Vapestick XL Review

Vapestick XL – PCC Kit

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The Vapestick Classic was our first experience of Vapestick products and not really a great one. This was followed some time later by a much needed upgrade of the Classic kit and an all together far better performer.

I didn’t know what to expect with the XL starter kit so when I was offered a review kit I was interested to see how this stacked up not only against other competing brands but also against the other starter kit they had on offer.

This kit was received free of charge for review purposes but as always this will not effect our opinion of the product, our opinion is our own. Onto the review…

Packaging / Presentation

Very well designed compact presentation box which contains the following:

• 2 Batteries
• 5 Cartomisers
• Chargers and instruction manual.

Battery/Responsiveness

The Vapestick XL kit comes with two 180 mAh batteries. This is, like other batteries, the rating used to give an indication on how much energy a battery can store. Obviously the bigger this number gets the longer the battery life between charges but this also means the battery will increase in size.

As the name suggests (XL) the batteries in this kit are larger than the Classic kit, so for those that have used that particular product before you can expect a fair size difference as can be seen the image below.

I am not going to compare the kits further though as they are two completely different things but that was for those that are already Vapestick users and were wondering on the size difference!

The batteries I received were black and had a good quality handle to them, they are also available in chrome. The only thing I don’t particularly like is the large contrast white ‘Vapestick’ branding on the side but that of course is a personal thing and doesn’t effect performance.

The actually performance of the batteries is good, they react well when you take a drag, no need for any primer drags. As for the length of time it lasts as a moderate vaper I was getting around 2 hours of actual vaping time so this will go for a good portion of the day.

This is pretty normal for this type of e-cigarette.

V Charger Case – PCC

The great thing about this kit is that it also comes with a Portable Charging Case or PCC for short. In this instance Vapestick call it the V Charger Case.

This basically allows you to charge one battery in the case when you are on the move.

This particular case only allows for around 3 full charges of a battery, that’s a little less than many others but the one thing it has got going for it is the sleek design.

It’s quite a slim case and it comes finished in a black rubberised material so it slips into your pocket nice and easy.

Charging a battery is as easy as sliding the battery into the correct slot (2nd from right) and holding the button down on the front of the case. The battery will flash and the case display turn red when a charge is in progress.

You can also check the progress by pressing the button on the case, this will be red for ‘still charging’ or blue for charged.

The case also allows you to keep one full e cig, one battery and three cartomisers stored. So all is good with the V Charger apart from the issue I have with the branding!

Again it is probably just me but it is kind of plastered all over it, I obviously see why this is done but I personally prefer a more subtle understated approach.

Overall – 4/5 – The batteries lasted as expected and performed well. They also had a nice quality feel in the hand. The addition of the PCC to this kit is also an added bonus that is executed very well. Only real gripe is the in the face branding.

Flavour/Vapour

There are 5 cartomisers supplied with the XL kit in the form of a ‘tester pack’. By that I mean they give you a mix of 5 different flavours and nicotine strengths so you can decide on the best option for you.

The flavours you will receive are Original 2.4% nicotine, Tobacco 2.4% nicotine, Menthol 1.8%, Cherry 1.8% and Apple 1.8%.

Flavoured e-liquids and cartomisers are something I have been enjoying in general recently and it has seen me move away a touch from using tobacco flavours as my all day vape.

With this in mind it didn’t come as too much of a surprise that I enjoyed the Apple and cherry flavours. From the tobacco flavours I found the ‘Tobacco’ was better for me rather than the ‘Original’ which was touch on the strong side for my personal taste. The Menthol, whilst not the best I have tried, I found had a nice smooth flavour that gives a decent minty aftertaste.

Overall though I found the e juice flavours were good. When you decide on the best flavour/nicotine strength for you then the price of the refills is £7.99 for a box of 4. Many brands come in at a similar price but include 5 cartomisers so a touch more expensive there but they still remain better value than the likes of E-Lites.

It is also worth mentioning that they have a subscription service that will, at a set time, deliver your cartomisers automatically either weekly, fortnightly or monthly.

There are many plus points for doing this the main two being that they offer a 20% discount on the cartomisers when buying this way and it also leaves you with a ‘hands off’ way of vaping with no worries about ordering.

So there are lots of positives but are there any negatives? I wouldn’t say there are any glaring negatives, more the case of added options I would like to see. It would be good to see e-liquids sold in bottles so the cartomisers can be refilled by the user.

Also the introduction of empty cartomisers would take it one step further. Now if you are a new e cig user this isn’t something you need to be too bothered about straight away and Vapestick are quite right in trying to keep things as simple as possible in an already confusing marketplace.

In general though the more experience the new e cigarette user gets the more they may want to have that option to refill themselves.

Overall 3.5/5 – The cartomisers flavours on a whole were good, the refill packs only come in packs of 4 whereas a number of other brands supply 5 for a similar price.

Vapestick Guarantee/Warranty

Non-faulty goods can be returned within 7 days and faulty goods can be returned within 30 days of purchase. Not as a good a returns policy as some of their closest competitors it has to be said. As always please check the official website for up to date information.

Final Vapestick XL Review Verdict

There isn’t really much I can summarise with so this is going to be short and sweet! If you have been looking at the Vapestick XL as your first e cig kit then I can say you won’t go far wrong with this.

The charging case is a nice slick piece of kit that slides easily in and out of the pocket and the flavours across the board were also good, I actually really enjoyed the apple.

The cartomisers are a touch more expensive when compared to other brands as you only get 4 in a pack but the option to receive your cartomisers on subscription, at a discount, is a good one that is well worth taking up if you opt for Vapestick.