SirRichardRear
AKA Anthony Vapes on Youtube
VU Donator
Diamond Contributor
Member For 3 Years
Reviewer
Hi All, Anthony Vapes back here with my review of Smoant Charon Mini Mod. Please see bottom for disclaimers and links.
Introduction:
The Smoant Charon Mini is the latest mod from popular company Smoant. While not as popular as some of the large one’s overall, they are very well loved in the vape community and caught on with their battlestar mod form 2 years ago. The Charon mini is a dual 18650 battery mod listed at 225 watts with a massive 2 inch color screen and an updated version of their Ant chip labeled the ant225. It’s available in 4 colors Black, Red, Gold, and Rainbow and I see them online for around 40-50 USD and also available in a kit version with the battlestar tank.
Manufacturer's Specs:
album
Initial Impressions and features
When I first got this Mod, I was pretty impressed with the size and looks. It’s not a big mod at all it’s on the smaller side of dual 18650 mods but not tiny. It’s light but feels well built. The design and style is very similar to the vaporesso polar mod just slightly smaller. (pics in the album) it’s not a mini mod by any means but it is a good size for a dual 18650 for sure. It’s got a glass plate on the front that is really shiny and can glare and a fingerprint magnet but it protects the large 2 inch color screen which i believe 2 inches is the largest to date along with the polar mod. I like the centered 510 pin as well. The finish on the black i have is a nice. Overall I really liked the design of this mod from the start.
Watt Mode Performance (chart and spreadsheet in picture album)
Before we get into the data i want to state i’ve used 3 firmwares on this mod. The one it came with, 1 update like a week later, and a 2nd update like a week or so after that one which according to smoant should be the one the final release comes with but at minimum will be available at launch. It’s version 1.1.6. The results for the power mode and TC performance are from this version of the firmware. 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 .11, .15, .2, and .61 ohms. wattage points were max (225), 200, 150, 100, 75, 50 and 25. At .11 ohms it maxed out at 222 watts and 45 amps. For the rest of the testing it was pretty accurate about 5 watts low over 100 and 3 watts low to 4 watts high at 100 or less. At .15 it maxed out at 207 watts. The rest were pretty good again. At 200 it was 7 watts high, but 150 or less 1 watt low to 5 watts high. For the .2 test it maxed out at 180 watts. Again pretty accurate but a little on the high side. 2-5 watts. For the .61 testing it maxed out at 86 watts and 7.258 volts. For the rest of the testing 1-6 watts high. The volts shows there is no boost circuit in this mod as usual with smoant mods and like most dual 18650 mods on the market.
Overall I felt the performance of this mod was good. It’s mostly just a few watts off never more than 5 or 6 really but usually just a couple watts high and in a few cases a couple watts low. Pretty damn accurate when compared with many dual battery mods. I was able to get 222 watts max, so I consider it to be accurately rated at 225 watts. The 7.258 volt limit shows there is no boost circuit. Their site lists the max Volts at 8.4V implying no boost circuit however it’s a theoretical number based on input voltage of batteries if they didn’t sag and if the chip was 100% efficient which we all know isn’t possible. 7.5V would have been a better rating and really the best rating for almost all dual battery mods without a boost circuit. They do not list an amp limit i could find but the 45 amps was pretty impressive for a dual 18650 mod and above average. The watt curve mode also works very good as well. The mod gets a little warm when stressing it at 150+ watts but not hot and handles high watts very well, but i don’t recommend vaping over 150 watts with a dual battery mod and always use good 20 amp CDR or high trusted batteries.
Simplified TLDR Power Performance summary
Mod performance is really good. Mostly hits just a few watts off on the high side. Accurately rated for watts (222), No boost circuit, amp limit 45 which is impressive. Volts tested at 7.258 so no boost circuit and falls short of the 8.4V listed
Also because this is a thing people ask about i tested the idle drain. I used 2 VTC5a batteries. They were at 4.19V each when I put them in the mod. I left it sitting in standby with an atomizer attached for 24 hours and then checked the batteries and got 4.17V on each cell. I then left it for another 24 hours and checked again and got 4.15 and 4.16V for the 2 cells. So over a 48 hour period with a starting point of 8.38V i ended up with a total of 8.31V so .07V idle drain per 48 hours. If you left them for a week that would mean a total of about .245V drained leaving full batteries from 8.4V total to 8.155V so not a big deal IMO but you have the numbers so you can make your own decision on it. The software lists the soft cell cut off at 3.0V. I measured it at 3.10 and 3.09 so pretty close and low enough to please most people.
Temperature Control Performance
Using SS316 wire and both SS mode and TCR mode, I tested 7 builds. 2 simple round spaced, 1 simple round dual, 1 small tiny clapton for loose MTL vaping, 2 large fancy single coils builds, and 1 large fancy dual coil build. The mod performs very well with the right settings but not as a default. The SS mode hits way too high and needs to be used at less than 370F for a warm vape. Feels about 70-100 or so degrees off. Using TCR mode with 92 as a setting, you need to go over 500F to get a decent vape. It hits really weak. I found using a TCR of 100 works very well and feel pretty accurate. Around 460-470F is where i get a warm vape so maybe like 10 or so degrees low but not a big deal and it’s a nice round number. The ramp up is great and you can adjust watts easily (hold fire and up to adjust watts) which changes the ramp up, and can change the TCR easily as well in TCR mode (hold fire and down). You can also lock your resistance but it didn’t make any difference and isn’t needed. The dry hit protection is pretty good as well and the throttle is nice and smooth. Overall a pass for temp control mode like most of smoants mods it does a good job for the price but i recommend only using TCR mode with the TCR at 100 for SS316 wire.
Introduction:
The Smoant Charon Mini is the latest mod from popular company Smoant. While not as popular as some of the large one’s overall, they are very well loved in the vape community and caught on with their battlestar mod form 2 years ago. The Charon mini is a dual 18650 battery mod listed at 225 watts with a massive 2 inch color screen and an updated version of their Ant chip labeled the ant225. It’s available in 4 colors Black, Red, Gold, and Rainbow and I see them online for around 40-50 USD and also available in a kit version with the battlestar tank.
Manufacturer's Specs:
- Compact size: 45mm(L) X 29mm(W) X89mm(H)
- Takes 2X 18650 battery
- Display: 2.0 inch TFT color screen
- Output range: 1 – 225 W
- Output modes: VW / VW Curves / Temp Control/ TCR / TC Curves
- Resistance range: 0.1 - 2.0 Ohm for TC mode / TCR mode / TC Curves
- Resistance range: 0.1 - 3.0 Ohm for VW / VW Curves
- Centered 510 connector
- Two different UI available to choose
- Pass-through available
- Instantly fire in 0.015 second
- Balance charging
- Firmware upgradeable
- Reverse Polarity protection
- Overheating protection
- Low voltage protection
- Overload Protection
- Short-circuit protection
- Over-time protection
- Color: Black, red, gold and rainbow available
- Charon mini mod
- USB charge & update cable
- User manual
album
Initial Impressions and features
When I first got this Mod, I was pretty impressed with the size and looks. It’s not a big mod at all it’s on the smaller side of dual 18650 mods but not tiny. It’s light but feels well built. The design and style is very similar to the vaporesso polar mod just slightly smaller. (pics in the album) it’s not a mini mod by any means but it is a good size for a dual 18650 for sure. It’s got a glass plate on the front that is really shiny and can glare and a fingerprint magnet but it protects the large 2 inch color screen which i believe 2 inches is the largest to date along with the polar mod. I like the centered 510 pin as well. The finish on the black i have is a nice. Overall I really liked the design of this mod from the start.
Watt Mode Performance (chart and spreadsheet in picture album)
Before we get into the data i want to state i’ve used 3 firmwares on this mod. The one it came with, 1 update like a week later, and a 2nd update like a week or so after that one which according to smoant should be the one the final release comes with but at minimum will be available at launch. It’s version 1.1.6. The results for the power mode and TC performance are from this version of the firmware. 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 .11, .15, .2, and .61 ohms. wattage points were max (225), 200, 150, 100, 75, 50 and 25. At .11 ohms it maxed out at 222 watts and 45 amps. For the rest of the testing it was pretty accurate about 5 watts low over 100 and 3 watts low to 4 watts high at 100 or less. At .15 it maxed out at 207 watts. The rest were pretty good again. At 200 it was 7 watts high, but 150 or less 1 watt low to 5 watts high. For the .2 test it maxed out at 180 watts. Again pretty accurate but a little on the high side. 2-5 watts. For the .61 testing it maxed out at 86 watts and 7.258 volts. For the rest of the testing 1-6 watts high. The volts shows there is no boost circuit in this mod as usual with smoant mods and like most dual 18650 mods on the market.
Overall I felt the performance of this mod was good. It’s mostly just a few watts off never more than 5 or 6 really but usually just a couple watts high and in a few cases a couple watts low. Pretty damn accurate when compared with many dual battery mods. I was able to get 222 watts max, so I consider it to be accurately rated at 225 watts. The 7.258 volt limit shows there is no boost circuit. Their site lists the max Volts at 8.4V implying no boost circuit however it’s a theoretical number based on input voltage of batteries if they didn’t sag and if the chip was 100% efficient which we all know isn’t possible. 7.5V would have been a better rating and really the best rating for almost all dual battery mods without a boost circuit. They do not list an amp limit i could find but the 45 amps was pretty impressive for a dual 18650 mod and above average. The watt curve mode also works very good as well. The mod gets a little warm when stressing it at 150+ watts but not hot and handles high watts very well, but i don’t recommend vaping over 150 watts with a dual battery mod and always use good 20 amp CDR or high trusted batteries.
Simplified TLDR Power Performance summary
Mod performance is really good. Mostly hits just a few watts off on the high side. Accurately rated for watts (222), No boost circuit, amp limit 45 which is impressive. Volts tested at 7.258 so no boost circuit and falls short of the 8.4V listed
Also because this is a thing people ask about i tested the idle drain. I used 2 VTC5a batteries. They were at 4.19V each when I put them in the mod. I left it sitting in standby with an atomizer attached for 24 hours and then checked the batteries and got 4.17V on each cell. I then left it for another 24 hours and checked again and got 4.15 and 4.16V for the 2 cells. So over a 48 hour period with a starting point of 8.38V i ended up with a total of 8.31V so .07V idle drain per 48 hours. If you left them for a week that would mean a total of about .245V drained leaving full batteries from 8.4V total to 8.155V so not a big deal IMO but you have the numbers so you can make your own decision on it. The software lists the soft cell cut off at 3.0V. I measured it at 3.10 and 3.09 so pretty close and low enough to please most people.
Temperature Control Performance
Using SS316 wire and both SS mode and TCR mode, I tested 7 builds. 2 simple round spaced, 1 simple round dual, 1 small tiny clapton for loose MTL vaping, 2 large fancy single coils builds, and 1 large fancy dual coil build. The mod performs very well with the right settings but not as a default. The SS mode hits way too high and needs to be used at less than 370F for a warm vape. Feels about 70-100 or so degrees off. Using TCR mode with 92 as a setting, you need to go over 500F to get a decent vape. It hits really weak. I found using a TCR of 100 works very well and feel pretty accurate. Around 460-470F is where i get a warm vape so maybe like 10 or so degrees low but not a big deal and it’s a nice round number. The ramp up is great and you can adjust watts easily (hold fire and up to adjust watts) which changes the ramp up, and can change the TCR easily as well in TCR mode (hold fire and down). You can also lock your resistance but it didn’t make any difference and isn’t needed. The dry hit protection is pretty good as well and the throttle is nice and smooth. Overall a pass for temp control mode like most of smoants mods it does a good job for the price but i recommend only using TCR mode with the TCR at 100 for SS316 wire.