ASPIRE SKYSTAR REVVO KIT REVIEW

Written by: Deuces Jack (Guest Blogger)

FIRST IMPRESSION OUT OF THE BOX:

The Aspire Skystar Revvo Kit comes nicely packaged in a black box with a sleeve on it. The sleeve has the exact color of the mod on the front of it, so there are no surprises. Pull the sleeve off, open the box, and in the foam insert, you have the Skystar mod. Pull out the foam insert and underneath you will see some spare coils, spare o’rings, spare glass, a USB cable, and a DT cover.

I have to admit that while this is a very good-looking mod, upon taking it out of the box, it does have a very soft curvy feel to it. Not soft in the sense of being squishy but soft in the sense of having very feminine-like lines to it. I do like the mod and the way it feels in your hand but it just looks like a girly shaped mod to me. Let’s load some batteries into it, fill up the tank, and see how it actually performs.

WHAT’S IN THE BOX:

• One Aspire Skystar 210W TC Box Mod
• One Aspire Revvo Sub-Ohm Tank
• Two ARC 0.10 to 0.16 ohm Replacement Coils
• Protective Silicone Cap
• USB Cable
• Spare Parts
• User Manuals
• Warning Card

FROM TOP TO BOTTOM:

There are three slots on the AFC that are all cyclops-shaped. The exterior of the AFC ring has some nice knurling to it and it has stoppers on both ends. Whatever you adjust on one airflow slot will happen on the other two. The AFC has a nice tension to it and it does tend to stay in place, once it is adjusted. The interior of the top cap is just straight up and there is absolutely no conical design to it, at all. Below the AFC ring, on the exterior of the mod, there is a Delrin exterior. The inside of the top cap is made out of all stainless steel and the threading on it is quite nice.

If you unscrew the top cap on the Revvo tank, you will reveal the fill port for the tank. The fill port doubles as a mechanism that secures your coil in place. The fill port hole is spring loaded and as soon as you depress it, you are able to fill the tank. This fill port really only works with glass drippers and needle-nose bottles. Bullnose types of bottles are going to make a bit of a mess. I wish they would have made the opening larger for the fill port, they definitely had enough room to do that if they wanted to.

The fill port tube has a shield around it that almost looks like a mini vase. It has some knurling on the top of it, so you can get a grip of it and it also has some holes in it just in case you overfill, the catch cup of the shield will let your juice run down onto the coil. When you unscrew the fill port shield, that will allow you to take your coil out and replace it. With the shield off, you have to locate a part of the coil disc with a small cut out, that you can get a fingernail under and lift your coil out of the tank.

With the coil completely out of the tank, you will notice that the tube runs all the way to the bottom of the tank and you will also notice when you depress the tube, that holes on the bottom of the tank open up. This allows your juice to flow to the bottom of the tank when you are refilling. The interior of the tank does have 4 metal bars that act like a sort of caged system on the interior. There is a glass section in place and you also get a spare glass section with your kit. The tank holds 3.5 mls of liquid. The base of the tank is very slim. Since this is a top airflow tank, there is no reason for any sort of thickness on the bottom of this tank.

On the bottom side of the tank, there is some Aspire and Revvo branding. There is also a gold plated 510 connection that does not protrude much from the threading. The threading around the 510 connection is stainless steel and the tank has sat flush on other mods that I have used it on.

THE COILS:

The included Revvo tank is very interesting. It is extremely innovative and the first of its kind that I have seen. What we have here is basically an RDTA with a pancake sort of coil. You can think of it as a flattened-out notch coil. Aspire calls it an ARC coil. That stands for Aspire Radial Coil. It’s a disc with a stovetop kind of design that has cotton underneath it. While there is a layer of cotton underneath the coil, there’s also some other type of material and I don’t know exactly what it is. It looks like the rough side of a kitchen sink sponge.

I’m not too sure exactly what that material is or if it actually helps with the wicking but it does bother me that there’s a material in there that I’ve never seen before. One thing’s for sure, it’s definitely not cotton. I have been told that it is made out of open cell poly fill. I’m really not sure what that is and if I am actually comfortable having a material like that so close to my coil and around all that heat. If it can be done, I would have preferred an all-cotton wicking material.

The whole coil housing is made out of stainless steel and it has an o’ring going around it that does a great job of keeping the juice in the tank. I have turned this tank upside down for hours at a time, just to see if it would leak and it has not leaked a drop. The stove top part of it is made out of Kanthal but there are no markings on the box or coil to indicate that. That’s definitely going to be a con. I would also like to see Aspire develop a family of coils like this, using stainless steel and being able to run this type of coil in TC mode.

Included in your kit, you will receive two coils. Aspire says that they should ohm out between .1 and .16 ohms. The one that I am running on my tank at this moment is ohming out at .16 ohms. Aspire says that this radial type coil has a range of 50 to 100 watts, with a best of rating of 80 to 85 watts. I have found my sweet spot to be right around 82 watts. That is where I get the best combination of flavor and clouds.

To install the coil, all you do is unscrew the shield and drop your coil in over the filling tube. I would recommend that you prime this coil like you would any other coil. Of course, you want to make sure that you do not over prime it or you will get spit back for the first couple of pulls. Once you have the coil primed and installed, you just have to make sure that when you vape, you do tilt the tank. It functions very much like an RDTA and the tilt of the tank is very important in order to feed the wicking material.

The coil longevity on this tank has been extremely impressive. I have had this coil for about 3 weeks now and I have run all sorts of different juices through it. I have experienced no significant loss of flavor and the coil seems to be going strong. On a couple of occasions, I did take my wire brush and brush the top of the coil off because it did look like it had some gunk on it. Aside from that though, I have done nothing special and I have been extremely impressed with the longevity of this coil.

THE LOOK, FEEL, AND GENERAL AESTHETICS OF THE MOD:

I have to admit that I’m very torn about the look of this tank. While I do like the way it feels in my hand, I just don’t like the curvy softness that look and lines of the mod give off. I also find it too smooth and definitely on the slippery side as far as the form factor goes. It definitely would have benefited from some texture on the body. It is extremely comfortable and it is pocketable as well as easy to carry. I’m just not sure that I’m sold on the overall look of the mod. One thing is for sure, I like the look of the Speeder Kit by Aspire a lot more. You have to remember though, this is all very subjective and I’m sure there are a lot of people out there that are going to feel much differently.

THE BOARD:

The board used in the Aspire Skystar is Aspire’s proprietary board. I think it’s one of the best boards out on the market today and it is extremely underrated. This chipset has a full temperature control suite and it is capable of TC in Ni, Ti, and SS. It also has a bypass mode as well as TCR functionality. The TCR function has 3 memory slots. You cannot adjust the TCR in the preset TC mode but I have found the stainless steel one to be very on point. You can adjust the TCR in the M1 to M3 slots. There is also a CPS mode that is a power curve function. I’m not a big power curve user but I have tested it out and it does work very well. In power mode, it does have preheat available as well. The Skystar mod has a temperature control range of 200 to 600 degrees Fahrenheit.

THE MENU SYSTEM:

• The menu system on the Skystar mod is very simple to use but it is a touch screen so we will go over it in detail right now.
• Swipe down twice on the screen to access modes, data, system, time, and about, sub menus.
• Touch one of the sub menu icons for access.
• Click the fire button 3 times to go in and out of stealth mode.
• Click the fire button 5 times to lock and unlock the mod. From the lock screen, hold the fire button if you want to shut the mod off.
• Tap the screen 3 times to show the clock.
• Swipe up twice on the screen to adjust your wattage or temperature.

I have to say that the touchscreen on this mod is very impressive. It is extremely responsive and very intuitive. Definitely one of the better touch screens that I have ever used in my time reviewing. Just an all-around solid touchscreen experience.

HOW DOES IT VAPE?

I’m still not too sure how I feel about this new Revvo tank with its innovative coil system. It does have gobs of airflow and if you’re an air flow hog, you are going to love this tank. It actually has too much airflow for my liking. However, when you do cut the airflow down, you do get a more turbulent vape. I have been running mine a little less than halfway open and I find that that is where I get the best flavor and cloud production.

The cloud production is good and the flavor is definitely there but I think that this coil system does better with the fruity sorts of vapes. Bakeries and custards just do not taste as good on this coil system as they do on a traditional coil system. The clouds are also kind of weird because they’re not as thick, lush, and saturated as opposed to a traditional coil system. They feel kind of lighter and whispy, when I compare it to a regular tank. The flavor is definitely there, especially with certain types of juices but I just don’t get that thick satisfying cloud that I am used to, when I’m running a traditional tank at the same wattage.

I’ll give Aspire big props for being extremely innovative but I’m not sure if this is exactly the future of vaping. It might just be a fad like the notch coil was. As all of you know when I review something, I try not to watch other reviews but this one was all over social media and I did see all kinds of comments about how it’s the future of vaping. Take it easy there Sparky, I don’t know if it’s the future of vaping but as far as the flavor goes it’s good and the clouds are decent as well.

The vape quality that the mod is capable of producing is another story altogether. This is an absolutely awesome chipset that I think is extremely underrated in today’s market. It just does everything very well. It is capable of excellent TC and the power mode seems to be very accurate. It has a curve function that a lot of people like and it’s just capable of producing an extremely accurate vape. I definitely like the mod much better than I like the tank. I’ll tell you this, the Skystar is probably one of the best non Yihi or non DNA boards on the market right now when it comes to TC vaping. I vaped it next to both of those boards and you will have a very tough time distinguishing the difference. It’s that good of a chipset.

WHAT WOULD MAKE IT BETTER:

• Conical Design
• Some Texture

I know a lot of people swear by RDTA’s and the flavor that they produce. I’ve reviewed a ton of them and I have to say that I just don’t get it. Most of the time I get better flavor off of a tank than I do an RDTA. I think that’s because of the way they are designed and the openness of the airflow. Most RDTA’s lack a conical design on the top cap and they are way too airy. I think that this tank suffers from those same design flaws. I think this tank would have been much more flavorful if they would have put some sort of conical shape into the top cap of the tank and cut the airflow down.

I’ve said it before in this review, I’m not too crazy about the smooth and curvy lines on this mod. It’s just way too sleek and slippery for my liking. In my opinion it also has a very feminine look to it. I would have loved to have seen a Aspire add some sort of texture to this mod in order to increase the grip on it.

CONCLUSION:

The tank is very innovative and it’s definitely a really nice effort by Aspire. It’s got good flavor and the clouds are decent as well. The mod is just a solid all-around performer that is very impressive. As far as bang-for-the-buck goes, you’d be hard pressed to find a better chipset on the market right now. For the money that they are asking for this mod you get a lot with this chipset. I would rate it as one of the better values out there, when you consider how much functionality you get. I’m not crazy about the looks of the mod but there is no denying that it is one of the better performing mods on the market today. For that reason, this one is DeucesJack approved.

PROS & CONS:

A note about Pros and Cons. These are my Pros and Cons. They are very subjective. What may be a pro to me could be a con to you and vice versa.