Vaporesso Gen S Review: Test Results Are In

Product intro and specs

The Vaporesso Gen S kit is one of the latest kits from popular vape manufacturer Vaporesso. They have a good history of making some really nice mods, like the Target Mini 2, Luxe, Polar, Armour Pro, and the original Gen. They have quietly been one of the top mod makers in vaping so let's see if the Gen S can live up to that.

The Gen S mod is a dual-18650 battery mod rated for 220 watts, and it is designed to be lightweight and sleek. It comes with the new NRG-S tank in the kit, a sub ohm tank that takes mesh coils and has a generous 8 mL capacity.

Price: $41.99 (at Element Vape)

Colors: Black, silver, gold, lime green, cherry pink, matte gray, and more.

First impressions

When I first got this kit, I really liked its design. I know a lot of vapers have clamored for mods to go back to simple designs without looking like something out of a sci-fi movie with flashing lights and gaudy logos. And Vaporesso delivered on that. I also like the smooth soft texture they used on it, which makes it sit very comfortably in the hand.

There is a chart online where Vaporesso lists slightly different dimensions for the S, but it is exactly the same as the original Gen mod I reviewed a year ago. It is very lightweight, but it’s not as small as some other recent dual battery mods like the Swell. It’s a little taller, but it's a good size for a mod that takes two 18650s. The new item in this kit is the NRG-S tank, which comes in a matching color and has texture to match the textured look of the mod, making it a very nice-looking kit.

Build quality and design

The Vaporesso Gen S is a solid and nicely built and designed mod. It’s a mostly rectangular mod, but still very comfy in the hands and rounded off. It has a very soft feel to it as well. Their site claims that “the soft touch casing is made of 4 layers of coating giving it a soft rubber-like feel yet still making it smooth to the touch” and I have to say they aren’t lying there. It features a front facing 0.95-inch rectangular black and white screen just like the original Gen mod. I wish they had used a color screen to set it apart from the original Gen, but at least it’s very clear and bright. The 510 pin is centered and gave me no issues with any atomizer. It can handle up to a 26 mm tank without overhang.

The Gen S weighs in at only around 107 grams, which is pretty much the same as the Vandy Vape Swell. As for colors, they have an insane twelve options. I was sent one that fades from teal to green and it really looks great. Branding was also kept very nice and simple. There is a small “Vaporesso” in the middle of one side, a small “V” logo on the bottom center of the other side, and the Gen S log at the bottom of the mod.

The battery door is a standard magnetic side-plate style. The batteries fit nice and are easy to install, and there’s a ribbon inside the tray to help you take them off. The tray is plastic, and the door has a coating on it with a warning about not using batteries with broken wraps (or, as they call it, “broken skins”.) Well done there, and I’m always happy to see safety being a priority. The magnets are strong, the battery door fits great with no play, and there is a little notch on the bottom of the mod to help you remove it. All well done there. There is some button rattle with the fire button only, but it’s very minor.

Features and functions

The Gen S is packed with features and modes like most Vaporesso mods. You have Pulse Mode, Power Eco, Smart TC, and DIY Mode. In DIY mode you can pick the standard modes of Power (with normal, hard, and soft preheats), Temp Control (SS, Ni200, Ti, and one TCR memory slot), Voltage Mode, Watt Curve Mode, Bypass Mode, and Super Player Mode. In the settings menu, there are also Smart and Auto modes.

The mod uses a standard TCR, which is fully adjustable across all modes. It has pretty much every mode out there and then some, to the point where it’s potentially overbearing. It’s cool to have these features, but everything you need is in the DIY mode menu and that’s where I stick around personally. Not sure of the point of a Pulse mode, and Super Player mode is just power mode with a lower minimum resistance.

Using the Vaporesso Gen S

As far as the menu goes, it’s typical Vaporesso. Same as the Gen, there is a dedicated menu button between the plus and minus buttons. It’s very simple and easy to navigate. Here is a quick rundown:

Power mode performance

The Gen S features the Axon chip like the original Gen, while their older mods used the Omni chip. The Omni was one of the best chips in vaping, despite not getting the recognition it deserves. The Axon chip in this one performs very similar to how it did in the original Gen, which means that they most likely updated the firmware instead of modifying the hardware.

Testing on this mod was done with Sony VTC5A Batteries. They list the maximum wattage at 220 watts, but no volt or amp limit listed anywhere. I wish they listed all three on their site. During my testing, the max achieved wattage was 211, so the 220-watt rating is good. It could have possibly hit 220 at another resistance, but the 211 I got was more than enough.

The amp limit I got was 39 amps which is average for a dual-battery mod these days. The average is around 40 give or take a couple of amps. The volt limit I got with a 0.64-ohm coil was 9.257, which is higher than most dual-battery mods on the market and shows there is a boost circuit. I’m glad they kept that in, as it’s only been Vaporesso, Geekvape, Innokin, and Aspire doing that consistently on all their chips over the past few years.

The mod adjusts in 0.1-watt increments under 100 watts and full-watt increments at 100 or more. You can also hold the button to scroll quickly by one watt. It works well, but I don’t see a point in using 0.1-watt increments for anything above 20 watts.

As for accuracy, the mod struggled a little with a 0.11-ohm build, but other than that its performance has been solid. Nothing noticeably different from the original Gen mod, which was great. You can see the full test results above.

They list 2.5-amp charging on this mod, and while I don’t recommend charging mods internally, I did test that just for informational purposes. I found the max charge rate to be 2.27 amps, so it is properly rated—and one of the fastest charging mods I’ve tested so far.

Temperature control performance

Using SS316L wire in SS mode with the TCR set to 92, I tested four builds:

The Gen has the full 220-watt limit available in temperature control. I was able to get a warm vape around the 430F range, so it hits around 20F high—which is fine as you can adjust for taste with plenty of wiggle room. It throttles smooth and has good dry hit protection. I get a consistent vape each time and the power lets you adjust the ramp up. It has no issues powering big builds either. Overall, it’s a very good performer in TC mode, as I would expect from Vaporesso.

NRG-S tank rundown

Ok, so let's do a quick rundown of the NRG-S tank. The tank comes with a straight glass (2 mL) and a bubble glass (8 mL). The coils screw into the base and they are easy to remove and replace by removing the base and just unscrewing them. Note that you can't do it with a full tank, it needs to be empty.

The tank comes with a standard wide bore 510 black Delrin drip tip which is pretty plain. I wish they used a matching tip. It’s the only thing missing for this kit to match perfectly, so it looks a little out of place. But it is a standard 510 so you can find a better looking one.  It fits very nicely; it was hard to get out at first, but it became easier after that.

All the threading on the tank is nice and smooth, and the fill method is a simple sliding top cap marked by an arrow. Just push it there to slide it back and expose the one large fill hole. It’s easy to fill, but if using a large bottle, it’s best to remove the drop tip when filling. The airflow control ring is smooth, easy to adjust, and on a stopper. It has some knurling on it that looks good and helps with the grip. Overall, the tank itself is pretty standard but well-done. 

The NRG-S is compatible with the coils of the other tanks of the NRG line as well as SMOK Baby Beast coils (which means that it is also compatible with a wide variety of other coils). So, there are lots of options and coils will be easily accessible in the future. But while they make great mods and tanks, coils haven’t been their strong suit, so we’ll see if the newer ones are better.

The NRG-S comes with two coils in the package:

Starting off with the 0.18-ohm GT coil, I found it best around 60 watts. Flavor was just ok with the air turned halfway down, but it only lasted about 50 mL which is under average. Then onto the 0.15-ohm GT4 coil, which I found to perform best around 65 watts. Flavor was slightly better, but it lasted around 60 mL, which is still a little under average. Overall, the coils are just ok, but the tank itself is very nice. But coils shouldn’t be an issue, as cross-compatibility with the Baby Beast coils gives countless options.

Pros / Cons

Gallery

Verdict

Overall, Vaporesso did a great job with this mod. It’s practically the same as the Gen, so if you already have one, it’s not worth the upgrade. But if you don’t, the Gen S is an excellent mod and well-worth buying.

As far as the kit goes, the tank is great, but the coils are just ok. Thankfully, with so many options and cross-compatibility, you can easily find better coils then the ones included. With that in mind, the tank is good enough to do the job if you don’t already own one, or if you just want the matching kit. But if you already have a good sub ohm tank, the mod-only option is likely better for you.

Let me know what you think in the comments and thanks for reading!