Mi-Pod 2.0 Review: The Sequel to an Iconic Vape

Product intro and specs

Mi-One is a company that’s best known for the Mi-Pod, but they have recently launched a series of disposables as well as cannabis vaporizers. The company is US-based, offers excellent customer service, and makes sexy-looking products that are easy to use without skimping in performance.

The Mi-Pod was one of my favorite beginner-friendly pod vapes back in 2018, and the updated mesh Pro pods kept the product relevant in 2020. And while their disposables come in a ton of flavor options, the company is more for quality over quantity in the refillable pod market.

The Mi-Pod 2.0 is the sequel to their signature product, and while it’s in many ways a similar vape, it does enough to warrant its 2.0 status. It comes in four intricate designs and features a larger battery than the original, a physical on/off switch, and updated 0.9-ohm mesh pods. Keep reading to find out if the 2.0 lives up to the standards set by its predecessor.

Price: $44.99 (at MiPod)

Colors: Merkaba, Lotus Flower, Vortex, Seed of Life.

Build quality and design

If you’ve used the original, the 2.0 is going to look and feel very familiar. The overall footprint is similar, but now the Mi-Pod is thinner and longer. And at 55 grams with a full pod in, it weighs around 10 grams more than the original while still being lightweight.

While the shape is different, the 2.0 is unmistakably a Mi-Pod. It comes with the signature curvy edges, there is a hole for a lanyard (although no lanyard is included in the package this time around,) and the overall build quality is again at a high standard. But there are a lot of design updates here too. The logo is much smaller this time, the pods come with a thinner and more comfortable mouthpiece, and there is a physical on/off switch. Finally, there are four white LED lights now instead of the one color-coded LED of the original.

The four available names and designs of the Mi-Pod 2.0 are inspired by Sacred Geometry—Merkaba, Lotus Flower, Vortex, Seed of Life. The company names this line the “Awakening Collection,” and with a little bit of googling I find out that “sacred geometry ascribes symbolic and sacred meanings to certain geometric shapes and certain geometric proportions. It is associated with the belief that a god is the geometer of the world.” That’s as far as my knowledge in this field goes, but if sacred geometry is your thing, you can now have a vape that works as an excellent conversation piece.

All in all, the original Mi-Pod was a sexy-looking and well-built vape when it first came out, and the 2.0 improves it in many ways. I do have some complaints though. One is that the pods are still press-fit and not magnetic, and their shape makes it difficult to remove sometimes. Then I would maybe also like some type of juice window, but you can always tilt the device to check juice levels, and a window would probably take away some of the sexiness. And finally, the battery LEDs are placed in a kind of inconvenient position and turn off instantly after your puff is over, which makes checking battery levels a bit hard. But that’s about it, and most of these complaints are minor at most.

Getting started

With the Mi-Pod 2.0 catering to the beginner segment of the market, it is a very easy vape to use. You just need to fill up the pod through the side filling port, set the device aside for five minutes for the coil to saturate, push the switch up to activate, and inhale on the mouthpiece. There are no buttons, settings, or replaceable coils to swap here. It’s a straight-up pod vape, with the only additional feature being the on/off switch.

Performance

The first thing I noticed when I started using the Mi-Pod 2.0 is the fact that it has an excellent auto-draw sensor. It heats up instantly and, outside of a little bit of struggle with high-VG juice, it never misses a puff. But the device is not made for super thick juices anyway, and I even had difficulties trying to fill the pod with 80VG juice—e-liquid wouldn’t flow from one side of the pod to the other without tilting and shaking the pod. I wouldn’t advise using anything over 70VG, and I had far better performance with 50/50 and 60VG juices. Thankfully that’s the range where you’ll find most nicotine salt juices in, and nic salts in the 20-30 mg range are the best fit for this device.

The device ships with two 0.9-ohm pods and replacements come in packs of two. Mi-One claims that the pods are refillable up to five times, but it seems like they’re shooting themselves on the foot here. You can easily get 15-20 mL before the coil starts to give up—although that will depend on the cleanliness of your juice.

I had no leaking or any other issues with these pods, and the contacts remain dry even when shelved for longer periods. That’s no surprise as the Pro pods fixed the leaking issues of the original, and the side-filling port and overall design carried over to the pods of the 2.0.

The pods produce warm vapor, and while the flavor is not jaw-dropping, it is not bad at all. I’d say that flavor production is at a similar level to the Pro pods of the original (and much better than the non-mesh pods that came before them.) And the draw is also comparable to the Pro pods, although the throat hit seems to be a bit more defined on the 2.0. Mi-One markets it as an MTL/RDL vape, but you will need to slipstream some air if you want a lung hit. I’d place its draw somewhere between the original Caliburn and the Caliburn A2. But comparisons aside, this is the definition of a loose MTL draw, so if that’s your thing, you won’t be disappointed.

Battery life and charging

Battery life on the Mi-Pod 2.0 is great. And that’s no surprise, as its battery is rated at 1250 mAh. I managed to squeeze almost two full pods out of one charge, with one caveat though. Same as the original, the 2.0 is a direct output device so power drops along with the charge—and it’s already noticeably weak when the third LED turns off. Expect a warmer vape for the first 2 mL that gets gradually weaker after that point.

And talking about the LED lights, something seems to be off here. According to the manual the device is supposed to have half the battery when the two lights are on, but on both the units I tried, the battery was empty while I was still getting two lights. That’s not a big issue once you know it, and the fact that the vape gets weaker will let you know that you need to charge it sooner than later.

My last gripe with the Mi-Pod 2.0 is that it still charges through mini-USB. I’m sure they had a reason to go with this instead of Type-C, but a mini-USB port in 2022 feels kinda out of place in my opinion. And it probably makes an impact on charging time. A full charge takes a whopping two hours, which is very slow for 2022 standards, even considering the size of the battery. For what it’s worth, the original needed around 1.5 hours to fully charge.

Pros / Cons

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Verdict

The Mi-Pod 2.0 may not be the best performing pod vape on the market, and there are areas that it could improve upon. The most glaring con here is obviously the charging time, which may be a deal-breaker for a lot of vapers out there. That said, it is a reliable vape that comes from a company that offers great customer support, and it has established a large fan base after the success of the original. In many ways, it can be viewed as a stylish gadget that also happens to deliver nicotine efficiently.

If you are a fan of the original, or if you just like what you see here and don’t mind the long charging time, the Mi-Pod 2.0 is probably already in your shopping cart. It is overall a better vape than the original Mi-Pod, it is built to last, and I have no complaints as far as performance goes. And while most of my cons are related to the battery and charging, it still offers more battery life than most of its competition.

What do you think of the Mi-Pod 2.0? Are you a fan of the original Mi-Pod? Let me know in the comment section.

Mi-Pod 2.0

4.5

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