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Pugsley's rather dashing review of the Joyetech Espion Kit with Procore X tank

Steampugs

Silver Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Unlisted Vendor
Everyone know what a backlog is?....And I'm not talking about the result of eating too much meat and not enough fibre (Poop humour....really?...at your age?....) ...well...I have one, a huge one actually, and I really need to clear that shit (poor choice of words man)....so....no fucking around, straight for the jugular with a series of reviews that will be over in less time that it takes me to make a whole baby....which...if you ask my Mrs...is actually quite impressive....
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And for those that are now thinking ..'Thank fuck for that you droning on old fuck weasel' ...you are entirely welcome, I'm all about giving back to the community....in fact it reminds me of that time when I ...(shut up....shut up now)
okay....sorry...
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Welcome back my cheerful chuffers, you know that feeling you get when you get a box of chocolates and immediately eat all the ones you love and end up with a box of coffee creams?....Well that's where I am...or at least that's where I thought I was, I had literally months of work to do thanks to the over generosity of my lovely eastern sponsors ...yes I know I know...too much vape gear...first world problems etc etc...regardless..... after skimming the cream off the top over the last few months I was left with....coffee creams, things... I wasn't overly excited about writing up...but...as it happens...I'm a dick (who knew?) ....and some of those coffee creams actually turned out to be golden caramel swirls...and today is one of those exact melty sweet buttery sugar moments.....or....in other words....I had another layer of cream...under the layer of cream....I basically pretty much just had a bowl of cream.....full of caramel swirls.....
I no longer know what I'm talking about....
But I'm really fucking hungry now....
Courtesy of my long suffering eastern chums Heavengifts, I present to you...my first caramel swirl....the Joyetech Espion Kit with ProCore X tank...
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I know!...'How the fuck is that a coffee cream?!?'.....I'm a dick remember, I've been using this thing for 2 months whilst choosing other stuff to review....and I like it....I just.....forgot....?
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alright....easy.....jeez...
The Lowdown
The Espion is a 200w, dual 18650 powered mod with full TC capabilities, all housed in a super compact, super sleek, super sturdy body. As well as a 1.45 inch colour TFT display it also has a centered 510 which is more than happy to have anything up to a 28mm top screwed into it's torso....it'll even take a 30mm without too much drama, but included in this particular kit.... is the ProCore X sub ohm tank...
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First things first....the looks of this kit won't float everyone's boat, it's classy and understated and this can easily be construed as boring to the kind of vapers that dig the type of pocket 'disco' that's peddled by a lot of manufacturers these days.....especially those manufacturers that lack 'taste' (cough-Sigelei-cough) ....but taste is subjective, and what is indeed one man's trash.....is another man's treasure (or woman's...obviously).......(careful now)
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When I first got the Espion I actually thought the bottom 'fluted' half was made of a really hard plastic, and it kind of reminded me of one of those old Philips pocket torches from the 70's.....oh yeah....I'm older than some planets....anyway, turns out it's actually painted alloy, as I discovered today when I scratched the paint off with a screwdriver just to be sure, and the reason I actually thought it was plastic....apart from the fact it feels plastic...is because under the topcoat, there's a white layer of paint....and after 2 months of constant use....it's showing....
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Not to say that the Espion's paint has 'Alien' esque durability though, I mean this thing has been shoved in a bag with other mods every day, and has also been used as a daily at work...so all things considered....it's actually fared quite well.
The screen is large and in charge at 1.45 inches (that's what she.......probably did actually .....say) and is nice, bright and easy to read with an interface that is not at all complicated to navigate.....you can even change the colour scheme with a choice of 5 different uninspiring colours....
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It will only take you a couple of minutes to work out that the button you normally use to turn off your screen (the small one on the left) actually becomes your 'select' button after clicking the fire button 3 times to enter the main menu, the long bar on the right which is normally used to increase or decrease your power (in increments of .1) then becomes your navigate button... the fire button incidentally... becomes the 'back' button. In here you will find all the usual options with very little to surprise you, you get a pre-heat with both power and duration, but it is bereft of anything resembling a curve mode.....I would have quite liked to have seen that to be honest but I can live without it. TC has the usual suspects of wire to choose from as well 3 memory modes for TCR, and you even get the choice of putting the time right in the middle instead of the power, as well as being able to jiggle around with what you have displayed in the corners of the screen, be it puff counter, time or amps.....I mean...who really looks at their mod to tell the time?....I'm yet to find one that keeps the time without batteries in it, causing you to have to set it every time you put your batteries back in....it does have 2a onboard charging via it's front facing USB socket which would obviously cure this particular affliction, but I would never recommend such a practice if a proper charger was available....that just wouldn't be cricket....
The fire button is placed on one side and is a tad on the large side....but follows the brushed stainless finish theme perfectly with Joyetech's logo debossed down the centre...
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Looks-wise...perfect, beautifully made, unfortunately though, what should have been my second favourite thing about the Espion....happens to be the only thing that annoys me....it's just not clicky enough, we need clicky!....you have to exert quite a lot of pressure before you get anything closely resembling a click, and to add insult to injury, after 2 months of constant use...it's developed a 'creak'....only slightly....but it's there....'creak-click.....creak-click'......
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And you can't help but think...if something as classy as the Espion could pick it's own fire button...it would only get away with making that noise once.....
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The top half however....is a thing of beauty, there just simply aren't enough mass produced mods on the market that will take a big top, and it's almost wasted on the not particularly awe inspiring 25mm ProCore X ....
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Steampugs

Silver Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Unlisted Vendor
Look at all that wasted brushed stainless real estate!......Shameful....I mean it's not a bad tank, far from it, it's not something I would use personally, but as part of a complete kit the ProCore X is actually.... quite good...I guess...
Adjustable airflow, hinged top cap for easy filling....a choice of glass and coils....you know the drill....
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I mean I only used the ProC1 0.4ohm DL coil because I don't MTL vape (It also comes with a ProC1-S 0.25ohm MTL coil) and the flavour was.....okay?...Not amazing, but I'm yet to find a pre-made coil sub ohm tank that is ...so....it's as good as anything I have tried before, and as well as the usual stuff you normally get, you do get an included bigger tank and chimney extension taking it from a measly 2ml to a more acceptable 4.5ml ....so....that's nice....(?)
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But.....and it's a big but.....if I was the Espion.....I would maybe think about my long term relationship with the ProCore X....
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Because I just couldn't deal with the guilt....of leaving all that unused glorious brushed stainless on show....when instead...I could cupid the shit out of this situation....and put these two lovebirds together...
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Clearly...made for each other...my beloved Sherman RDA, 28.5mm with barely any noticeable overhang....(sigh)
This is how my Espion has been since the day I had it, which is the sole reason this has become a daily for me, suddenly the creaky fire button didn't matter, and the few chips it had gathered now only added character to this sleek and classy masterpiece....yes...I am in mod love.....this......just so much..........'this'.
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Youuu cheeky little thing you....(sigh...again)
The Specs
ESPION MOD
Size: 83 x 44 x 28mm
Battery: 2x 18650 cells (NOT included)
Output wattage: 1 - 200W
Mode: Power/TC(Ni, Ti, SS)/TCR (M1, M2, M3)/RTC
Display: 1.45-inch TFT color screen
Resistance range: 0.05 - 1.5 ohm (TC/TCR mode)/ 0.1 - 3.5ohm (Power mode)
Temperature Control Range: 100℃-315℃/200F-600F
Max charging current: 2A
Max output current: 30A
Max output voltage: 9V
Thread: 510 thread
ProCore X Tank
Size: 25mm x 40mm (without thread)
Capacity: 2ml ( can be extended to 4.5ml)
Coil: ProC1 0.4ohm DL Head (40 - 80W)/ ProC1-S 0.25ohm MTL Head (25 - 55W)
Thread: 510 thread
Final Thoughts
My final thoughts on the Joyetech Espion Kit with ProCoreX tank would be that...to be perfectly honest I couldn't care less about the ProCoreX...it's a good enough sub ohm tank if that's your thing, but the Espion is in a class of its own, it's so beautifully well made and solid, and if it wasn't for that weird creaky firebutton I would struggle to have a bad word to say about it, it's powerful, feels great in the hand due to the fact that it's barely bigger than a couple of 18650's (around the same size as an Alien...ish) and it just....works, the looks might not be to everyone taste like I said earlier.... but for me....I think it's fucking gorgeous, I'm only sorry I didn't review it earlier when everyone else did, but at least you got to see it a few months down the line, safe in the knowledge that it...well....still works....an accomplishment on it's own when compared to some mods on the market these days....all that's left...is the price...which...being a few months old...has tumbled.
The Price
At time of writing Heavengifts currently have the whole kit on sale for £44.29 / $62.00 which in itself is a good price for such a well made kit, however....my recommendation to most of you would be to scrap the ProCoreX and go for the mod on it's own at a wallet twitching £32.58 / $45.60 .....and as an added bonus....if you input my discount code APUGS15 at checkout, you can slice another 15% off both of those prices, making it £37.65 / $52.70 for the Kit, and £27.69 / $38.76 for the mod on it's own.....and at those prices, I absolutely recommend them to anyone, find those deals here...
Joyetech Espion with ProCore X Tank
Joyetech Espion Mod Only
Oh yeah...and it's available in the following colours...should you want to forego all that lovely brushed stainless....
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Your right.....I actually can't write a quick review...I'll work on that, but at least I have learnt this, sometimes, you think your life is just full of coffee creams, but if you take a closer look....some of those coffee creams could actually be caramel swirls.....and you owe it to caramel swirls to take a look at your bowl of cream and search a little deeper for those delectable little sugary pieces of loveliness underneath the first layer of cream...and into the second layer of cream.....where you would normally find coffee creams...or at least you think they're coffee creams....but they're not.....
Whoa....
I should totally get a job sat crossed legged on the side of a Tibetan mountain wearing nothing but robes and a shaved head whilst bestowing unto the world my deep pearls of wisdom.....or some shit...
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Oh....yeah actually..... that makes much more sense....
As always if you would like to see how the Espion weighed up against other contenders then feel free to hop on over to Steampugs where you will find a cornucopia of fine reviews from the Steamteam as well as a shop choc full of heavily discounted vape gear.
Until next time
Pugs.
 

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