VooPoo Argus P1 Kit
Voopoo have are bringing out the new VooPoo ARGUS P1 Pod Kit. Si got to take a look at their latest little wonder.
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by Si Davies
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Supplied by VooPoo for review
https://www.voopoo.com/argus-series.html
Price TBC
Another day, another VooPoo. They sure have been busy this year and have produced some pretty special stuff. The Argus P1 is more of a cosmetic tweak and uses their successful Argus pod, this should be a no-brainer for vape quality.
Features
- Adjustable airflow
- Auto-draw
- Innovative auto-power
- 5 – 20 watts
- Leak resistant pods
- 800mAh internal battery
- Up to 3 Amp fast charging
- Lanyard included
The main thing I was keen to check out was the ‘Auto Power’ which promised to set the power according to how hard or soft you draw, it works a charm but more on that later.
Unboxing
The Argus P1 kit comes in a slide out style box, the outer sleeve has a few features listed and the contents are on the back along with all the authenticity bumf and legal stuff.
The accessories box is on the top layer and doubles as an additional protective layer, underneath that is the Argus P1 device held in blown plastic, it is very secure and should survive extreme carier abuse.
Included in the bundle is the actual device with a 0.7ohm pod preinstalled, a second 1.2ohm pod, a USB-C charging cable, and a lanyard along with a Multilanguage manual. As always, a second pod is appreciated.
First Impressions and Overview
Picking up the device for the first time, you notice that it’s quite heavy for its size but in a good way for me as I really like those substantial feeling pods. It weighs in at 77g with a full pod which isn’t all that heavy and makes it ideal for a lanyard, but it's not one I would put in my shirt pocket.
The shape is so ergonomic and comfortable; it feels so natural in your hand and almost pebble-like with every single edge rounded off, a small detail but I really like the ‘ARGUS’ logo which is embedded with a high gloss shine. I would love to know how they do this.
The adjustable airflow is positioned on one edge and feels quite firm to slide. The range is slight and a little fiddly to dial in, but on the plus side it stays put once you have found your preferred airflow. The USB-C charging port is just underneath that.
The main body is metal and looks plated rather than painted but still gives a glossy metallic finish. The clear plastic section shows part of the chipset and a little bit of the battery, the lanyard mount bar goes down into the body and visible. It’s all quite interesting as VooPoo have custom detailed the electronics and battery wrap for display.
Overall I really liked the styling, the clear section makes all the difference of what could have been a dull looking device without it. I’m not usually a fan of green vapes, but it works well with the gold detailing. I haven’t seen what other colours are available but I ended up liking this one a lot.
The LEDs are a bit hidden inside and use a four bar status display, they are mainly a single colour (white) until they give you warnings such as low battery or short circuit errors when a red light will flash.
I like the included lanyard, it has a leather type feel to it but I think it’s nylon. The length is perfect and I really appreciated that it wasn’t one of those large branded lanyard, I tend to use my own, but I will definitely use this one as is.
The pods are a magnetic fit and sit into the housing with a near perfect fit, there’s no wobble and you get a pretty good air seal, I really like the way they sit in with all the e-liquid visible and the coil base hidden.
You get the choice of either a 0.7ohm (preinstalled) or a 1.2ohm pod, both are aimed at MTL users but I would say the 0.7ohm is more aimed at the current trend of disposable-like e-liquids which are coil killers for higher ohm pods like the 1.2ohm which is more suited to ‘normal’ 50/50 e-liquid flavours.
Filling the pod up is via a bung on one side so you need to remove the pod to fill. The bung is quite easy to pop open, and the hole is large enough to avoid mess. I found this pod easy and mess free so I can forgive the lack of top-fill we’ve seen in current pods.
The pods are backwards compatible with the original Argus Pod kit, I couldn’t see any difference between them which is fine as the original is still fairly new and is superb with it.
Argus Pod vs Argus P1
Aside from the obvious style change, the main difference between the two is that the Argus Pod has a screen with adjustable wattage, this isn’t as useful as the Argus P1’s auto-power function. I usually always prefer a screen and adjustable wattage, but in this case I would choose the P1 due to this.
Performance
I was expecting a similar if not identical vape to the previous Argus Pod but it turned out to be better due to the innovative ‘Auto-Power’ function which I found to be surprisingly useful, I will do my best to explain it:
Auto Power
The power is automatically set to how hard you draw, if you want a low powered, cooler vape then you draw softer (almost sip it), and if you want a more intense vape then a cheek pulling hard draw will give you that. The LEDs will indicate the power, I tended to get two bars on a sip style vape and three or four bars on what I would call a normal draw. I did manage to get a single bar and that made a perfect stealth vape draw, hopefully you get the jist but overall it worked really well and was far handier than I had expected.
The vape quality was simply superb, a nice fully saturated MTL vape whatever ‘auto-power’ was selected. The airflow worked a charm and could go surprisingly tight when closed off, possibly the tightest I have experienced in a magnetic fit pod.
There’s no doubt that the Argus P1 is purely an MTL pod in my opinion, with the 0.7ohm pod and the airflow fully open, I could just about get a super tight RDL but I wouldn’t recommend it for that.
The pods' lifespan will depend on a couple of factors, mainly what e-liquid you choose. The safest bet is the 0.7ohm as that will handle most 50/50 e-liquids you throw at it included the over-sweetened ‘ice’ disposable style ones. The 1.2ohm is more suited to less sweetened e-liquids.
Battery life will also be dependent on which pod you use, the 0.7ohm pod will naturally require more power than the 1.2ohm (around 40% more at a guess) but also how hard you draw due to the auto-power function so it’s hard to quantify exactly, but I would say the battery life is decent and I got most of a working day from it.
Recharging was very fast and took me by surprise as I hadn’t read up the specs. It charges at 2 Amps using a regular USB-C charger but up to 3 Amps using a fast charger, and VooPoo’s ’18 minute’ claim appeared pretty accurate but mostly less as I tend to recharge from the first low warning.
Pros
- Innovative Auto-Power function
- Superb vape quality
- Effective MTL airflow adjustment
- Pebble-like ergonomics
- Lanyard friendly
- Proper fast charging
- Quirky see through styling
Cons
- You have to refit the pod to see the battery status
The only con is far from a deal-breaker and you get used to how long the battery lasts, I tend to top-up charge my stuff so it doesn’t matter for me.
Final Thoughts
Apart from the styling I wasn’t expecting anything new from yet another VooPoo pod, but they have been pushing the boundaries yet again and taught an old dog new tricks with the clever Auto-Power feature. It’s only when you use it that you appreciate how useful it actually is. Aside from that, I really like the P1 a lot and I’m torn whether it will replace my beloved DRAG Nano 2! The vape quality is better on the P1, but I still love the Nano’s shiny looks and size.
Score: 8.8/10 – A forward step in pod design
Si Davies
Reviewer at POTVMy 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!
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