Pod System Reviews

Aspire Gotek X II

Aspire are cooking on gas with the current Gotek line up, and the Gotek X II has just turned up the heat

by Michelle (Purplefowler)
May 13, 2024

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Last week, Stephen put the Aspire Gotek Pro through its paces. Well, this time it’s my turn, and I got to look at the Aspire Gotek X II thanks to our friends at Vape Club.

I was particularly pleased that the Gotek X II came up on our review list as only a few days before, I met a random vaper in town who had one, and we’d got chatting. I loved the look of it, and she was really happy with the performance, so I was pretty keen to get my hands on one myself.

Unboxing and Specs

The Aspire Gotek X II comes it a shiny, sparkling box, perfect if you have magpie tendencies like I do. It was a beautiful day when I went out to take the photos, and the sun shining made it really pop. I do admit to being easily pleased, but it really does look superb on the shelf. Inside things are a bit more basic with a blown plastic tray holding the device in place. It comes with the 2ml pod already fitted, but you will need to remove the sticker from the base so it can make contact with the device. Under the tray, there is a charging cable and an instruction sheet. I would have preferred an extra pod rather than a charging cable, but this is a really cheap bundle, so I guess it was more cost effective to go with the cable.

Battery Capacity: 800mAh
Battery Type: Integrated
Charging Type: USB-C
Coil Type: Mesh
Coil Resistance: 6ohm, 8ohm
Weight: 86g
Size: 80cm x 47cm x 21cm

First Impressions

As I said earlier, I’d already seen the Gotek X II out in the wild, and I was immediately attracted by the looks. There are loads of colours to choose from, and I was sent the Pine Green variant which is an interesting combination of orange transparent panels supported with a racing green metal frame. Ok, on paper that sounds so wrong, but in the flesh, it really works well and certainly stands out. I have a bit of a thing about see through mods anyway, I like to see the inner workings of things, and it adds a sort of futuristic tilt to the aesthetics.

It also feels as good as it looks thanks to a combination of the industrial shape and the satisfyingly reassuring weight. It isn’t heavy by any stretch, but you know you are holding it. It still manages to feel well balanced if you decide to pop it on a lanyard, which was my favourite way to take it out and about. It comes with a loop hole so you can attach one, if you have one spare. The edges are distinct, but they don’t feel uncomfortable.

The base is also a pretty cool design as the middle is raised up protecting the airflow slider and the USB-C port. It does mean that you’ll need to charge it lying down, but on the other hand, it also keeps things streamlined.

There are no settings or screens, the tech is kept minimal, but there is a light in the lower triangle of the frame which lets you know how much battery life you have left. For such a relatively small battery, it seems to last really well, and I could get a full workday out of it before it needed to be plugged back in again. The only slight oddity with the light, is that sometimes it seems to reflect through the body, and it looks like it flashes red with the orange body panels, so a couple of times, I though the battery was low when it was still green.

Getting Started

The Aspire Gotek X II is a really easy to use kit, the only thing you need to do is to fill the pod. The pod sits in the body of the Gotek X II which makes it look more like an AIO (all in one) kit, so to access the filling port, you will need to grab the mouthpiece and pull the pod up and out. The port itself is under an orange rubber tab which feels very thin and flexible, but it seems to hold closed well and I saw no leaks or condensation anywhere. The port is a fairly good size and will be ample for most needle topped e-liquid droppers, but you may struggle if you are trying to use the older round topped bottles. Filling was still mess free, and once you are done, you can replace the pod and wait a few minutes for the juice to fully soak on.

The Gotek X II is a purely auto draw activated kit so there are no buttons to press, just put it to your lips and take a puff. I had no issues with it stuttering, it worked perfectly. You can, however, adjust the airflow thanks to the slider on the base. I liked it fully open for a loose MTL (mouth to lung) vape, although the blurb says it is more of a RDTL (restricted direct to lung) vape. You can vape it that way, but it takes a bit more effort on the user’s part. Fully closed, the auto-draw struggled, but anywhere from halfway to fully open works just fine. For me, the flavour and vapour production were perfect with it set wide open, but have a play around and see what works best for you.

The flavour is great, very full and it really does coat your mouth well. It works very well for all types of e-liquid, I tried dessert, fruit, and tobacco juices, and they all worked very well, so it is a good all-rounder. They can also handle super sweet bar salts with ease. I have been absolutely hammering my pod, and it is still going strong. I am on day five, and each day I have refilled 5/6 times, so that is about 50-60ml of e-liquid. I have also used a known coil killer e-liquid, and the pod just took it without breaking a sweat. I am really impressed with the included 6ohm coil.

Final Thoughts

I really like this kit; I loved it at first sight and thankfully the real time performance easily matched the pure shelf appeal. You will have to decide whether you like the look of it, I am sure there will be people who hate the cyberpunk design, but personally, I really love it. Not only does it look great, but it also really performs very well too, and when you add it the fantastic coil life, this is a winning bundle.

I have saved the best till last though. The Aspire Gotek X II is incredibly good value for money, as you can pick it up from Vape Club for just £13.99. I try not to look at the details until after I’ve used a new device for a little while so I am not swayed or influenced by the price, but I was genuinely really impressed that Aspire can make such a decent little kit for this kind of price, and I had to double check that I hadn’t misread things. As you only get one pod, you will need to stick a box of spares in your basket, but they are only £4.99 for a pack of two. But with the amount of e-liquid I’ve already put through my single pod, that also makes these very good value for money too.

Many thanks to Vape Club for sending in the Aspire Gotek X II for review

Pros

Unique design
User Friendly
Bargain bucket price
Bombproof pods
Great flavour

Cons

Only one pod included

Michelle (Purplefowler)

Reviewer at POTV

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When her usual forum closed, Michelle found herself in a brave new world full of excitement that something fresh and new was happening. A few days later she somehow found herself on the moderating team and is still not really sure how that happened. Even stranger, she slowly worked her way up to admin and now helps behind the scenes, liasing with vendors and coordinating social media but she can still be found making smutty comments on the forum. If all that wasn't enough, she also is a proud member of the Potv review team specialising in E-liquid reviews for the discerning vaper.