The OBS Skye kit has landed and I think this pod mod system looks pretty awesome.
Founded in 2014, OBS is certainly not new to the industry.
I think the first time I really noticed the OBS name was with the OBS Cube kit. There is also the Cube Mini, Cube X Cube Pro and Cube FP.
Other popular OBS kits include the KFB / KFB2 tube kits, the Draco Kit, the OBS Cube FP [another fingerprint kit]
In total OBS’ catalogue consists of 8 tanks, 5 RTAs, 1 RDTA, 3 RDA and 16 kits including 6 pod/pod mods.
What We Can Expect From The OBS Skye Kit
The first thing you need to know about the OBS Skye, is there are 2 different versions, the standard version and the FP.
If you haven’t already guessed the FP stands for Finger Print, which isn’t a fancy name, it actually means it has a finger print sensor.
It’s powered by a 1600mAh battery and charger at 1.6A or 2A or 1A – we’ll have to see because the OBS website and manual contradict each other a fair bit, in regards to this.
The OBS Skye has a 0.96″ Screen which looks amazingly well.
It fires up to 40W but also has a smart feature that prevents high ohm coils from firing higher than 20W.
Watch Harley’s Video Review Of the OBS Skye
Inside The Box
- 1 x Skye Mod
- 1 x MTL Pod
- 1 x RDL (Restrictive DTL) Pod
- OM YE 0.4ohm Mesh coil
- OM SE 1.0ohm Regular coil
Specs
- Size: 106*20.1*30.1mm
- Weight: 105g
- Material: Zinc Alloy Mod + PCTG Pod
- Pod Capacity: 4ml/2ml（TPD）
- Wattage Range: 5W-4OW
- Battery: Built-in 1600mAh
- Display: 0.96″ LED screen Charging
- Resistance Range: 0.1Ω-3.0Ω
Features
- 6 colours
- 0.001 instant unlock
- 90s Automatic FingPrint Lock
- charge protection
- over current protection
- short circuit protection
- low voltage protection
- over temp protection
- 10s cut off protection
Build & Design Quality
I’d like to point out, I received both the standard and the FP version but for the majority of this review I will be focusing on the FP version, if and when there is a difference I will state so.
Both the Standard and the FP Skye kits come in 6 different colours.
I was lucky enough to receive mine in black and I have to say I am a fan of the sleek black and silver look.
The OBS Skye Mod
In true OBS style the Skye kit has a square base, with rounded corners.
Although, technically it’s more of a rectangular base, but that does make it fit quite nicely in hand.
If there is anything that puts me off about how the kit feels in the hand, is the mod is a bit bottom heavy.
That slight imbalance makes it feel quite strange to hold (even with a pod full of liquid), however I should point out, I think ‘little details’ like that stand out a lot more when you’re reviewing a device.
It isn’t really that major, after all the mods total weight is only 105g.
The OBS Skye Screen
The OBS Skye Pod Mod has a 0.96″ LED screen, which is pretty much the “go to” screen size for a lot of devices these days, and it’s located on the front just below the fire button.
I have to say it looks pretty crisp and fresh, I like it. It’s nice a simple, easy to red and looks good.
When you turn the device on or off, you are greeted with the OBS logo that has a dark blue to light blue gradient… It reminded me of Saga is I’m honest.
While the screen is on, the OBS logo is in the top left, which is a bit of a waste of screen space in my opinion, OBS’ logo is just above the fire button… do we really need one on the screen as well?
In the top right corner is the battery bar indicator, which doesn’t display a percentage.
Just below those is a blue circle, which spans the entire width of the screen and contains the current wattage setting, and the padlock icon to signify if the device is locked or not.
Pretty much center of the screen is the puff counter with the Ohms, Voltage and Timer information below that.
The Standard Version is the same with different colours on the screen.
OBS Skye Buttons
Let’s start with the simplest first; The ‘+’ and ‘-‘ buttons.
They are joint in the middle and bump up to form each button, the is no symbols to signify what the buttons do, they are just there. I like them, they don’t rattle, and press nicely.. what more do you want?
So, the Fire Button is where the finger print sensor is but I don’t really want to focus on that too much right now because we’ll look at that separately.
That does also mean the standard and the FP versions have different buttons.
The standard version is metal with that fine radial grip, it doesn’t rattle and all is well.
On the FP version the button is much prettier, in my opinion. It’s still round but now it is black in the center with a silver boarder, and further out is a LED which surrounds the button, which lights up while you are using the device and then the device turns on or off.
If there is a problem with the finger print recognition, (I.E it failed to save a new finger print or it didn’t recognise a finger print) the light will display red and the mod will vibrate.
OBS Skye Pod Connection
The Pod connection on the OBS Skye is pretty typical of what you would expect pod mods to look… pre 2020 that is, when Pod Mods, became more like tube mods.
There is 4 magnets, one in each corner of the device, with the connection pins just off center to allow the pod connect at any rotation.
The airflow comes in through the inlets on either side of the device and through to the base of the coil.
OBS Skye Pod
Again the pod is what you would expect from a pre-2020 pod.
It’s square with a built in mouth piece and clear on the sides to maximise E-liquid level visibility.
The pod stands on 4 legs in the corners, so the magnets have direct contact.
The mouth is long and flat rather than circular, I like it.
You may have noticed, there are two pods, one has a reduced airflow intake for MTL coils as the other is more open (that is the only Adjustment available on the system), you can also the tell apart buy the colour of the pods, the MTL is red, the DTL is black.
Using The OBS Skye Pod Mod
Put a coil in, fill the pod, turn the mod on and you’re on your away, let’s look at how to do those things, so you can get up and running.
Changing The Coil
The Pods come with coils pre installed so you should be able to skip this step if you are setting it up for the first time.
- Remove the pod from the mod
- While holding the pod upside down, pull to remove the coil
- Insert a new coil
- Fill pod and leave for 4-5 minutes before using
To reduce liquid loss, change coil when pod is empty.
Filling the OBS Skye Pod
- Remove the pod from the mod
- Lift the black rubber seal
- Insert liquid into fill hole
- Re-seal
If using a new coil wait 4-5 minutes before using, to allow the e-liquid to saturate the coil – known as priming your coil.
Operating The OBS Skye
- Turn On/Off = Press fire button 5 times Quickly
- Power Adjustment Lock = Press ‘+’ OR ‘-‘ 3 times quickly
- Change power = unlock then press ‘+’ or ‘-‘. when the resistance is below 0.8ohm the power available is 5-40W and 5-20W when the resistance is higher.
Adding Finger Prints
- Press ‘+’ and fire button at the same time to enter FP interface
- The device will now be ready to add a FP
- To add first or additional FP simply keep touching the fire button with the finger/thumb that you are trying to register.
- After registering a finger print the device returns to the home screen, however if you want to cancel and return, you can press and hold ‘-‘ and ‘+’ simultaneously
The first finger print you register will be the admin finger print.
Removing All & Disable Finger Prints
- Unlock with the admin fingerprint (the first registered)
- Press ‘-‘ and fire button at the same time
How Does The OBS Skye Perform?
OM YE 0.4ohm Mesh Coil
OBS Recommend 30-40W for this coil with a best at 35W.
I’m using it with Juicciers Strawberry Mango Crush at 3mg (70VG/30PG), but I’ve been using it with Got Salts Peachy Promise too (50vg/50pg, 10mg) and that worked just as good.
We’ll start way too low at 25W and you know what it’s pretty impressive! A slow Direct To Lung draw provides a nice small cloud, with a not massive but still prominent flavour. Mouth To Lung, also gives off a nice little flavour production.
30w is the minimum recommended and to be honest not much has changed.
35W is the ‘best’ wattage, and it’s nice. I’ve been using this coil for the majority of the time on 37W. At 35W we get a DTL flavour that is really impressive for the power, it’s nice and prominent and the vapour production is still a little cloud.
40W is as high as the mod will go and it’s also the top of the recommended range. It’s sublime!
For 40W the flavour is phenomenal, it doesn’t ‘flood the mouth’ but it’s close to it.
The cloud is now… medium, it’s a generous and pleasing cloud for 40W.
OM SK 1.0ohm Regular Coil
OBS Recommend 10-20W for this coil with a best at 15W.
Again, I’m using it with Juicciers Strawberry Mango Crush at 3mg (70VG/30PG), but I’ve been using it with Got Salts Peachy Promise too (50vg/50pg, 10mg) and that worked just as good.
This pod is super restrictive so you can’t really pull a DTL draw.
So down low at 5W you actually get a a fair MTL vapour production is you take a slow draw, but you can’t really feel it, it feels like you’re just sucking air.
10W is the minimum and those extra 5w made the world of difference. The vapour production feels light and smooth, while still producing a cigarette like amount of vapour, or more if you draw slowly. And the flavour is super prominent at the back of the throat.
OBS state it’s best at 15w, and I am not arguing! That is an amazing MTL flavour and the vapour production is what you would expect from a cigarette is not a little more.
To the moon! 20W is the max recommended for this coil, and because of it’s resistance, it’s the highest power the mod will let us do.
And to be honest, not much changes other than the flavour gets a little deeper in taste. I personally preferred it at 15w, 20w seems like there is took much flavour… if that makes sense.
OBS Skye Finger Print
For me this is an important factor, for many reasons but seen as there is a standard version without this feature, why would you buy this version is the FP doesn’t work well?
Well, luckily you don’t have to worry about that, because it does work pretty well.
Setting it up was much easier than I had expected.
I haven’t decided if I like the remove process, although it is simple, the fact it removes every finger print is abit of a pain, if you’re sharing your device with 3 other people… wait why would you be frequently sharing it with 3 other people…
Okay, yeah, the removal system is good too. It’s a bit like disabling the FP system but… then having to set it up again if you want to enable it.
While the OBS Skype FP is finger print locked you can’t vape on it without an authorised finger print. It takes 1 minute and a half for it to lock after using it and you can’t do it manually.
I never realised before using this device, how much of an ambidextrous vaper I am. I had only set up my right thumb and it was pretty annoying whenever I tried to fire with my left, although that’s easily fixed by adding the left thumb to the system.
Although it did fail to recognise my prints sometimes, the majority of the time it worked OK. Although it does take some getting used to.
It would be nice if you could choose to set it to manual lock only though, maybe 3 clicks of the fire button?
However that would means it needs a menu to change that, and I quite like when simple systems omit the menu.
One main concern though, If you only register 1 finger/thumb print, and then you have a slight cut on that finger, or a bit of glue anything that means your print will be affected, you won’t be able to use your device for a while, and nowhere in the manual did I find instructions on how to reset it.
OBS Skye Does it Leak?
Well… no, not even to the usual level that all pod mods leak, the port is still bone dry.
OBS Skye USB-C Charging Port
So after reading the OBS website and manual it’s a little confusing, so all I’m going to say about the charge rating, is in my experience of charging the OBS Skye, it was always charged within 1hour and 30 minutes, which is decent.
As you can see below the charging port is on the bottom of the device which I’m no keen on, but it does have USB-C.
In regards to usage I got pretty much full days out of it but it depends how you use it.
For example, if you use it at 15W (the best recommended for the 1ohm coil) you will get a 2 second puff every other minutes for about 23 hours.
On the other had is you use the 0.4ohm coil on full power (20w) you’re going to get about 8 hours, which I think is still OK.
Pros
- Great Flavour
- Great Vapour
- Great airflow
- FP works well
- Feels good in hand
- Good battery life
- Easy to use
- Easy to see Juice Level
Cons
- No Adjustable airflow
- Internal Battery Only
Final Review Verdict
Quite often manufacturers in all industries try to make advanced more sophisticated tech and all though they add bigger, better and fancier features, the final product ends up being confusing and a bit of a pain to use and navigate.
However, I don’t think that applies to OBS, they have done an absolutely excellent job at making this system have the newer technologies and capabilities without making it too complicated. Well done OBS, I tip my hat to you!
At this stage of the review I always think about who the device would be good for, although I don’t always mention it.
In this case the OBS Skye, would be great for almost any vaper.
The reality of it is, for just 40W it is capable of great flavour and vapour production for MTL and DTL.
So if you are a Sub-ohm vaper looking for a smaller device for when you go out (presuming its not 2020 or 2021 and you’re allow out) or you are wanting to get onto vaping this would be awesome for you.
A key thing I like about it is that the coils have nice sized wicking holes, so you can use high VG liquids for both the DTL and MTL coil. Although you should be aware that by nature, the coils may not last as long with high VG liquids, purely because VG is more ‘gunky’.
One of my goals was to find out if the Finger Print system was worth it or not… and you know what? It hasn’t annoyed me at all.
Okay when you forget that it’s a FP system that’s annoying but that was only because I intentionally never registered my left prints.
As far as the FP system is concerned, it works and the majority of the time it works first time.
