Vapefly Optima Pod Kit Review

Boy Oh Boy do I have have something for you all today! It’s been a long time since I was super, over the moon, impressed by something that I’ve reviewed. Sure, there are plenty of products that do their job really well, and are great pieces of gear, but there are not many products that I’ll continue to use even past the review phase.

Without doubt, this one is going to be my work setup for a long time to come! It’s portable, has enough power for a satisfying vape, and the build quality is superb! But the best feature? Absolutely leak proof. There is zero seepage or leaking through the bottom of either coil, the pre-made or the ‘build-your-own’ RMC coil.

Read on below to see the Vapefly Optima Pod in action!

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

Photos

First Impressions & Rundown

The Optima Pod is the latest Pod release from Vapefly, who are quickly becoming well known for creating quite imaginative designs and knocking out some fantastic products. This time around, Vapefly have created a super slim device, with some lovely styling, excellent specs, and they’ve even thrown in some rebuildable options to boot!

The Optima has a maximum power output of 80 Watts driven from your external 18650 battery, multiple power modes as well as safety features, an ingenious ‘U’ shaped top to bottom airflow that produces some excellent flavour, as well as rebuildable options such as a rebuildable RMC coil, which is Vapefly’s rebuildable mesh coil, and for an additional purchase, a really cool RDTA Pod, that you can build either with their signature mesh or your very own coils.

All of this in a relatively small form factor, and a lovely finish has me really excited about this one.

The Body

The main body of the Optima is quite small, only a little wider/deeper than an 18650 battery and a Pod taller, it’s a slimline device, really small compared to other Pod Mods, with a quality finish that oozes class.

Made completely from I’m guessing, Aluminium Alloy, the version that I received has a really sweet brushed stainless finish to it. You won’t find any plastic parts to the Optima, it’s all alloy, with a slight heft to it just to make sure you get a quality feel from it. Even the battery door is made from Alloy!

Up top, the Pod recess is a neat design, with 2 connection pins, and 4 large star screws holding everything together, and giving the magnets in the pod something to clip to.

On the front edge of the device, you’re greeted with a decent sized fire button, and two smaller up/down selection buttons, all protruding slightly from the body, but with a nice feel to them. Between the buttons you’ll find a 0.91 inch black and white screen with a fresh font, and slightly compressed layout.

Underneath the selection buttons, you’ll find a USB Type-C charge port, for a fast charge while out and about.

On the back is the battery tray. Made from alloy just like the body, you’ll lift the magnetic battery door away from the device, to reveal a battery tray, with spring loaded terminals, and clear battery indicator markings.
The door fits really well, with no wiggle or movement on my copy, and feels just as well made as the rest of the device, with the magnets snapping together firmly for a seamless finish.

The PODs

You’ll recieve 2 different Pods in the box. Both of them will take a generous 3.5ml of e-liquid capacity. One is for the standard Vapefly Freecore mesh coils, and another for the rebuildable RMC Coil. They are both fairly identical besides the coil seat inside the pod being slightly different between the two types of coils.

The design of these Pods is quite clever, while delivering air from under the coil, the coils remain recessed right into the base of the Pod so that the airflow is not exposed to the underside, making sure you get zero seepage under the Pod.

Instead of bottom airflow like other Pods, the Optima uses a ‘U’ shaped airflow, with the inlets being in the top of the side windows, directing air down the one side, and then under the coil via a special channel in the Pod itself. Very similar to how the Geekvape Boost Pods separate airflow from the e-liquid reservoir inside the Pod.

There is no adjustable airflow unfortunately, but the airflow through these Pods is spot on, designed to be a little restricted, for that perfect restricted yet, dense direct to lung inhale.

The mouthpiece/drip tip is built right into the Pod, so you won’t be able to customize this with your own drip tips, but it does have a nice feel to it.
As well as an option for airflow adjustment, this is one thing that I would have liked to have seen on the Optima, a replaceable 510 drip tip option.

Standard Coils

The pre-made Freecore Mesh coils that ship with this device are excellent. They have great flavour, nice sharpness for fruits, and seem to produce quite a depth in dessert flavours. They’re also have quite a long life, I’ve only had to change coil out after 2 full weeks of usage.
I love that Vapefly have printed the coil details on the bottom, so you can see which coil you have in at a glance!

• 1 x FreeCore Mesh 0.3ohm Coil (Pre-installed)
  This coil is rated for between 30-40 Watts, and it’s spot on. At around 35 Watts I was getting a nice dense vape, full of flavour, as I’d expect from a subohm coil
  
• 1 x FreeCore Mesh 0.6ohm Coil
  This coil is designed for 20-28Watt vaping, and is a little cooler with a slightly tighter airflow than the 0.3ohm coil, not quite a MTL coil, but would be perfect for those looking to help their battery last even longer.
  
  

RMC Rebuildable Coils

Vapefly’s RMC Coil (Rebuildable Mesh Coil) is a brilliant addition to the Optima Kit, it allows users to make their very own mesh coils, just like you’d get out of the factory, but at a fraction of the price. I have to admit, Vapefly have done a wonderful job with these.

They’ve made it super simple to build these yourself, with very clear instructions, and a seamless experience, it’s really surprising how professional these coils come out with the tools provided!

How to build an RMC Coil

The instructions are pretty clear, but here’s a quick run down.

• Take a piece of cotton strip, and hold it against one of the mesh pieces provided (flat part of mesh to cotton)
• Wrap the whole thing around the coiling tool provided.
• Holding the cotton really tight to the coiling tool, feed the coil and cotton, legs first into the coil housing.
• Fold the first leg down and into the groove provided in the housing.
• Insert the white rubber seal.
• Insert the round contact pin with the small cutout lined up with the other coil leg, and press it home.
• While the coiling tool is still inserted, clip the excess of the coils off, flush with the coil housing.
• Clip the excess cotton strip off.
• Remove the coiling tool, and screw on the outer piece of the coil housing.
• Finito!

RDTA Pod

Not included in the Optima Kit, but something that I received as a little extra, is the RDTA Pod. Available as an optional extra, the main pod is similar to the others, with the exception of the deck and RDA cap that sits up on top. This RDTA like others, wicks just like a genesis style tank, and has two stainless steel ropes that hang down into the tank for wicking.

This is quite a versatile little RDTA pod with the option of using mesh strips, or coils whichever you prefer. The deck is a two clamp style deck with phillips screws on either side to close the clamps. To ease the cotton throught, the bed is also spring mounted allowing you to push it down to get more cotton in to promote even better contact between the mesh and cotton.

The cap is quite clever too, with 8 airflow holes on each side in honeycomb configuration for a nice smooth airflow and adjustable to many different airflow choices. It also has quite a condensed chamber for a nice dense flavour.

All in all I’ve been quite pleased with the RDTA, it puts out some fantastic flavour, and is quite easy to build on. I did experience a little leaking or seepage but that’s to be expected from an RDTA due to not being able to really hold them horizontally.

Airflow

The airflow for both the premade Freecore coils and the RMC rebuildable coil is exactly the same. Vapefly are calling this airflow a “U” shaped, leak-proof airflow, which of course it is! The airflow comes in through the top of the side windows in the pod, travels down through it’s own chamber, and then up and under the coil. Doing this allows the coil to seat further into the POD and not exposing it’s airflow slots to the bottom of the Pod, it’s completely sealed, meaning…. Zero leaks!

It’s quite a smooth airflow, however not adjustable which is a bit of a shame. But the flipside is, that it’s quite a good restricted direct to lung airflow with a really tasty dense flavour to it. The fact that it’s not adjustable might be an issue for you, but as it turns out, it was absolutely spot on for my style of vaping.

Battery

The Optima Pod, takes an external 18650 battery, and is inserted by removing the side battery lid, which is completely magnetic. The battery sled inside is very neat and tidy, with spring loaded terminals and clear battery orientation markings.

The battery door is a perfect fit, snapping into place nicely with no wiggle or movement at all!

Filling

Filling is super simple, the e-liquid fill port is on the side of the Pod underneath the silicone plug. There’s really nothing to complain about here at all, the hole is plenty big enough for all eliquid nozzles and allows air to flow back out as you’re filling. You can fill this quite quickly.
There are going to be a few who would have liked to have seen a top fill design on these, but in all honesty, removing the Pod is not an issue, plus, removing the Pod to fill, limits the chance that you might spill e-liquid all over the device.

Any Leaks?

Absolutely none. Not even any seepage. This device is 100% leak-free, and is a huge selling point, since almost every Pod device leaks after some time.

Usage

The Vapefly Optima is not just about looks, but it Vapefly have put a lot of thought into it’s operation too. With a nice clean display and straight forward button combinations, it’s a dream to use. I’ve found their alternative power modes quite useful, which change the power curve slightly to either give you a softer or harder vape, whichever you prefer.

Here are some of the operations you can do.

• 5 x Fire = Turns device On/Off.
• Press & Hold Up/Down = Locks adjustments.
• Press Fire & Up buttons = Flips screen 180 degrees.
• 3 x Fire = Enters 2 options:Preheat (Soft, Norm, Hard & User) or DIY if you wish to exceed the wattage limit.
• Puff = To reset your puff counter.
  

Pros:

• Nice and slim
• Excellent build quality
• Completely leak free
• Great flavour from the Freecore and RMC coils
• Easy to fill, easy to use
• USB Type-C charging
• A good choice of accessories
• RMC Coil accessories come with it making it even bigger bang for the buck

Cons:

• No adjustable airflow
  

Where to Buy:

You can purchase the Vapefly Optima directly through Vapoureyes, here in Australia. Currently it’s selling for about $49.94 AU which is a fantastic price considering all that you get!

Conclusion

So good, what a fantastic device! I’ve not put this down since I took delivery of it. Not only is it a lovely looking bit of kit, but it’s quality made with some heft to it, and is really thoughtfully put together.

With features such as external battery, maximum 80 Watts, adjustable power, rebuildable coil heads, along with a completely leak proof design, this Pod really impressive, and should be right at the top of the list as far as the best Pod Mods of 2021 is concerned.

On top of the stock features, you can also pick yourself up an RDTA Pod to go with this if you’re after a more advanced rebuildable option, showing that Vapefly are truly serious about catering to what vapers are looking for.

This one of those devices that can travel with you during your vaping journey from beginner with premade coils, to rebuilding the RMC mesh coil, and even the more advanced RDTA once you decide to get into rebuildables!

You’ve done a really lovely job on this Vapefly, excellent work!

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.