Anthony Vapes: Eleaf Pico X Mod Tech Review

[SirRichardRear]

Hi All, Anthony Vapes back here with my review of the Eleaf Pico X Mod. Please see bottom for disclaimers and links. Note: This is not marked as a sample.

Introduction:
The eleaf pico x kit is the latest kit from long time vape manufacturer eleaf. They have been around a long time and are part of the joyetech family (joyetech, eleaf, wismec) but have seem to fade in popularity as of late. They did make a few good mods in 2018 though with the tessera and the iStick nowos and a really good pod system to start off 2019 with the elven. The Pico X kit is a kit is a kit that includes a single 18650 battery pico X mod rated at 75 watts and includes the Melo 4 D22 tank as well which i won’t really be touching on. It’s available in 5 colors Black, Blue, Green, Silver, and Red. Looking around online i see them priced at around 30-35 USD for the mod

Manufacturer's Specs:

• Size: 31 x 50 x 112 (with Melo 4) mm
• Ergonomic and soft rubberized finish
• Display: OLED 0.69 inch
• Operating mode: VW, Bypass, TC-Ni, TC-Ti, TC-SS, TC-M1, TC-M2, TC-M3
• Power range: 1 W to 75 W
• Intelligent wattage recommendation
• Voltage range: 0.5 V to 9 V
• Temperature range: 200℉ to 600℉ or 100℃ to 315℃
• Resistance range: VW/Bypass mode: 0.1Ω to 3Ω, TC modes: 0.05Ω to 1Ω
• Battery type: single 18650 cell (sold separately)
• Firmware Upgradable

Included in box:

• 1 x iStick Pico X (without cell)
• 1 x Quick Charge micro USB cable
• 1 x iStick Pico X user manual

Picture Album
album



Initial Impressions and features
When I first got this mod it was exactly as i expected. It’s a pico. It’s the latest in a long series of pico mods going back to around 2016. I’m no stranger to picos either. I’ve reviewed the pico 25, pico 21700, and pico x. Not to mention it’s been a popularized style due to the popularity of the original pico we seen on many mods like the smok AL85, Vaptio Wall Crawler, The Geekvape Lucid just to name a few. I’m sure more exist out there. So yeah not much to say outside of yeah it’s another pico.

Watt Mode Performance (chart and spreadsheet in picture album)
Now let’s get into some data. I ran my normal testing. I used Sony VTC5A batteries for the testing. Testing resistances were done at .14, .19, and .58 ohms. wattage points were max (75), 60,40, and 20. At .14 ohms it maxed out at 71 watts and 23 amps. For the rest of the testing it it was quite good only being 2 watts off at worst. At .19 it maxed out at 75 watts. The rest of the testing once again really good never being off by more than 1 watt. For the .58 testing it maxed out at 81 watts and 6.837 volts. For the rest of the testing it was good again worse case 4 watts high at 60 but under 60 never off by more than 2. The volts shows there is a boost circuit as there should be with single battery mods. I’ve only come across 2 that don’t have them the ijoy capo squonk and the geekvape lucid and both were fails for me due to that

Overall I felt the performance of this mod was really good. The picos have always been good performers for power mode so no surprises there. The max watts i got was 81 so I consider it to be accurately rated at 75 watts if not a little underrated. The 6.837 volt limit shows there is a boost circuit as their should be and is probably higher but i was capped off by the watt limit. Same could be said of the amp limit as well. Overall the amp and volt limits shouldn’t be an issue for anyone. Their manual does not list a voltage limit or amp limit and I wish they would list all 3 personally. However their site lists a 9V limit which is plausible, i couldn’t find an amp limit anywhere though.

Simplified TLDR Power Performance summary
Mod performance is really good like expected from a pico mod. Accurately rated for watts (81), Yes boost circuit, average amp limit of 23. Volts tested at 6.837. Both volt and amp limits were capped off by the wattage in my resistance range.

 

[SirRichardRear]

Other Usage Notes
The mod uses a standard 5 click of the fire button to turn on and off. 3 clicks enters the menu system there you can cycle between bypass, wattage, TC for SS, Ni, and Ti, and 3 TCR modes. Up and down locks the adjustment buttons but allows you to fire. Up and fire goes into the sub menu which can be hard to navigate as they are all small icons on a small screen that does look great so you’ll need to learn what the icons are. There is an option as to what to show on the screen extra (voltage, puffs, puff time), stealth mode (on or off), Preheat settings (by power and duration) screen timeout, version, live battery voltage reading, lock coil, and set up the TCR memories. 4 clicks of fire allows you to adjust wattage in TC mode. Overall i consider it a mixed bag. The menu for simply changing modes is easy and simple but when you want to adjust the sub menu stuff the icons kind of suck and would have been better with text on such a small screen

The Pico X adjusts by .1 watt increments at under 20 watts and full watt increments over 20 watts. If you hold the adjustment button it does adjust pretty fast so well done there. My only complaint is the adjustment buttons are on the bottom of the mod like the pico 25 and not a fan of that personally. The mod itself is built solid with no rattle at all, and very lightweight. The Battery door is the “pico styled” (duh) cap you unscrew. The threading is nice and it’s easy to get in and out without damaging wraps. The battery goes in positive side down so the cap screws over the negative. The paint is pretty nice as well with no signs of wearing. It’s also rubber coated so it has a nice feel in the hand and all 1 solid color. Personally i really like rubber coating on mods

The fire button is a large and clicky fire button that is a concave rectangle. It works well and It never gets stuck or anything though which is as it should be and is really comfy to use and quite large. The 510 is good and gave me no issues however i only got to use 3 atomizers on this mod due to the size limitations. The mod handles a 22mm atomizer max due to the battery cap. Not a fan of mods limiting size and 22mm isn’t very common these days where even some MTL RTAs are larger than that. You can’t even pair it with the MTL zenith tank as that one is 23mm. It really hurts this mod overall and is the only real issue i have with it. They should have made it 25mm compatible like the pico 25 as the size difference is extremely minimal. The screen is a very small black and white “old school DNA” style screen. Not a fan of that personally. It’s bright enough though and not dim but not very clear and quite small . Also for branding the mod itself there is a small “pico x” on the bottom of one side and a small “eleaf” on the bottom of the other. Very simple and nice so no complaints there. They list a charging rate of 2A, i did some minor testing and the max i got was 1.36A so a 1.5A rating would have been much more applicable IMO, but i don’t recommend charging internally in your mods anyway and still a good charge rate so not a big deal.

Pros:

• batteries are easy to get in and out without damaging wraps
• color options (5)
• nice fire button
• small portable size
• nice rubber coating
• main menu system is good and simple
• good power mode performance
• accurately rated for watts
• good volt limit
• good enough amp limit
• good build quality
• preheat

Cons:

• the sub menu layout is bad
• 22mm atomizer limit
• small not so clear screen
• slightly overrated charge rate
• adjustment buttons on the bottom

Conclusion
So with all that said, do I recommend this mod or not? I don’t like to do a hard yes or no and this one is a little tough for me. The main issue being the 22mm limit. If it could handle at least a 24mm atomizer it would have been a yes for me as a power mode mod. I’m going to call this a 50/50 though. If you only use 22mm atomizers and want one, then go for it. It’s a solid little power mode mod thats affordable and really small. Otherwise i’d say you are really better getting a pico 25 still. Yeah it’s a bit older but there isn’t any real difference in the 2 outside the X having a rubber coating but really limiting your options for atomizers since not a lot of 22mm atomizers are made these days. The pico 25 is functionally the same just without the 22mm limit so I won’t be adding the mod to my spreadsheet of recs linked down below simply because the pico 25 is a more universal option

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 Eleaf

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 around 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

Spreadsheet of Recommendations here

Best of 2018 list here

Best of 2017 list here