Hardware Review: Aegis Boost from Geekvape
Welcome to the most anticipated POD mod of 2019/2020.
Geekvape’s latest gadget, the Aegis Boost, fills the gap between pure POD’s and AIO’s (all in ones) by providing a small, lightweight form factor, with a POD, but the power and vape of a standard vape mod.
Specifications and Features
- Size: 106.8 x 27.7 x 39.2mm
- Battery: Internal 1500mAh
- E-Liquid Capacity: 3.7ml (TPD Version 2.0ml)
- Output Wattage: 5-40w (Adjustable in 0.5w Increments)
- Display – 0.45in OLED Screen
- Charging: Via Micro USB 1.5hrs
- Coils – Push Fit
- Airflow – Fully Adjustable AFC Ring.
- IP67 Waterproof, Dust-proof, Shockproof.
- Rebuildable Deck (RBA) – Coming Soon
Product Includes:
- 1 x Aegis Boost Mod
- 1 x Aegis Boost Pod
- 1 x Spare Drip-Tip
- 1 x Coil Removal Tool
- 1 x Micro-USB Charging Cable
- 1 x 0.4Ω Mesh Coil (25-33w)
- 1 x 0.6Ω Mesh Coil (15-25w)
Photos
The Review
The Aegis Boost has enjoyed a lot of fan fare, and it’s no wonder, it boasts Variable Wattage, adjustable airflow, a light weight ergonomic frame, as well as staying true to the Aegis name, it has an IP67 rating, meaning that it is waterproof, dust-proof and shockproof.
Along with a virtually ‘indestructible’ frame, the Aegis Boost also boasts, output of a maximum of 40 Watts, completely adjustable of course, a largish battery with a 1500mah capacity, adjustable airflow, and replaceable coils.
These are all very much expected on a standard Variable Wattage vape mod in this day and age, but for a POD mod? That’s a pretty impressive lineup.
The display is as simple as it gets, with a display of your Resistance, Wattage, Battery Level, and Puff-Counter. There is the usual 5 click on/off fire button, as well as up and down buttons that you can use to change your wattage.
Promo Video
The Main Body
The Aegis Boost has a fantastic structure, and I simply cannot fault it’s design, with food grade silicone rubber for waterproofing, a tear resistant leather sleeve, all wrapped around a corrosion-resistant Zinc-Alloy frame, this thing is solid. Lightweight but solid.
With some lighter weight devices you’ll find creaking or a little movement among the parts during use. This is to be expected, due to how the parts fit together, but not so with the Boost. It’s light-weight but sturdy, rugged yet ergonomic. Just like all of the other Aegis branded products, it is not only comfortable but a pleasure to hold.
The POD
This is where things start sliding down a slippery slope but let’s run through what the PODs are before we point out their negatives.
You’ll receive one POD in the Aegis Boost kit, it will be pre-loaded with the 0.4 Ohm mesh coil, suitable for vaping between 25 -33 Watts.
The POD is of a decent size, carrying 3.7mls of eliquid with a rotating air valve at the front for adjustable airflow, a silicone plug on top that you remove to reveal a fill port, and comes with two different proprietary plastic drip tips. One rounded, and the other, with more of a flatter ergonomic shape. Both push on and hold quite well, whilst still being able to be rotated at will.
The POD clips in snugly to the main body. To remove the POD, you push down on the clip and the POD can then easily be removed.
I’ve had a lot of trouble with this, the clip is difficult to push down and it’s a hit or miss as to whether I have to really pull on the POD to remove it from the chassis. I’d expect this removal to be quite trivial but, it’s frustrating that the movement is so stiff.
On a positive note, the POD fits solidly into the chassis and there is no movement at all when clipped into place, no wiggle, no jiggle, it’s a nice solid fit.
The POD is made of a tinted plastic, yep tinted, and because of the internal spacing of the POD, it can be really difficult to see your juice level. You will need to hold it up to a light source in order to see how much juice you have left. Even in doing this, because the POD sits so low in the chassis, you’ll find yourself filling up, even when you don’t need to (just in case).
Filling
Filling is a frustration and a learning curve.
On top of the POD is a silicone plug that when removed, reveals the fill port. This silicone plug in itself can be a nightmare to remove if you do not have fingernails. I’ve found tweezers to work best, but it still can be a little work.
Under the silicone plug, which is held to the pod to avoid losing it, is a fill hole, its of a decent size, and most eliquid bottle nozzles will fit easily.
Unfortunately due to the internal structure of the POD, filling it from a 90 degree angle will cause issues. Combined with the fact that this has a single fill hole (other pods have dual holes so that air can escape to help with filling) you might find e-liquid backing up while filling it and consequently spilling out the top of the fill hole.
HINT: There is a trick to filling and I’ve nearly got it mastered. While holding the pod up to a light source with one hand, you need to hold the silicone plug away from the fill hole, while angling your eliquid nozzle at 45 degrees and fill slowly. Once you can see its at a desirable level, remove the nozzle gently so as to not spill over the sides. (Dont try to fill completely, you’ll just cause more issues)
Once you’ve filled, its time to put the silicone plug back. In doing so, you might find that due to it’s flexible nature, the silicone plug will push the vaccum of the POD allowing more eliquid to flow into the coil than is necessary. At times, you might get a small amount of seepage from under the POD, or possibly from the sides of it where the 2 piece POD is clipped together. You’ll then need to unclip the POD and do a cleanup, before juice seeps into the actual mod itself.
This is another design oversight, and I would have thought that Geekvape might have realised this would happen during testing.
Because silicone flexes in all directions, of course it will push the vaccum of the POD around and cause issues. The silicone plug is also attached to the pod, which always seems to get in the way when filling, another frustration.
It’s a learning curve, and quite difficult at first.
This is a huge negative for me. A user should not need to learn or have to employ trickery in order to perform a primary function of a device.
In my opinion, this is an instant design failure, and Geekvape should be addressing this as soon as possible by releasing new PODs to market.
Aegis Boost Leaking POD
On top of the poor design of the fill port and the dark plastic of the POD, as you use this device more, you might notice a little liquid on your hands, or a LOT depending on how bad your leaks are.
I’ve had a range of leaks from my device.
From the seam in the 2 part POD
The main culprit being the poor design of the pods being a 2 piece system and clipped together.
It seems the seal above the seam doesn’t actually seal strongly enough to keep juice from seeping past when the pressure of both air and juice push through, primarily when pushing down the silicone fill plug.
With the POD out of the main body, and you squeeze the POD with fingers and thumb on top and bottom of POD, you can see a little flex, and seepage at the seam. This eventually builds up and things start getting messy.
From the bottom of the coil
I’ve also gotten some leakage from the bottom of the coil. This is likely due to pressure after filling, allowing a little juice through the bottom of the coil as the silicone fill plug creates pressure in the POD when closing.
This one is a huge problem if it happens, because despite Geekvape’s assurance that this product is water-proof/water resistant, juice can seep under the pod and into the mod via the small venting holes under it.
There is also a silicone sleeve under these but a build up of juice over time will see juice enter the main body of the mod and get into the internals.
(There have already been some reports of dead devices, from juice getting inside)
Once your mod gets to this point, you’ll find no amount of cleaning will permanently stop you from getting eliquid on your hands through the various joins and seams in the device, unless you strip it completely apart and clear the juice out with alcohol.
I’m going to say it. These 2-piece PODS while being a great idea at the time, seem to not have been quality tested enough for mass production. This is a huge failure on Geekvape’s part and this needs to be rectified somehow.
Coils
The coils for the Boost are designed specifically for it, and you have a choice between two types:
- 0.4Ω Mesh coil
Has a recommended operating wattage of 25 – 33 Watts
This coil performs brilliantly with the airflow wide open and running maximum wattage. I’ve managed to run at about 35 Watts consistently and had no issues what-so-ever. - 0.6Ω Mesh coil
Has a recommended operating wattage of 15 – 25 Watts
This one will be better suited to lower wattage running Nicotine Salts, and also performs quite well. 25 Watts is about it’s limit, but it still creates quite a thick vape, a little cooler, but still great flavour.
Both of these coils are streets ahead of other POD coils. Fantastic flavour, fantastic vapour, and a nice dense vape.
Using mesh was a great decision, it creates a nice consistent vape, and last quite a long time. Chain vaping on these coils is not a problem, I’ve not had a dry hit yet, and these coils just seem to last forever.
Even with a real sweetener driven eliquid, I’ve managed to get almost 2 weeks from the 0.4Ohm Mesh Coil.
Fitting new coils is easy too. Simply remove the POD from the chassis, and holding the pod with the coil end higher (so as not to drop juice everywhere) use the little spanner provided to pull the coil down through the bottom of the POD. Putting a new coil in is the reverse of removal, and just push it home as hard as you can making sure you can no longer see any of the orange oring appearing from the bottom of the POD.
Overall these coils are great. I would like to see a specific Mouth to Lung coil come out sometime in the future though, as even the highest resistance coil available today, is not appropriate to use below the 25 Watt mark. Even though the airflow can be dialed down, the coil is not suitable for lower wattage vaping.
GeekVape have plans to make an RBA POD and base available soon, which looks like it will be an interesting addition, and really expand the use of the Aegis Boost into rebuildable territory. I’m unsure when they are due for release however.
Usage
The Boost is dead simple to use. 5 clicks of the power button will turn the mod on and off. Clicking the up/down buttons will, you guessed it, adjust your wattage up and down in 0.5W increments from 5-40W.
You can lock the power, by holding down the up and down buttons at the same time, and reset the puff-counter by holding ‘down’ and ‘fire’ simultaneously.
As you’d expect, the Aegis Boost also comes with some safety protection built into the chip. These are:
– Over-Temperature Protection
– Over-Current Protection
– Short Circuit Protection
– Over-Discharge Protection
– Over-Charge Protection
Charging
Charging is as simple as pulling out the silicone plug from the side of the mod, and plugging in your micro USB cable. Yep “micro USB”. I would have liked to have seen a USB type 3 plug, for faster charging, but a Micro USB is standard for most vape devices and has been for a long time.
A full charge of the 1500mah battery from empty will take about 1.5 hours, perhaps a little less.
A huge bonus with this device, which seems to have been left out of a lot of recent products is passthrough charging. (You can vape while charging)
Considering vaping this device over 25 Watts will chew through this 1500mah battery, you’ll be thankful that they included this in the chip.
If you’re a bit of a mouth to lung vaper or low wattage, you’ll likely get a full day out of this battery, however if you’re going for slightly higher wattage, let’s say, anything above 20ish watts, this will NOT last you a full day, you’ll likely have to charge it a few times during the day. You may want to take a power bank with you.
Pros:
- Great build quality
- Super comfortable
- Quality Coils and vapour
- IP67 waterproof, dust-proof and shockproof
- Super Lightweight
- Adjustable airflow adjustment
- Passthrough (can vape while charging)
Cons:
- Pods are dark and difficult to see eliquid level
- Filling is difficult and requires trial and error
- Spillage on filling due to no extra hole for air escape
- Difficult to remove POD
- Battery capacity not suited for higher wattage vaping
Conclusion
Here’s the crux. This is a great mod. The vape is phenomenal, the flavour is phenomenal, and the mod itself is very well built. I really like it personally, and would use it on a daily basis. But the negatives are pretty huge.
Whilst for an everyday vaper, the positives might outweigh the negatives, I do have to look at things from another perspective if I’m to be truly objective.
This is not very beginner friendly. You and I might be fine fiddling around with the Aegis Boost in order to keep things running smoothly, but, your average beginner, entry level, is going to struggle with monitoring e-liquid level and re-filling due to the tint and design of the POD itself.
Throw in a silicone plug that encourages seepage under the POD when closing up the fill port, and you’ve got another frustration point.
This device looks like it was meant to be as simple as possible to use, but the design failure of the POD makes the learning curve a little steeper.
Would I recommend this to a seasoned vaper? Absolutely yes! I think it performs excellent and is miles ahead of any POD/AIO hybrid device currently on the market. An able bodied seasoned vaper should have no issues learning the intricacies of this device and working with them to get it to work for them.
Would I recommend this to an entry level beginner? Absolutely not. This device can be frustrating which is precisely NOT what a beginner wants to be focusing on.
I would also not recommend this for any vaper that might have physical issues that might restrict full movement of their hands, or those with poor eyesight or who might not be as coordinated, as this can be quite fiddly.
In order to capture those markets, I think Geekvape need to seriously look at the PODs and try and find some type of improvement on not only filling but being able to see juice levels. Lightening the tint on the pods, and doing something other than a silicone plug for the fill port would be good starting points.
