Innokin Trine Review: Removable Battery and EcoDrain Tech!

Product intro and specs

The Trine is the latest refillable pod vape by Innokin. At a glance, it doesn’t look like anything special, just a standard pod vape with a screen, a button, and an airflow slider. But look closely, and you’ll see that something is interesting going on.

The Innokin Trine comes with a detachable and replaceable battery. The difference with the various pod mods that take 18650s, is that the battery of the Trine is a (proprietary) lithium-ion battery that’s super compact and rated at 1000 mAh.

And while the Trine may not be the first pod to come with a detachable battery (I believe that’s the Caliburn G3 Eco), it is the first that builds upon this feature with innovative technology. The Trine introduces the trademarked EcoDrain tech, which allows you to fully discharge the battery for safer recycling.

Keep reading to find out how EcoDrain works, and if the Trine is more than just a pod vape with a removable battery.

Price: TBA
Colors: Slate black, Klein blue, solor red, ivory white, gold pink, purple blue

Build quality and design

From a design standpoint, the Trine is the prototypical Innokin product. Some solid color options, a couple of color fades, a matte metallic finish, discreet branding, no bells and whistles. Innokin is the adult in the room, and I appreciate the simplicity—I don’t want every vape I use to be a conversation starter.

I love the hand feel of the Trine, and I find its footprint to be ideal. Especially since they managed to squeeze 1000 mAh into this compact device. Talking about the battery, Innokin has incorporated a great mechanism there. You remove the battery by pushing the release buttons which are placed at the side of the bottom of the device. Sliding it back in and pushing until you feel it clicking in place is so satisfying!

The pods are clear, with around one-third of them covered, so you need to slant the device slightly to check juice levels. Anthony always complains about reviewing devices with tinted pods, so I may have to send him a couple of Trines.

The screen is black and white and easy to read, the button is clicky and has an LED, and the airflow slider has the perfect amount of resistance. I have zero complaints as far as build quality and design goes, but that has come to be expected with Innokin.

Getting started

The Trine is super easy to set up. The pods come with removable mouthpieces that you need to push on the flat side to take off. Then just push the nozzle of your juice bottle in the larger of the two holes and fill the pod. Set it aside for five minutes for the coil to saturate, and you’re good to go.

Three clicks of the fire button turn the device on and off. To set the wattage, click the button twice. When the wattage flashes, you can raise it in 0.5-watt increments using the power button. Leave it where you want it, and it will lock in. The wattage can be adjusted inside a preset range for each pod.

On that note, the Trine is supposed to automatically set the wattage when you insert a pod. I’ve had some issues with the 0.8-ohm pod on every device I tried it in—it was set at 7.5 or 8 watts, when the best wattage range for it is supposed to be 12-14 watts. Thankfully, after setting it to 15 watts, the device would recognize it every time I put it back on, so I only had to set the wattage once.

Once your wattage is set, press the button or inhale on the mouthpiece to vape.

Last but certainly not least, you have the EcoDrain feature. It is recommended that you run the device in EcoDrain mode before recycling the battery, and the process is simple. Just plug the Trine in and click the button ten times. When the recycle icon appears on the screen, EcoDrain has been activated. Your battery will slowly drain, making it safer to recycle.

Performance

The Innokin Trine comes with two pods in the box, and there is one more available as a separate purchase:

• 0.6-ohm Vcap pod (2 mL, best 20-22 watts) – included
• 0.8-ohm Vcap pod (2 mL, best 12-14 watts) – included
• 1.2-ohm Vcap pod (2 mL, best 11-12 watts) – available

Innokin’s recommended wattages are generally on point, and I liked these pods at around the maximum recommended wattage.

The 0.6-ohm pods can be used for MTL vaping, but they perform best in RDL at 21-22 watts with the airflow all the way open. I feared the mouthpiece would get hot at 22 watts, but it didn’t. It’s a solid RDL vape for mid-strength ejuices. Using the 7 mg juice I am vaping on the Zlide tank almost made me cough, so I ended up vaping 3 mg freebase and a bit of 10 mg salts on it. If you enjoy RDL in low wattages, it’s a solid pod.

The 0.8-ohm pods are your standard MTL pods. They're not the most flavorful pods out there, but I did get them to pop a bit more by raising the wattage to 15 and having the airflow around one-third open. This also eliminated the buzzing sound it produced at the recommended wattages. It’s a good pod, but it’s probably my least favorite of the three.

Which brings me to my favorite of the group, the 1.2-ohm pod. That’s an excellent MTL pod for mid-strength nicotine salt juice. I used it with the 20 mg DELICIU ejuices and loved how smoothly it vaped and how clean everything tasted. It even seemed to smoothen the menthol hit a bit, which I really appreciated. I’d probably raise the nic level even more if I had any 30 mg juices lying around, but I ended up raising the wattage to 13 and using it with the airflow around a quarter open instead.

I’ve been using these pods daily for more than two weeks now, so coil life seems to be pretty long. It’s hard to keep track of refills when testing three pods, but if I notice anything alarming regarding coil life, I’ll report back.

Battery life and charging

The removable battery is the star of the show here. Just note that, while you may be tempted to use a second battery as a backup, I wouldn’t advise carrying a spare without a case. It’s a lithium-ion battery, and a lot can go wrong with it inside a pocket. But extending the life of the device is sure to be a selling point for those who keep their vapes for long, and safely recycling the battery is an excellent feature.

As far as specs go, I am very happy with its running time. I went through around 1.5 pods on a charge (3 mL) and the 1000 mAh battery rating seems legit. I timed a full charge at one hour 22 minutes. I’m guessing it’s a 1A charge, and while I wish it charged in under one hour, the charge rate may be limited by the proprietary battery. The device also supports pass-through, so you can use it when plugged in.

Pros / Cons

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