Vandy Vape Jackaroo Pod Review: A Jack of All Trades

Product intro and specs

The Jackaroo Pod Kit is the latest pod-based AIO from popular manufacturer Vandyvape. The Jackaroo line has become very popular—and for good reason. In essence, Vandy Vape designed a competitor to the Geekvape Aegis line, but with a more ergonomic shape. Both the original Jackaroo and the Jackaroo Dual have been great rugged IP67 shock and water-resistant mods, and this time they applied the same design properties to a pod system.

The Vandy Vape Jackaroo Pod comes in a medium-sized package and is made for MTL and DL vaping. It features a color screen, variable wattage, and its internal battery is listed at 2000 mAh. The pods have a 4.5 mL capacity and adjustable top airflow. There’s also an RBA pod that fits this device, which is available for purchase separately. Keep reading to find out how it performs and if it passed the IP67 test I put it through.

This kit was sent to me free of charge by MyVpro for the purposes of this review.

Price: $35.99 (at MyVpro)

Colors: Obsidian black, carbon fiber black, carbon fiber silver, black warrior, and more.

Build quality and design

The Jackaroo Pod is a pocketable device overall, but a bit on the larger size for a pod system. It’s slightly larger than a compact single-18650 mod kit, measuring at 108 mm x 25.6 mm x 40 mm. The reasons behind its footprint are the large internal battery and the fact it’s IP67 rated for water, dust, and shock resistance.

It’s available in eight colors, however most colors are primarily black with the difference being the panel designs. I received the Obsidian Black, which is all black and the body has a soft nonslip silica gel covering. The device has a familiar three button layout with the fire button at the top and the up and down buttons at the bottom of the front side, right above the USB-C port. In between the buttons you have the large rectangular color screen which is nice and bright and easy to see. It looks great, and while I couldn’t find a size for it, it appears to be 0.96 inches.

The pod has adjustable top airflow located right under the drip tip. It’s easy to adjust and offers a very meaningful adjustment from decently tight MTL to wide open DL. Branding is completely hidden at the bottom of the device, etched into the soft coating. All in all, it’s a really good-looking pod system that’s durable with plenty of color options and nice features.

Getting started

The Jackaroo is a pretty typical pod system that’s simple to use while at the same time offering a wide variety of options. The main control is the fire button. You can click it five times to turn it on or off. Fire and up locks the adjustment buttons, while fire and down resets the puff counter. There’s no draw-activated option. The screen displays the wattage, a puff counter, volts, resistance, and a battery meter that displays the percentage.

The Jackaroo comes with one reusable pod and two replaceable coils. There’s also a DIY rebuildable pod available for it. I was sent one of those and will go over it later. Air is adjustable via an air control ring under the drip tip and it offers significant adjustment for the wide range of coils available. It’s also top airflow for better leak resistance. I didn’t have any leak or condensation issues with it at all which is how it should be. The kit also includes two drip tips, one for MTL and one for DL.

Refilling a pod is really easy and the pod doesn't need to be removed. It uses a standard rubber plug fill method at the top of the pod, making it easy to access and fill. Really well done and not messy at all. The pod rests on top of the device and it is mostly exposed, but they did make the pod dark-tinted which can make it hard to see your juice level at times. I’m not a fan of tinted pods—I get it for looks, but clear pods are much more practical. I wish the pods were clear. They could always sell tinted options separately if they wanted to, but all pods should come clear so your juice level is easy to see, in my opinion.

To remove the pod just pull it out. They are held in by strong magnets and they fit in great with no wiggle or play. The coils are also plug n’ play. With the pod removed, just pull the coil out from the bottom and pop in a new one. My one complaint here is the lack of anything to grip to pull it out. They do include a tool to pop it out easily (a flat head screwdriver works fine too) but I’d rather not need tools to replace my coil. Even though it’s not a big deal, it’s still a negative to me. You do need the pod to be about half empty to replace the coil if you do it sideways and are careful. It’s easier done with an empty pod though. Overall, a very easy to use pod system as it should be, with my only complaint being that you need a tool to replace the coil.

Performance

The Jackaroo Pod comes with two coils but only of one type, which is the VVC-90 0.9-ohm MTL coil rated at 9-16 watts. There are four other options available, and I was sent one of each in the review kit:

All the coils are mesh variants. There is also an optional DIY pod available.

I’ll start with the coil that comes included when you purchase the kit, which is the VVC-90. It’s a low-wattage MTL coil so I used all 50/50 VG/PG nic salt juices in it. I found it best around 12 watts. Flavor was good and I got about 14 mL of juice out of it, so overall a solid coil.

I found the VVC-120 coil, which was rated at 7-13 watts, to be best around 9 watts. I used the same juice as above, but the flavor I got from this was better than the VVC-90. I also got 18 mL out of it, and it was still good when I swapped it. In short, both MTL coils are good, but the VVC-120 for me was better.

Onto the DL coils starting with the VVC-60 which is rated at 18-26 watts. Now for me personally, coils like this are in-between. A bit too strong for high nic juices but a bit too weak for low nic juices. This is a personal preference thing though, so I use them both ways for testing purposes. I started with 50/50 high nic juices at 20 watts and it performed nicely. I ran 9 mL through it that way. Then I switched to 70/30 low nic juices and ran it at 23 watts where it performed well for what it was. It lasted another 18 mL, so good coil life. All in all, this coil can be used in a couple of ways depending on your preference, but it doesn't really excel at any of them.

Next up is the VVC-30 coil rated at 30-45 watts. I found it best around 35-40 watts. This was the best DL coil for me. I used 70/30 low nic juices in it and flavor was good. I ran 45 mL through it and the coil was still good, for the type of coil it is. No complaints here. Lastly, the VVC-15 coil rated at 35-60 watts, which I found best at around 50 watts. Flavor was ok but not as good as the VVC-30, and it flooded on fill-ups for me. It died at around 40 mL. This coil wasn’t very good overall.

So, the short version of it is that all the coils were good except for the VVC15, but the best options are the VVC120 for MTL and the VVC30 for DL.

DIY pod

Finally, the DIY pod, which is a pod with an RBA deck built into it. This is a great option for intermediate vapers who like to build their own coils. It’s not for beginners though as it takes time and practice to learn how to build and wick correctly. It’s an RDTA style, where the juice will be under the coil, but it can also be used as a dripper. It is an interesting take—maybe not for everyone, but I like it.

The pod comes with an RDA cap that you twist to adjust the airflow. Its design seems to be geared toward low wattage DL than MTL vaping. It’s hard to get the airflow tight enough to MTL and the build deck is somewhat small, which is to be expected. Personally, I would have preferred them to make the top cap more fitting to MTL airflow options.

With that said, when built and done right it does work well. It’s not easy to build on since the base is unstable and the build deck is pretty basic and not up to par with true RDAs. But it’s an optional accessory that most companies don’t offer—and it works, so I can’t complain too much. I won’t factor in the pros and cons of the DIY pod into the review since it’s not part of the kit and sold separately. I’m just happy the option is there and it’s usable.

IP67 testing

For water resistance testing, I powered on the device and submerged it in water for 30 minutes (no pod attached). Upon taking it out it worked perfectly with no issues. I did notice a small amount of water pooling behind the screen, which eventually evaporated away, and a small amount got in the spring-loaded contacts where the pod connects. I shook it out of the device, but none of it damaged it in any way so it’s an easy pass for me. I was also able to charge it right after taking it out of the water, drying it off, and blowing out the USB port.

For the shock test, I dropped it several times from six feet onto a hard floor with no issues. Threw it up in the air several times as well, and spun it so it would land randomly. The device suffered no noticeable physical damage and continued to work with no issues, so again, another pass.

Battery life and charging

Battery life on this device will vary due to your vaping habits, and which coil you use. When using the low-wattage MTL coils, the battery seemingly lasts forever. It should easily be an all-day vape for most with the large 4.5 mL capacity and large battery. With the higher wattage DL coils, the battery will probably require a charge sometime throughout the day.

Personally, I found battery life to be really good for a small device. It comes with an internal battery listed at 2000 mAh, charges through Type-C, and they list the charge rate at 1.5 amps. I tested all this and for the charge rate, I got 1.51 amps, so excellent rating there. They don’t list a full charge time, but I tested it at 100 minutes which is very good for the battery size.

For battery size, my tests measured it at 2060 mAh. Again, an excellent rating. Vandy Vape delivers what they promised with the specs for sure, so no complaints from me. It does have passthrough vaping so you can vape while it charges, and it will pause the charging process while you are vaping. The Type-C port is located at the front of the pod under the screen at the bottom. My only minor con with charging the battery is that it gets really hot while charging. Not anything I'd consider unsafe or dangerous by any means, and not a big deal, but it’s noticeable enough to point out and ding for it. I vaped it without letting it cool off and had no issues.

Pros / Cons

Gallery

Verdict

Vandy Vape did an excellent job with this system. I really don’t have major complaints with the product itself. The coils are mostly good and there are many options for DL and MTL vapers.

All in all, the Jackaroo is a great option for users of basic pods looking to upgrade to something with a bigger battery and higher juice capacity, and maybe to try DL vaping or coil building. It is very versatile, and while it doesn't master one thing, it’s great at a lot. The added IP67 rating is nice too if you don’t want to worry about accidental drops or water damage. All things considered, the versatility of the Jackaroo Pod kit will be a big draw for a variety of vapers.

Have you tried the Vandy Vape Jackaroo Pod kit? How was your experience with the device? Let us know in the comments below.