Thank you for checking out my review of the GeekVape Aegis Squonker 100W TC Kit with Tengu RDA which Heavengifts was kind enough to provide.
Disclaimer: I received a review sample so instead of posting what I received (didn't include an owner's manual) I am just going to post what Geekvape shows on their website below. What I received may differ from the production units.
Getting to know the Aegis Squonk Mod
The Aegis name has been around for a while now, first with the original which was a waterproof and shock-resistant 26650 mod which did well. It was then followed up with other versions, my favorite being the Aegis Legend. They're back at it again with the Aegis Squonk Mod which carries on the tradition of being IP67 waterproof, shockproof and dustproof. Why you would want to continue using a squonk mod after it has been drenched in water is beyond me, the juice is coming from the dang thing but whatevs.
If you have owned an Aegis in the past then this will seem familiar, same screen layout although not as bright or clear as the Aegis Legend, wondering if that is to save battery life? Same easy to navigate menu, just click the fire button 3 times then use the fire button to scroll through the menu, up/down buttons to adjust. While not as good as the Legends screen I personally have always liked the Aegis screens, easy to see in any lighting condition. Single 18650, I think they missed an opportunity here, a single 21700 would have been much better. They did include a whopping 10ml squonk bottle, I had no idea as there were no specs on the sample box, kept filling up my syringe until it topped off, a full 10ml.
When I first got it I tried like hell to remove the squonk bottle, I was really wondering how to fill it as there was no info. Looked at the top and saw the grooves and low and behold success.
You just push it back and the fill port appears, good luck trying to fill it with a bullnose bottle with that small fill port. Being so close to the 510 means having to remove your tank when using 100ml and up chubby gorilla bottles, 60ml work with a tank attached.
After filling it up I then looked and thought hmmm, where is the hole on the 510?
Squeezed the bottle to see the 510 area filling with juice, OK, the hole is in there somewhere....cool. With all the tanks I tried the squonking worked great, there is a rubber gasket to make sure it doesn't leak out under the RDA. Definitely different but it works really well.
Now you might be asking where is the USB, did they decide to leave it out? Nope, it is there and this time you can use it to charge the battery and it even offers passthrough charging, something the original Aegis did not offer.
The pic on the right shows the USB cover at the bottom left.
Just use your fingernail on the top part to peel it back to expose the USB port.
The full top of the mod shows the 510 and slide back cover for filling. The bottom uses the screw on battery cap which has course threads making it easy to use, about 1 full rotation to get it open or closed....nice.
You can even replace the squonk portion if you want to use it as a non-squonk mod, this cover is not included and must be purchased separately.
I guess if you decide squonking isn't for you then you have options, don't have to ditch the mod if you don't want to look sketchy using an RTA on a squonk mod.
The mod is really comfortable to hold, no sharp edges and no rattle of any kind. Feels solid in the hand but is not too heavy. Easy enough to use with your index finger to hit the fire button and thumb to squonk, I found myself using it more firing with my thumb and using my fingers to squonk but either way was fine.
Battery life with the included dual coil Tengu RDA was not ideal, why they didn't use a single coil RDA with a single 18650 mod is beyond me. Much better battery life using a single coil RDA or better yet the mesh Profile RDA, loved that combo. Of course, I forgot to take a pic with the Profile RDA, but I did get a couple with the Cthulu Mjolnir and Asmodus Bunker single coils RDA's. I got about 170 puffs using a Molicel P26A 25amp 26000 mAh 18650 in TC with the Profile RDA using OFRF SS316L mesh. That was enough to finish off about 8ml of juice before I needed to replace the battery.
Performance
For power mode, they offer all the options of the previous Aegis mods, Power, Bypass and Variable Power Curve (VPC). All work well, I am especially a fan of the VPC, easy to set up and almost makes up for the fact that there is no preheat option. For all the modes they worked as promised and fired up quick which is almost a given with modern mods these days.
I was impressed at how it read ohms, never off by more than 0.02 ohms and most of the time spot on. The only glitch I found is if it has been sitting a while and you screw on a new tank it will miss asking you if it is a new coil. Just unscrew the tank and screw it back on and it will give you the new coil/old coil screen to confirm.
TC with SS316L coils and mesh was a lot better with single coils and it's performance with both Vandy Vape SS316L 200 mesh and OFRF (Soon to be rebranded Wotofo) SS316L nexMESH with one caveat. With the Vandy Vape SS316L 200 mesh I had to lower my preferred 430F to 415 or even lower at times until I found the sweet spot. With the OFRF SS316L nexMESH, I had to raise it to between 450 to 470F. Both offered a really nice vape, I almost exclusively used mesh in TC and it prevented dry hits, for the most part, the Vandy Vape SS316L 200 mesh being the trickest to dial in. I did a new VV SS316L 200 mesh build and this one is working great at 430F and 60 watts. Different results than before but still pretty good, just not consistent.
With dual coils, it was hit or miss, not bad but not the greatest and a lot of times I reverted back to power mode. This might have a lot to do with just not enough power from a single 18650 battery unless it is fresh. Did a better job with single-coil TC builds but even then it was good, not great depending on the build. With the right build, it did really nice TC with a single-coil but yeah, I found myself reverting back to power mode for a more satisfying vape about half the time.
Disclaimer: I received a review sample so instead of posting what I received (didn't include an owner's manual) I am just going to post what Geekvape shows on their website below. What I received may differ from the production units.
Getting to know the Aegis Squonk Mod
The Aegis name has been around for a while now, first with the original which was a waterproof and shock-resistant 26650 mod which did well. It was then followed up with other versions, my favorite being the Aegis Legend. They're back at it again with the Aegis Squonk Mod which carries on the tradition of being IP67 waterproof, shockproof and dustproof. Why you would want to continue using a squonk mod after it has been drenched in water is beyond me, the juice is coming from the dang thing but whatevs.
If you have owned an Aegis in the past then this will seem familiar, same screen layout although not as bright or clear as the Aegis Legend, wondering if that is to save battery life? Same easy to navigate menu, just click the fire button 3 times then use the fire button to scroll through the menu, up/down buttons to adjust. While not as good as the Legends screen I personally have always liked the Aegis screens, easy to see in any lighting condition. Single 18650, I think they missed an opportunity here, a single 21700 would have been much better. They did include a whopping 10ml squonk bottle, I had no idea as there were no specs on the sample box, kept filling up my syringe until it topped off, a full 10ml.
When I first got it I tried like hell to remove the squonk bottle, I was really wondering how to fill it as there was no info. Looked at the top and saw the grooves and low and behold success.
You just push it back and the fill port appears, good luck trying to fill it with a bullnose bottle with that small fill port. Being so close to the 510 means having to remove your tank when using 100ml and up chubby gorilla bottles, 60ml work with a tank attached.
After filling it up I then looked and thought hmmm, where is the hole on the 510?
Squeezed the bottle to see the 510 area filling with juice, OK, the hole is in there somewhere....cool. With all the tanks I tried the squonking worked great, there is a rubber gasket to make sure it doesn't leak out under the RDA. Definitely different but it works really well.
Now you might be asking where is the USB, did they decide to leave it out? Nope, it is there and this time you can use it to charge the battery and it even offers passthrough charging, something the original Aegis did not offer.
The pic on the right shows the USB cover at the bottom left.
Just use your fingernail on the top part to peel it back to expose the USB port.
The full top of the mod shows the 510 and slide back cover for filling. The bottom uses the screw on battery cap which has course threads making it easy to use, about 1 full rotation to get it open or closed....nice.
You can even replace the squonk portion if you want to use it as a non-squonk mod, this cover is not included and must be purchased separately.
I guess if you decide squonking isn't for you then you have options, don't have to ditch the mod if you don't want to look sketchy using an RTA on a squonk mod.
The mod is really comfortable to hold, no sharp edges and no rattle of any kind. Feels solid in the hand but is not too heavy. Easy enough to use with your index finger to hit the fire button and thumb to squonk, I found myself using it more firing with my thumb and using my fingers to squonk but either way was fine.
Battery life with the included dual coil Tengu RDA was not ideal, why they didn't use a single coil RDA with a single 18650 mod is beyond me. Much better battery life using a single coil RDA or better yet the mesh Profile RDA, loved that combo. Of course, I forgot to take a pic with the Profile RDA, but I did get a couple with the Cthulu Mjolnir and Asmodus Bunker single coils RDA's. I got about 170 puffs using a Molicel P26A 25amp 26000 mAh 18650 in TC with the Profile RDA using OFRF SS316L mesh. That was enough to finish off about 8ml of juice before I needed to replace the battery.
Performance
For power mode, they offer all the options of the previous Aegis mods, Power, Bypass and Variable Power Curve (VPC). All work well, I am especially a fan of the VPC, easy to set up and almost makes up for the fact that there is no preheat option. For all the modes they worked as promised and fired up quick which is almost a given with modern mods these days.
I was impressed at how it read ohms, never off by more than 0.02 ohms and most of the time spot on. The only glitch I found is if it has been sitting a while and you screw on a new tank it will miss asking you if it is a new coil. Just unscrew the tank and screw it back on and it will give you the new coil/old coil screen to confirm.
TC with SS316L coils and mesh was a lot better with single coils and it's performance with both Vandy Vape SS316L 200 mesh and OFRF (Soon to be rebranded Wotofo) SS316L nexMESH with one caveat. With the Vandy Vape SS316L 200 mesh I had to lower my preferred 430F to 415 or even lower at times until I found the sweet spot. With the OFRF SS316L nexMESH, I had to raise it to between 450 to 470F. Both offered a really nice vape, I almost exclusively used mesh in TC and it prevented dry hits, for the most part, the Vandy Vape SS316L 200 mesh being the trickest to dial in. I did a new VV SS316L 200 mesh build and this one is working great at 430F and 60 watts. Different results than before but still pretty good, just not consistent.
With dual coils, it was hit or miss, not bad but not the greatest and a lot of times I reverted back to power mode. This might have a lot to do with just not enough power from a single 18650 battery unless it is fresh. Did a better job with single-coil TC builds but even then it was good, not great depending on the build. With the right build, it did really nice TC with a single-coil but yeah, I found myself reverting back to power mode for a more satisfying vape about half the time.
