Freemax Maxus Solo Kit
Freemax push the boundaries of flavour production and mood lighting with the new Freemax Maxus Solo 100W Kit
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by Si Davies
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Supplied by Freemax for review
https://www.freemaxvape.com/maxus-solo-100w-kit
RRP = $79.99
Freemax have released another interesting product this year. The mod is interesting and a little bit quirky, but the tank offers a new coil tech that gave me one of those rare ‘Wow!’ moments.
Fireluke Solo Tank (FL Platform Compatible) Specs
- Size: 28*50.35mm
- Capacity: 5mL (TPD 2mL)
- Thread: 510
- Drip Tip: 810
Maxus Solo 100W Mod Specs
- Output Voltage: 0.7-7.5V
- Input Voltage: 3.3-4.2V
- Output Wattage: 5-100W
- Output Mode: Power (Normal, Sport, ECO)/VPC/Bypass/TC-NI/TC-TI/TC-SS316/TCR
- Resistance Range: 0.1-3ohm
- Battery: External Single 18650/20700/21700
- Charger Specification: 5V/2A
- Size: 28.8*42.8*90mm
Essentially the Maxus Solo is a single battery sub-ohm kit for higher wattage DL vaping, not a hint of pod-ness with its proper old-school mod and tank. Freemax are well known for their superb flavour producing coils, but somehow they have come up with an even better coil and naturally they are very proud of it. Here’s Freemax’s official bumf on it:
"Maxus Solo 100W Kit is the first vape device adopting industry-leading FM COILTECH5.0, a brand-new mesh technology that pioneers the use of innovative parallel mesh structure and has outstanding performance in restoring the original flavors and creating huge clouds."
Unboxing
The Maxus Solo kit is well packaged in a sturdy two piece black box and an artistic metallic outer sleeve, Mr Postman would have to try pretty hard to damage the kit during transit.
The top layer holds the mod, tank and spare seals for the TPD 2ml version. The regular version will include a spare bubble glass, I was going to whinge about us poor TPD sufferers not getting a spare 2ml glass piece but trust me you will NEED to try and get a 5ml one ASAP anyway.
There are no surprises in this bundle, but you get everything you need other than a battery and e-liquid. There’s an 18650 battery adaptor, but a 21700 battery is recommended to get the most from this kit. There are two different coils included; pre-installed FL1-D mesh coil 0.15ohm and a FL2 mesh coil 0.2ohm.
Kit Overview
The Maxus Solo 100W mod is interesting to say the least. One of its main features is the LED lighting and the way they have designed the body to allow the light to shine through, the back panel is a glossy plastic with an imprinted design pattern which is different on each colour option, but the clear front panel shows the custom made electronics.
I’m a fan of mods where you can see the electronics, and Freemax have even designed the motherboard to include a few opaque lines within it that stand out once the LED illuminates it from behind.
The light up design kind of reminded me of a mini gaming PC, and there are a few different options for the lighting. You can change the colour to pretty much any colour you can think of in the custom screen or you can use a pre-set to cycle the colours, also there is an ‘always on’ single colour option, but the most pleasing option for me was the ‘breath’ option.
My only niggle with the lighting is the timing as it’s a bit too fast and is closer to a flash than a fade, so after a while I ended up changing it to ‘Always On’ as the speed started to get on my nerves.
If you’re not a fan of the lighting or need to be discreet, then you can simply turn the lighting off. You can still see the electronics through the front panel which still makes it look interesting.
The Maxus Solo accepts 18650/20700/21700 size batteries. 20700 or 21700 will fit as is, you will need to use the included adaptor to fit an 18650, but to get the best from this kit then a decent 21700 battery is a must, especially if you are going above 80 watts. The battery door fitting is a push/slide style and it closes firmly. The orientation negative marking on the door isn’t that clear but the positive marking inside the bay is a bright red cross on white.
The screen and chipset are both superb; the screen is large, bright and very clear, and the menu and power options give a wide selection of options, especially for RTA/RBA users with a good selection of pre-heat settings which are useful for round wire coils (mesh doesn’t really need them).
Charging is 5V/2A which is pretty good, but the charging screen is a bit of a let-down as it only displays a battery bar icon, there’s no percentage or time estimation. With the screen on, it just flashes at the top left, and with the mod turned off you just get a small battery animation. Fortunately the 2 Amp charging made up for this and you soon get used to how long it will take, usually well under an hour from a 3rd charge.
Controls
Freemax have been quite clever here as the Maxus Solo has a two tier control method, but the majority of users won’t find the need to venture from the front end options:
- 5 x Fire = Turns device On/Off
- Press & hold Up/Down buttons = Locks adjustments
- 3 x Fire = Enables top tier menu options: Up or Down key to scroll through and Fire to confirm:
- Mode (Power/VPC/BYPASS/TC/TCR)
- Preheat (NORM/SPORT/ECO)
- Settings (Enters 2nd menu)
The second ‘Settings’ menu is more for the LED control but it has a couple of other options to reset stuff or change the temp to C or F, there is a handy shortcut to bring up the settings menu:
- Press & hold Fire & Up button = Enters Settings
I’ve over simplified the controls as I could have well gone the other way and made them sound complex, but the thing is the Maxus Solo gives a really good range of options and it is really easy to get to what you need quickly, most of the control is done at the top tier even for TC users or RTAs.
The buttons are quite firm and require a deliberate effort to click, this makes it great for avoiding accidental presses but not so great for older users with joint issues. That said, would those users like a flashing LED kit anyway? (I’m an old tw@ and like it though)
Ooops, I almost forgot another nice feature; the physical locking switch! The slider on the side physically locks all buttons (including Fire) which makes it perfect for when you stash it in your bag or pocket, and you also get a notification screen when it is locked.
Tommy Tank
The included Fireluke Solo Tank is a wolf in sheep’s clothing as far as I’m concerned. My first Freemax tank was the bulky and elaborate Mesh Pro (original) which was such a game changer at the time, it also looked the part as something a bit special whereas this Fireluke tank looked a bit bland, and the TPD glass didn’t help matters as it looks skinny, but it’s what’s inside that counts right?
The tank strips down easily by unscrewing everything, the glass comes off by twisting and pulling , and once it’s all apart, it is very easy to clean everything.
The coils are pretty chunky and have decent sized wicking ports. I only noticed the closed mesh on the single bore one, the dual mesh still had that gap so it will be interesting to see how they compare. Fitting them is a simple press fit and there is plenty of the base still exposed making it easy to remove.
Filling it up is convenient with the sliding top cap, it has a ‘child lock’ as you need to pull the top piece up before sliding and it works well. A slight niggle is that it wobbles a little once closed, but it’s not something that you notice during use.
The 810 drip tip got in the way a bit while filling but I was still able to get a chubby gorilla bottle in enough without removing the drip-tip. The 2ml glass was already starting to annoy me as the e-liquid pooled around the sides and tried to overspill, the 5ml bubble glass won’t have this issue though.
Performance
Well I can report that the vape was extraordinary! Coils have come a long way in recent years and it’s quite rare I get a proper ‘wow’ factor, but even at 60 watts I certainly got it, I don’t know why I do it but I took a vape and stared at the kit in-between, wondering ‘where did that come from?’. The flavour was just incredible and only got better as I crept the wattage up to 80 watts which gave me the warmth I prefer. The mod handled 80 watts nicely and delivered a consistent vape.
At this point though, the mod didn’t matter a jot as it was the tank that was winning me over. I’ve been using it for days and it still impresses me so much. It takes me right back to when the Mesh Pro first appeared as a flavour game-changer, but this was even better. I eventually settled the wattage down to 70 watts which suited chain vaping better and kept up perfectly with a well saturated vape every time.
The dual airflow worked well and was not too noisy. Fully open was airy and I closed it off a little to squeeze more flavour through on the inhale, the airflow ring was easy to adjust but firm enough to stay where you set it. It is also on a stopper each way and you could get a tight restrictive draw (RDL) should you want to, but I think it would be a waste as this tank excels at high wattage DL vaping.
I turned my attention to the dual mesh 0.2ohm coils. Usually dual and triple bore coils offer better flavour than single bore ones which favour clouds, but this time around they were different as the single bore 0.15ohm had this new-fangled Double-D (Oooer missus) structure which only seems to appear on the FL1-D coil as the others have the old gap, so which is better?
As I had expected, the dual bore favoured flavour over vapour production but I’m not convinced that it offered more than the single bore coil, there really wasn’t much in it as both gave me that wow factor. I think I favoured the FL1-D as I felt that it had the best of both worlds, flavour and vapour production, and in theory it should last for longer as the smaller bore coils tend to gunk up quicker.
I don’t think Freemax’s remarkable flavour is purely down to the mesh construction, their wicking material and method has a lot to do with it, and they have still managed to raise the bar to become my new benchmark for DL flavour.
But for me there was no best or worst as both coils kick ass, and I would happily choose either if one was out of stock.
The 2ml TPD glass is close to unusable though, this tank is thirsty and it quickly drained. Considering you should leave around a 3rd in the tank so as not to dry out the coil, then you will find yourself constantly topping it up as I did. If you can get the 5ml glass, then I would say get it at the same time.
Oh I almost forgot I was reviewing a kit…. though I liked the mod a lot for its gimmicky mood-lighting and fully functioning chipset, I wasn’t as keen on how it felt in the hand as it felt quite large for a single cell mod. The weight wasn’t bad at 235g with a 21700 battery fitted, and it felt well balanced. The plastic back cover felt a bit cheap and it wasn’t long before it looked mucky with fingerprints, I’m not sure what else they could have done there as this was done to achieve the lighting effect.
The black tank looked a bit out of place also as I half expected a Gunmetal one for this colour option. That said, I think they got away with it as it matches the base colour of the plastic section and screen face.
Other colour options aren’t as fortunate though (apart from the all black), and it is something to consider when choosing a colour if you are matchey matchey inclined.
Conclusion
Though I managed to find some niggles along the way, none of them marred my enjoyment of the Marvos Solo 100W kit. Part of the hobby and enjoyment of vaping is experiencing quirky and interesting kits along the way, and Freemax aren’t afraid of bright and bold looking kits. This looks positively tame compare to some of their older kits!
Mod aside, the Fireluke 2 tank is another story all together and is my new flavour benchmark DL tank with the new FL1-D coil, it is a no nonsense, cloud chucking, flavour machine, this made the kit a double treat for me and…..
Just my cup of Tea.
Pros
- Wow factor flavour
- 18650/20700/21700 battery options
- Quirky mood-lighting effects
- Superb functions for stock coil and DIY users
- Physical lock switch
- Faultless tank design
- Clear and bright screen
- 2 Amp charging
Cons
- Below par charging screen
- TPD 2ml - just no! (get the 5ml glass asap)
I think any other cons will be subjective but there was absolutely nothing that came close to a deal-breaker, changing the 2ml TPD glass will be a MUST though as it does ruin the fun.
Final Thoughts
This is one of those kits I would have instantly bought had I held it in a shop, and that’s without considering the superb vape the Fireluke 2 tank and coils offer. It’s not perfect and not everyone will like the novelty of the lighting, but I’m sure there will equally be as many that do like it as much I do.
Score: 8.75/10 – Freemax Benchmark
Si Davies
Reviewer at POTVMy background is Engineering and Professional Photography. Mostly from POTV users knowledge I learned so much about pretty much all styles of vaping and equipment, Cloud Chasing, Squonking, Mouth To Lung, Direct To Lung, Pods, Mechs, Rebuild-able tanks and atomisers etc, and have experience with many many devices and atomisers, it's become a hobby and enjoy trying out the latest gear. I like to think my reviews are plain speaking and informative without getting too technical, if I have to resort to reading the manual then I don't consider it user friendly!
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