Innokin Goby/JEM Review: A Beginner's Kit

The Innokin Goby/JEM is a lightweight starter kit with sharp retro styling. It’s sold at an attractive price and, as is the case with many Innokin products, is aimed at beginning vapers. The device is being marketed as Goby in the U.S. and the JEM everywhere else. (To save time, I’ll just call it Goby for the rest of this review.)

While it has a detachable tank with replaceable coils, the Goby’s size, shape and weight make it feel more like an AIO than a regular-sized kit. Did Innokin manage to combine the best of both worlds in this starter kit?

The Innokin Goby has a slick, retro style to it. The button design and placement feels like a cross between older models of the Eleaf iStick series and the original Joyetech eGo AIO — but lighter. I weighed it with its 2 mL tank filled to the top and it came in at just 60 grams. That’s lighter than some of the larger sub-ohm tanks out there. There have been times that I had to check my pocket to make sure I didn’t leave it at home.

The Goby comes with a 1.6-ohm coil rated for 10-13.5 watts. The package also includes an extra coil and spare glass tank, something we don’t always see in similar products. The tank is very easily filled from the top, with large, practical filling ports. What is not very practical is the placement of the mini USB port at the bottom of the battery. Even though charging the Goby lying on its side does make sense due to its long and thin form, USB ports at the bottom of devices usually cause more issues than they solve.

Three clicks of the power button turns the device on and off, while the other two buttons can be used to scroll between the five power presets (10-11-12-13-13.5 watts.) Pressing the power button with the device turned on will transfer power to the coil while at the same time highlighting the power preset along with a battery indicator LED. A green light indicates a full battery, a yellow light means there is 50 percent left, and a red light means you need to charge it soon.

The battery itself is 1000 mAh. This might not sound like much but considering the low power requirements of the coil, it should get you through most of the day. With the power set at 13 watts, I managed to vape approximately two tankfuls before I had to recharge. Setting it in the 10-12 watt range will give you some extra battery life, but I wouldn’t bet on it making a big difference.

Unfortunately, there is little to no standalone value for the parts of this kit. The battery is too small for the vast majority of atomizers out there and its 510 connection will actually not work with many of the tanks I threw on it. The tank will work on any mod with a 510 connection, although it might look a bit ridiculous on most of them due to its 15-mm diameter. From that perspective, the Innokin Goby is much closer to being an AIO than a starter mod/tank kit, but at least the parts will be available separately if something goes wrong and they need to be replaced.

Don’t judge the Goby by its size; this starter kit gives a very satisfying vape. The vapor production may be nothing to write home about, but the flavor on this tiny tank is surprisingly good. The 15 mm Goby tank is producing a “cleaner” flavor than many bigger tanks and its coils require hardly any break-in time to perform.

For airflow, the Goby has three 1-mm airflow holes on each side of the tank. Its draw with one hole open is a satisfying mouth-to-lung vape that is not super tight. Vapers trying to emulate a cigarette draw can restrict it even further due to the tank’s fully adjustable airflow. With the airflow fully open it is still MTL, but of the airier variety. While a direct-lung vape is technically possible, there are lots of devices out there that are better suited for this kind of draw.

I found one hole to be perfect for my taste, and while there was little difference in performance between the various power settings, I settled on the 13-watt option. Chain-vaping on the higher power settings of the battery warmed up the tank a little bit but nothing out of the ordinary. A couple of minutes on the desk and it was back to normal.

Judging from devices that share the size of the Goby I was expecting it to require higher nicotine e-liquid. While in many similar kits raising the nicotine level is almost a necessity, the 6 mg e-liquid I am using for MTL atomizers was satisfying on the Goby. I tried 9 mg and liked it too, but didn’t feel the need to go higher with freebase nicotine. Where I found the Goby really excelled was with a 20 mg nicotine salts e-liquid. I’d strongly advise giving nic salts a try with this one.

I loved the easy top-fill and had no leaking after refills. I didn’t have any dry hits with a 70 VG e-liquid, although I would still advise something closer to a 50/50 for this one. The coils also seem to last a long time. I’ve refilled the tank more than ten times on the same coil and haven’t noticed any drop in flavor whatsoever.

I was hard-pressed to find cons for the Innokin Goby. It is almost perfect for what it is, an ideal first kit for the transitioning smoker at a very good price. It performs surprisingly well for a kit of this size, and its ease of use and simplicity make it a perfect gift for anyone who might be intimidated by the more complex options out there.

Is it for everyone? Probably not. But while it might not be a kit that would cover the needs of the tech-savvy hobbyist, I would happily pair this one with a couple bottles of nicotine salts e-liquid and give it as a gift to someone looking to quit smoking. In fact, I already did that with mine.

What do you think of the Innokin Goby? Do you feel it might be the kit to get you off the smokes? Let us know in the comment section.