The Uwell Marsupod is an interesting little kit from a company that has made something of a name for themselves with pod kits like the Caliburn and the Koko.
Read Michelle’s review of the extremely popular Caliburn and Kevin’s review of the Koko that shows Uwell has a decent track record with pod vapes.
As well as pod devices, they also make a range of mods and tanks.
Such as the Nunchaku 2 Kit, the Valyrian II Kit and the Crown 4 Kit.
What Can We Expect From The Uwell Marsupod?
The Uwell Marsupod comes in two main pieces, a larger battery unit, and an absolutely tiny pod mod that fits inside to charge.
In fact, the way that it carries the little pod kit inside is the reason for the name.
Like a marsupial (kangaroo, etc) has a pouch to carry a baby in, so the Uwell Marsupod battery unit carries the little pod kit.
To try and maintain clarity where I’m talking about a device with a pod, that fits inside a charging case, the little unit you vape on, I’ll refer to as a the “device” from here on out.
The Uwell Marsupod is an open pod system with fixed coils, so whilst you can fill it up with your favourite liquids, when the coil eventually burns out, you’ll need to replace the whole pod.
I have my own thoughts on the long term sustainability of this approach, and what ecological impact it may have, however, I’m happy to review any device.
Someone that gets the right device for them, is going to go through a lot less wastage than people trying a new pod kit every week to find the one that clicks with them.
So that’s where the reviews come in!
This was sent over free of charge for the purpose of this review, thank you, and as usual I will review this honestly and report on what I find.
Inside The Box
- Charging Case
- Pod Device
- Refillable Pod
- Micro USB Cable
- Manual and Warning Card
Specs
- Dimensions – 10.6mm x 18.4mm x 65.4mm (Device) 25.2mm x 43mm x 76.5mm (Charging Case)
- Weight – 12g (Device) 50g (Charging Case)
- Power Output – 11W (Maximum)
- Resistance – 1.2Ω
- Battery – 150mAh (Device) 1000mAh (Charging Case)
- Capacity – 1.3ml
Design and Build Quality
The Uwell Marsupod comes in 4 different colours, Black, Blue, Grey, Black and White (which I have).
It is made of a combination of four different types of plastic, and it definitely feels like it!
Charging Case
Although this has a 1000mAh internal battery, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was totally hollow, based on it’s weight.
The plastic casing has a slightly pearlescent sheen to it, very sleek but quite subtle.
There’s very little to the sides of the charging case, on one side you have the micro USB charging port (thumbs down for no USB C) and nothing on the other.
At the base of the charging case are the regulatory marks.
The main section that will be of interest is the large slot for the device to slot into.
On the long side you have a large cut out window that allows you to see the device when it is in situ, looking inside when it is empty you can see the three contacts that make charge your device.
Uwell Marsupod LED Lights
At the top of the device you have a glossy plastic section that hides 4 LED lights to let you know the charge status of it, as well as the only branding on this section, with Marsupod in a silver font.
You also have the hole that the device slides into, when you do this it’s immediately grabbed by magnets that hold the mouthpiece on the outside.
Push the mouthpiece down and the top hole is covered up by a neat little sliding cover to stop dust and debris getting inside.
The Uwell Marsupod Device
Now from the mummy device with the pouch, we move on to the the joey of the kit!
This tiny little device is made of the same pearlescent plastic as the charging case, on both sides it has 6 little ridges that give you some grip and gives you something to push it out of the charging case with.
One side has the word Marsupod stamped into the plastic underneath the ridges, and a tiny little LED in the middle of the of the ridges. This lights up white when you’re vaping, red when it is out of battery, and pulses white when it is sitting inside the charging case and being charged.
One thing to note is that you can put the device into the charging case either way around, however if you want to see it’s charging indicator, you need to leave this side facing the cut out window.
Above the ridges you have a small oval window that allows you to check your e-liquid level. Unfortunately this is placed slap bang in the middle of the pod, so it’s hard to see the liquid level with the coil cutting out any light coming through.
I know it wouldn’t look as symmetrical, but if this window was offset to the left or right of the coil, light would be able to come through and you could easily see your levels.
The Uwell Marsupod…Pod
Pulling out the pod from the top of the device you’ll see there are two gold coloured contacts for power on the base, and the pod is made from PCTG which should be resilient against aggressive e-liquids.
The coil inside is using Uwell’s Pro-FOCS technology which aims to increase flavour production, we shall see how this performs later on.
You also have an almost impossible Min Fill line on one side, however if you just look at the wicking ports, and not let your levels drop below this, you’ll be fine.
Interestingly the little coil does mean that thinner liquids are the order of the day, Uwell recommend 50/50 PG/VG or higher, so I would not recommend using any high VG juices!
How To Fill The Uwell Marsupod
Lift up the rubber flap on one side to access your fill port and fill with your favourite e-liquid.
Remember to let it sit for 5-10 minutes if it’s a new pod – known as priming your coil.
How Does the Uwell Marsupod Perform?
Capacity
When I first read that it only holds 1.3ml of e-liquid, I was pretty convinced I’d end up spending as much time filling it up as vaping it. However Uwell have worked some magic and this pod barely sips e-liquid.
I did find myself compulsively removing the pod to check the liquid level, as the little window that they give you in the side of the device is not the easiest, unless it’s a really bright sunny day.
Airflow and Cloud Production
There’s no controllable airflow, so if you don’t like the draw then you’re out of luck.
It gives quite a loose MTL draw, and it’s quite possible to get a restricted DTL draw.
Read more about the differences between MTL an DTL vaping.
Cloud production is pretty minimal as you would expect from such a little device, nice little puffs of steam, but nothing much more than that. I feel this is probably a positive here, as the device is so small and discrete, that this makes a lovely little stealth vape.
Uwell Marsupod Flavour
Since I only received 1 pod for testing, I was keen not to stress the coil too much and leave me with nothing to review, so I loaded it up with my standard 50/50 Berry Ice from Vape Simple.
It’s a relatively cool vape you get from the pod, but the flavour is absolutely spot on.
Right from the beginning I was getting exactly the flavour that I know this e-liquid for, with no noticeable break in time at all.
Very impressed!
Uwell Marsupod Battery and Charging
I’ve done a lot of testing of this device, and whether you like how it does things or not is going to come down to how much you like the charging system/battery.
You can either use it like a little mod and have the device extended out of the charging case, or you can remove the device totally and only return it when it needs charging up.
One thing to be aware of though if you use it with the device extended, is that you are still drawing all of your power from the device, not the charging case, and it will recharge itself when it’s retracted into the charging case.
On the device, I was able to get about 90 minutes of moderate vaping, which is considerably more than I was expecting from such a tiny little battery.
Returning the drained device into the charging case, and it would start charging, though only when it’s retracted into place. This takes about 45 minutes until the charging indicator switches off.
From the charging case, I was able to get five full charges of the device, and a little bit of extra. Remember, you’re never going to get 100% transfer of power, so 5 full charges is 750mAh from the 1000mAh charging case.
Doing a full charge of the charging case and device from empty, took about 90 minutes, which isn’t bad.
One thing to be aware of, is that you have no way of charging the device except within the charging case.
So whilst I found it was great to be able to just take the device when I was popping to shop, if I was going for a night out, I’d want to bring the whole kit.
Missed Opportunities
Whilst there are things that I really like about this kit, there’s a couple of changes that would have made it even better.
Pass Through Vaping
As in vaping whilst the device is charging.
You can vape this whilst it’s on charge which is useful, but you are only recharging the charging case, as when you have the pod extended you a drawing on the battery of the device.
I would love to have power constantly supplied to the device, regardless whether it’s extended from the charging case or not.
Especially because with only a 150mAh battery in the device, it probably won’t be too long before you start to notice the battery holding less life.
With this set up, the much larger battery of the charging case could give the power to fire the device, and not touch the charging circuit on the device (once it’s fully charged).
Cross Compatibility Coils
This is more a criticism of pod systems in general.
But especially with Uwell having created two very well reviewed ones, with the Caliburn and the Koko (where you can use the same pods) it would have been lovely to see the Marsupod continue this, as it is, the Marsupod is yet another type of specific pod.
This ties into the longevity aspect, as how easy it will be to find replacement pods in a year or so is questionable.
Pros
Charging Case
- Nice cover that closes over the mouthpiece to avoid dust getting in
- Clear lights to show charge status
Device (and pod)
- Great flavour
- Sips e-liquid
- No leaks or condensation
- So tiny that it disappears in the hand
Cons
Charging Case
- Plastic fantastic, it doesn’t feel very solid
- Only charges the pod when retracted inside. This means that if you raise it up to vape, and then push it back in, it will start charging again.
Device (and pod)
- No way to charge the device without the Charging Case
- Pods are only compatible with the Marsupod
- Only suitable for 50/50 or higher PG e-liquids
- Tiny e-liquid capacity
- Low capacity battery is going to have a limited number of charge cycles before it noticeably starts lasting less. In the first 2 days, I charged this device 6 times.
Final Review Verdict
Well, this is definitely an odd little device, and the gadget lover in me loves the pop out vaping section.
Flavour is spot on, and the coil is still going strong after several days of chain vaping as my only device, and a week of general use.
What I’ve enjoyed most is pottering about the house and just keeping the tiny little device on me, however when ever I went out and about I’d take the whole kit with me.
And this is the rub – if I’m going to take the whole thing with me, then I’d probably be better off taking a small AIO.
I could have changeable coils, better battery life, variable power levels, and, even with TPD limits, a larger capacity.
I just don’t see who the target audience for this is.
Would I Recommend It?
Although Uwell has managed to produce a flavourful pod system (again), I couldn’t see myself recommending anyone spend their money on it.
There are better starter kits out there for people looking to give up smoking, and any established vaper is probably going to become frustrated with the small capacity (battery and liquid) and lack of controls.
I will probably keep using it, but just around the house with some high strength nic salts.
The device does fit into that tiny pocket in your jeans nicely!
It’s just a shame that I would always want to take the whole kit out, anytime I wasn’t going on the shortest of trips.
So is this a pod kit you’re thinking of buying or already own?
Let me know your thoughts and opinions in the comments below.
