VAPORESSO LUXE QS Review: Category-Leading Flavor!

Product intro and specs

The VAPORESSO LUXE QS is the sequel to last year’s LUXE Q, a pod vape that offered impressive performance despite being a super simple device. The QS comes with some minor design changes, new (but compatible) pods, and, according to VAPORESSO, it can now do RDL vaping. Like the original, the battery is listed at 1000 mAh, and the pods offer two airflow options depending on the orientation they are inserted in.

VAPORESSO says that the LUXE QS claim to fame is that it is the “most compact RDTL” pod on the market. Keep reading to find out why I feel that this is not an accurate description of the sequel of an excellent MTL pod vape.

Price: $17.99 (at Element Vape)

Colors: Black, silver, blue, lime green, sunset violet, flame red.

Build quality and design

The build quality of the QS is impressive. It has a great hand feel courtesy of its ridged panel and its weight which feels just right. It’s heavier than it looks but still pretty lightweight. It’s made out of metal, with the panel being hard plastic.

The gradient “holographic” pattern on its front looks great on the two units I received (lime green and sunset violet) and offers some nice effects when the light hits it. There’s one more color option with a gradient panel (flame red), and the other three seem to be uniformly colored.

While it is a minor detail, I really think that VAPORESSO’s new logo is probably the best in the industry. The logo is etched at the bottom of the back side, and it is pretty discreet but has some nice superhero vibes to it.

The pods look just like the ones of the original and come with the same notches at the sides, making them easy to remove from the battery. They are transparent, but unfortunately only a tiny part is visible when inserted, so you’ll probably need to remove them to check juice levels.

Getting started

Same as the original, using the LUXE QS is pretty straightforward. You just need to push the mouthpiece on its flat side to remove it and fill the pod by pressing the tip of your bottle on the hole that’s marked red. Put the mouthpiece back on and let the pod aside for five minutes to allow the wicks to saturate. Push the pod into the battery and inhale on the mouthpiece to vape.

You can adjust the airflow by changing the orientation of the pod. Unlike the original, the airflow changes noticeably between the two settings, which allows for RDL vaping when using the lower-resistance pod on the looser airflow orientation. But I’ll discuss how it performs in RDL in the following section.

Performance

The LUXE QS comes with two pods in the box:

Both pods make use of VAPORESSO’s COREX technology which is stated to offer a 50% increase in lifespan, flavor and vapor production, and “vaporization efficiency ratio.” Not sure how they are measuring the latter two, but I can already tell you that these pods last for long, so the 50% lifespan increase may be legit. But the most impressive thing about these pods is flavor.

I was very impressed by the flavor I got from both pods. If VAPORESSO measures flavor increase by some measurement of saturation, then they may be right. I would characterize the vape I got from these pods as “juicy.” I got flavor notes that I’ve never gotten out of some of the best pods on the market, which places the LUXE QS right at the top of its competition as far as I am concerned. I tested it against the Caliburn A2 and the Wenax H1, and there’s no comparison as far as flavor goes; the QS beats them hands down. And due to the warmth of the vapor, you don’t even need high-strength juice. Both pods performed great with 20-25 mg nic salt and 9 mg freebase juice, which is more or less what I’d use with an MTL tank.

My only con here has less to do with the device itself and more with how it’s being marketed. VAPORESSO’s claim that this is "the most compact RDTL pod" seems to imply that it can do RDL equally well as MTL. And in my opinion, that’s not the case. It can do a bit of RDL with the 0.6-ohm pod at the looser airflow orientation, but you still need to slipstream it a bit, and the mouthpiece gets hot pretty quickly. I couldn’t chainvape it in RDL, and in fact, I preferred using the 0.6-ohm pod with the airflow set at the tighter of the two options.

Note that none of the two coils offers a really tight MTL. The 1.0-ohm coil is noticeably tighter, and I’d compare it to the Caliburn A2, if not a tiny bit looser. I didn’t like using the 1.0-ohm pod at the loose orientation, and the sensor seemed to struggle a bit—although it’s super sensitive at the tighter setting. The 0.6-ohm is a bit looser in MTL mode, but I used it a lot like that because of its impressive flavor.

Battery life and charging

Same as the LUXE Q, the QS offers excellent battery life, and the battery seems to be accurately rated at 1000 mAh. Expect to go through two full pods (4 mL) in one charge, which is higher than the category average.

I timed a full charge at precisely 50 minutes, which is excellent as most similar devices take more or less an hour—and usually come with less battery life.

The VAPORESSO logo LED blinks red when charging and stays green when charging is complete. It also lights up every time you vape, and it is color-coded as follows:

Pros / Cons

Gallery

Verdict