VAPORESSO GEN AIR 40 Review: Great for Low Wattage Vaping

Product intro and specs

The VAPORESSO GEN AIR 40 is the latest pod system by VAPORESSO, a company that has established itself as one of the best vape manufacturers in the industry with many great devices. Some of my favorites have been the GEN and LUXE series of vape mods, but there are too many good ones to name.

The GEN AIR is a pod system in a small package that’s made to be very lightweight and pocketable. Its internal battery is listed at 1800 mAh and it comes with pods that have an impressive 4.5 mL capacity. The coils are replaceable, and the device is compatible with most of the coils of the GTX line, a line that’s tried and true and widely available.

Price: $19.99 (at Element Vape)

Colors: Dark black, light silver, matte grey, aurora green, midnight blue, twilight gold, sakura pink.

Build quality and design

The GEN AIR 40 is a small box-styled AIO/pod that's larger than basic pods like a Caliburn, but smaller than a single battery kit. It’s a nice in-between size for its available power.  It also weighs very little at 67 grams, and VAPORESSO are calling it the “lightest 40W pod” (which is probably true.) At the same time, it feels really solid in the hand and not cheap at all. You can tell it’s well-built despite the low weight.

The device is offered in seven colors. I got the twilight gold one for review and it’s a nice blend of gold on the top fading into a purple on the bottom. The sakura pink and aurora green also have fading color schemes, while the other four are single-colored and less flashy. Only the front and the pods are fully black, while the rest of the device is fully colored, so each version stands out—unlike many devices on the market where the difference between the colors comes from a panel.

There are two buttons on the front of the device: a fire button on the top and a power adjustment button on the bottom. Between the two buttons are four LED lights that show battery and power level. All in all, it’s a pretty standard and simple pod system, but it is well-built, very lightweight, and done right.

Getting started

The GEN AIR 40 is a pretty typical pod system that’s simple to use. That’s good since mine didn't come with a manual. It seemed like a very early version that had a blank box, and as of writing this, there’s no manual on their website either. I had to just figure it out on my own, but thankfully that wasn’t an issue.

To turn it on or off press the fire button five times. To change the power output, hold the power adjustment button. Each time you hold it, it scrolls between power levels. According to their site, the LEDs are coded as follows:

With the 0.4-ohm coil, four LEDs translate to 32 watts—which is perfect for that coil—while the 0.8-ohm coil can be fired at a range of about 11 to 16 watts.

There is adjustable airflow on the front of the pod, and it ranges from a loose MTL to a restricted DL vape. The pod itself pops in and out of the body very easily. To remove the pod, just grab it and pull it out. No special tricks needed. To put it back in just pop it in and the magnets will grab it. Really easy and simple as it should be. After removing the pod, you can see a red rubber plug that you need to remove to expose the fill hole.

While the pod is almost fully exposed, it is hard to check juice levels because it’s very darkly tinted. When running low, you do have to slant the device to see if any juice is left on the bottom. This isn’t a big deal, but I wish all companies would just make clear pods and then offer tinted versions separately if people wanted looks over function. Overall, I’m very happy with the usage of the device, outside of the dark tint on the pod

Performance

This device takes the solid GTX line of coils which I've used quite a bit. However, it’s worth noting that not all GTX coils are compatible with every device, and that’s also true with the GEN AIR 40. I’m not a fan of that personally, and I wish each line of coils was fully cross-compatible with the devices that use them, but at least their site does a great job of telling you which devices work with which coils.

There are five GTX coils currently compatible with the GEN AIR 40. The two included in the package are a 0.8-ohm mesh coil rated at 12-16 watts and a 0.4-ohm mesh coil rated at 26-32 watts. The other three are available separately.

For my testing, I started with the 0.8-ohm coil and used 50/50 20-24 mg nicotine salt juices in it. I preferred it on low power (one LED) and the flavor was great for a pod system and comparable to the top pods on the market. I was able to go through about 30 mL of juice on it, which is great for coil life.  I typically look for around 10-15 mL in coils like these.

I then used the 0.4-ohm coil and preferred it on high (four LEDs.) I used 70/30 3 mg juices with this coil, and it was a solid 30-watt vape. But as I’ve said in previous reviews, I’d’ rather get at least 40 watts for DL vaping and under 20 for MTL—the 20-40 range for me is a bit of a no man’s land. Still, it’s a decent vape if you like that wattage, and coil life was okay at about 50 mL. Overall, the coils are good, but I definitely prefer it as an MTL device with the lower wattage coils and higher nicotine juices.

Battery life and charging

Battery life on this device will vary due to your vaping habits, but I will say that using it with the 0.8-ohm coil on low, it seemed to last a really long time and should easily be an all-day vape for most. It comes with an internal battery listed at 1800 mAh, they list the charge rate at 2A, and the Type-C port is located at the bottom of the mod so it has to lay down while charging. Not a big deal, but I prefer devices that can stand up while charging.

I tested their listed specs and for the charge rate I got a max of 1.94A, so great rating there. For charge time, it’s 53 minutes so it charges plenty fast for a pod system. Most pods like this charge up in about an hour to 90 mins. For battery size, it’s a little over 1500 mAh so I consider it a bit overrated. However, to be fair across the board, most devices are rated about 20% higher than you actually get, so it’s an understandable rating. The battery itself may be rated at 1800 mAh from the manufacturer and be a little bit lower, plus the soft cell cut-off won’t allow a full drain, which is why a 20% overrate is typical for most internal battery devices. It does have passthrough vaping as well and it pauses charging while vaping.

The LED acts as a battery meter and I want to give them huge props for the way they did this. Many reviewers complain about battery meters in devices like this because they are often in three steps and are poorly spaced. I’ve probably mentioned that myself in a dozen or so reviews: they should have four steps evenly spaced. VAPORESSO listened and did just that.

Excellent job by Vaporesso, and I really like it when companies listen to cons in reviews and change them to pros on the next device.

Pros / Cons

Gallery

Verdict

Overall, VAPORESSO did an excellent job with this device. If you are looking for a low-wattage device that's small, light, and should last most people all day when used for MTL vaping, then you’ll be happy with it. I’m not a fan of it for DL, but only because the coils fall into the wattage range that I consider too high for high nicotine but too low for low nicotine. However, if you like DL in the 30-watt range, it’s a solid vape. Still, for me, it really shines in low wattages with the 0.8-ohm coil.

Have you tried the VAPORESSO GEN AIR 40 pod? How was your experience with the device? Let us know in the comments below.