Uwell Zumwalt POD Review
If you’ve been around the vape scene for a while, you’ll remember the Caliburn Pod system that Uwell released last year. It went viral, and sold a heck of a lot of units, due to it’s lightweight and functional form factor, it’s really great auto-draw, and simplicity. It became the benchmark for Pod devices.
Well Uwell are back again, with another POD device, this one not dissimilar to it’s predecessor, but with a few improvements. It’s called the “Uwell Zumwalt”, but you can also call it a Caliburn version 2 if you like!
Big thanks to Vapoureyes for sending this through for me to review, go check them out if you haven’t, lots of goodies over there.
Specifications and Features
- Size: 105.4mm x 30mm x 14.8mm
- Battery Capacity: 520mah
- Material: PCTG, Zinc Alloy, Polycarbonate
- Capacity: 1.6 ml
- Maximum Wattage: 13W
- Coil Resistance: 1.2ohm
- Draw activated
- Top filling pods with Pro-FOCS technology for an excellent vape
- Multiple safety protections
Product Includes:
- 1 x Uwell Zumwalt Pod Starter Kit
- 1.2 ohm Pod pre-installed
- 1 x Micro USB Cable
- User Manual
Photos
First Impressions
First impressions last, and straight out of the box this device, lives up to the hype! As soon as you open the box, you’ll notice the shine on the main body, it has quite the sharp, and sparkly metallic finish under a gloss top layer, that instantly screams luxury. The colour shifts too, where mine was a very masculine metallic electric blue, in the direct sunlight, it shifts to more of a purple shimmer.
Picking it up, you’ll notice the heft first and foremost, this is quite heavy for it’s size, but further establishes that it’s tough and sturdy, with a quality build to it.
The “Zumwalt” is a no-button, auto-draw, POD device, designed for Nicotine Salts, MTL vaping style, and is easy to throw in the pocket when you’re out and about.
The Main Body
The main body is very pretty, with it’s shimmery finish, it’s an unusual shape, much like a surfboard, or boat, as the name “Zumwalt” refers to.
“The Zumwalt is a class of US Navy ships, guided missile destroyers, designed to launch anti-aircraft guided missiles. Known to have stealth capabilites”.
The Zinc-alloy and polycarbonate body, is well built, with no imperfections, a nice weight to it and of course a lovely shimmery finish.
Up top there is a push/pull out pod with a similar fill function to the Caliburn, a standard micro USB port on the side, and a small LED below.
The POD
You’ll notice the similarities that this POD has toward the caliburn, they physically look very similar, have the same type of fill function (removing the top black mouth piece to fill), and also have similar coils.
Inside you’ll find a 1.6ml e-liquid capacity, and a 1.2ohm resistance coil. I’m not sure on the type of coil, but I’m guessing its a single wire wind, similar to the Caliburn and Koko coils.
These two piece pods, have a black base and translucent body, allowing you to see your e-liquid very easily. Unlike the Caliburn however, Uwell have left a narrow strip of the clear pod visible while the POD is in place, allowing you to hold it up to the light and clearly see where your e-liquid level is at, without having to take the pod out. Even still it’s just as easy to remove it to get a true measure.
The two pieces of the POD look to be clipped together just like the Caliburn too, I was hoping that Uwell might have addressed this, as this is where I found that the Caliburn seeped e-liquid the most, unfortunately the “Zumwalt” also does the same thing, just not as much.
The POD fits into the device body with a significant dull click, you’ll know if it’s inserted correctly, no magnets here!
Airflow
The airflow of the “Zumwalt” is what I’d describe as a semi-restricted Mouth to Lung airflow. It’s not as tight as a traditional MTL device, but it’s also not so airy that you cannot get a MTL inhale from it. Quite the contrary, the auto-draw sensitivity is strong, and fires easily allowing your MTL inhale to feel more ‘instant’. The draw is slightly tighter than the Caliburn, with a much more sensitive activator.
Battery
520mah doesn’t sound like a large battery, and it isn’t. But, on a high resistance device, that 520mah will last you close to a full day, without having to charge, this device was designed to be thrown in your pocket as an out and about carry which it does sensationally.
You’ll notice a small LED near the bottom of the device that lights up in various colours depending on how much battery you have left.
Red when nearly flat, Blue when mid way and Green when full.
Charging is super simple with the Micro USB port and cable provided, and you should get a full charge from empty, within an hour.
Filling
As I mentioned earlier, filling the “Zumwalt” is similar to the Caliburn, pop the top off of the pod (the black piece) and fill her up. I’ve noticed it’s a little easier to remove that top POD cover than it was on the Caliburn, so that should save your fingers a little. Don’t be scared, give it a good yank!
You’re going to get about 1.6ml into these PODs, which is not a lot, but as with the battery, on a high resistance coil like this, and the MTL airflow that is in these PODS, that 1.6ml will last you quite a while.
Any Leaks?
No leaks per-se, but there is some seepage. I’ve found that just like the Caliburn, you’ll get a little seepage from the side clips where the 2 piece POD is clipped together. It’s not a lot, it’s negligible, and won’t leak down into the body of the device, but it does have to be mentioned.
You’ll likely notice it more between extreme temperatures or pressure. Walking into a really warm room from outside might see that seepage appear quicker than if you’d spend all day out in the cold.
Usage
There really is nothing that I can say, here. This is a super simple device, there are no buttons, and all you do to activate it is draw on the POD. The suction fires the device and the coil with quite an impressive sensitivity.
Pros:
- Simple to use
- Elegant and stylish
- Well built, great quality
- Great form factor (comfortable)
- Decent battery life
- Really sensitive auto-draw
- Lovely MTL draw
Cons:
- Slight seepage at bottom of POD
- Small battery
- Small eliquid capacity
- All in one PODs, coil is not changeable
- Kit only comes with one POD
Where to Buy:
You can purchase the Uwell Zumwalt through Uwell’s many resellers all over the world. But, Vapoureyes sent this through to me, so if you’re looking at picking one up, I recommend the Vapoureyes Online Store, or you can also visit them in their B&M store, The Zumwalt retails for approximately $34.95 AU!
Conclusion
I’ve been kicking around with the Zumwalt over the last few weeks, and my original POD is still going strong! And thankfully it has because the kit only comes with the one POD.
I’ve found the flavour and draw of this device to not only be better than it’s predecessor the Caliburn, but I really like the extra weight of it too. That extra weight provides a quality and a more sturdy feel to it.
With a semi-restricted MTL airflow, and high resistance coil, Nicotine salts are perfect for this, and that makes for the ideal carry POD for when I’m out and about. The battery lasts a decent amount of time, so I can grab it without worrying that I’m going to run out of battery while I’m out.
The one thing I’d like to see Uwell improve upon are the two piece PODs, I’ve been saying this a lot lately, but there really shouldn’t be any seepage in a POD device designed in this day and age. This isn’t a huge deal, since there isn’t really enough seepage to cause any issues, but fusing the pieces together like Voopoo have done with their Drag X Pods is a great idea, and will make a great little device even better!
All in all, I’m pretty impressed by the “Zumwalt”, a lovely draw in a pocket carry device! Great work Uwell!
Rating overview
