Pod System Reviews

VOOPOO Argus e40 Kit

It feels like mtl pod kits are taking over these days so it is good to see VOOPOO releasing the Argus e40 kit for all the DTL vapers out there

by Antony Lord
Jun 18, 2024

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VOOPOO are on something of a roll with new releases at the moment, and today I’m taking a look at a compact direct lung pod kit in the shape of the Argus e40 kit. This is based around their popular PnP X technology but in a new form factor with disposable pods rather than coils.

Specifications

114 x 31.2 x 22.6mm
111 grams
1800mAh internal battery
2A fast charging via USB-C
Argus e40 pods based on PnP X tech

The Argus e40 is available in seven colours and I was sent the “‘starlight purple” version for review, the red and green variants also look quite stunning. Besides the e40 itself, you’ll find two e40 cartridges (pods), a USB-C charge cable, and a brief instruction booklet in the box.

The main body of the Argus e40 is made from an zinc alloy and is finished to VOOPOO's usual standard, the front panel is a little different though as this has a clear plastic casing over the top which swoops elegantly partway down the side panels. There’s a small but adequate screen on the front surrounded on either side with coloured LED displays which indicate your approximate battery life (Green >60%, Blue >20%, Red <20%), and on the rear panel there’s an accompanying clear panel revealing part of the circuit board and a faux heat pipe arrangement that I’ve seen used on previous Argus pod kits. I’m pretty sure this is more of an aesthetic design element to tie the series together visually rather than being a functional heat pipe though.

On the sides, there’s a large stepless airflow control with a power button on the opposite side, and all the corners have a soft rounded finish which makes this comfortable to hold and it fits in the hand quite nicely. The one button operation is simple to use and easy to learn, I didn’t even need to reference the instruction booklet to figure out the menu system so you shouldn’t have any issues on that front either.

The USB-C charge port is located on the base of the e40 with onboard 2 Amp fast charging for the integrated 1800mAh battery. In my test, this hit a peak charge rate of 1.68 amps with a recorded 1456mAh usable capacity which was achieved in just 55 minutes. Whilst this was enough to get me through a day at work, I was needing to pop this on charge later in the evening to get me through a full day of use.

Finally up top there’s the pod recess with a large airflow hole which reaches directly to the stepless airflow control on the side. Unusually for this type of device, the Argus e40 actually features an auto draw system which isn’t often seen on direct lung pod kits, and I’m happy to report that this has worked flawlessly so I’ve been using that rather than the power button on the side.

The Argus e40 kit comes with two e40 pods (0.3 and 0.6ohms), these are fully disposable pods with an integrated coil based on VOOPOO's PnP X technology. An optional Argus PnP X pod is also available which allows you to use standard PnP X coils if you’d rather go down that route or have a favourite PnP X coil, just bear in mind you have a maximum 40 watts to play with and a minimum resistance of 0.3ohms so the 0.15ohm coil is a no-no here.

As this is a pre-release version, I got to play with the international 4.5ml pods but these will of course be limited to just 2ml here in the UK by what appears to be a silicone bung, and as these are sealed units, you’ll be stuck to that. The duckbill style mouthpiece is comfortable to use and it’s easy to see your e-liquid levels through the lightly smoked pods. Filling is easy via a large port at the base, but you do need to remove the pod for refilling.

The PnP X coil system coils are slightly larger than the original PnP coils but still use a FeCrAL mesh coil design so they’re suitable for those of us with nickel sensitivity issues. The coils also use VOOPOO’s latest thermo stable cotton and mesh coil designs for supposedly better wicking and longer coil life, but as with my previous experience with the PnP X coils, whilst these still gave the same great flavour I’ve come to expect, they simply don’t work well at the suggested wattages.

I tried the 0.3ohm pod first as this was preinstalled and this simply couldn’t keep up at the suggested wattages with the coil repeatedly drying out after several puffs even at power levels well below the minimum 32 watts suggested. I was way down at 22 watts and it was still struggling, so after three days of this, I gave up and switched to the 0.6ohm pod. This performed much better at the suggested wattage ranges so that would be my choice here, and of course there’s always the option of that PnP X pod and removable coils plus a 0.45ohm pod but VOOPOO didn’t send either of those for me to test.

Conclusion

The VOOPOO Argus e40 kit is a good option if you want a compact direct lung kit to carry around in a pocket as a daily driver. My choice of the two included pods would be the 0.6 ohm version as the 0.3 ohm pod struggled even below the suggested wattages but If I were to continue using this kit, I’d probably go for the optional PnP X pod and use the standard coils instead.

I’m going to award the VOOPOO Argus e40 kit a 6.5 out of 10 with points deducted mainly for the 0.3 ohm pod.

Many thanks to VOOPOO for sending the Argus e40 kit over for review.

Pros

Compact direct lung kit
Based on PnP X coils
Great auto draw feature

Cons

The 0.3ohm pod struggled to wick well

Antony Lord

Reviewer at POTV

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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.