YiHi SL Class V2
We have not one, but two brand new YiHi mods in for review, and first up is the SL Class V2!
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by Antony Lord
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Yihi SL Class V2
YiHi releases are few and far between so it’s a rare treat to get their latest devices in for review. I’m taking a look at the SL Class V2 from their premium SX mini range which, apart from the single 21700 battery, is a radical departure from the original SL Class and features an all new board to boot.
Specifications
- 89 x 42.5 x 30mm
- 135.5 grams
- 21700 battery
- YiHi SX739J chipset
- 0.96’ IPS display
- Output 5~100 watts / 1~6 volts
The SX mini SL Class V2 comes in a small presentation box along with a brief user guide, a USB-C charge cable, and an 18650 battery adapter hidden in the battery tube. It’s available in seven combinations which all have a silver coloured chassis with the colour of your choice applied around the back of the battery tube. I was sent the “Fire Red” and “Gunmetal Tang” variants to test.
Externally it’s quite a departure from the original SL Class which had a rather boxy, industrial design. The SL Class V2 now sports a more refined, curvy chassis which is more reminiscent of even earlier designs like the ML Class and Q mini from all the way back in 2016, which can only be a good thing and certainly makes it a lot more comfortable in use.
Some design aspects of the older SL Class do shine through though with the squashed hexagonal power button and the return of the YiHi joystick control “nipple”. The pattern on the “Gunmetal Tang” battery tube with the large SX mini plate running down the spine is classic YiHi, but I was more taken by the “Fire Red” variant as it stands out from the rest of my collection. Both the fire button and joystick are recessed slightly into the main frame with large cutouts which make them easy to locate with your fingertips, a very nice nod to ergonomics.
One aspect that does feel out of place here is the C frame running around the battery tube. This is a grey plastic piece and looks a bit cheap, especially when compared to the other materials used, also there’s a bit of flex at the top and bottom sections which makes me worried that this may eventually become a potential failure point. This could have been solved by making these sections a couple of millimeters thicker or better still using a metal part.
On top there’s a large flat 510 plate with a 27mm diameter so there’s plenty of room for most modern atomizers. The battery tube is accessed by a screw cap at the base, it can be difficult to get the threads to catch but on the plus side the SL Class V2 is at least able to pass both of my oversized battery tests unlike the original SL Class.
Charging is now done via the USB-C port on the front panel with a 1 amp charge rate. In my tests this actually peaked at 0.9 amps but stayed there for almost the full charge duration. There’s no mention of any firmware update capability though which is a little disappointing.
YiHi are well known for having convoluted controls, not aided by the use of the control joystick rather than a traditional two or three button layout, and this is still true with the SL Class V2. It is a little easier to navigate than earlier YiHi mods, but I have still found myself having to use the instruction leaflet on more than one occasion, this is less of an issue if this is your only mod but keep that manual handy because from my experience I can tell you if I don’t use my YiHi mods for a while then I end up having to RTFM again!
The screen layout is much simplified from earlier mods, which can only be a good thing as this makes the user interface a little more consistent. Out of the box the brightness was only set to 50% and this definitely needed bumping up to 100% and even then it can be a bit difficult to read when outside.
Wattage mode is solid and consistent but a lot of people I’m sure will be looking at this with one eye on the temperature control mode as YiHi are widely recognized as having class leading performance in this sector. Accessing the TC mode is relatively straightforward but now uses a series of preset values which YiHi state should give you decent performance across a wide range of atomizers. My experience here though was all the presets seemed a bit light. Luckily you can manually alter the presets (both the temperature and applied voltage), and once I’d figured out how to do this (there was a step missing in the instructions!), I was able to get a much better vape and I’m happy to report that once you’ve managed to dial the settings in to your preference that the performance is nothing short of stellar.
Pros
- Nice contemporary design with nods to earlier YiHi mods
- Great performance from the YiHi SX739J chipset
- Fantastic TC performance (once you dial it in)
- Fits a wider range of 21700 batteries than the old SL Class
Cons
- User interface is still complicated and inconsistent
- Can be difficult to get the battery cover threads aligned
- Plastic battery tube surround seems out of place
Conclusion
A great release from YiHi, the SL Class V2 brings this right up to date with clear design cues from their earlier mods. I’m a bit disappointed with that plastic surrounding the battery tube although this has been released at a much lower price point than its predecessor so I guess some compromises had to be made. The temperature control is still absolutely class leading as you might expect from YiHi, but I’d say you’re going to have to do battle with the confusing user interface to get the best out of it.
Many thanks to YiHi for sending the SL Class V2 out for review.
Antony Lord
Reviewer at POTVI was a twenty a day smoker for 25 years and like most smokers I was always going to quit "next week". Having hit my mid forties and having the usual smokers cough and difficulty with anything more than moderate exercise it was obviously time to give up the cancer sticks. I bought my first e-cigarette in 2013 when they were expensive, difficult to find and quite frankly... crap. I used it for about a week then went back to the roll ups, mark up another failed quit attempt. The fact that I had just changed jobs and was under quite a lot of stress probably didn't help. Move on to 2016 and whilst I was browsing eBay I noticed that one of the suggested items that would occasionally pop up was for a cheap e-cigarette. It looked similar to the one I'd bought 3 years earlier but it was only £5 (about 8 times cheaper than before) so I decided to give it another go on a whim. Once the kit arrived I managed to gradually replace the cigarettes with my new kit over a two month period and got into watching YouTube reviews for newer kit. My cheap and cheerful kit was replaced by a more upmarket affair, and being a noob I made a mistake once it arrived... I put in the supplied direct lung coil, this was of course a complete revelation and I haven't touched a cigarette since. Oh and I no longer spend the first five minutes of every day having a coughing fit either.
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