Product intro and specs
SMOK is dropping two new pod systems on the market: the Novo GT Kit and the Novo GT Box. SMOK is a company that has been around for a while and got really popular when they released their SMOK Alien mod and the Beast line of tanks. They have consistently put out good products. Their MAG and Priv kits were great too, but it’s been a while since I’ve gotten to review one of their products, so I'll get to see if the quality is still there.
The Novo GT Kit is a tall and thin pen-style pod system with a listed 1300 mah battery, while the Novo GT Box is a shorter rectangular device with a battery listed at 1700 mAh. Both systems feature large color screens and use the same line of pods, which is compatible with all the previous Novo devices.
The pods have built-in coils and are made for MTL vaping with thinner juices and lower watts. Both devices are rated up to 30 watts with adjustable wattage. The main difference is that the GT Box offers a larger battery, faster charging, and comes with a lanyard.
Price: $25.88 (Novo GT Box at VapeSourcing), $23.88 (Novo GT Kit at Eight Vape)
Build quality and design
The two latest entries into the SMOK Novo line use the same pods but have different designs. Starting with the GT Box, its biggest standout is the massive 2-inch bright color screen, which is the nicest looking and largest screen I've come across in the probably hundred or so pod systems I’ve reviewed over the years.
Under the screen are the plus and minus buttons, which allow the wattage adjustments, and on the right side is the power button. The left side features an airflow slider which allows from a solid MTL vape up to a restricted DL vape. The pod goes into the top, and to the right of the pod are the holes for the lanyard that's included in the package. The bottom contains a rubberized strip that prevents it from being knocked over. Finally, the back panel is textured, which really adds to the design and lends it a more classy feel. I mostly used the “white and 7 color” option, which looks fully white at a glance, but if light hits the back panel at the right angle, you can see the iridescent color come out.
The SMOK Novo Kit is the more traditional vape of the line. It’s a taller, thinner, pen-styled pod device. It doesn't have a fancy back panel, but it has all the same features. It does feature two color screens stacked on top of one another, with each screen being about the standard size of a small pod screen. Both screens look great and appear to be one tall, thin screen when they're on. You’ll also get the power button on top of the screen, and the plus and minus buttons on the right side. The air slider is on the left side, and it goes from a solid MTL to an RDL vape. The bottom also features a rubber for grip to help it from sliding around, but being that it’s tall and thin, it’ll top over if touched.
The Novo GT Kit comes in seven colors and the Novo GT Box comes in eight color options. All in all, there are plenty of color options to find one you like. As a note, SMOK with the Alien kit is probably the reason we are seeing all these flashy colors in vapes today; before they made dozens of colors for it, most devices came in black, silver, and maybe gunmetal or grey.
Overall, both devices are very well built, have no rattle on the buttons, and have no issue standing up to normal daily wear and tear.
Getting started
The SMOK Novo GT Kit and Novo GT Box function in almost the same way, so this section applies to both for the most part. You get three buttons (power, plus, and minus.) What I love about the Novo GT Box though, is that the power button doesn't actually fire. It’s an inhale-to-fire device. I wish most companies would do this, as we don’t need a physical fire button these days. The Novo GT Kit, however, does fire with the power button like the majority of devices. That's the only difference.
Clicking the power button five times turns the devices on or off. You can also click it three times to lock the wattage. You can still inhale to fire with the wattage locked, and on the Novo GT Kit it locks the power button too, so it won’t misfire. I like using both with the wattage locked once I dial it in.
Both devices offer three themes for the screen, and you can scroll through them by pushing the plus and power buttons simultaneously. The Novo GT Box offers an orange, a blue, and a pink theme, while the Novo GT Kit offers a green, a blue, and a green/blue theme. Pushing the power and minus buttons will reset the puff counter. Finally, pushing the plus and minus buttons will let you adjust the wattage from 5 to 30 watts in full-watt increments. With the air sliders you can adjust from a solid MTL vape to an RDL vape. Both sliders work well and slide pretty nicely, but the Novo GT Box slider is a bit smoother.
There are various pod choices, but I'll go over the new pod collection that comes with these devices. Those pods are top fill, and simply pushing back on the mouthpiece will allow you to pop it off, which exposes the fill hole. This filling design is simple and filling can be done without removing the pods.
The pods are held in with strong magnets and pop in and out easily. They are also clear, which is great, but my complaint here is that they do recede into the devices quite a bit, so you’ll need to either tilt or remove the pod to see if you still have juice left. I prefer it when pods are completely exposed for easier juice monitoring. Overall, though, they are great devices for vapers of any experience level.
Performance
The two devices use the same pods, which are cross-compatible over the entire Novo line. The Novo pods have a good reputation for flavor and longevity, but I haven't used many of them so I'm going to focus on the ones included in the kits.
Both kits came with the same set of mesh top fill 2 mL pods, one with a 0.6-ohm coil and one with a 0.8-ohm coil. I wouldn’t mind a little more capacity; 2 mL is pretty much the smallest you see, but it's quite common, so no major complaints. Both coils are made for low-wattage MTL vaping with thinner and typically high-nicotine juices. The 0.6-ohm coil is rated at 18 watts, and the 0.8-ohm coil is rated at 14 watts.
I started with the 0.6-ohm coil, and it’s good at 16-18 watts. The flavor was great, and I was easily able to run 20 mL through it with the coil still being like new—so great coil life as well. The 0.8-ohm coil fared equally well at 14 watts, not much of a flavor difference, and I went through 20 mL with the coil still being like new.
Since I had two coils of each, I went through all four for consistency, and they were all great. I can’t really pick a favorite of the two, so if you buy one of these kits you can decide for yourself. I was very happy with the coils on these devices and happy to see SMOK is still making good coils since I haven’t reviewed a device of theirs in quite a while.
Battery life and charging
Both devices have a digital battery meter with a percentage on the screen, and both show the percentage as you charge it. Both devices also have passthrough vaping and charge through a USB-C port.
When I test batteries I try to be fair across the board. The reality is that you never fully get the advertised capacity as usable mAh. Due to soft cell cut-offs and what the device considers a full charge, the rule of thumb is to drop 20% off the advertised mAh of any device to get the actual usable mah. I’ve tested well over 100 of these devices in my review career, and the data proves that. I also expect charge rates to be rounded up to the nearest 0.5A, as that's what most companies tend to do as well. So, a device that charges at 1.2A will typically be rated at 1.5A, and a device with 800 usable mAh is typically rated at 1000 mah. I consider this acceptable.
That said, SMOK lists the max charge rate of the GT Kit at 0.8A, so I have to give them credit for trying to be accurate in their ratings. The battery capacity is listed at 1300 mAh. In my testing, I got a max charge rate of 0.7A so their rating is pretty accurate. For the battery size, I expected around 1040 mAh and got around 1050 mAh so, again, a good rating and in line with how these devices are rated. Charge time is a bit slow at around 90 minutes—most similar devices charge in about 30-60 minutes, but the large battery plays a big part in it. Most of the faster charging devices have about double the charge rate and half the battery size.
The Novo GT Box is the more premium device of the two from a spec standpoint. The charge rate is listed at 1.2A, and the battery capacity at 1700 mAh. For the charge rate, I got a max of 1.34A, so it's a little underrated actually. Well done there. They could have rated it at 1.5A and it would have been fine by me. For the battery capacity, I expected around 1360 mAh, and I got around 1400 mAh, with a full charge time of a little over an hour (about 70 minutes). This means that you can get around 1000 mAh without even fully charging the device, so I can't complain.
Pros / Cons
Gallery
Verdict
Overall, I’m happy with both pod systems. You really can’t go wrong with either. The Novo GT Kit will be a more budget-friendly device due to the smaller battery and slower charging. Personally, while I think both are good in their own right, I prefer the Novo GT Box overall. The really large battery, the faster charging, the form factor, and the fact that it's only inhale-to-fire are big selling points for me. Still, they perform identically and use the same coils, so there is nothing wrong with saving a little money and getting the Novo GT Kit.
Both devices are recommended.
