Hava One Pod System Review – Expensive, Over Engineered & Not Very Practical

I have in my hands the Hava One Pod System…

Hava are a relatively new company and you might know them from a recent release the Firefly kit.

The Hava One is an all metal pod mod – pod mods are little compact devices with a low output, small battery and designed to be fuss free to use and maintain.

Hava boast about the intense design processes to make sure everything from the airflow intakes to the mouthpiece size are spot on.

The body is made from a Zinc Alloy material and has a magnetic front cover which you remove to access the pod.

The pod is the part which you refill with e-liquid and it will hold 2ml. Also inside the pod is the heating element – or coil – which vaporises your e-liquid.

There are two pod options to choose from – both have a 1.2ohm coil but the wicking material can either be Ceramic which apparently is for a smoother taste or Cotton for a stronger taste.

When the coil is past its best you cannot replace it and dispose of the pod.

There are 3 power output modes – Taste, Powerful Taste and Bypass and these all change the heating output of the coil – so you can adjust this to your preference.

Inside the device is a 350mAh rechargeable battery and you have an LED indicator on the front which changes colour according to battery life remaining and also is used to identify the power mode selected.

There are 4 colours to choose from – Gun Metal, Black, Silver White and Silver.

I have received this device free of charge for review but I will report back honestly on my findings with the kit I have in my possession.

What’s In The Box

• Hava One Pod Device
• 1×1.2ohm ceramic coil
• Silicone drip tip
• Silicone dust proof cover
• USB Cable
• User manual

I also received 2×3 pack of pods – one pack of Ceramic and one pack of Cotton. These are extras and not included in the kit.

Features

• Size: 93x35x13mm (approx – my own measurements!)
• Weight: 99g
• Pod capacity: 2ml refillable
• Battery: 350mAh internal
• Output: 3 power modes – 3.5V, 3.7V and 4.2V
• Choice of ceramic or cotton wicked coils
• LED indicator
• Anti-bacterial Nano coating

Build Quality & Design

I received the Hava One Pod System kit in the Silver White version.

This is a heavy little thing – it does feel like it is good quality. This weighs a surprising 99g and was designed purposely to weigh that much. Apparently during market research this was the optimum weight for feeling nice in the hand and giving an impression of quality.

To put the weight into context – the Yosta Livepor 230 (without batteries) weighs 67g and the Livepor 200 (without batteries) weighs 90g. So that tells you how heavy this is.

On the front of the device is the white metal cover. There is a crescent style cut out though which the LED shines through.

The cover does wobble quite a lot and wobbles enough so that you can actually press the cover in the centre and activate the operator button without removing the cover!

At the top of the device is the mouthpiece – apparently designed so it doesn’t touch the desk etc when the mod is lying down – so will improve hygiene. The mouthpiece is perfectly sized but I just keep tasting metal as your lips are in essence wrapped around the metal casing.

You get a mouthpiece plug and cover in the kit made of clear silicone.

On the rear of the device the white cover is fixed and just has the “Hava One” branding.

The shape is super smooth and comfortable apart from the weight.

Under The Cover

Under the cover is a whole heap of shiny shiny.

There is the pod compartment which has a clear plastic ribbon to aid pod removal and the pod contacts which are spring mounted and move into the battery when inserting the pod.

Below the pod compartment is the operation button – used to turn the device on and off and select the power mode. This is nice and clicky and stands above the surface so you can operate it with the cover installed.

This is “draw activated” so no need to press fire to vape. I keep forgetting though and pressing the front cover because I am a dumbass.

To the left of the LED is the micro USB charging port which works fine but is a bit tight to install the connector.

You get a micro USB ribbon style charging cable which is the shortest lead in the world.

There are two strong magnets located either side of the mod and these wobble a bit – which explains the side to side wobble of the front cover.

Set-up Guide

The device does not have a pod installed so you will need to fill the pod and install it into the battery.

To access the power button, pod and charging port you will need to remove the front cover. However I did find you could press the power button with the cover still on for on/off and power modes and it responded perfectly well.

To remove the front cover put your thumb on it at the top and use a sliding down action – like a battery compartment on a mobile phone. I spent ages trying to prise the bloody cover off with my finger nails and came across this method by accident and I did cuss myself!

When you first remove the front cover there is a plastic tab sticking out – don’t try and remove this – it isn’t a battery isolator – it is in fact an aid to removing the pod and you will be buggered without it.

Basic operation

• Turn On/Off:  Press the operator button 5 times – you can either remove the front cover or if you press the cover in the centre the button will still respond.
• Power mode: When the device is switched on press the operator button 3 times. The light then tells you which power mode is selected: White = Standard, Green= Powerful and Blue = Bypass. Press the button 3 times until the light you require is illuminated.
• Bypass mode: Once this is selected the battery will output full power when fully charged but the power will decrease as the battery drains.
• Battery charge remaining: The LED will change colour according to the remaining battery charge: Continuous White = 100% charged, Blinking White = 30-100%, Yellow = below 30% and you will get a red light blinking when the capacity is 0%.
• To vape: Switch on the device and simply inhale.

How To Charge The Battery

• Remove the front cover.
• Install the small connector of the enclosed USB cable into the port on the device.
• Install the large connector into a suitable USB outlet.
• The light will cycle through the LED colours and is fully charged when the light is solidly showing white.

How To Fill The Pod

• Remove the front cover.
• Pull out the pod with the aid of the removal ribbon.
• Lift up the filling plug on the top – I would say it is best to remove it completely. If you leave one of the fill ports closed off you can get airlocks and liquid coming back up the fill port.
• Fill with e-liquid watching the level through the side of the pod. If using just one port it will even out to both sides if you just fill slowly.
• Replace the filling plug.
• If a new pod or for first time use leave to stand for 5-10 minutes to allow the wicking to absorb the e-liquid.
• Replace the pod with the ribbon underneath or you will never get the pod out!
• Replace the front cover.

How To Change The Pod

• Remove the front cover.
• Pull out the existing pod if installed using the removal ribbon.
• Fill the new pod as described above.
• To install the pod – install the bottom first into the battery and push down slightly and the top part of the pod will click into place.
• Replace the front cover.

How Does the Hava One Pod System Kit Perform?

Flavour & Cloud Production

I decided to use the Apollo Nicotine Salt E-liquid in here – after all this is what pod mods are designed for.

The liquid is 50%VG and 50%PG. If these terms confuse you read our guide to PG and VG in E-liquid.

As this is nicotine salts the nic level is higher at 20mg.

There are two different pod types:

• 1.2ohm Ceramic wicked pod – dark frosted colour pod
• 1.2ohm Cotton wicked pod – clear frosted colour pod

So I tried both with the same e-liquid to compare…

The Ceramic pod with its dark colour makes it nearly impossible to see the e-liquid level so you have to remove the pod just to check.

1.2ohm Ceramic Pod

Ooh wowee – I am impressed.

So in the standard power mode (white light) this was OK – some flavour and some vapour – but just OK.

In the powerful taste mode (green light) however this little thing bursts into life.

Beautiful flavour and much more vapour than I would expect from a 50/50 e-liquid. This is very “moreish”!

In the “bypass” mode (blue light) the battery is fully charged and to be honest this is no different to me than the powerful taste mode – plus the fact the power will drop as the battery capacity reduces.

With the ceramic wicked pod set on the powerful mode the Hava One seems to really shine on this nic salt e-liquid.

The inhale is smooth and really spot on for MTL vaping. No harshness at all and an instant fire up as soon as you inhale.

This is a little gem.

However by the 3rd refill the flavour had dropped off hugely.

1.2ohm Cotton Pod

Starting off in the lowest power mode – the white light Taste Mode – this is a lot tighter to draw on – you have to suck a lot harder – ooh matron etcs…

Straight away though the flavour even on the lowest power is a lot better than the ceramic coil – wow.

Moving up to the green light Powerful Taste Mode and the vapour is a bit warmer and massive throat hit even with nic salt liquid. I didn’t detect any more flavour though.

On the blue light Bypass mode the liquid is crackling as you inhale but no spitting – this is on a fully charged battery though. Also no extra flavour that I can detect.

For battery life purposes this Cotton pod seems to work great on the lower power mode.

The vapour volume isn’t as much as the ceramic pod but the flavour and more restricted inhale make up for it.

Again by the 3rd fill the flavour had dropped off quite a lot sadly.

Battery Life

This has a 350mAh internal battery so it is not designed to be an all day kind of vaping device.

Plus if using high nicotine level e-liquid you won’t exactly be chain vaping.

Despite this I would have expected a better battery life. A bigger battery wouldn’t hurt as this device isn’t exactly tiny or lightweight.

To give you a guide on the lowest Taste Mode I got 3.5 hours of light vaping – basically not as regular as I would on a sub ohm low nicotine level vape.

Pros

• Stylish looking pod mod
• 3 useful power modes
• Good weight and feels like excellent quality.
• Although it doesn’t say in the instructions you can operate the fire button with the front cover still on.
• No leaks
• Cotton wicked pod is a much more restricted MTL vape with excellent flavour
• Ceramic wicked pod is a lovely smooth flavour which felt slightly less restricted airflow wise but still excellent MTL.

Cons

• Have to remove front cover and pod to refill.
• Pod removal and replacement is fiddly
• For me, the taste of metal on the body of the device when you inhale
• Only the ceramic pod included in the kit – should have a cotton pod too
• The dark colour of the ceramic pod means you have to remove the pod to see the e-liquid level.
• Despite the promises of precision design there are so many silly flaws on this product.
• Flavour output dropped quite a lot by the 3rd fill on both pods
• The battery capacity could be bigger as this is a big device which is heavy so a bigger battery wouldn’t hurt

Final Review Verdict

The weight does give the impression of this being a quality item and the all metal construction makes this feel a real step up from the plastic pod mods.

Hava boast about the design processes they went through for this – the optimum weight, the mouthpiece angle and size and the “2.85mm optimal air intake”. So you would think they would have found a better solution to filling than pod removal via a cheapo plastic ribbon.

The kit gives a lovely vaping experience but sadly the time and effort have not been spent on the practicalities of using this day to day.

I feel as though I have been very harsh on this little fella – it is a lovely vape but when it is marketed as being at the top end of the Pod Mod market and the high price I can’t help but think it should be a lot better than it is in a practical sense.