Hardware Review: V-Pack II by Vaper Empire

Today, I’ll be reviewing something a little different. Coming off of the back of this week’s “Mouth to Lung” eliquids from Vapers Empire, I have one of their beginner’s kits to take a look at.

Vaper Empire’s offerings are focused toward the newer vaper, and offer discreet, simple products in sleek packaging, perfect for those who don’t want to get bogged down in the complexity of the many vaping products out there in the wild.

Today, I’ll be looking at their V-Pack 2, which is a beginner’s kit, very similar in size and shape to a cigarette.

Otherwise known as a “cig-a-like”, this type of e-cigarette has been around for many years, purpose built to not only resemble a cigarette, but to mimick it in almost every way.

“Oh no, not one of those horrible things!” you might say, especially some of you advanced vapers who have moved on to sub-ohming and more powerful setups. I think it’s important to review the latest and greatest cloud chasing machines but it’s also equally important that some of these simple, beginner friendly setups also see the light of day too.

Let’s all not forget, that while the more advanced vapers are the more vocal out there, there are many that choose to stay quiet, those that are battling away right now with not only trying to quit the cigarettes, but also getting completely confused by facebook groups, other vaper’s suggestions, and may just be looking for something dead simple to help them get to where they need to be.

I actually started with a setup like this one myself, as did my wife, and many of my work colleagues that came to me to help set them up so many years ago. So this is a little nostalgic for me, and find it quite interesting to see how these types of vapes may have improved over the years!

So lets get stuck into it!

Specifications and Features

Size of PCC (Portable Charging Case):

110mm x 64mm x 16mm

V-Pack II general features:

Weight of PCC: Approx 76g
Battery Capacity of PCC: 1200mAh
Rated Battery Voltage: 3.7V
Input Voltage: 5V
Output Voltage: 4.7V
Charging time: Approx 4 hours
Size of 1 cigarette: 8.5mm x 100mm
Weight of 1 cigarette: 8.7g
E-liquid of each cartridges: 0.8ml – E-liquid of each cartridge equals approximately 40pcs typical tobacco cigarettes
Puffs: Approx 400 x ‘puffs’
Content of battery: 170mAh
Input Voltage: 4.7V
Charging time: Approx 2 hours
Expected Shelf Life of battery: Over 300-cycle recharge test
Indicator LED light: White

Product Includes:

1 x V Pack II Portable Charging Case in Black (1200 mAh)
2 x V-Pack II Battery Stem in Black (170mAh)
1 x USB Power Cable
1 x Vaper Empire Australian USB Wall Adapter
1 x User Manual (English Language)
4 x V-Pack II – Cartomiser 5-Pack

Where to Buy

The V-Pack II is available, along with all of Vaper Empire’s other products directly from the Vaper Empire Website

The Review

The V-Pack 2 vape kit consists mainly of 2 cigarette sized batteries, with a charging case not much taller than a cigarette packet, where you can charge your batteries on the go. The entire kit is lightweight, very portable, and very easy to use.

This 2 piece system is automatic. No buttons, no triggers. It is suction activated, so as soon as you take a draw, the coils heat up inside of the cartomizer and you’re in business!

The batteries

As I’ve mentioned, you get x2 stick batteries in the pack, they are rated at 170mah, which might not seem much, and it’s not, but rest assured, you’ll still get a couple of hours of vaping from each of these. When you’ve discharged one, in the case it goes for recharge. So, in essence, you are very much rotating batteries in and out of the portable charger. Each battery does not need a lot of capacity, it’s probably more important exactly how many charges you get out of them.

They are quite small, a little smaller than other cig-a-like batteries like the ‘kr808d’ and very light, so new vapers coming from smoking won’t feel like they are holding a heavy battery between their fingers, well, a little less so than others anyway!

Each individual battery will take an hour or so to charge from the main portable charger.

The cartomizers

This system uses cartomizers. If you’ve never heard of these, they are about the size of your cigarette filter, a thin steel tube, with a small coil, an airtube in the middle with some cotton wadding packed in. This is where all of the magic happens. The wadding is saturated with eliquid, and makes contact with the coil, which then creates vapour when activated. Depending on which kit you buy, you’ll get a handful of these, which are also available through Vaper Empire pre-loaded with juice. I haven’t found any listings on their site for empty cartomizers, so I believe they are only available pre-filled.

I have some good news however, these cartomizers are not just single use. Just as we did to back in the day, you can pop the end off (the end where your lips go) with a paperclip, and drip your own juice around the outside of the internal tube, to saturate the wadding/wick, and get a few more uses out of each cartridge! Otherwise, you can just treat them as disposable and pop another one on once you start noticing a drop off in flavour.

Another thing I’ve noticed, is that Vaper Empire have a removeable sticker sealing the business end of the pre-filled cartomizer which is a nice touch. Fresh juice every time!

The Charging Case

The charging case that comes with the kit is very cool. It’s made of a shiny black plastic, very sleek and is quite thin, and tall, a little longer than a cigarette packet, but really comfortable to just pop in your top shirt or jacket pocket.

To open it, you slide down on the front, and the top will flip open on it’s spring, giving you access to your spare cartomizers and vape batteries.

It is a bit of a finger print magnet, but a simple wipe gets it all nice and shiny again.

It holds up to 3 cartomizers, as well as a full setup (battery + cartomizer) while also having a dedicated space to have one battery on charge at all times. Having that extra battery in there is great, as you can just alternate charging so you always have one freshly charged.

The case has an internal battery with a capacity of 1200mah, which will recharge up to about 8 batteries before the actual case has to be recharged (which only takes approximately 3-4 hours to charge. Plug it in overnight and you’ll be set for the next day. (I’ve found that I’ve only needed to charge the case every 2 days, while I have been using it, so it does last quite a decent amount of time)

There is a digital display on the case, which you’ll only notice when popping a battery in for charge, or charging it from the power point. Otherwise its hidden by the black coating of the case. It’s a very basic percentage for the case’s battery level, as well as a battery bar indicator to show how charged your individual ecig battery is.

Flavours

The cartridges or cartomizers that you purchase for these, have some pretty good flavours from what I’ve tried. I found them to be all pretty true to their descriptions, and taste really good, even if the cartomizers don’t provide a really strong flavour themselves. I was particularly impressed by their tobacco and coffee cartomizers which put out quite a decent amount of flavour.

The Price

The price of these kits is pretty high. But, while $129 dollars or so seems like a pretty big price, comparing it to how much you would spend on cigarettes in a week, puts it all back into perspective. You could also argue that for what it is, Vaper Empire’s offerings are much more expensive than other comparable products on the market too, but don’t forget the main focus of this company is to help new-comers and beginners start their journey away from the cigarettes, with as little confusion and roadblocks as possible. I don’t know about you, but I would have jumped at the opportunity to pay a little extra to a company to hold my hand and provide me the means to get started without having to spend countless hours, days, weeks trying to figure everything out for myself back in the day. In fact, I actually did, and got a lot less for the amount that I spent back then compared to what these guys offer.

Pros:

* Sleek and quality feel
* Really simple to use
* Recharge your batteries on the go

* Great for beginners

Cons:

* Low power output
* A little on the expensive side

Conclusion

This is a really cool little gizmo, I’ve found it to be well made and reliable, easy to use, and just works.
It’s not dissimilar to cig-a-likes from years ago, so not much has changed as far as technology is concerned, but the charging case makes life a lot easier, and allows you to just grab it and go.

If you’re a new vaper, or thinking about giving up the cigarettes, and are looking for something small that you can carry around with you easily, this could be a great setup for you!

It won’t punch huge clouds of vapour out, but mimics smoking very well and is totally simple to use.