VooPoo Drag H80-S
VooPoo have turned their attention back to the classic Pod/Mod with the all new VooPoo DRAG H80-S
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by Si Davies
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Supplied by VooPoo for review
https://www.voopoo.com/drag-series.html
Price TBC
After just finishing the new Argus kits, I was surprised to see VooPoo have just released two new DRAG Pod/Mods, first up is the Drag H80-S which takes a literal twist on pod designs.
Unusually I don’t have the bumf regarding the specs and features as this was an advanced sample, so here’s my take on it (some from the box/manual, others are observations):
- 18650 External Battery (not included)
- All new coils: PnP-TW15 0.15Ω, PnP-TW20 0.2Ω and PnP-TW30 0.3Ω
- Innovative Airflow Adjustment
- 80 Watts max power
- New top-fill pod design
- Size: 123mm x 26mm x 32mm
- Charging Current 5V/2A
- Pod capacity 4.5ml (2ml TPD)
Unboxing
The DRAG H80-S comes well packaged with a main box protected with an outer sleeve and another accessories box which doubles up as a top protection layer, the device is held in place with blown plastic and is very secure.
Included is the DRAG H80-S mod with a PnP II pod already attached, there are two different coils included (PnP-TW15 0.15Ω and PnP-TW30 0.3Ω), a decent quality flat USB-C Cable, the manual, and a battery warning card.
First Impressions and Overview
It was always going to be a tough call to impress me after the ARGUS XT kit as VooPoo pretty much nailed that device, but the DRAG H80-S is a bit different as in it’s a pod/mod rather than a mod and tank. Picking the device up for the first time was quite surprising, it’s quite tall but feels quite thin, it’s pretty heavy for a pod/mod but it left a better impression on me as it felt substantial and serious (if that makes sense to you?).
Unusually VooPoo have opted for sharper angles and edges which isn’t as ergonomic, but that's not to say that it didn’t feel good in the hand, it felt pretty good and suited thumb firing better than I expected, and that became the natural way to hold and fire it for me, finger firing is still comfortable enough though.
The padded battery door is quite a clever design as the edges slip inside the mod which not only feels more comfortable, but helps keep that skinny feel to it.
The panel is held in place magnetically and feels very secure, there’s absolutely no rattle or play in it and that clever tucking in makes it appear that the mod is all one piece, I simply liked this battery door a lot, you would get why if you tried it for yourself as it doesn’t sound as good as it actually is.
Fitting the battery was simple enough, and the positive marking is etched in silver onto the plastic. This C-Frame design is quite tall but the width/depth is remarkably thin and shows some quite clever engineering to fit in the battery housing and chipset in such a small space, it only takes a single 18650, had they gone down the 21700 route then it would have been less impressive as it would bulk it out more.
As for the rest of the looks; it all looks quite futuristic to me. The harder edges and flush control panel look good, and the widely spaced buttons add to the style. The buttons feel intuitive and are well positioned, the short throw on them feels tactile and responsive. The slight concaved shape adds to the tactile feel overall.
So far I was quite impressed with this serious bit of kit, I preferred it over the previous DRAG pod/mods mainly due to the skinnier feel to it. Moving onto the pod, this had a bit of a literal twist to it.
It didn’t look anything special and I didn’t spot the serrated base at first, it looks more cosmetic than anything but that would prove false when it came to using it.
When you look inside the mod you will see three tangs which the pod locks into place with, this is actually part of the airflow control system. Once the pod is attached, you simply rotate the pod to adjust the airflow, we’ve seen ‘rotate the pod’ airflow before but nothing like this as there is a hidden mechanism underneath.
This rotates the airflow ring in the mod and you get a really wide variety, you can either have a single slot airflow or dual depending on how far you turn it, it becomes obvious as you can clearly see it in action. The resistance is near perfection as it requires a quite firm twist to adjust but that means it stays put where you select it, even if you remove and replace the pod, it will still be as you left it.
Better still; this method is really effective as you can get a loose DL draw down to a pretty tight RDL, it’s one of my favourite airflow controls I’ve seen on pod/mods and hats off to VooPoo for being that little bit different.
PnP Pod II
The new pod quite decent, it’s quite deep but most of it sits inside the mod once fitted. The coil fitting is the tried and tested PnP (Plug & Play, Push & Pull) but it’s quickly obvious that the coils are a bit different.
They are the same size as the regular PnP coils and I think they are cross compatible, but VooPoo were keen to hear my thoughts on these as they sound quite excited by the new specs. Visually the cotton looks a bit different and the wicking ports have been choked off slightly, they also use purple O-rings rather than red.
More on these in the ‘Performance’ section but a quick spoiler; they really are better in pretty much every way.
The PnP II is top-fill which unscrews from the drip-tip, it felt odd at first until I realised you need to grip the pod and twist just the drip-tip (mouthpiece) a quarter of a turn, once you have removed it you get access to the fill ports which have a silicone gasket over them. I had no issues at all when filling, it was easy to get your bottle tip in, easy to view the e-liquid level and was mess free as the gasket mostly prevented any excess juice.
Controls
A bit of a mixed bag here, the controls were super easy and common sense, but I found them quite basic with very few options, but when you consider that this is a pod/mod kit which will only use the stock coils, then you really don’t need any more options than you are offered.
I really liked the screen layout, font, and clarity, it’s quite bright but does struggle a little in direct sunlight but there’s something that didn’t quite translate in the photos and that’s how good it looks in the grand scheme of things. The size and the way it sits flush just looks so modern and embedded, if that makes sense, it wasn’t a novelty as I often found myself admiring it in-between vaping.
- 5 x Fire = Turns device On/Off
- 3 x Fire = Nowt, not a sausage, naff all.
- Press Up & Down together = Enters menu
- Press Fire & Up = Locks/Unlocks device (including Fire)
The reason I mentioned “3 x Fire” doing nothing is that there’s one main thing I felt VooPoo have omitted in the options and that’s an adjustment button lock, I even resorted to reading the manual to double check it wasn’t me doing something wrong, but there’s no mention of it. There’s a possibility that it’s due to mine being an advanced sample so the final version might have it included, or perhaps a firmware upgrade?
The default ‘SMART’ mode is pretty much all you will need as it auto selects the wattage depending on which coil you’ve installed, you can increase the wattage a little but not beyond its recommended limits. If you insist on taking it beyond its limits, then you can by selecting ‘RBA’ mode which lets you select any wattage you choose up to the max 80 Watts.
I tend to trust SMART modes these days as you get a reliable coil lifespan this way, the ECO mode is useful if battery life is an issue and gives you a bit longer vaping time at a lower battery level but you will get a noticeably less powerful vape as it kind of pulse throttles the power down. I tested this for a whole day in ECO mode only and soon got used to it so I would say it’s a good option if you are stuck for charging while out and about.
Charging
I love VooPoo’s latest charging screen, it's nicely animated and has a fairly accurate percentage counter, there’s no ‘time remaining’ but it’s pretty easy to judge with percentage, and 2 Amp charging means it should only take around 60 minutes from low. On average it was 45 mins from 30% to 100%.
Performance
I decided to try what I thought would be the least impressive coil first, the PnP-TW30 0.3Ω, and SMART mode set the wattage to 35 watts, the flavour started off very good and only got better as the coil bedded in, but it was the vapour production that surprised me. This little coil really belted out clouds that I was more used to with 50 Watts plus coils. The flavour was improving but I found myself needing to up the power to the maximum 40watts for this coil, higher than I would normally go but I felt it needed it to get a more wow-factor vape. Obviously at a higher wattage you tend to shorten the coil lifespan, but I’ve just gone over 20ml so far and there’s no signs of the flavour dropping off and no dry hits either, this has already exceeded the older PnP coils so I’m pretty happy with the 0.3ohm jobbie.
Time to get serious so I slammed in the PnP-TW15 0.15Ω and set it to 65 watts, this was more like it as you literally got double the flavour and vapour production, it was also a bit warmer than the 0.3ohm which improved the vape quality for me. It was clear that this was going to be the coil of choice in this setup, the trade-off for less battery life was worth it but I tend to carry a spare 18650 battery so it was less of an issue.
As for the experience of using the DRAG H80-S kit in general, I found a genuine pleasure as it looked, felt, and performed like a serious vape with vape quality to rival most VooPoo’s kits I’ve tried, in fact it wasn’t far off the performance of the ARGUS XT which was impressive considering the smaller coils and lower wattage, I still prefer the XT overall but I wouldn’t be upset if I picked the H80-S up by mistake. I found myself admiring the style and screen more in-between vaping, and the airflow control was really good and fine tuneable.
The only down-side I could see was no adjustments lock, the ‘lock all’ option worked well enough and I found it pretty quick to lock and became habitual, hopefully we will see the adjustment lock being addressed in the retail version. That said, I didn’t have any issues of accidentally changing the wattage during vaping and the SMART mode will ensure you cannot set the wattage too high. My other niggle is more of a potential problem further down the line and that’s the lack of leak-resistance, there’s nothing to prevent it wetting the bed when left unused for prolonged periods which is a common problem with most pod/mod kits. I did notice there was a little plastic cup in the connection area of the mod which should help, but so far I haven’t experienced any leaks. Only time will tell if it becomes an issue.
I was tempted to have a moan about the fixed drip-tip but it just wasn’t an issue because the mouthpiece is spot on for DL vaping as it’s very comfortable and a wide bore. It is also necessary as you need to grip it for the top-fill.
(Apologies for the DRAGon on DRAG dry humping action, it made sense at the time)
Conclusion
I’m not sure we needed yet another pod/mod kit as VooPoo pretty much had that covered with the DRAG X, but with VooPoo’s updated coils then a new designed mod and pod turned out to be different enough. The H80-S looks and feels better quality and for me, the main difference was in the slimmer body which made it feel more natural in the hand.
The new coil performance makes it a good upgrade too, I didn’t have any spare older PnP to try but it appears they are backwards compatible, the pod is not though (due to the airflow control).
I’m torn on which I prefer now though, the lack of a locking switch feels like a backward step but the rest is an upgrade and higher quality overall as the DRAG X’s metal felt a bit thinner and cheap compared, the H80-S is a bit more subdued in style and looks a bit more serious, seriously? I’m using word ‘serious’ yet again, I have serious issues it appears, but I would say it’s a factor as the H80-S just felt less nonsense.
Pros
- New PnP-TW series coils are a proper upgrade
- Innovative and effective airflow control
- Skinny width
- Attractive futuristic design (control panel especially)
- Clever battery panel fitting
- Rubber base pad
- Tight tolerances add to the quality feel
- 2 Amp fast charging
- Beginner friendly kit and controls
Cons
- No adjustment lock
I will mention the weight (175g) but you can fit that in as either a pro or a con, for me it’s a pro for sure and I’ve always loved VooPoo’s DRAG range for its substantial weight, 175g isn’t too heavy for a single 18650 kit and is almost half the weight of the Argus XT.
Final Thoughts
I tend to hate the use of the word ‘Pro’ with vaping stuff, but the H80-S would be deserving of the suffix as it looks and feels like one of the best quality pod/mods that VooPoo have produced so far and it feels a bit more ‘serious’, I had to slip in the S word again but that’s given me an idea, perhaps the H80-S stands for serious.
The bottom line is I like it a lot, a lot more than I expected to be honest as I was still deeply in love with the Argus XT kit. The DRAG H80-S is different enough to stand out and has a lot going for it, plus the all-important vape quality won’t disappoint. It's not quite as blingy as other VooPoo kits, but that should win over a few more users.
Score: 8.5/10 – Drag Artist
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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