Baton V2 Pod Review: Plus Their New Nic Salts

Product intro and specs

The Baton V2 is the follow-up release to the Baton Classic, Baton Vapor's first refillable pod vape from 2017. Since then, Baton Vapor has also built out a small line of nic salt juices to be used with their two devices.

The Baton Classic and 350 mAh Baton V2 are similar in profile, but the Baton V2 takes different pods and has an automatic draw, doing away with the fire button of the original. In general, the Baton V2 is more refined in feel and design. I'll be reviewing the device, as well as each of their flavors.

Baton sent me this device free of charge for the purpose of a review.

Colors: Black, white, Tiffany blue

Price: $34.99 (at BatonVapor)

Build quality and design

The Baton V2 feels good in the hand. It's slim, and it has a soft-touch rubberized finish that makes it easy to grip. The pods are held firmly, and they create a loud snap when you put them into the battery.

The Baton feels really light and stealthy, though it's a little bigger and taller than the JUUL. The Baton V2 is heavier than the JUUL by about 5 grams and it's longer than the JUUL by about 15 mm (or 5/8 of an inch). Basically, the mouthpiece of the Baton is the only thing that stands above the JUUL when you put them side by side. Other than that, the two have a similar form factor.

Monitoring your juice won't be as easy as with a JUUL though. The Baton V2 has two juice windows, but they're long slots on the side of the device that are too narrow to get a good view of your juice level. It's easier if you hold it up to the light or if you're outside during the day, but it's still not clear view. I just take out the pod to check.

Pods

The resistance of the pod is not stated, and, as far as I can tell, the capacity isn't stated either. From my syringe test, it appears to hold about 0.9 mL. I haven't hacked a pod, but it looks like it's standard fare on the inside with a coil and cotton wick.

To refill the device, you have to pull off the mouthpiece from the pod. Under the mouthpiece, there are two rubber pieces: a dual-sided refill plug stuck in the pod, and the Baton anti-spitback piece. It works by redirecting the vapor out of its straight path so liquid won't make it to the mouth. It works! But when you take off the mouthpiece to refill, that piece normally falls off onto the floor. Ideally, it would be stuck inside of the mouthpiece. It's an optional piece and the Baton will vape fine without it, but I prefer to have it in.

Performance

The Baton V2 is made for nic salts. And the nic salt line Baton Vapor made has a few tasty options. I enjoy using the device... most of the time. It's not quite a cool vape and it's not quite warm. It's comfortable. It's got a tight draw with less airflow than the JUUL, but it produces a strong throat hit. It puts out a decent amount of vapor for its size, and the flavor is about average for a pod vape.

But the reason why I said I like using it "most of the time" is because of trapped bubbles in the pod at the wick. If I'm not careful and I take too many hits in succession, the quality of the vape suffers.

For those that don't know, when bubbles get trapped at the wick, the juice flow to the coil gets cut off. When that happens, dry hits begin, followed by a burnt hit. To mitigate that, I frequently smack the device in my hand a few times as if I have a nervous habit. That tends to either break up the bubbles into tiny ones, or it makes them rise. The issue here is that I'm using Baton e-juice. Ideally, the liquid for the device should be the best liquid to use... but it's a tad too thick. Sometimes I add a few drops of PG to the pod, to thin out the liquid (thinner liquid has less of an issue with bubbles).

Flavors

Baton Vapor e-juices are 25 mg/mL or 50 mg/mL of nic salt and they're sold for $8.99 per bottle. The PG/VG ratio is undisclosed. I was sent the 50 mg/mL bottles.

Crisp Apple: More authentic sour apple than candy sour apple. It feels like the right amount of each. It's a good flavor and the tartness really comes through. My second favorite.

Fruit Confit: The smell is amazing, but it has a mentholated note that's too strong for me. It overpowers the flavor. If you like mentholated or icy flavors, you might like this one. I don't.

Glacier Mint: Oddly enough, I do like this one despite not being much into juices with a coolness. It tastes like peppermint to me, but it still has a lot of character. It's minty, but not overly cool.

Iced Watermelon Limeade: Similar to Fruit Confit, this has an amazing smell. I really wanted to like this one, but again, the cooling note tastes too strong. It smells exactly like an iced watermelon limeade, so if you like a sharp and cooling fruity juice, you should try this one.

Island Mango: Of all the mango juices I've tried over the past few years, this one is above average. It tastes and smells more like sweet and ripe mangoes vs some juices that taste like green and unripe mango. My third favorite.

Southern Leaf: This is a classic-style tobacco juice. It reminds me of Halo Torque 56. It's a bit aggressive in its leaf taste. Fans of old-school tobacco juice might like this one, but I don't (even though I do like old-school tobacco juices!).

Vanilla Wafer: Last but not least, Vanilla Wafer. It's easily my favorite! I will buy another bottle of this. It's got the right kind of sweet vanilla taste with a savory wafer note (it reminds me of Inawera Biscuit taste). It's very good! I now have it loaded up in my Galaxies RDTA.

Battery

The battery is only 350 mAh, but it lasts a long time. I've been able to finish a whole pod and still not have the battery die. But unfortunately, the Baton V2 doesn't have pass-thru charging.

The battery status is indicated by an LED toward the bottom of the device. It first comes on when you snap a pod into the device, letting you know how much of a charge you have.

Blue: high capacity

Yellow: medium capacity

Red: low capacity

The LED is in the shape of the accent mark in the company name and it looks like a little glowing heart. It lights up when you take a hit, but one strange thing happens when you take a long hit. Any hit of five seconds or longer will turn the LED into a party mode where several colors flash. It lasts almost 10 seconds! That's too long for me and I'd prefer to not draw attention to the device, especially if it's been up to 10 seconds since my last hit.

Pros / Cons

Verdict

I'm torn. I enjoy using the device, but I also wouldn't recommend it.

I think the Baton V2 is a good refillable pod vape with nice build quality and a long-lasting battery. I also think the Baton Vapor nic salt e-juice line has some good options. But the issue with trapped bubbles is a big one, especially considering I used their own juice.

It's not a big deal for me because I have several workarounds, but this device should cater to the newbie — and I don't think a new vaper should have to work around issues like that. Having said that. I will continue to use mine. That should say something.