Innokin Coolfire Ultra 150 Scion: Does the Makeover Help?

You’ve got to give it to Innokin for consistency. Coolfire is a name that has been around since 2013, when the company launched the Coolfire 1, which put out a mighty 8.5 watts as standard. We’ve seen the family grow and diversify – but never break the 100 W mark. Until now.

The Coolfire Ultra TC150 is the latest offering featuring the Aethon chipset. The mod features a 4000 mAh internal battery with 2 amp fast charging. Variable wattage and TC mode is supported for the usual wire types. The Coolfire Ultra is paired with the Scion tank, which comes this time with a bulb-shaped spare glass tank for extra capacity. You can pick up this bad boy as a kit for around $62 online. The box mod alone costs around the $50 mark.

It’s clear that Innokin plans on taking the higher-wattage market by storm with the Coolfire Ultra kit. The question is, how does it perform under pressure?

The last time we saw the Scion tank was in the MVP4 Scion kit a few months back. The tank was Innokin’s first tentative entry into high-wattage vaping, but suffered from a few flaws: the MVP4 mod only fired up to 100 W, while the 0.28 ohm coils were rated between 100 – 200 W. An obvious mismatch. The tank’s integrated drip-tip/top-cap featured Delrin threading which risked wearing out. The glass tank offered precious little space for e-liquid to wick the coils, especially at higher wattages. And then there were the coils themselves… the Scion tank received mixed reviews.

Blame it on growing pains perhaps. This time around, the kit comes with an extra drip-tip and a bulb-shaped spare glass tank, which extends the capacity of the Scion tank to almost 6 mL. You also get two coils to start you off: 0.5 ohm, rated 70 – 110 W, and 0.28 ohm with a recommended range of 100 – 200 W.

The Coolfire Ultra mod is a return to classic form for Innokin. It’s marginally larger than the Coolfire IV Plus but features the same tapered, curved aesthetic. That taper comes to just shy of 24 mm at its widest point. The Scion tank fits, but with the slightest of overhang.

A comprehensive instructional guide, bag of spare o-rings, and USB cable also come in the kit.

Innokin has been a “3 clicks on and off” outfit for a while now. The fire button lights green, yellow and red to display battery life at a glance while in use. To access the rest of the menu, you have to press fire in combination with either the “+” or “–“ buttons.

Pressing and holding down fire and “+” toggles through wattage and various TC modes.
Holding down fire and “-“ allows you to change the ramp-up wattage in temperature control.
Pressing “+” and “–“ simultaneously displays your ohm resistance accurate to five decimal places, a puff counter (reset when the device is turned off), and battery output voltage.
Hold both buttons for 5 seconds, and you flip the menu orientation.

Unfortunately, there’s no possibility to manually define or lock coil resistance in TC modes. Temperature and wattage curves are also absent.

Wattage can be adjusted in .1 increments from 6 up to 100 watts, and in single units from there on upwards. Wattage cycles from high back down to low, and scanning is noticeably faster than on the MVP4. Temperature ranges cycle between Fahrenheit and Celsius at their extremes, and can be adjusted in 5° increments.

Put a new atty on the Coolfire Ultra, and it will automatically ask you to confirm resistance and coil type.

For this review, I’m vaping on The Lady, from Malaysian-based Throne Liquids. I’m using the Scion tank with the bulb glass tank at higher wattages, typically between 130 – 150 watts.

I reviewed the Scion tank back in April and I don’t notice any big differences in coil performance or longevity since then. The 0.5 ohm coils continue to taste thin at the lower end, and dry around 100 watts. The 0.28 coils have more staying power for me. Higher wattages definitely bring out the flavors in The Lady, a mix of ripe mango balanced with a distinctive cooler. It’s perfect for a hot summer’s day, especially around 130 watts!

As much as I like the bulb glass tank it looks precarious perched on top of the Coolfire Ultra. My guess is one fall would easily break it. I’ve jammed an Innokin vape band around the tank at its widest as a countermeasure. The tank easily gets hot, but the Delrin mouthpiece remains cool. Wide open, the two airflow holes expose almost half of the tank’s base. It’s an airy vape with vapor production to match. You could close it off some, but I wouldn’t recommend it at higher wattages.

To test out TC mode, I paired the Coolfire Ultra with Uwell’s D1 tank and some 0.5 SS 316L coils. Temperature control mode worked very well, accurately reducing and then nixing the power output when the tank was drained. I almost enjoyed TC more than straight up wattage mode, and I suspect it may go lighter on the batteries too.

And on the topic of battery life, the Coolfire Ultra went from empty to fully charged in 4 hours by my watch. I doubt that a 4000 mAh battery will get you through a full day of high-wattage vaping.

The Coolfire Ultra is a bit like the more ergonomic version of the MVP4, which was all hard angles and external-hard-drive styling. Innokin have done away with the awkward inclined edges and at least produced a mod where the paired tank doesn’t overhang… too much.

The MVP4’s fatality was the gap issue. The 510 pin was threaded so high in the mod that a variety of attys would sit, threaded but hovering in the air. Unfortunately, the Coolfire Ultra suffers from a similar problem. Not all tanks are affected, but the gap is noticeable. And to top it off, not all tanks sit straight. There is a minute slant on most tanks due to the threading.

The Coolfire Ultra TC150 kit feels like a necessary update to a long-running legacy from Innokin. I think this kit would be a good match for vapers just getting into higher-wattage vaping. However, for a device that will really turn heads, some key features are missing. The Aethon chipset should be capable of wattage and TC curves. The 510 pin and threading (attys not sitting flush) must be resolved. And finally, battery life. An internal battery essentially tethers you to a docking point. We saw a version of the Coolfire IV with 18650 batteries. Isn’t it about time Innokin releases a dual-18650 mod?

Considering Innokin’s usually excellent build quality, the Coolfire deserves a rethink to make a good mod great. As it stands, the Coolfire Ultra TC150 kit is a decent entry-level package that won’t cost you a packet.