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Anthony Vapes: Aspire Reax Mini Mod Tech Review

SirRichardRear

AKA Anthony Vapes on Youtube
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Member For 3 Years
Reviewer
Hi All, Anthony Vapes back here with my review of the Aspire Reax Mini Mod. Please see bottom for disclaimers and links. Note: This is not marked as a sample.

Introduction:
The Aspire Reax Mini Mod is the latest Mod from longtime popular manufacturer Aspire. They’ve done a really good job the past few years on all their products but with very few misses. The Reax is a mini internal battery semi adjustable regulated mod. It can come in a kit with the tigon tank but i received the mod only and already reviewed the tigon tank. It’s available in 4 colors, Black, Silver, Blue, and Purple (the kit includes matching tanks). Looking around online i see it pre-order only with wildly varying prices. One china site has the mod for 21.99 and the kit for 38.99 while the cheapest i found in the US was 54.99 for the mod only.

Manufacturer's Specs:
  • Dimensions - 70mm by 31.5mm by 29.6mm
  • Integrated 1600mAh Rechargeable Battery
  • 6 Preset Wattage Levels
  • Variable Voltage
  • Bypass Mode
  • Zinc-Aluminium Alloy Chassis Construction
  • Intuitive Firing Button
  • Mode Button
  • LED Battery Life Indicator Light
  • Wattage Display
  • Automatic 10s Cutoff
  • Short-Circuit Protection
  • Low Voltage Protection
  • Overcharge Protection
  • Over-Head Protection
  • Centered 510 Connection
  • MicroUSB Port
  • 2A charging
Included in box:
  • 1 Aspire Reax Mini Box Mod
  • 1 MicroUSB Cable
  • 1 User Manual
  • 1 Warranty Card
Picture Album
album



Mod Usability
This is an interesting mod so going to start off a little different here than usual and talk about the mod’s purpose and usability. It’s available in a kit with the tigon tank which is a good MTL tank I already reviewed that works with the DO (Direct output) stick as well. This mod is made kind of the same way. It’s an internal battery mod and they don’t list a minimum resistance for it but it’s made for higher resistances. When you build below 1 ohm it works only as a DO mod in bypass mode. When you build above 1 ohm, you can use it as a DO (bypass) or at certain watt options via the mod button and it lights up on the bottom which mode you are in. the options are 8-16 watts in 2 watt increments. So it’s mainly only a mod to be used at low watts and high resistances so with the tigon tank or a MTL rebuildable. It’s pretty limited in it’s options.

Performance
OK, let's talk about performance now, as I said I'm going to do this a little different then usual. In my normal usage well I don’t have a lot of MTL stuff to throw at it and I already gave away my tigon tank but I know how it would work with this already and it would work fine throwing the mod in bypass mode. For usage I used 2 MTL rebuildables on it a .6ohm which is only usable in bypass mode due to the way the mod functions on a galaxies MTL RDTA and a 1.08ohm build in the aromamizer lite RTA. The .6 build worked fine in bypass mode with no issues and as expected. The 1.08 build i used at max watts (16) and it worked fine as well with no issues. So as far as normal usage goes I only used it at bypass or max output and in those cases it worked as expected

Then it came time to test the mod. I Started with a 1.05 ohm build and at bypass and 16 watts it puts out it’s 16 watts no issue so pretty much what I expected based on my normal usage. However trying to test the other watt settings where it has to buck down voltage, the mod performs erratic and poorly. It suffers from the same issues as the vandy vape simple ex mod where it just hunts voltage and doesn't provide a smooth consistent output. Running a test with a .63 ohm build I got 25 watts so it can do more then the 16 if you use bypass mode and go with a lower resistance. Pretty much what I expected as well there based on the build I was using.

In short what we have here is an already limited option mod, that really doesn't do what it says. It’s fine in bypass or with the power turned all the way up but whenever you try to lower the power setting, it performs very poorly so while it can be good in very specific instances and was fine in the way I used it, It’s not a good performer overall and not going to get a pass from me as it doesn't do what it claims it can do.

Charge Rate and Battery
Quick rundown on the specs for the charging and battery. Aspire lists the charge rate at 2A and a battery capacity of 1600mah. I tested this with an inline USB meter and got a max charge rate of 1.79A so close enough and no complaints from me there. The battery size wise I got 1432mah so again a little short of the listed, but close enough to not complain. The battery charges from dead to full in 1 hour so really fast. The battery does last quite a while since the watts used are so low and it’s a good size for such a small mod. Overall good enough listing that are slightly overstated but nothing too bad.

Other Usage Notes
The mod uses a standard 5 click of the fire button to turn on and off. It’s a very simple mod without a lot to it. There is 1 adjustment button above the USB which if you build over 1 ohm for it, allows you to cycle power from 8, 10, 12, 14, and 16 watts or bypass mode which is indicated by a LED on the bottom of the mod, but as we learned already it doesn't work well so only usable in bypass or max power. There is no screen on this either. For battery charge there is 1 pinhole LED under the USB port on the front. It’s on when vaping, green means above 3.8V, blue means 3.5v-3.8v and red means under 3.5v. So a standard 3 step battery meter like a pod system would have. Decent enough but a 4th step would be nice.

There is no button rattle on this mod and it’s build very solid. The Fire button is quite large and clicky and works great. The paint on the mod has held up really well. No wear and tear anywhere even on the bottom since it’s protected by a rubber o-ring. I have the black color which is pretty much all matte black with the exception of the 2 panels on the front and back which is a black and white design. I like the looks and if you like simple mods it’s right up your alley. The 510 pin gave me no issues and looks great and is centered and the mod itself is round. Kind of like a fat and short stick mod. The mod handles a 25mm atomizer with room to spare so accommodates anything you’d realistically want to use on it. Also for branding the mod itself just a small Aspire reax mini on the bottom of the back panel. Nothing too large or gaudy.

Pros:
  • handles 25mm+ atomizers without overhang
  • color options (4)
  • really good charge rate (1.79A tested)
  • charges really fast (1 hour)
  • good battery size for such a small internal battery mod (around 1500mah)
  • good build quality
  • nice simple looks
  • centered 510 pin gave no issues
  • nice fire button
  • simple easy to use power only mod
  • charges full in 1 hour
  • works good as a bypass mode mode for higher resistance coils and should work well with the tigon tank
Cons:
  • Battery meter could be better
  • Does Not work well when using a lower power setting then full or bypass
  • Very limited functionality
Conclusion
So with all that said, do I recommend this mod or not? I don’t like to do a hard yes or no but this one has to lean towards the no for sure. At the end of the day, it doesn't do what it claims to do. With that said I'm sure some people may find it useful to use with a MTL rebuildable and just build around the limitations so it can be used for what it’s good at and it should work fine with the tigon tank if you didn’t want the kit with the much taller stick as the reax mini is way more pocketable and can just be used in bypass mode with the tigon tank so it can have niche appeal and work in very specific cases. So it’s not completely useless, but it certainly isn’t up to the standard of something I can personally recommend. I’ll won’t be adding the mod to my spreadsheet of recs linked down below. Feel free to check that link out if you are in the market for anything new.

This is Anthony Vapes just keeping it honest, hopefully you all can say the same and I'll catch you on my next review.

Product Disclaimer
This product was sent to me from Aspire

Review Disclaimer
Due to possible QC difference your experience may vary.

Reviewer Disclaimer
I’ve been doing vape reviews since late 2016 and have done over 300 reviews to date. I enjoy helping vapers on forums as well and helping contribute to the great vape community. I’m not an “out of the box” reviewer. I do my best to be thorough at all times and have enough experience with many products to tell what’s good and what’s not. All mods get tested with an oscilloscope and stress tested and results are posted in my reviews.

Recommendations and Past Review Links
written reviews list here

Youtube Channel here

Spreadsheet of Recommendations here

Best of 2018 list here

Best of 2017 list here
 

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