Pod System Reviews

Vaporesso Luxe XR Kit

Vaporesso have managed do something for everyone with the new Vaporesso LUXE XR Pod Kit which caters for both MTL and RDL vapers alike

by Si Davies
Oct 10, 2022

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Supplied by Vaporesso for review
https://www.vaporesso.com/pod
Price TBC

A pleasant surprise from Vaporesso as they have brought out a replaceable coil version of the Luxe X which we reviewed a few weeks back: https://www.planetofthevapes.co.uk/reviews/pod-systems/vaporesso-luxe-x.html
It was already a great alternative for disposable users, but this version makes it even better as the pod is reusable as you only replace the coil making it much less wasteful.

Vaporesso LUXE XR Pod Kit

Built-in 1500mAh battery with 40W output
COREX heating tech for accurate flavour
Adopts AXON Chip with smart control
Abrasion/stain resistant coating and PCTG tube
Auto lock the device after 8S pressing
Secured mode to avoid accidental misfiring
Designed with 3 LED lights to display
Futuristic design, crystal and solid body
Adopts SSS leak-resistant technology
5ml e-juice capacity (2ml TPD), easy bottom filling
Fit for Luxe X 0.4Ω/0.8Ω Pod, Luxe XR RDL/MTL Pod, GTX 0.4Ω/0.6Ω Coil (RDL), GTX 0.8Ω/1.2Ω Coil (MTL)

One of the stand-out features of the Luxe XR is the dual purpose MTL and RDL ability, and Vaporesso have made two different pods to suit each style.

Unboxing

Vaporesso have updated their packaging for the Luxe XR with a very vibrant cover which shows your colour choice on the front, along with the specs and contents on the rear. With the outer sleeve removed, you’re greeted with the contents.

Vaporesso LUXE XR Pod Kit unboxing

The LUXE XR device is held in a blown plastic tray, next to that is a black wallet containing the manual, and underneath that is the additional MTL pod and a USB-C charging cable.

Vaporesso LUXE XR Pod Kit contents

First Impressions and Overview

(Taken from the original review and revised where applicable)
Vaporesso have put their cards on the table within the specs that the Luxe XR would be larger than their previous pods with 5ml capacity and a large 1500mAh battery, along with the promise of RDL to MTL, but I was pleasantly surprised that it was still pretty compact, they have crammed a lot into such a compact kit which fits comfortably in your hand.

It has no screen or adjustment buttons, just a single Fire button on the front; I really like the quality of the fire button, firm with a short throw and easy to find in your hand however you hold it, it barely protrudes and I’ve experienced no pocket firing problems to date.

Vaporesso LUXE XR Pod Kit side on

That said, it is still one of the largest pods of this style I’ve seen and usually with specs like these you start to see them go into the ‘pod/mod’ style, the Luxe XR is what I call a proper pod with its basic battery section and removable/refillable pod.

Vaporesso LUXE XR Pod Kit pod fitting

The pod is held in place with four strong magnets, and the fitting is spot on with no noticeable wobble; if you force it then it will rock a little but it’s plenty firm enough to stay in place when stored in your pocket or bag.

The USB-C charging port is on the base; Vaporesso have opted for a reasonable and safe 1.5 Amp charging which still charges fairly quick considering the large 1500mAh battery capacity. I tended to top-up charge so I didn’t get an exact time, it took around 1 hour from a single LED state.

Vaporesso LUXE XR Pod Kit charging

Some might find the included charging cable a bit short but I’m all for smaller cables with kits like this as they are just so much better for power-bank charging, plus it’s less of a resource waste as we all have so many of these cables since USB-C has become standard for a lot of devices.

Vaporesso LUXE XR Pod Kit montage

Clear Winner

I have gotten this far and not even mentioned the gorgeous styling yet; as you can see, it looks great at pretty much every angle. Vaporesso have done an interesting design with the mixture of metal upper body and the clear polycarbonate base, they state it has three layers for clarity, strength and scuff resistance. I am loathed to ruin it by scratch testing, but I’ve tried a few hard surface tests and the base hasn’t marked a bit. Feeling adventurous, I then tried rubbing a coin on it to simulate having it in a pocket with coins, no marks to report but I did manage to scratch it with a deliberate scrape on the corner of a coin.

But back to the clear view design, you can see the chipset which has been designed for being seen, and the battery has a really attractive wrap which gives it most of its style. There’s one feature that makes the Luxe XR look classy instead of cheap and that’s the fading tint that goes to solid black at the bottom.

One thing I was half expecting didn’t materialise; there’s no flashing lightshow that I’ve seen on many other clear vape kits, you just get three little LED status lights near the base (similar to the Vaporesso ZERO 2 pod), admittedly I do like light-up mods but it would make the Luxe XR look a bit tacky so a wise design choice I think.

Vaporesso LUXE XR Pod Kit chip tuned

As mentioned earlier, the Luxe XR promises RDL to MTL depending on which pod you use. The kit comes with both available pods and two different GTX coils so you get to try each vaping style.

0.4 Ohm GTX Coil (32W) with RDL Luxe Pod
0.8 Ohm GTX Coil (16W) with MTL Luxe Pod

Vaporesso LUXE XR Pod Kit coil fitting

Onto the main difference between the Luxe X and the Luxe XR, and that’s the replaceable coil of the XR whereas the X had a throwaway pod. The pods accept all of the widely available GTX including the lower ohms wide top ones, but I would only use the 0.4oHms or higher due to the 40W output.

Vaporesso LUXE XR Pod Kit GTX coils

The two pods are different in in two ways, one is the obvious mouthpiece size difference, the other is in the airflow as the MTL pod has a smaller hole in the base. Each pod has either ‘RDL’ or ‘MTL’ marked on the side, but they will both accept each other’s coils if you wanted to mix it up a bit.

Vaporesso LUXE XR Pod Kit MTL and DTL pods

Vaporesso have also addressed the main problem with a lot of pod kits and that’s the leaking. Using their ‘SSS’ technology, which basically is an additional element to divert the airflow inside the pod to capture any stray e-liquid, this has proved very effective on previous devises, but don’t bank on it if you intend to store the pod for long periods. In regular use, it has been faultless.

Vaporesso have taken an unusual approach with the airflow options, rotating the pod is nothing new but there’s a raised platform in the pod housing which limits the airflow, rotate it 180 degrees and it’s unrestricted. I was sceptical if this approach would work but it turned out to be very effective on both pods, the MTL gave a good tight MTL or a looser one if you prefer that, the RDL was just that; a proper RDL draw or a very tight RDL draw. I’m impressed with the difference and range across the two pods overall and it met my fussy needs.

Vaporesso LUXE XR Pod Kit filling

Filling the pod up is achieved via a silicone bung at the very bottom, it isn’t as convenient as top filling pods such as the Luxe Q but I didn’t mind it at all as it was simple enough and there is plenty of room to avoid airlocks or mess. I minded even less as the 5ml capacity means even less refilling.

She’s Lost Control Again

There’s aren’t any controls to speak of as the Luxe XR is as basic as they come, simply a press fire to vape, and there is no adjustable power option, the wattage is set automatically depending on which pod you use.

5 x Fire = Turns device On/Off
Press Fire to Vape

Surprisingly there’s no ‘auto-draw’ which feels a bit old-school these days, especially for a pod of this style and a bit of a move backwards in Vaporesso’s pod kit range, you tend to see no auto-draw in pod/mods (such as the PM80 etc.) BUT I’m convinced Vaporesso have chosen this path due to auto-draw being the most common form of failure in so many pod devices. It only takes a bit of e-liquid to work its way inside the draw sensor to prevent it working, I’ve lost so many pod kits due to this reason that I’m glad that the Luxe Q is fire button only which should last much longer.

The LED status lights indicate the battery level:

3 x LEDs = 60-100%
2 x LEDs = 30-60%
1 x LED = Below 30%

The lights animate during vaping with a direction motion and only animate according to your battery level (ie on two LEDs pulse at below 60%).

Performance

I was particularly keen to try the 0.4 Ohm GTX coil and RDL pod first (Restricted Direct Lung).

MTL (Mouth To Lung) = Draw vapour into your mouth, then inhale, exhale (the same as you would do with a cigarette)
DL (Direct Lung) = Draw vapour directly into your lungs (the same as you would do by breathing through a tube)
RDL (Restricted Direct Lung) = Same as above but imagine the tube being smaller so it’s harder to breath the same amount through.

RDL is the difference of breathing through a small straw instead of a loo roll centre if that makes sense? Each to their own, and I enjoy each style for their own reasons, MTL is lower power, produces little vapour and tends to use higher nicotine %/mg, DL is more for clouds and since you draw more vapour in (and out), you require a lower nicotine %/mg, RDL is a nice middle ground with a balance between the two, and I tend to vape this way when I want to limit the amount of vape clouds (indoors or in public spaces).

That’s not an official guide as I hadn’t intended to cover this but I felt it was helpful to put the performance into context.

Which e-liquid you use is generally tied to which way you vape, I used 70VG/30PG (thicker and produces more vapour) shortfill with 3mg nicotine for the 0.4ohm pod and 50VG/50PG (thinner with less vapour) for the 0.8ohm.

Vaporesso LUXE XR Pod Kit with nic salts

So anyway, back to the performance; the 0.4ohm GTX coil and pod’s flavour was just superb! The draw was too tight for a loose DL but is just right for RDL, as in your cheeks pull in when you inhale (not those cheeks!), Vaporesso state the LUXE XR delivers 32 watts for this pod and it felt about right, not too warm or cool, and the optimal power for a really flavourful vape with reasonable clouds.

I’m used to Vaporesso kits and coils delivering, but this felt remarkable and I really enjoyed using this pod. The battery life was decent enough to last 4-6 hours of regular use so I found this a great pocket RDL option for short trips.

The 0.8ohm GTX coil and pod is supposed to be for MTL and I was a little sceptical as usually if you get a good RDL vape, you tend to get a too loose MTL in my experience. Thankfully I was surprised by how effective the airflow control was; it gave a proper MTL draw in tightness, flavour, and warmth. I’m used to such good flavour from Vaporesso’s pods, and the Luxe X was at least on par with something like the ZERO 2 which I found excellent. Again the stated wattage (16 watts) felt about right but it was a little higher than I would have preferred as I usually vape 1.2ohm around 11 watts. Naturally you get more per draw, higher power means higher juice consumption and lower battery life as a result, that said you also get a more saturated intense vape.

Compared to the non-replaceable pods, I honestly couldn’t tell any difference at all between the two, I can only assume they use the same cores and cotton, but it shows just how good the GTX coils are still.

Vaporesso LUXE kits

As for the hardware; the only difference I could see other than the pods was the artwork on one side and a little detail inside the pod housing as the airflow blocking pin has an extra raised pin which appeared to slightly tighten the MTL airflow.

Vaporesso LUXE XR Pod Kit long look

Conclusion

Basic? Yes, but this device is about quality and not only in the looks and construction as it delivers a quality RDL and MTL vape equally, which makes it a rare dual purpose pocket pod. I found carrying the two different ohm pods useful for swapping between MTL to RDL while I was out and about. I usually carry two different devices so this made a nice change.

Its simplicity should make it very attractive for new users and it doesn’t come much easier than this, but the surprise was that as an experienced user I found it equally as valuable for short trips out and about. I had to change my habits from expecting auto-draw, time will tell if the lack of it will prolong its life, but I very much suspect that it will.

As to the benefits of the XR over the X, I would say there’s a couple, the obvious less wasteful replaceable coils for one but also the large range of the GTX coils gives you more options to play with. I will be trying a 1.2ohm coil in mine next.

Pros

Excels at MTL and RDL alike
Replaceable wide range of GTX coils
Futuristic half clear design
1500mAh battery
Simple but powerful
Effective two way airflow control
2 different dedicated pods
Compact and very pocket friendly
Scuff resistant coating

Cons

Taking the LUXE XR for what it is, a simple to use compact yet powerful pod, then it’s difficult to find any actual cons. There are maybe a few things that some might find off-putting, such as no auto-draw, bottom filling, and only two airflow options, but these factors didn’t affect my overall opinion of the Luxe XR, only you can decide but hopefully you can find the info you need in the review.

Score: 8.5/10 – Luxe X but better

Vaporesso LUXE XR Pod Kit little monster

Si Davies

Reviewer at POTV

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My 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!