Geekvape Aegis Hero POD Mod Review

Welcome back to another week vapers, today I’ve got another little something for you to check out! This little beast is from Geekvape, yep you already know who they are. They’re the creators of the famous Aegis line, of which today’s tiny device is a member of!

The Aegis Boost was a nice size, the Aegis Boost Plus a little bit bigger, but this, the Aegis Hero, is tiny by comparison to both. But just because it’s small, doesn’t mean it’s less powerful either, this little baby can fire up to 45Watts, which is 5 Watts higher than both of it’s siblings!

Read on below to see the Geekvape Aegis Hero in action!

Big thanks goes to Geekvape for sending this through for me to review!

Photos

First Impressions & Rundown

At first glance, it’s blatantly obvious that the Hero is part of the Aegis family, with it’s IP67 rating, and styling that screams Aegis. It’s a zinc-alloy frame with rubber and leather inserts, even the signature orange stitching in the leather is there. If you took an Aegis Boost Plus and squeezed it on both ends, this is what you’d end up with! It’s not just the looks that are shared with the Boost series, it also uses the same coils! Which is absolutely fantastic, because they are some very flavoursome mesh coils!

Getting down to specifications, the Aegis Hero has a 1200mah on board battery, maximum wattage of 45 Watts, and a 4ml e-liquid capacity, perfect for short trips out and about.

The Main Body

The main body is constructed similar to the rest of the Aegis line, zinc-alloy main structure with stylish bracket/cage cover and exposed screws, and rubber and padded leather sections to complete that classic Aegis look and feel. The Hero is IP67 rated so, water-resistant, dust-proof and shock-proof just like the rest of the Aegis range, and it’s clearly designed with that in mind, with it’s rubber accents, and plugs making sure you’re nothing is getting into the fill port, or charge port.

Up top, the recessed area where you place your pod has two gold connectors, and a large rectangle magnet to hold the pod in, interestingly, the Hero doesn’t have a clip to hold the pod in like the Boost series. I never really liked that clip, so this is a nice change. The magnet is quite strong and there’s no chance that the pod will come loose, excellent work on this bit Geekvape.

On the front you have your main controls, a large fire button, shaped like a trapazoid, with another single button for the up/down controls under it, also trapazoid shaped. Both buttons rattle a little, but that might just be my sample version. Retail versions might differ.

Between the buttons is a small screen that displays everything you’ll need, it’s a little small and the information is really crammed in there, so can be difficult to read at times.

Off to the side, you’ll find a rubber cover that you can pull up to reveal a micro USB port for charging.

The POD

You’ll notice that the pod is similar to the previous Boost series, but not the same. Its made from that familiar smoked/tinted PTCG shock-proof plastic, with a rubber plug covered fill port on top and also features push in coils just like the Boost series. You also have a removeable 510 drip tip, which is fantastic, you’ll also find a second narrower drip tip in the box for a more restricted vape.

The fill port resembles that of the original Boost more-so than the Boost Plus, with a larger port and it sitting on a much flatter section of the POD so that it’s easier to fill.

Where the POD differs from the Boost Series is the general shape, the missing clip that holds the POD in the mod and Geekvape’s new airflow.

The PODs for the Hero snap in smoothly, (you might need to wiggle it because of the strong magnet) but it’s a happy change from the clips that were used on the Boost.

The Boost series had a circular airflow adjustment off to the side of the POD, where the Hero now has top airflow which is adjusted from an airflow ring up near the drip tip.
If you look closely, you can see the airflow tubes that come down from the top airflow ring inside the pod, that supply air to the slots in the coil. You’ll also notice that the airflow holes in the coil are not exposed from outside the POD which will help limit eliquid seepage from the bottom of the coil! Something I’ve always had problems with and it’s fantastic to see Geekvape address this with this type of airflow.

Coils

The Aegis Hero uses the same coils as the Boost Series, and you’ll receive 2 different coils in the pack.

• 0.4ohm Mesh Coil
  This coil can handle a little more power, and is good for 25-33 Watts. It provides a nice smooth and flavoursome vape. You’ll notice the vape from this coil is also a little more dense.
  
• 0.6ohm Mesh Coil
  This coil is good for 15-25 Watts, and is more suited to those who like to close their airflow off a little, or those who prefer a loose MTL vape.
  It performs just as well as the other coil, but has a more limited wattage range.

I’ve found that the 0.4 ohm coil is best for me, it provides a nice dense vape at just the right wattage to give me a nice warm and flavourful vape. The 0.6 ohm is quite good too, but will give you a cooler vape, great flavour, but not quite as dense of vapour as the lower resistance coil.

Airflow

The new top airflow that Geekvape have used on these pods is fantastic. They’ve contained the airflow to the coil inside the pod, limiting any chance of leaks from the bottom, and moved the airflow control to the top of the pod under the drip tip too. I never really had any problems with juice leaking from the airflow on my boosts, but I have heard of many others having the issue, so this is a great move by Geekvape.

The airflow has quite a good range, going from a looser MTL draw when fully closed to a more open but restricted DTL airflow when fully open. The airflow holes are large cyclops style, so incremental adjustments are not an issue, you can easily set it to your own personal preference, unlike stepped airflow adjustments.

Battery

The Aegis Hero, has a 1200mah internal battery, and a Micro USB port on the side of the device for charging. While 1200mah is usually a pretty decent sized battery for such a small device, running the Hero at 33 Watts all day will drain your battery pretty fast. I’m getting a solid few hours of usage from it before having to recharge, which is a little disappointing but for such a pocketable device, it’s sort of expected.

On the flip side, if you were to run the 0.6 ohm coil at around 15 watts using a more restricted almost MTL airflow, you’ll likely get an entire day out of it, I think this is actually it’s ideal market.

I would have liked to have seen a Type C USB charge port on this for faster charging, instead Geekvape have gone with the traditional Micro USB. It’s not a big issue, but you’ll just be waiting longer for it to charge fully.

You also have pass-through charging with this which is a necessity considering the slower charging rate, so I’m glad Geekvape made sure that this was included.

Filling

The Aegis Boost range was always a little difficult to fill, due to the positioning of the drip tip to the fill port, the Hero is no different, you’ll still be holding your e-liquid bottle at an angle, and peering through the POD to see how the fill is going. It does feel a little easier than past iterations, and it doesn’t suffer from any back-pressure like the original Boost did, so that is a plus, but still slightly finicky to fill.

You’ll be able to fit a good 4ml into these PODs, and in such a tiny package that is of course a bonus, you’ll be filling a lot less, but probably not as little as you think, because like the Boost range, the Hero does burn through e-liquid quite quickly, due to their ultra efficient wicking in the coils.

Any Leaks?

I’m pleased to say, I haven’t experienced any leaking at all from the Hero. I’ve had this in my pocket all day, thrown in my bag, been through various temperature changes with it, and had not even the smallest bit of seepage. I’m really happy that Geekvape have solved the issues of their pods leaking, it makes a huge difference in the user experience not having to worry about wiping things down periodically.

Usage

Obviously for such a small device, you’re not going to have a whole lot of options but as well as Variable Wattage mode you do have a Bypass mode as well, for those who prefer to run their gear like a mech mod.

One great thing that the Hero has, and that I would love to see on more devices, is the wattage lock. By pressing the up/down buttons together, you can lock your wattage, no more accidental adjustments while it’s in your pocket!

• x3 clicks of the fire button to lock the device
• x5 clicks of the fire button to turn device on/off
• up/down simultaneously will lock the wattage
• x3 clicks of the fire button to change modes (wattage lock must not be on)
• hold fire button and ‘down’ to clear the puff counter
  

Pros:

• Small form factor
• Excellent styling and hand feel
• Top adjustable airflow
• Takes Boost Coils
• Great flavour and vape
• Magnetic PODs
• Pass-through charging (can vape while charging)
  

Cons:

• Display is cramped (hard to see)
• Battery doesn’t last long enough (really needs a larger battery for the wattage that you vape at)
• Cannot get a nice tight MTL vape
• Only Micro USB charging
• PODs too dark to see when filling
  

Where to Buy:

As always, you can purchase the Geekvape Aegis Hero directly through Geekvape via the Geekvape Online Store. At the moment it’s $37.99 USD which is a pretty good price. I’ve seen it advertised here in Australia for around the $49 mark.

Conclusion

I’ve been really enjoying using the Aegis Hero, for me it’s been putting out a fantastic vape, nice, dense flavour, and just right as far as temperature is concerned. I’ve preferred using the 0.4 ohm coil due to the warmth it provides, but I can also see myself using the 0.6 ohm coils with the smaller drip tip and closed airflow for a more open MTL for those times when I need a small device for all day out and about.

While it’s not perfect, and it still carries over a few usability issues from the Boost Series, (mainly awkward filling), it feels like Geekvape are changing things up for the better and improving on the original design with every iteration that they release, which is nice to see.

I’m loving the new top airflow adjustment, as well as the magnet only PODs (I hated the clip on the Boosts) and the fact that it takes those tasty flavoursome boost coils is a huge plus.

I was let down a little by the Micro USB not being Type-C, but I’m not finding that it’s that big of an issue, we still have other devices with micro USB around the house. I would have liked to see a fast charge USB Type-C though as it’s where everything is headed for future proofing charging.

All in all, excellent work Geekvape, I think this is my favourite Geekvape POD device yet! Well done!

Shane Presser

Shane Presser has been vaping since 2013, and has extensive experience with advanced equipment, coil builds and DIY mixing. He is the man behind VapersGarage, and also more recently Aussie Vape Stores, a resource to help vapers find their nearest Vape Shops, and eLiquid Vendors.