos 3 Kit Quick Start Guide

Yes…I was that vaper who thought I’d got a ‘dud‘…

It took this old fool quite some time to find the On/Off button on the base of the device…

I get worse as I get older lol…

OK:

• Turn device On and Off using switch on the base
• Fire button and + opens the menu
• Scroll through options using the + and – buttons
• Use fire to select
• x3 fast clicks of the fire button locks in your settings

As you can see, it’s all very straightforward.

Aspire Nautilus 3 Tank – Key Features

The Aspire Nautilus tanks have become a legend in vaping and we’ll see later if this one matches the hugely popular original Nautilus, Nautilus X, Nautilus 2 and Nautilus 2S.

I’ve used all of those tanks and like you am very interested on how the new Nautilus 3 performs.

OK, the new tank has a capacity of 2ml here in the TPD area and 4ml for the rest of the world.

The Aspire Nautilus 3 tank appears quite large to me and has a far bit of weight to it…solid!

It’s a top fill, with that slide away hidden fill port, and the coils are push and pull.

What I really like is being able to swap coils whilst the tank is full – a very nifty juice lock keeps the e-liquid inside…love that!

Airflow options are many and the air comes in from the bottom. There’s a total of 7 holes ranging from 0.8-3mm, and we’ll look at how they perform in a wee while.

Design and Build Quality

I’ve always admired the Aspire Zelos kits from afar and never got my hands on one.

Having the Aspire Zelos 3 kit in my hand I was a little surprised at how big it was…

I can only go on photos, but this new version appears chunkier and trust me it has some weight to it – especially topped with the Aspire Nautilus 3 tank.

Aspire Zelos 3 Mod

Build wise and as far as the Aspire Zelos 3 mod is concerned, the word ‘solid’ comes to mind again.

It is beautifully put together with very clicky buttons and a responsive menu.

Design wise it reminds me of those old school beefy mods – I’m thinking early Eleaf styles, and it has grown on me.

I might be reading too much into the design, but particularly in the black version I received, I see the ohm symbol…or is that just me lol.

I’ve reviewed a couple of Aspire products recently and have to say I really do like the screen.

On the Aspire Zelos 3 kit it just adds to the overall pleasing look.

One issue I have had with the mod is the finish.

The paintwork is great however it is very slippy and a few times it’s almost hit the floor, so bare that in mind if you’re clumsy like me.

Aspire Nautilus 3 Tank

With the drip tip it’s 2/3rds the size of the mod and does look a tad – only a tad – top heavy.

I’ve definitely had no issues with it toppling over, as I’ve said the two pieces really are weighty…here’s the word solid again.

The slide fill is very smooth with just enough resistance whilst the airflow control ring has good knurling to give you a grip.

One issue I have had is turning down the airflow from open to closed off can see the tank unscrew – not really an issue more an annoyance.

Design wise it’s not going to win any beauty prizes IMHO.

It looks like a bottle cap from the top and that red arrow showing the slide fill port is a bit much.

The base of the tank – from the end of the glass to the airflow – seems very big but hey it is what it is.

Swapping coils is indeed a doddle and it’s silly but not losing vape juice is a pretty big bonus in my eyes.

How Does the Aspire Zelos 3 Kit Perform?

I won’t spend much time on the performance of the Aspire Zelos 3 mod – and yeah the word solid reappears lol.

That’s exactly what it is, it performs all you ask of it with no fuss or frills.

It has enough options to keep the newbie or more established vaper happy, fires fast and has a very good battery life, so no real issues at all.

Aspire Nautilus 3 Tank Performance

You can use all of the Nautilus coils inside the new version and there’s x2 in the box: the BVC 1.8ohm Nautilus coil and the Nautilus 2S Mesh 0.7ohm coil.

The included coils have been reviewed many times, however I’ll do a quick review on each one used inside the Aspire Nautilus 3 tank.

BVC 1.8ohm Nautilus Coil

I have to say from the start, this particular coil is not one I tend to use very often.

For me it’s a little out dated and nowhere near as flavourful as say the newer mesh versions.

For the taste test I used the Dinner Lady Lemon Tart 50:50 e-liquid – a flavour I know very well indeed lol.

OK, the coil wicked well and I vaped at 13w.

Flavour wise it was OK but lacked depth for me, not even the new tank can make this particular coil one of my favourites.

Nautilus 2S Mesh 0.7ohm Coil

For the taste test I used the Dinner Lady Lemon Tart 70/30 PG/VG – I seem to have gone very old school with my vape juice tastes of late.

Again the coil wicked well and this time the flavour came flooding through…onto my tongue not out of the tank that is!

This one can be vaped between 20-25w and I was happy at my usual 23w.

It was a slightly warmer vape [obviously] and flavour was very good indeed.

What I will say is I use this coil all the time in my go to Nautilus Prime X Pod kit. I bloody love that set-up and it’s highly recommended 😉

The flavour matched for sure, especially with the airflow closed off to half way and below – something I’ll look at now.

Aspire Nautilus 3 Tank Airflow

As we’ve established, the airflow comes from the bottom and there’s 7 different options.

Technically there’s more as you can have two half open if that makes sense.

I won’t go through all 7 – what I will say is the smallest hole gives you an extremely tight vape with 10 being super-tight this is a high 9.

I found the 1.8 ohm coil on the tightest setting gave a proper MTL vape for sure!

Wide open and the BVC coil tends to dip in flavour by quite a bit – pretty obvious lol.

Wide open with the ‘sub ohm‘ mesh coil and again expect a flavour drop with 10 being very airy this one’s still on the tight side at around a 7.

I found my sweet spot using the mesh coil at 23w with the airflow on the second largest hole – very nice vape indeed.

Pros

• Solidly built mod and tank
• Smart old school design
• Easy to use and fill
• Simple coil swap whilst tank is filled
• Plenty of airflow options
• Great battery life
• Good flavour – coil dependent!
• Tank takes all Nautilus coils
• Type-C 2A charging
• Great price!

Cons

• Mod can get slippery
• Heavy piece of kit!

Final Review Verdict

Looking at the sheer number of Pros outweighing the Cons you’d expect me to be raving about the Aspire Zelos 3 kit.

To some extent I am, however I was expecting a sleeker design and indeed smaller size with less weight.

As an old man I do like ‘old school‘ designs, and this one wouldn’t look out of place being released a couple of years ago.

No bad thing, and maybe I’m more used to those lightweight pod kits these days lol.

Choosing a vape kit is subjective and in this case whilst I would be very pleased buying it, I doubt I’d take it out and about very much at all.

It’s a smaller table top vape kit if that makes sense and certainly a little too heavy to pop into my rucksack.

Saying that, the couple of times it’s been out it hasn’t leaked so that’s a major bonus.

The mod is definitely a reliable no frills piece of kit doing its job with the minimum of fuss.

Meanwhile the new Aspire Nautilus 3 tank isn’t the prettiest but again does the job well. It does look rather large on top of the mod…again, purely subjective.

Pop in your favourite Nautilus coil and you’ll have no flavour or indeed cloud issues at all – it’s a solid [sorry!] performer.

So yeah…if you fancy it go for it – I certainly wouldn’t put you off.