Vandy Vape BSKR S Kit Review – An Affordable Starter Kit?

The Vandy Vape BSKR S kit is the second device in the incredibly successful BSKR range.

BSKR is of course short for Berserker – a hugely popular line of MTL tanks and kits.

Like the first Berserker MTL kit, the Vandy Vape BSKR S is a collaboration with Alex Vapers MD, who is credited for the design.

Other releases in the BSKR range includes the V1.5 Mini MTL RTA and the V1.5 MTL RTA.

The company has brought out a ton of kits – atomizers and tanks including the recently reviewed Pyro V3 RDTA – the Mutant RDA and the Swell kit and of course the Kylin line of tanks.

And of course not forgetting the collaboration with YouTube reviewer Tony B on the seemingly endless reiterations of the Pulse squonk range!

I find it truly remarkable that Vandy Vape has only been in business for 3 years!

Founded in 2016, it has a humongous catalogue, consisting of a total of 12 Kits and 37 rebuildable atomisers (14 RTAs, 19 RDAs and 4 RDTAs).

I have a soft spot for Vandy Vape, purely because the original Kylin RTA was my favourite for quite a while.

I’ve reviewed a few of their items on my YouTube Channel and although they weren’t all perfect, none of them was awful.

What Can We Expect From The Vandy Vape BSKR S Kit?

Although I’m not going to mention an actual price (because prices vary and change), I do think it is important to mention, that the BSKR S kit is very… very affordable.

There is a lot of visual design differences between the BSKR MTL Kit and the newer BSKR S Kit.

The most obvious is the size, the BSKR S kit is smaller in height but thicker in width.

The battery is the same size but the maximum power output has been upped from 15W to 25W.

The kit is simple, and I’m am setting my expectations to how it’s being marketed, as an affordable, All In One (AIO) starter kit, that provides a ‘real MTL Experience’ and is compatible with free-base nicotine, Nic-salts and CBD vape juice.

Before we go any further I should mention that the device is made from plastic (Food grade PSU).

I think that is acceptable, especially when taking the affordable price into mind.

Incidentally the word Beserker is believed to be attributed to a race of furious Nordic fighters known for incredible fighting skills!

OK, this kit was sent to me free of charge for the purpose of this review and has been tested thoroughly.

Checkout my hands on video review to see the Vandy Vape BSKR S kit in action:

 

Inside The Box

• 1 x BSKR S Kit (no coil pre-installed)
• 1 x 1.5ohm (MTL) Coil
• 1 x 0.7ohm (MTL) Coil
• 1 x QC Micro USB Cable ( I believe QC stands for ‘Quick Charge’)
• 1 x Spare Parts Bag
• 1 x Instruction Manual
• 1 x Warranty Card

Specs

• Size: 22 x 96mm
• Tank Size: 22 x 38mm
• Mod Size 22 x 58mm
• E-liquid Capacity: 2ml
• Battery: 1100mAH
• resistance range: 0.6-3ohms
• Power Output: upto 25W
• Output Voltage: 2.8-4.0V

Features

• Adjustable & Specific Airflow
• Battery Indicator
• Bypass mode
• Constant voltage mode (Coil Dependent)
• Vaping Overtime Protection
• Over Charge Protection
• Low-Battery Protection
• Short Circuit Protection

Design and Build Quality

The Vandy Vape BSKR S kit looks how I expect it is supposed to look – simple, small and smart.

To put it into perspective, the kit is about the same diameter as a 10ml Bottle of liquid and isn’t much taller.

Vandy Vape BSKR S Mod (Battery)

The BSKR S Mod hosts a circular button on the front which is surrounded by the LED cover and the Micro USB port on the back.

The base of the device has Inspired by Alex Vapers MD – manufactured by Vandy Vape inscribed on the bottom.

I’m 100% sure that the shell of the mod is made out of plastic, although thanks to the finish, it looks and feels like metal.

Vandy Vape BSKR S Kit Tank

The tanks ‘glass’ is plastic and is mostly ‘frosted’ with exception to 2 rectangle windows, 1 on either side, each of which has BKRS embossed onto them.

Although the tank’s ‘glass’ is translucent it’s still super easy to see the liquid level.

The plastic/glass also makes up the top fill section.

I wouldn’t mind this so much, however, there isn’t any form of seal to stop the liquid from coming out of the top fill hole and going in between the top and the top cap.

There is an o-ring (sealer) on the bottom of the top cap threads, so the liquid doesn’t leak out of the tank completely.

It is still annoying and at times messy when you remove the top cap to the fill tank.

By the way, it is the design of the ‘glass’ and the fact that it is plastic that makes it possible for the tank screw together without a coil being present – I like that.

I really don’t like plastic tanks, especially when they are not designed to be disposable.

Vandy Vape BSKR S Connector

The 510 connector is not made from plastic (thankfully, it wouldn’t work if it was). The connection plates on top of the mod, and on the bottom of the tanks are also metal.

The threads are nice and smooth, as expected, although the positive pin does seem to protrude more than usual.

That won’t really make a difference but I noticed it so I thought I’d put it out there.

Vandy Vape BSKR S Charging Port

The charger is Micro USB, which annoys me that much, I think I’m starting to go numb to the issue.

I’ll also use this space to moan about the ‘QC’ charger.

Vandy Vape seem to have gone out of their way to put QC every time they mention the charger.

The system has a 0.65A charge rating, I’m pretty sure you don’t need a Quick Charging charger to handle that annoyingly small charge rating.

But hey, I’m not an engineer or an electrician and if the mod charges faster than the slow rate I expect it to, I will apologize.

Did I mention my micro USB Socket is lower than the hole?

Okay, it’s not so low that I can’t plug it in, but it isn’t in line.

Although this happens a lot with all devices and I’m sure mine is the ‘one off’, I still need to mention it, right?

Vandy Vape BSKR S Airflow

Vandy Vape has gone out of their way to make the air holes very specific, in fact, they are so specific, Vandy Vape have given us the size of each hole.

It comprises of 6 holes ranging in size from 1.8mm to 0.8mm, and are are also in size order, this design is of course to give the user more accurate control over the airflow.

The adjustable band allows you to set the airflow to off, 1 x 0.8, 1 x 1.8 or any group of holes from either side (including all the holes).

Vandy Vape BSKR S Quick Start Guide

How to Change the Coil

Ensure the tank is as empty as possible to avoid leaking

• Unscrew and remove the base of the tank (airflow section)
• Unscrew and remove the coil from the base
• Screw in the new coil
• Screw the base of the tank back on

How To Fill the tank

• Unscrew the top cap (mouth piece)
• Pour liquid into the biggest hole (not the centre hole)
• Screw the top cap back on

If the coil in the tank is new/unused wait for 5 minutes for the e-liquid to soak into the coil before using – known as priming.

Read more: Priming your vape coils and why you should!

On/Off

Press the button 5 times within 2.5 seconds to turn the device on/off.

If successful the indicator will flash purple 5 times.

LED Indicators

While you are using the device the LED indicator will light up a colour that represents the battery level.

• Purple Light = 70-100%
• Blue Light = 30-70%
• Red Light = Less than 30%

While charging the LED indicator will breathe red, when charging is complete the light will turn off.

Other LED Indications

• Battery indicator 3 Flashes = 8 Second cut off protection
• Blue 5 flashes = No Atomiser detected
• Red 10 flashes = Not Circuit (less than 0.6ohms)
• Red 5 Flashes = Low Battery (less than 3.2V)

How Does the Vandy Vape BSKR S Kit Perform?

There’s a lot to try here, Vandy Vape claim the kit is designed for freebase nicotine, Nic Salts and CBD.

They also claim it’s an AIO device – this would usually entice me to test the device with 70/30 VG/PG e-liquid, but the CBD I am going to use is also mixed at 70/30.

1.5ohm MTL coil

50/50 Nicotine

For 50VG/50PG liquid I’m going to use Dinner Lady Lemon Tart at 12mg.

It’s very much like a Lemon Tart cigarette – not that I’ve tried one!

I mean the vapour production is very much like the smoke from a cigarette.

It can also handle a long slow drag nicely, without burning or tasting dry.

The flavour isn’t immense, but you can tell that it is lemon tart flavour.

Read more: VG VS PG In E Liquid: All You Need To Know

50/50 Nic Salt

I chose Wick Liquor’s Boulevard SALTS to test how well the coils perform with nic-salts – Boulevard is a mixed berries flavour.

The vapour production hasn’t altered much.

I can taste the mixed berries of the boulevard but it’s not as prominent as I would like it to be.

Read more: Guide To Nicotine Salt E Juice and Best Nic Salt Brands

CBD

For this I used CBD Asylum’s Berry e-liquid ( zero nicotine), which is mixed at 70VG/30PG and 250mg Isolate CBD.

There isn’t much flavour output, at all.

Some puffs I could taste the earthy CBD taste and on other puffs I could taste a hint of berries.

The vapour production seems to be down quite a lot too.

I tried to do a few long, slow puffs to see how much vapour I could get.

That didn’t go very well, although it seemed rather smooth on the throat is was quite heavy on the chest, which wasn’t very nice.

Read more: Vaping CBD – What is CBD? What Are the Benefits? How To Vape With It

0.7ohm Mesh Coil

50/50 VG/PG Nicotine

Back to the 12mg Dinner Lady Lemon Tart.

The flavour has improved, it is now a pleasing flavour.

It is satisfyingly prominent when used Direct To Lung and Mouth To Lung, but I think the flavour is more prominent when the coil is used MTL.

When firing the coil does feel like it should be used Direct To Lung – so with the airflow fully open, I took a nice long DTL hit.

I was quite surprised to see a fairly decent sized cloud emerge from my lips.

I was also surprised at how smooth the hit was, I expected the 12mg nicotine to tickle my throat quite a bit but it didn’t.

50/50 Nic-Salt

With this coil I can finally taste the boulevard, it is smooth and prominent when being used for both MTL and DTL.

The vapour production is pretty much the same as the normal nicotine 50/50 liquid.

CBD

As I expected this coil handles the CBD better than the 1.5ohm coil.

There is a hint of berries although it isn’t very prominent.

But the vapour production is nice and smooth and it doesn’t provide that awful heavy chest feeling – in fact it’s quite pleasant.

Coil Summary

Top tip: Wait for the flavour!

Seriously, every time I changed flavour or changed coil, even if you drip the liquid directly into the coils (in which case you get real bad gargling), you have to wait and use the coil for 15 -30 minutes before the flavour start to properly come through.

It’s strange to me, but it’s true.

Out of both coils the 0.7ohm coil was my favourite, it just seemed to offer more.

I preferred either of the 50/50 liquids over the CBD, but if I was to use higher nicotine, I would definitely choose the Nic-salts.

AirFlow

The airflow is pretty good for this type of device.

Fully open it is great enough to allow Direct to Lung, but it’s still restrictive enough to use it Mouth To Lung without it feeling too loose.

It’s important that you understand, when I say the airflow is great enough for DTL, it’s obviously not huge airflow but big enough to satisfy a 25W DTL puff.

I’m also convinced that, although the airflow system doesn’t get fully airtight when it’s turned fully off, it does get restrictive enough to satisfy all MTL Vapers.

Battery and Charging

Using the 0.7ohm coil (or any coil less than 1ohm) the mod will fire at 3.5V.

By ohms law that equates to 30W – but the kit is apparently limited to 25W.

I don’t know if it fired at 25W or 30W.

What I do know is, throughout the week it lasted me 7-12 hours between charge (meaning the least it lasted was 7 hours and the most was 12hours).

I’d say it averaged out at about 9 hours.

The 1.5ohm coil seemed to last me all day most days (over 16 hours) but once or twice at died at about 14-15 hours.

I timed the kit charging twice and each time it took about 1 hour 40 minutes.

Coil Life

I have used both coils for 8 days each… and despite testing them both with 3 different types of liquid they are still hanging in strong.

However they do seem to struggle if you are constantly using them.

So if you’re a ‘chain smoker’… I mean vaper… then the life span might drop quite drastically.

I think it’s also a safe assumption that if you are solely using the coils for CBD or high VG liquid the coils life span might drop.

Does the Vandy Vape BSKR S Kit Leak?

The Vandy Vape BSKR S kit hasn’t actually leaked at all but there is a few things I want to point out.

Firstly, as I said above, the top cap needs silicone on the bottom (inside) to stop the liquid getting in there.

It doesn’t leak from there, but it is a bit unnecessarily messy when refilling the tank and quite often causes the coil to flood after filling the tank.

Secondly, if for whatever reason, liquid gets into the base of the tank or floods the coil, because there air-holes are so small, the liquid can’t get out so easy and causes the liquid to ‘gargle’ and pull into your mouth.

This could happen by changing the coil before the tank is empty or because you haven’t used the coil for a few days.

If this does happen, I’ve found the best way to get the liquid out, is by turning the tank/kit upside down and gently tapping the mouth piece onto a hard surface (preferably covered in a little bit of tissue), 3 or 4 times, this will enable the liquid to leave via the mouth piece.

Pros

• Affordable
• Great battery life
• Easy to use
• Adjustable Airflow
• Decent Battery Life

Cons

• Could be more ‘Leak Proof’
• Plastic Tank
• Could Charge Faster

Final Verdict

I don’t usually go out of my way to find a pricing guide for the products that I review, but the Vandy Vape BSKR S Kit is an exception to that.

Why? Simply because as soon as I opened the box I wasn’t sure on the plastic.

To be brutally honest, it’s not the best kit I’ve tried, not even the best MTL Kit I’ve tried.

However I don’t think it is supposed to be, I think it does exactly what it is supposed to do, deliver nicotine (or CBD) without a huge start-up cost.

For that reason, I can’t really fault it.

Are you using or planning to buy the Vandy Vape BSKR S kit?

Let us know in the comments below!