Uwell Popreel P1 Review: Color Me Impressed

Product intro and specs

The Popreel P1 is the latest pod kit in a line of budget-priced refillable pod vapes from Uwell. It's the first in the "P" series, hence the "1".

The Popreel P1 is designed with four pastel-ish colors meant to evoke macaroons (don’t ask why.) It's similar in form factor, minus the button, to the Caliburn A2. The major difference in appearance is that the P1 is built of durable inexpensive materials—dual-layered plastics, similar to some disposables out there. Of course, the Caliburn A2 is made of aluminum—as are most in its class.

The Popreel P1 can hold the standard 2 mL eliquid in the new UN2 meshed-h 1.2 ohm pods, which deliver a strict MTL. But is this just a plastic Caliburn with less mAh and an MTL draw? In some ways yes, but in more important ways, no. Let me explain.

Price: $9.99 (at Element Vape)

Colors: Milk white, apricot beige, apple green, macaron blue.

Build quality and design

As stated, the Popreel P1 comes in four macaroon-like colors. I received the macaron blue, milk white, and apricot beige (which is a bit pink-like in the hand.) I think the devices look great. Subjectively, I'd prefer darker colors, but the product design still gets a gold star.

The Popreel P1 is made of the dual-layered plastic seen in many modern disposables with that thin outer layer of transparent plastic. Underneath, the colors look saturated, albeit pastel-ish, and are embossed with a water waves texture that sits underneath the smooth exterior.

The Popreel P1 measures 108.2 mm × 22.5 mm × 13.2 mm and weighs about 32 g. It's slightly larger yet lighter than the Caliburn. Also, there is no button on the Popreel P1, it's just an automatic draw.

Like most refillable pod vapes, the FeCrAI UN2 meshed-h 1.2 ohm pods are magnetic. The magnets are strong and the tolerances are perfect for ease of removal and a secure seating.

What I really love about these pods is the juice window. It doesn't go all the way to the bottom of the pod, but it shows the user a lot since it's deep and it's open all around one side. They're calling it a 3-direction window. There are even graduation marks for keeping track of how much juice you're using. Might be kinda hard to do that in practice, but still cool.

Getting started

Besides only having one pod and no charge cord, materials are another way the Popreel P1 cuts down on costs. The P1 uses a PCTG, PC, and ABS plastic construction that ends up being more durable (finish wise) than the Caliburn AK2 which can end up looking like a junk drawer piece of tech once the paint starts coming off.

In many respects, this is trading up instead of down. There's not a lot that comes with the kit. But it does come with an extra top cap which can come in handy when your pods end up having mismatched caps. I'm still unclear on how the pods will be divvied up for color matching. You get an extra matching cap just in case you're anal like that.

Of note about the pod caps, they have a silicon plug on the inside of the cap. If by chance yours pops out, it's easy to put it back in (mine came out). It needs to be there though. If you lose it, you still have a spare cap anyway.

It would've been nice to have a whole extra pod, but luckily the FeCrAI UN2 meshed-h 1.2 ohm pods have lasted a long time.

To fill a pod, you use brute force to effectively break the pod away from the pod cap. It's the same design as the Caliburn, which is still just as satisfying on the Popreel P1.

One niggly issue for me is that the top-fill port has a rubber seal that should close during filling, but I find myself getting leakage with messy fills. It's probably my technique. Now, I just fill the pod outside of the device or occasionally check to ensure my fill didn't get out of hand. If it did, it's just a simple wipe with a napkin. I can't say yet for certain that the pods leak, just that it's possible to have a messy fill if you're not careful.

Performance

The Popreel P1 is a strong performer with a flavorful and legit MTL draw. It's a quick-firing coil and it provides the quality of flavor and vapor that Uwell has become known for.

I'm only using freebase in refillable devices now as salts start to taste rank and kill coils far too quickly. That's of note because I've gotten more than 30 mL out of a single UN2 meshed-h 1.2-ohm coil, but not with salts.

Of the three devices Uwell sent me, all three pods performed amazingly well. The FeCrAI UN2 meshed-h 1.2 ohm coils seem to be ideally suited to the power emitted from the battery. Unlike the Caliburn series devices that sometimes feel slightly overpowered for their coils, the P1 produces a comfortably warm vape even with long draws.

The vape of the P1 is quiet, though a slight hiss can be heard from the airflow which almost sounds like air rushing out of a pinhole in a tire.

What I like most about the performance is just that it's super consistent. Uwell's "exclusive" tech that apparently restores the flavor of your juice is called Pro-FOCS. Look, we've all heard of some great claims about coils' ability to do something other than vaporize juice, but I'm leaning a bit toward believing that there is indeed something more going on here. Regardless, the coils have performed great.

Battery life and charging

At only 400 mAh, the battery is less than the Caliburn. That said, I don't find the battery life to be all that low for run time. It's hard to say because I've been using them with reckless abandon. Luckily they have pass-thru charging, but I don't feel like I do all that much charging in spite of how much I use the device.

The charge light is on the bottom and is a slanted battery light indicator. It's a subtle detail but it looks cool.

The battery takes about 35-40 minutes to charge by way of the bottom-located Type-C charging. But remember, there is no charge cord included. I'm not sure anyone out there needs more charge cords, but some may find this a con.

Pros / Cons

Gallery

Verdict

The Uwell Popreel P1 is my new favorite device. I've been DIYing and my freebase juice has never hit better.

The Popreel P1 reminds me a lot of the Caliburn A2 but modernized with more of a true MTL. I'll have to start using more Caliburn pods with freebase to really see if these pods last longer when compared to the same salt juices. Either way, these pods have lasted through multiple refillings with very little drop-off in performance.

The consistency of flavor and reliable hits remind me of what I love about vaping. That feeling of having your cake and eating it too!

Just do yourself a favor and use freebase liquids.

The Uwell Popreel P1 is highly recommended.