Innokin I.O. Kit Review – Early & Updated Versions Reviewed!

The Innokin I.O. kit is marketed as being the “mighty mini vape”!

It is a pod mod style device with a tiny form factor and different pod options.

So is this the simple but hard ass little vape that is promised?

Let’s get stuck in and find out!

What Can We Expect From The Innokin I.O. Kit

As mentioned above this is designed to be a small but mighty little kit. In fact Innokin state that the device with pod is the same size as a cigarette!

I did try to scrounge a cigarette off someone to compare it but I couldn’t and as a (9 month!!) non smoker I have no intention of buying a pack.

Blimey they are like a tenner for 20 ciggies now! In fact on some vendor sites this kit is cheaper than a pack of 20 smokes!

With this being a tiny kit there are obviously some sacrifices in performance and function.

For instance the battery is only an internal 310mAh capacity and is charged via a micro USB charging port.

There are no switches or adjustments for you to contend with as this has an automatic draw activation – basically suck on the pod and it will fire!

The Innokin I.O. kit uses refillable pods which will hold up to 0.8ml (early pods) or 1ml (updated pods) of your own e-liquid.

These have a fixed coil – so when the coil has expired you will need to replace the whole pod, you cannot just change the coil.

The kit includes 2 different pod options – both with the same resistance but different heating element types:

• Ceramic heating element – 1.4ohm – usually recommended for CBD e-liquids – green fill plug (only included in early kits)
• Kanthal (wire) heating element – 1.4ohm KAL – ideal for thinner high nicotine or nic salt e-liquid -black fill plug

There are 5 colours to choose from – Stainless Steel, Blue, Black, Rainbow and Gunmetal.

Updated

Due to issues with the first devices I received, I was sent replacements.

The second batch were the same as the original devices with some extra Kanthal Pods.

The third batch were an updated version with different pods…

Inside the Box

Early Kit

• Innokin I.O. device
• 1.4ohm ceramic pod
• Filling bottle nozzle adaptors x 2
• 1.4ohm Kanthal wire pod
• USB cable
• User manual

Updated Kit

• Innokin I.O. device
• 2x 1.4ohm 1ml Kanthal updated pods
• Filling bottle nozzle adaptors x 2
• USB cable
• User manual

Below is a photo of the packaging showing the difference between the early kit and updated kit.

Features

• Size: 87.45×13.9x8mm
• E-liquid capacity: 0.8ml (early kit) / 1ml (later kit)
• Pod options: 1.4ohm Ceramic / 1.4ohm Kanthal
• Battery: 310mAh internal
• Display: LED indicator
• Draw activated
• Perfect for CBD e-liquid, Nic salt and standard E-liquid
• Bottom refillable pod

Build Quality and Design

This really is small – and very light. But the body is a metal feel material so it doesn’t feel cheap at all.

I received the Rainbow colour version and it is lovely to look at!

The size and weight of this means you can actually hold it in your mouth like a cigarette if that is your vibe!

On the front of the device is the LED indicator light – which basically only lights up white, and towards the bottom of the front is the I.O. logo.

The rear of the device has the Innokin branding and the required legal logos.

On the side of the device is a dimple to locate the pod and below that is a hole which I assume is for airflow – this is the same on both edges.

The base of the device has a black plastic cap which houses the micro USB port, which works fine and no wobbly bits!

For some reason there was a sticker on the rear of mine which stated the battery capacity – easily pulled off though.

I am not sure how the pods are held in – this doesn’t feel like a magnet, more of just a tight fit, but there is a small click when the pod is located correctly.

Inside the pod port are the two spring loaded connectors which look like a pair of boobies!

I have to say this is a cute little thing!

Innokin I.O. Kit – Pod

Early Kit

There are 2 different pods in the kit – one is a Kanthal Wire and the other has a Ceramic heating element.

The colour of the filling plug indicates which is which.

The filling plug is pretty secure and held onto the pod when you uncover the fill port for refilling.

Although there are nozzle adaptor thingies in the kit I did find my usual 10ml nic salt bottles had a small enough nozzle to allow me to fill the pods easily.

But that did work for the first fill only. After that I had to use the nozzle adaptors as air locks inside the pod made filling tricky.

It was hard to get the liquid to fill the pod evenly and a lot of tilting and shaking of the pod to try and get both sides to fill.

There is only the one fill port and doesn’t seem to be anywhere for the air to escape when filling so this can be a messy business even with the included nozzle adaptors as it just forces liquid back out of the pod.

The design of the nozzle adaptors means they just push onto the nozzle of a bottle you already have so quite handy really. You may encounter annoyance if you use drip type bottles!

The pods have a dark frosted finish but you can see the e-liquid level quite well if you hold it up to the light.

I also found when the device had been lying on its side – the first vape when you pick it up gives you a mouthful of e-liquid.

I found if you remove the pod, and inhale on the mouthpiece whilst covering the base of the pod with your thumb to block the airflow does help to clear this.

It is a shame as this device will not stand upright so you have no choice but to lie it down!

However there is a huge design flaw with the early Innokin I.O. kit pods which you will see further on in the review…

Updated Kit

As mentioned Innokin have now updated this kit due to issues with the early versions of the pods.

The Ceramic pod is no longer included in the kit and you get 2 of the redesigned Kanthal Pods.

These new pods have a 1ml capacity and you can tell them apart as they have a squarer shape and come in a black package rather than the white package.

I will also say these new 1ml pods are so much easier to fill!!

Innokin I.O. Kit – Quick Start Guide

Before first use, make sure to fill up the pod – if you inhale on the mouthpiece before the pod has been filled you will damage the pod and it will need to be binned!

Basic operation

This is a super simple device to operate. No buttons or controls – you simply inhale on the mouthpiece and the device should fire.

A single LED informs you of the following:

• Battery capacity = the LED will flash 10 times when the battery power is low
• During charging = the LED will be on whilst charging and will turn off when fully charged

How To Charge The Innokin I.O. Kit Battery

• Use the supplied USB cable install the small end into the USB port on the battery.
• Install the large end into a suitable USB outlet.
• The LED will light up during charging and go out when fully charged.

I found this took over an hour to charge from empty using the 0.5A USB ports on my PC.

How To Fill The Innokin I.O. Kit Pod

• Remove the pod from the battery.
• Turn the pod upside down and pull out fill port plug.
• Using a thin nozzle bottle or the included nozzle adaptors add e-liquid into the fill port and observe the liquid level through the pod.
• The filling process is pretty difficult at times, the pod will not fill on both sides and often due to air trapped inside the pod the e-liquid will splurt back out of the fill port. I can only suggest flicking, shaking, tapping pod until the liquid flows across both sides and make sure to flick the pod again before installing in case of air bubbles.

How To Remove / Replace The Pod

• The pod just pulls out and pushes in to the battery.
• If using a new pod make sure to fill and leave to stand for at least 5 minutes before vaping.

How Does the Innokin I.O. Kit Perform?

This is a low power device with 1.4ohm resistance – so it is not designed for high VG low nicotine strength e-liquid.

I am using my usual CrazySaltzzz Bubblegum e-liquid which is 50/50 VG/PG nicotine salt.

• VG and PG in E-liquid – all you need to know
• Guide to Nic Salts
• Beginners guide to E-liquid

1.4ohm Kanthal Wire Pod – Black Fill Plug

I started with this pod first as I have a slight phobia of Ceramic pods!

Wow this little beast is impressive!

I can taste the bubblegum shining through in my e-liquid and a massive throat hit. In fact I am taking shorter vapes on the Innokin I.O. kit than I am my Voopoo Drag Nano pod with the same e-liquid. So it must be hitting harder.

Airflow wise this is pretty tight but it still auto fires quickly. Within a split second of inhaling the fire kicks in. No sucking a football through a hose pipe to get this to fire.

Burnout

So on day two of using the first early Kanthal pod – I got dry hits – urgh it was horrible.

I had filled the pod so wasn’t concerned it was due to lack of e-liquid. However upon removing the pod and giving it a “flick” a massive air bubble moved up from the area where the coil is.

I tried the pod again and sadly the burning had killed the cotton and gave off a vile bubblegum barbecue flavour.

So it appears the bloody air bubble issue I got when filling also carries down to bubbles preventing the cotton absorbing e-liquid. The air bubble stops liquid getting to the cotton and creating a dry hit which then kills the pod.

The flavour was lovely before this issue and something needs to change with these pods. There needs to possibly be 2 fill ports to allow the air to escape and fill more evenly.

Just as an illustration – here is the pod I just tried to fill – as you can see only one side has e-liquid, I have left this lying down, standing up, shook it, flicked it etc etc and still the e-liquid is not moving across the pod.

I have also tried blowing and sucking on the bloody thing and still nothing. Sadly this means this pod will get another dry hit when that small amount of liquid on the one side has been vaporised.

Such a shame as the Innokin I.O. kit pods really are the Achilles heel of this kit. Gutted.

Finding a Solution

I also tried several new pods with Freebase nicotine e-liquid and it still made no difference so I went back to my favourite Crazysaltzzz and tried again with another new pod.

After a discussion between myself and site boss Jonny who was also trying one of these kits, we discovered that if you constantly refill the pod when it is only half empty this does prolong the pod life.

You still cant fill it fully due to the airlocks, but so far have got 4 (half) refills of the pod which seems to be working ok now.

1.4ohm Ceramic Pod – Green Fill Plug

Instantly I can tell the flavour output is a lot more muted than the Kanthal pod.

There is flavour and a decent throat hit but this performs at a lot lower standard than the lovely flavour from the Kanthal Pod.

I am quite relieved not to get the usual “ceramic dry hit” which is something which always occurs for me with ceramic coils – with few exceptions.

But I really don’t want to speak too soon…

As I predicted I have spoken too soon and below is the photo of the Ceramic pod and how the e-liquid is not evenly distributed around the pod.

Yep dry hit time again – I really am fed up now!

Updated Pods – 1ml Kanthal

Thankfully Innokin look to have taken comments on board and resolved to improve the little IO pods – I love this when companies listen. At the end of the day all we want is for a device to perform at the highest level it can.

So I was sent prototype/sample versions of the new kits and lots of the new 1ml Kanthal pods.

The first pod fill was perfect (as I found with early pods) however these are such a massive improvement.

Refilling can still be tricky – trying to get both sides of the pod to fill evenly can be a struggle and you do still get the odd airlock which you have to “flick” out of the way.

But I am on about my 6th refill of the same pod now and the flavour is beautiful, NO DRY HITS wooooohoooo!

Thank you again Innokin your efforts are appreciated.

Innokin I.O. Kit – Battery Life

I really have tried multiple times to time the Innokin I.O. kit battery life whilst vaping, but unfortunately due to the constant pod issues I am having to stop using this device a lot.

Well eventually using the workaround of refilling the pod every ten minutes I managed to get 2.5 hours of vaping as my only device from fully charged.

Pros

• Pretty looking device
• Small and light – could easily hold in mouth like a cigarette if that is your thing!
• Updated pods perform wonderfully – 6 refills so far and still great flavour!
• Feels really well made
• Good kit contents
• Early Kanthal pod gives impressive throat hit and great flavour for a short time.

Cons

• Air locks in the early type pod can cause dry hits and kill the pod – we found if you refill when still half full this does help prevent this.
• Hard to tell which early pod is which – both look the same apart from different colour fill plugs. I had to go on the Innokin website to find out the difference as it was not stated on packaging or instructions.
• LED only indicates when power is low, there should be a better method than this to warn you in advance.
• Filling is a pain – only one fill port means nowhere for air to escape when filling and airlocks, splurting and uneven filling occurs as a result – this is applicable to early and updated pods.
• If pod has been lying on its side (only way to put it down as it won’t stand up) you often get a bit of e-liquid ‘spit back’ on your first vape when picking it up!

Final Review Verdict

In my original review I decided that the Innokin IO kit was a bit of a stinker. The main device worked exactly how it should but the pods were so appalling to use and vape for more than one refill.

I am over the moon that Innokin revisited the design here as the new pods are a huge success. It is to their credit they also did the same with the Podin kit which had some early coil issues.

There are still a few niggles including the LED indicator only showing when the battery is empty – no early warning and the pod filling can still be a chore at times.

I actually love this kit now and am feeling sad when it needs charging!

Do not despair if you bought the early kit with the 0.8ml pods – the updated 1ml pods will fit into the same device – so I recommend either buying the later kit or ditching the 0.8ml pods.

With the 1ml pods this is an absolute joy to use!