The arrival of an unassuming padded bag heralded the arrival of a brand I’ve not had much exposure to, SMY (or Simeiyue) in the shape of their 75 Mini TC Kit.
The box is smart without being too flashy. On the rear is an authenticity scratch sticker and some warnings, one of which asks us to “Keep out of children and pets” ☺
In The Box
Opening the box, we find the following:
- 75 Mini TC Mod
- Star tank
- Spare Ni200 coil
- USB cable
- User Manual
Fairly standard stuff although noticeable by their absence are spare seals/tank glass.
Design and Build Quality
The mod itself is cast from aluminium and a zinc alloy with a wood effect battery cover.
This isn’t a veneer or paint but a cleverly mixed plastic, the patterning is visible from inside so the effect won’t be wearing off.
The battery cover uses magnets to attach but is also a very snug fit itself which will need the use of fingernails or similar to get it free, no bad thing given some mods habit of dropping the cover.
Getting inside the cover we find the battery contacts, with a sprung negative. Alarmingly positive contact is at the bottom, unlike every other single cell mod I’ve used.
I couldn’t find a mention of reverse polarity protection in the documents nor on the SMY site, so be careful!
Front Panel
The front panel is nicely finished; the buttons have a good click but not too heavy, the screen is flush with the case and there’s a USB port for charging but it doesn’t allow pass-through.
The port also supports firmware updates, although to date none have been released.
Up top is a stainless steel 510 connector with sprung centre pin. There are no airflow grooves so you’ll be stuck if that’s the style of atomiser you want to use.
The connector doesn’t sit flush with the top of the case so there is a gap between the atomiser base and the case, a potential cause of connection breakage and wear.
Looking at the instructions they’re pretty normal.
- 5 clicks to power on the mod, revealing a bright screen showing power, resistance, voltage, battery and mode.
- Three clicks switch between Wattage and the two temperature control modes which support Ni200 and Titanium.
There’s also no lock mode or other niceties. The device puts itself into a low power mode after 30 seconds of inactivity, requiring a click to wake it up.
Sadly, the mod doesn’t feature support for Stainless Steel or TCR temperature control modes which is a pretty glaring omission given their appearance on budget and high end mods alike.
The Temperature display shows either Fahrenheit or Celsius, scrolling past the end of either scale switches to the other. The scales run from 200-600F, 100-315C.
Star Tank
The Star tank is made from Stainless Steel and is of an increasingly popular design where the chimney is the coil itself. Another popular design feature is the top fill, but more on these later.
Underneath the engraving shows the name and that it was designed in California.
The centre pin of the tank is not adjustable but does stand good and proud from the outer thread.
At the bottom of the tank is the airflow control, featuring two good sized air slots on either side and an engraved STAR logo. The AFC ring has no clicks but isn’t too loose.
The drip tip also features two top airflow slots, however disappointingly these cannot be closed. The drip tip also features an anti-spitback guard which SMY call “explosion proof” which is a bit of an exaggeration.
The guard is in a beige plastic material and shows between the tip and the vape tank body.
The drip tip moulding is not cleanly done with fine pieces of plastic swarf apparent, concerning as this could end up in the coil or inhaled.
The tank comes fitted with a 0.3 Ohm Kanthal vertical coil, along with a 0.15 Ni200 TC coil, also vertical.
The coils have a crossbar style base and feature a novel arrangement of 8 wicking holes that SMY call “constellation”. It should mean the device has no issues with getting juice to the coil.
To refill the tank you grip the glass and unscrew the top cap. There’s no upper ring or frame to retain the glass so care is needed not to dislodge it whilst filling.
When fitting a coil you also need to ensure it is screwed tightly to the base or when unscrewing the top the coil comes away with it, emptying juice down through the airflow which happened to me twice.
This also means that the coil cannot be changed unless the tank is first emptied of liquid.
The top of the coil unit is some way below the top of the glass, so care is needed not to overfill and again flooding the airflow.
How Does The SMY 75 Mini Perform
In use the mod feels nice in the hand, with the firing button falling nicely under either the thumb or forefinger depending on your preferred style. 
The wattage adjusts fully from 1 W to 75 W in 0.1W increments and the change accelerates nicely.
Further Reading: Beginners Guide To Temp Control
SMY suggest the Kanthal coil has a range of 10-60W.
- At 10W with an 80VG/20PG juice very little vapour if any was produced and no flavour.
- At 40W the vapour production was good but the flavour is muted because of the top airflow slots.
- 50W brings slightly more vapour but no improvement to flavour, except when using a standard tip.
- At 60W the beginnings of a burnt flavour were appearing so I wouldn’t recommend using the Kanthal coils that high.
Swapping the drip tip for a standard type gave no reduction in vapour but a marked improvement in flavour.
Emptying the tank I switched to the Ni200 coil and refilled. Now in Ni200 TC mode I dialled the temperature to 220C. Power is not adjusted, the mod raises the power to reach the temperature, which it did well.
Flavour with the Ni200 coils was more muted at all of the temperatures I tried all the way up to 315C. What wasn’t so good was the spitting that’s common with open vertical coils at lower temperatures.
The anti-spit back did little or nothing to stop them and the sweet spot with this juice appeared to be around 270C but your experience will vary dependent on the e juice.
During use, the mod didn’t appear to get warmer but it did seem to be racing through a full charged LG 3000mAh cell quicker than my other mods with the same amount of usage.
When charging however the mod does become noticeably warm. Also of note, other than a gap around the USB connector there are no vent holes.
Final Review Verdict
In summary, this isn’t a terrible kit but neither is it a great one, let alone an amazing one.
The vape mod isn’t bad and with a firmware update perhaps adding Stainless/TCR mode it could be a pretty good one.
Confirmation of reverse polarity protection would also help given the weird decision to mount the battery differently, as would USB pass-through.
What really lets the kit down is the tank.
It vapes ok but the attention to detail, with the permanent top airflow, the refills fraught with leaks and the badly finished/non-functional anti-spitback make it look like it was rushed to market or rolled out on a budget.
In short, I’d buy the mod but not the kit.
Maybe SMY can prove to me that this is an aberration, who knows.
Pro
- Metal/wood finish
- Good buttons
- Clear Display
- Good centre pin on tank
- Well sprung 510 pin
Cons
- No Stainless/TCR Mode
- No USB Pass-Through
- “upside down” battery orientation
- Filling of tank risks leaks/spillage
- No spares
- No lock feature
- Badly finished and non-functional anti-spitback
- Permanent top airflow
- Lack of vent holes
