Pod System Reviews

LVE Orion II Pod Kit

Every once in a while a kit comes along that causes ripples in the vape community, this is one of those occasions so we just had to check out the LVE Orion II pod kit

by Michelle (Purplefowler)
Jul 6, 2023

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It’s not often that I dust off my wallet to buy new kit, I know what I like, and I like what I know. What is even more rare is that I willingly chose to buy a pod kit as I like my mods and my MTL tanks with my home made coils and cotton (I guess the fact that the only place I trust for my wire and wick is StealthVape should be a clue as to why this little kit peaked my interest, seriously if you haven’t tried SLIVR cotton, just go now and order a tin as it is head and shoulders above any other wick out there, so pure and clean….wait, I’m not meant to be reviewing wick here!!!). There was just something about the LVE Orion II that was calling me on some deep and primal level, and I just had to try it for myself. As I have already said, I bought this with my own hard earned dough, so this is a fully independent review, not that it really matters as we all pride ourselves on being 100% honest here at PotV, we don’t want you buying something that isn’t worth your time or (more importantly) your money.

LVE Orion II kit and coils

First Look and Specs

As well as my wanting a pod kit is highly unusual, my choice of colour was not my normal style either. I usually hate anything gold, it can look so cheap and tacky if it isn’t done right, but this time, the gold version just jumped out at me and I had to have it. That is the first thing I love about this kit, you can completely style it to your taste. First you get to choose the body in either Black, Gold, or Silver, and then the real fun starts with the choice of panels. I went with the Bubinga Wood, partly because it is just a lovely look with some gorgeous deep grain and it really compliments the gold body, and partly because I’m incredibly infantile and I like to creep up on my kids and yell “BUBINGA!!!” when they least expect it. I probably shouldn’t admit that in a professional review, but this whole kit is all about the way it makes you feel, it’s more personal somehow than any other pod kit I’ve used and hopefully this review will reflect that. If randomly freaking people out by yelling “BUBINGA” isn’t your style, there are two other wood finishes, Purpleheart and Sonokeling, or you can go for a more industrial look with either Textured or Forged Carbon. Of course, you are not stuck with your original choice, panels are available separately so you can mix and match too.

If you want the actual specs, and don’t want to rely on just pure instinct, these are the bits you need to know:

Dimension: 103x43x17.2mm
Tank Capacity: 2ml
Coil: Orion II Coils
Power Output: 5-40W
Battery: 1500mAh Internal
USB Charge: Type-C 2A Charge

Unboxing

The first clue that you are getting more than your average kit here is when you first receive your package and unwrap it. The box has a slidable sleeve with a funky graphic, and as you slide the sleeve over, the stripes work to animate the logo underneath. It is just so cool, and I spent far too long sliding it back and forth. Never mind the contents, it is almost worth the price just for the packaging! But once you can draw yourself away from the fancy design on the outside, you can then get to the meat of the matter. Inside you are greeted by your personalised mod with a tank in place, a spare tank, and two 0.4oHm coils.

LVE Orion II unboxing

On the left of the box is a compartment containing the USB charging cable and a sucker pad. This puzzled me at first, it seems a really random accessory. Then you try to remove the panels and it all makes sense, you have to squish it on to the panel and it holds really tight so you can pull the panel off. Without it, this would be really tricky as those panels fit so perfectly. LVE could have used a small recess to get your fingernail in or something like that, but this way means that they have been able to keep the clean lines of the design, so this really is a great idea.

LVE Orion II contents

The Orion II device itself looks great at first glance, but it is when you take the time to really look at it, that you start to notice the little details. There is not a rough edge or sharp ledge anywhere, every line has been sculpted to perfection. The fire button is slightly raised but is firm enough that you shouldn’t accidently press it, and the + and – buttons are satisfyingly rounded off at the top and bottom. I think my favourite part is the pod release catch, it is the ultimate fidget toy but even with me playing around with it, it has remained just as responsive as it has ever been. The branding also reflects the understated class with a matt finished LVE below the pod on one side and Orion II on the other. They tell you what the kit is without needing to shout. The overall size is spot on, especially if you have tiny hands, and although it has a satisfying weight to it, it is so well balanced that it won’t feel wrong in your pocket.

LVE Orion II pod fitting clip

Setting Things Up

The next thing that I really like about the Orion II is the simplicity of everything. To get started, you need to fit a coil in the pod. To remove the pod, there is a slider which activates the lock, so you slide it down and the edge of the pod releases so you can remove it. The coils are press fit, so just pop one out of the sealed packaging and push it firmly into the pod, giving it a little twist as it goes. Finally, you slide the outer edge of the pod flush, seat the coil so it lines up with the connector, and then push the release catch down again whilst pushing the pod in to the correct place. You know when it is in right as it finishes with a an incredibly satisfying click. That is the most complicated part of the whole process, so it really is incredibly user friendly. The mod will read the coil to set what it feels is the correct power, personally I found it set it a little higher than I like of both 0.4oHm and the 0.8oHm coils so I manually went in to drop it down a couple of watts. I like a fairly cool vape though so this will be a personal choice.

LVE Orion II push fits coils

Once the coil is in, you can fill it up, and this is the one area that possibly might divide people. To get to the fill port, you have to unscrew the silver cog shaped cap. It is a lovely little thing with perfect threads and an all-round stylish feel, but it comes right off and there is no retaining loop or means to keeping it safe. Basically don’t drop it down a crack or you are up the creak. That said, I am one of the clumsiest people you will meet, and I haven’t managed to lose it yet, but the possibility is there. I would like to see it added as a spare item to buy as it really is an essential part.

LVE Orion II pod and device

The actual fill port is perfectly serviceable, it is a hole that you can fill your tank up with. You can fit most bottle nibs in with no problem although massive shortfill bottles might need to be angled a bit if they don’t clear the mouthpiece (or you could just remove the driptip). One little tip I will share is not to ram your tip in as far as it will go and go easy with the amount of force you put on the bottle. If you do, you will increase the pressure which will lead to a slight flooding for your first few vapes. Filling this tank is like making love to a beautiful woman, give it space, don’t force your tip in, and carefully drip your juice in the hole, letting it gently flow rather than gushing uncontrollably out…the Fast Show has a lot to answer for but in this case, Swiss Tony is bang on the money! My other tip is to not remove the rubber insert inside the tank, you may think you are sticking it to the man but that bung actually keeps the coil perfectly set in the middle of the pod and helps to keep the vape consistent. I stupidly removed it on my first tank, and I wouldn’t recommend it unless you enjoy a sticky mod. Just trust in the design as it is meant to be, and you will have a perfect vaping experience. LVE know what they are doing here so just go with it.

LVE Orion II filling

The Vape

I ordered a pack of 0.8oHm coils but decided to start things off with just the included kit so I fitted one of the 0.4oHm ones. It is designed to give a restricted Direct to Lung vape and is rated between 26-32W although I dropped it down to 20W as the lowest pre selected setting was just a little too warm for me. I let it sit for a few minutes so the e-liquid could soak in a bit, and then it was time to get things under way. As this is a DTL coil, I chose a 70/30 shortfill, and this little coil kept up solidly, I couldn’t out vape it, so chain vaping isn’t a problem. The flavour is very good, whilst it didn’t dig the very finest details of more complex flavours, it managed to pull out more than enough to give a very satisfying vape. The juice I chose was also quite a sweet one as I really wanted to push things as far and hard as I could, and I still got a good 5-6 days of heavy vaping out if it before it started to taste a bit funky. I am very picky about these things too so most people would probably be happy for another couple of days before they need to swap their coil out. As for how long I could vape in a day, I would have it freshly charged in the morning and it would last me until around 8pm before the battery was flat. This was pretty impressive as I vape extra hard during the review period, so it did itself proud.

After a week using the 0.4oHm, it was time to try the 0.8oHm which is a pure Mouth to Lung coil so is much more my style. This time round I went with Leaf Café Cigarillo, if you are going to test MTL, you want to use the best e-liquid you can, and it is pretty hard to beat any 50/50 juice from Manabush. This was definitely the right choice, it was a match made in heaven, a very smooth vape with a deep rich flavour. Tobacco flavours just feel right with the stunning wood panels, it all just adds to the sophistication of the experience, although it was just as happy with fruits and desserts. Once again, I couldn’t outpace the coil when it comes to chain vaping, it just handled what ever I could throw at it. As for using it as a daily driver, from fresh to flat took a full day and it still had enough left over for a relaxed breakfast the following day. Whilst I enjoyed the 0.4oHm coil, the whole thing just seems to come together with the 0.8oHm and I would strongly recommend picking up a pack when you order your kit. If you buy from the official store, you can currently get a free pack of coils so that is what I would go for, but you do you!

LVE Orion II coil packs

As for the controls, this is as simple as it gets. It doesn’t have auto draw, so you need to push the fire button to vape (which again I prefer but that is just me). If you want to shut down the device, the standard five clicks turns it off, and the same turns it back on again. When you do shut it down, it displays the rather cute “See you again” message on the screen, it is just a small detail, but I like it. If you want to adjust the power, hold down the power button and the + to unlock the option, then use + or – to change the setting before repressing the power and + to lock it again. There is a puff counter and you can clear that by pressing power and -, but I can’t say that is a priority and I didn’t really notice it was there.

LVE Orion II controls and screen

*The screen was just in the midde of turning off when I took this photo, there is nothing wrong with it other than my timing!*

Airflow is basic but functional with a spinning dial that has no end stops. Thankfully the fit is firm enough that it stays where you set it. The actual intake is just a sausage shaped hole but using the airflow ring will give you anything from a perfect restricted direct lung hit to a cheek suckingly tight mouth to lung draw. The 0.4oHm suited the wide open setting, but the 0.8oHm seemed happy at just a tad over open so you can still see the opening. You will need to have a play to find what works for you but there is a lot of wiggle room to tailor it to suit.

Charging is quick, and the advertised forty minutes is about right. If you need to give it a little top up during the day, ten minutes will give you enough boost to keep you going until you can get to give it a full charge.

Initially I wasn’t so sure about the mouthpiece, the bore felt a little wide. But it was comfortable for both MTL and DTL, so it covered the best of both worlds. It is quite long but there is a reason for that, any shorter and your lips will hit the fill cap. I tried to swap out to one of my old favourites, but they were all a bit too short, so I went back to the original one. My ones fitted perfectly though, no wobble, so if you have a longer drip tip, you will be fine.

LVE Orion II drip tip and fill port

Finally, on to the fit and finish, and it is faultless. The Orion II just oozes quality from top to bottom. The buttons are all solid, no rattles or jiggles. The device itself is rock solid and is surprisingly hardwearing. I have been using it as a daily driver for a few months, it has been soaked in my pocket at work, it has been dropped a couple of times, it has had a really thorough testing and has faced everything head on. The wood panels have been the biggest surprise, sure there are a few scratches there, but it hasn’t chipped or lost any colour. They are obviously really good quality wood that has been treated properly, and are more than fit for the job required of them.

LVE Orion II perfect partners

Pros

Sexy as hell
Fantastic build Quality
Very user friendly
Amazing packaging
Rock solid performance
Surprisingly tough
Great flavour
Long battery life

Cons

The fill cap could be easily lost

Final Thoughts

You can probably guess by now that I love this little beauty, it is not often that you get a mod that looks great but also functions perfectly and is surprisingly tough. The LVE Orion II ticks all the right boxes. Sure, it is a little more expensive than your “average pod kit”, but this isn’t your average pod kit, this one is a bit special. The LVE Orion II has converted me to the delights of pod kits, I find myself increasingly reaching for it over my regular mod and tank, and I fully expect to be using it in my regular rotation for a very long time.

If you want to pick up your own custom matched LVE Orion II, head over to LVE Vapor UK for all your options. The price for the full kit is £47.99 and you can get a free pack of coils at the moment too which makes this a very nice bundle. Not only that, if you buy the kit from here, you will be getting the very best customer support you will ever find, anyone who has ever dealt with the legendary Stealthvape will know exactly what I mean. They have a history of only selling the very best quality items, so if they are fully behind the LVE Orion II, you know it must be a winner. If it is good enough for them, it is more than good enough for me.

LVE Orion II vape heaven

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.