Pod System Reviews

SMOK IPX 80

The Electronic Cigarette Company sent over the Smok IPX-80, a good kit for vapers who like it rough and rowdy!

by Antony Lord
Apr 13, 2021

Share on:

Smok IPX-80 kit

The Electronic Cigarette Company (TECC) got in touch and asked if we’d be interested in looking at the latest pod kit from Smok, the IPX-80. As this is ip67 rated, I thought it might be interesting for those of us who are inclined to be a little rough, or just plain clumsy, with their kits.

Inside the box besides the IPX-80 itself you get the usual scattering of paperwork and a USB-C charge cable along with two RPM-2 coils.

Smok IPX-80 kit contents and unboxing

Specifications

Size 107x34.8x34.5 mm
130grams
3000mah internal battery/1.4 amp charge rate
Ip67 rating (dust/water/drop resistant)
Output 1~80 watts / 0.5~4 volts
5.5ml capacity (2ml for TPD regions)
RPM-2 Coil system

Smok IPX-80 kit close ups and screen

The IPX-80 is fractionally larger than previous RPM-2 kits thanks to its new ip67 rating, the main body now has a rubberised finish with metal accents around the side and back enclosing a soft leather grip on the back. This feels perfectly weighted in the hand although I did find it more comfortable to use as a thumb fire device because of the design of the duckbill style mouthpiece.

Up front is the main control panel with a bright screen in between the power and up and down buttons. All the buttons have a nice clicky response with zero button rattle evident and anyone who’s used any of the previous smok pod kits will instantly be at home with the familiar control interface. The board feels snappy and responsive with no lag but you are limited to a four volt cutout and I suspect as with many of these pod kits there’s no boost capability, having said that I don’t think any of the RPM-2 series of coils will tax the board and I haven’t seen any third party 510 adapters and the like.

One big addition this time is the two airflow controls located on either side, something the RPM series has been criticized for not having in the past, these are independently adjustable to allow you to fine tune your vape to your liking. These are more helpful with the restricted direct lung coils and I found that having both of them set halfway open was best with the included 0.16ohm mesh coil, mouth to lung purists may be disappointed though as even with the airflow fully closed there was some air getting through.

Smok IPX-80 kit flaps and connnectors

The pod is held in place with four magnets in the sealed top area and there are no worries about accidentally losing the pod, the ip67 rating should mean that this area is resistant to leaky coils which is a good thing as the RPM coils still do weep a bit especially if you leave them unattended overnight. The ip67 rating also carries over to the USB charge port on the bottom which is sealed with a large rubber bung.

In my charging test the IPX-80 hit a peak charging rate of 1.33 amps with a final recorded capacity of 2693mah in 2 hours and 18 minutes. The large battery capacity means that you should get through a good part of the day with this given that most of the RPM-2 coils have fairly modest power requirements.

Smok IPX-80 kit pods

As the IPX-80 was supplied by The Electric Cigarette Company the pod came with the dreaded 2ml TPD bung, this was relatively easy to remove and gave me a much more reasonable 5.5ml capacity. There’s a generously sized fill port on the side and I’ve had no issues with filling but the bung is a little fiddly to put back in place once you’re done. The large duckbill mouthpiece has an asymmetrical design and as I mentioned earlier I found that this made it more comfortable when thumb firing, I really wish that this had a more traditional 510 style drip tip as I feel this would have improved things greatly.

Smok IPX-80 kit coils

Two coils are included, a 0.16oHm mesh coil for restricted direct lung and a 0.6oHm round wire coil for a (loose) mouth to lung vape. These perform exactly the same as with any of the other RPM-2 kits giving fairly decent flavour and the adjustable airflow was helpful with these as previous RPM kits are a bit on the airy side.

Pros

Ip67 rated pod kit
Good battery life
Uses RPM-2 coils
Adjustable airflow

Cons

Can’t completely shut off the airflow
Coils can be leaky
Asymmetric duckbill mouthpiece can be a bit uncomfortable

Conclusion

If you tend to be a bit heavy handed with your vape gear or work in a rough job where you need something a little bit more robust then this could well be worth a look thanks to that ip67 rating. I was expecting this to be a bit of a lint magnet with the rubberized exterior but that hasn’t been the case and it feels comfortable in use aside from the mouthpiece. I’m quite taken with this all black edition but there are a range of other colours to choose from as well.

Many thanks to The Electric Cigarette Company for sending the IPX-80 out for review.

Smok IPX-80 kit handcheck

Antony Lord

Reviewer at POTV

View Articles

I 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.