Starter Kit Reviews

SMOK OSUB 80W Baby Kit

New from SMOK is the OSUB 80W Baby Kit. This product is essentially a slimmed down version of their OSUB Plus Kit. Unlike the OSUB Plus, the Baby does not feature an internal battery and instead requires a single 18650. The device offers up to 80 Watts of power in either Variable Wattage or Temperature Control Modes and has support for all major wire types.

by VapeMaster
Jul 13, 2017

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Also included is the TFV8 Baby Tank which this makes this a very attractive starter package for a new vaper. So let’s take a closer look and see exactly what it has to offer you!

OSUB 80W Baby Kit Mod features

Zinc Alloy Construction
Dimensions: 83 x 37 x 22 mm
Weight: 130g
Variable Wattage Mode
Temperature Control Mode
TCR Adjustment
Puff Counter
Supported Temperature Control Mode Wire Types: Stainless Steel, Nickel and Titanium
Requires 1x 18650 Battery (Not Included)
Wattage Range: 1–80W
Voltage Range: 0.8–9.0V
Resistance Range: 0.1– 3.0ohm (Variable Wattage Mode) | 0.06–3.0ohm (TC mode)
Temperature Range: 200–600°F / 100–315°C
0.96 inch OLED Screen
Spring-Loaded 510 Pin

TFV8 Baby Tank features

Stainless Steel, Pyrex Glass and Delrin Construction
Diameter: 22mm
Height: 53mm
Weight: 47g
Capacity: 2ml (EU Edition)
510 Threaded
Top Filling Hinged Top Design
Adjustable Airflow

What’s in the box?

1x OSUB 80W Baby Mod
1 x TFV8 Baby Tank
2 x V8 Baby Q2 0.4ohm Dual Core Coils
Micro USB Cable
User Manual
Warranty Card
2 x vape bands
Spare O-rings
Spare Juice Inlet

In my opinion this starter kit does come with a decent amount of spares, but ideally I think it would have been nice if SMOK had included spare glass for the tank.

OSUB 80W Baby Kit styling and build quality

What is especially nice about this device is its slim line and ergonomic design. The device feels really comfortable in the hand and thanks to the excellent Zinc Alloy construction it is quite lightweight. The device is available in a variety of colours and has a matte painted and finger print resistant finish.

The 510 connector appears to be made from Stainless Steel and the spring-loaded 510 pin looked to be made from Brass. I had no problems getting any of my atomizers to sit flush but keep in mind if you use anything larger than 22mm diameter it will overhang. Given that the device itself is quite thin it is probably best not to pair it with larger tanks since this could cause it to topple over if knocked.

Just like other SMOK devices the fire button is actually a squeezable trigger bar. Now for the record I have never been a fan of some of these trigger bar mods because on occasion they have been very stiff or tend to stick, but in my opinion SMOK have got this one just right and it feels very responsive when firing. The two adjustment buttons are of a decent enough size and sensibly located with thankfully no noticeable rattle. The Micro USB Port is located on the side of the device directly below the adjustment buttons.

The OLED display is bright and clear with all of the typical information clearly shown including Resistance, Wattage, Temperature, Battery life etc. The battery compartment is accessed via a small latch in the base of the device and the battery needs to be inserted positive side up. The latch seemed to work well and kept the compartment secure and in the time I used never accidentally opened. There is no obvious venting on this device but I would assume it gets some ventilation from the groove around the latch itself.

TFV8 Baby Beast Tank

The included tank is nicely put together and is mainly constructed from Stainless Steel. The tube is made from Pyrex Glass and the juice insert is made from Silicone rubber. The included drip tip is made of Delrin which will minimise the amount of heat that reaches your lips.

The capacity of the Tank is variable depending on where in the world you live. Basically it’s supposed to me 3ml but thanks to the TPD we are stuck with 2ml maximum. Fortunately it isn’t that big a deal since the tank does feature the TFV trademark swing top hinged lid so refilling is quickly accomplished.

There are two airflow slots and the airflow is fully adjustable. At its most open it caters to a direct lung inhale and is a very airy vape. By adjusting the airflow you can reduce that to a slightly restricted lung inhale but I don’t feel it’s suitable at all for mouth to lung users.

Ease of use

One thing you really notice about this device is that it primarily caters to left-handers. Now while you can flip the screen orientation I did find it looks a little odd to me as a right-handed user. This also extends to the adjustment buttons since what I would typically assume was the minus button was in fact the “Wattage Up” button. Of course this is something you will quickly get used to with continual use but it did feel a little weird to me.

The Wattage is adjusted in .1 or 1.0 Watt increments. In Temperature Control Mode Celsius is adjustable in 5°C increments and in Fahrenheit in 10°F increments. You can round-robin between Celsius and Fahrenheit in TC mode.
Three clicks takes brings up the menu which offers a dizzying array of options: Mode, Puff Counter, Adjust Ohm, TCR, Setting, and Power.
Under the Mode function you can toggle between Variable Wattage and Temperature Control Mode with a choice of five different draw strengths and three different supported wire types (Ni200, Titanium, and Stainless Steel).
The Puff menu displays your total number of inhales but be aware it does have a limiting function so be sure to switch that off if you are a chain vaper like myself. You can reset the counter at any time.
Adjust Ohm allows you to alter resistance of your coil to three decimal places.
The TCR mode allows you to adjust the resistance of the current wire type.
Other settings allow you to switch on Stealth Mode, change screen contrast, flip orientation and change the screen time out interval.
To switch off the device select the power option in the menu or click the trigger bar five times to lock the device and then hold down the trigger for five seconds.
When fitting a new atomizer the device will detect it and ask you to confirm if this is a new coil or not before you can vape.

Performance

When the original TFV tanks came on to the market I was certainly very impressed by their extreme cloud production, but not by the required power, juice consumption and also the flavour which I found a bit washed out. The new TFV8 Baby Beast Tank included in this kit is rather different and while it does put out very excessive cloud production (which will delight some users and I actually liked it too), the flavour is actually surprisingly nice being both crisp and clean. Juice consumption for a 2ml TPD compliant tank is something of a potential problem since when vaping the pre-installed 0.4ohm coil anywhere between 40-80W, but given how easy the tank is to fill I didn’t find it that much of a bother. I personally found 45W offered a very enjoyable vape and given that the flavour was really nice I saw no need to put any additional drain on the battery by upping the Wattage.

Sadly both included Q2 Core Coils are 0.4ohm Resistance which as you might expect does put something of a drain on the battery if you are chain vaping. Ideally it would be worth picking up some of the Q2 Core 0.6ohm Coils if you don’t want to drain the battery as fast since they are rated for 20-50W. However as starter kit tanks go I found this one to be very enjoyable!

Of course if battery drain is a serious concern this device would pair up really nicely with an Aspire Nautilus 2 or a decent RTA. I happily used my fairly compact Squape R[s] since the Kayfun 5 was a bit top heavy when fitted.

I had no problems at all when using this device in Variable Wattage Mode and it also worked extremely well when using Temperature Control Mode with my Squape R[s] fitted with a Stainless Steel coil. With all single 18650 battery devices battery drain is always going to be an issue and if you vape often you are unlikely to get through the entire day before swapping one out but then again a spare battery is easy enough to carry around with you.

Conclusion

In my opinion this is a really good and well performing starter kit from SMOK, which is smartly designed and form friendly but do keep in mind the included tank does cater more to the cloud chasing fans. Regardless the tank can easily be replaced with another from your collection.

The only noticeable oddity about this device is that it does tend to feel like it was mainly designed for left-handed users but if you find one at the right price this is still a really good device that is well worth considering.

Thanks to the team at SMOK we have two of these to give away! Check out the competition here https://www.planetofthevapes.co.uk/competitions/two-osub-80w-baby-kits.html.