Vaporesso Luxe & SKRR Kit Review: Tactile Feedback and Innovative Coil Design

Vaporesso’s latest kit features the Luxe mod and the SKRR tank. The Luxe is a dual-18650 mod rated for 220 watts and is powered by the reliable Omni 4.0 chip. The SKRR is a leak and spitback-resistant sub ohm tank that comes with mesh and strip coils and some more tricks up its sleeve.

Previous Vaporesso kits have been getting much praise for their design and performance. Their last two flagships, the Armour Pro and the Polar, are considered two of the best mods of 2018, and the Cascade line of tanks that came with them have also received a lot of positive reviews. Let’s see if the Luxe and SKRR kit will live up to the name of Vaporesso’s previous offerings.

Price: $95.90
Colors: Black, silver, red, multicolored, bronze, green ape, iris

I will start by stating the obvious: the Luxe mod is gorgeous. I can easily say that it is one of the best-looking mods I have ever used. I was also lucky to receive the full black edition, which was my personal favorite out of the line. It comes with a centered 510 connection that allows it to fit 28 mm atomizers with no overhang. The shape, size, and rounded edges make it a pleasure to hold, even if it is rather heavier than previous Vaporesso dual-battery mods – though still a bit lighter than the Voopoo DRAG.

The plastic front and back covers make the Luxe a fingerprint magnet, but that’s to be expected. The screen is large (2 inches) and the font is crisp and properly sized. I wish the screen were a little bit brighter though – even with the brightness at its highest setting, I still had some difficulties reading the display when outdoors. There is also very slight movement of the back panel, but no rattle, and it won’t move if you don’t force it.

Screen info

• Dual-battery monitoring
• Selected mode
• Wattage
• Resistance
• Voltage
• Puff counter/duration

Operations

• Five clicks on and off
• Three clicks to unlock
• Three taps on logo to enter menu
• Left and right touch to navigate menu
• Tap logo to enter submenu
• Left and right touch to navigate submenu
• Tap logo to exit submenu
• Select “Exit” to go to the home screen
• Fire to lock

Menu Options

• Variable wattage modes (VW-H/VW-N/VW-S)
• CCW (wattage curves)
• SP (super player mode)
• VV (variable voltage)
• CCV (voltage curves)
• TC modes (SS/Ni/Ti/M1/M2)
• BP (bypass mode)
• Settings

The review sample arrived without a manual, but I had no problems finding my way through the menus. If you have ever used a device with the Omni board 4.0 then you know what to expect from the menu system — not much has changed since the Vaporesso Armour Pro, which topped our favorite box mods list recently. The menu and available functions and settings are the same, as is the rapid firing of the mod. This thing hits fast — so fast that five quick clicks to turn it off will have your atomizer producing some vapor!

I like how Vaporesso implemented the “touchscreen” functionality of the Luxe. The touch capable part of the screen is not a part of the display but on the lower part of the front panel. Think of it as touch buttons. I had some cases where the mod failed to register a tap, but these were rare, and the “buttons” are generally responsive. On top of that, every time you touch the screen you will feel a (very satisfying) vibration. Call it a gimmick if you will, but tactile feedback is addictive: I’ve never enjoyed changing settings on a mod as much as I do on the Luxe.

Pressing the fire button locks the adjustment buttons until you press it again three times. This is a very useful function, but there have been a couple of times I wished it wasn’t there – making small adjustments to wattage can get frustrating when you need to unlock the device. But it will prevent your mod from accidentally changing settings, so I can’t really complain.

I love how the Luxe handles temperature control. The Omni 4.0 chip is known for excellent TC performance, and while I am not usually vaping in TC, I decided to put it to the test. I made a 24-gauge stainless steel coil with a resistance of 0.43 ohms, locked my resistance and changed the SS TCR value to 92 from the preset of 110. I have no idea why companies keep using the TCR of anything other than SS316L in their default modes for stainless steel — check Anthony’s review of the Geekvape Nova for more details on that. With the proper TCR value, I got a satisfying warm vape at and over 430 F, and a very reliable dry hit protection. I vaped my cotton completely dry and only saw some very slight discoloration when I removed it – this is to be expected even with the best TC mods out there. All in all, the Luxe mod passed the temperature control test with flying colors.

I have had a couple of issues with the functionality of the mod that I will have to mention. The touch part of the screen froze on me once, and the device would not provide tactile feedback. Taking the batteries out and restarting the device fixed those issues. I also noticed that the Luxe would get a little bit warm when chain-vaping. Vaporesso informed us that the mod is still under the works and that we did not receive the final edition. Hopefully, these issues will not be a part of the commercial release.

I received the black SKRR tank in the kit, along with two of the three coils that are available for it. Unfortunately, the package didn’t include the straight glass tank or the silicon protective case for the glass. That’s a shame as I am not a fan of bubble glass tanks and I’d swap the extra 3 mL of e-liquid for a classier look, but that’s purely subjective.

The SKRR tank is 24.5 mm at the base (around 26.5 mm at the airflow ring) and holds up to 8 mL of e-liquid with the bubble glass on. It features a convenient push-to-slide top fill system and a child-resistant drip tip design that screws in to prevent the tank from opening. This feature does set the SKRR tank apart from the rest of the sub ohm tanks of the market, but I personally didn’t have much use for it. Be aware that most Goon style 810s won’t fit the SKRR. I found a couple that worked with it, but you will have better luck with drip tips that come with O-rings.

The tank is compatible with the GT coils, used by the Cascade line and the NRG tank. But the most innovative feature of the SKRR tank is the new line of coils that are introduced with it.

Coils

• QF Meshed flax fiber/cotton 0.2-ohm coil: Rated for 50-80 watts, best at 65-75 watts (included)
• QF Strip flax fiber/cotton 0.15-ohm coil: Rated for 50-80 watts, best at 65-75 watts (included)
• GT CCELL ceramic 0.5-ohm coil: Rated for 20-35 watts, best at 30-35 watts (not included)

I only received the two QF (Quadflow) coils in the package. The specs above are listed from Vaporesso’s website, as both coils I received came with a printed resistance of 0.18 ohms. The QF coils are wicked with a combination of flax fiber and cotton, similar to what we have seen from companies like Freemax and Horizontech.

The coils are designed to be spitback and leak-resistant, and I can honestly say I’ve had zero leaking and spitting out of these coils. They accomplish that by implementing a pin-like mechanism inside the coil, which channels the airflow to the middle of the coil and directs it on the mesh/strip element that is surrounding it. The air needs to travel some distance, so I couldn’t help but think that this system is sacrificing some of the flavor in order to prevent spitback and leaking. While the SKRR is no slouch in the flavor department, it is not the best flavor I have gotten by a mesh coil sub ohm tank.

Both coils performed comparably to the single-mesh coil of the Freemax Mesh Pro, with the QF Strip coil being the best out of the three. But none of the coils of the SKRR managed to reach the flavor performance of the dual and triple-mesh coils of the Mesh Pro. Comparing a single-mesh coil with dual- and triple-mesh coils might seem a bit unfair, so I hope Vaporesso releases multi-mesh options for the SKRR in the future. Closing the airflow off halfway and taking slower pulls had a positive effect on flavor by allowing the air to travel closer to the walls of the coil.

Note that both coils perform better at the higher range of their rating – I liked them the most at around 75 watts. Vaping them that high will potentially reduce their lifespan, but I have been using each coil for approximately a week, and they are still going strong. Overall, the performance of the QF coils is good, but if you are strictly after flavor, there are some better options out there at the moment.

The SKRR tank implements three fully-adjustable large airflow slots. I compared it to the Mesh Pro tank, and they have a very similar airflow when they are both fully open. Restricting it over the halfway point will start producing a whistling sound, but I never felt the need to go that tight on it. All in all, I enjoyed the cloud production I got from the SKRR tank.

The Vaporesso Luxe & SKRR is a kit I would easily recommend. The mod is a high performer and takes full advantage of the capabilities of the Omni 4.0 chip. It is a pleasure to hold, looks slick and classy and does TC right. Its touch control is implemented better than most of its competition, and tactile feedback is a winner. There were some minor hiccups, but nothing that can’t be fixed with the final production version. The SKRR tank is practically leakproof, holds a lot of e-liquid and comes with some long-lasting coils. Yes, the flavor could have been a little better, but the coils perform fine for single-mesh, so I can’t really complain.

All in all, this is another solid offering by Vaporesso and thumbs up to them for coming up with innovative ideas. I am very happy that this kit was not just another dual-battery mod paired with just another sub ohm tank. If they manage to pair the leakproof design of the QF coils with a multi-mesh configuration, then I can see the SKRR tank working its way in the conversations of best sub ohm tank of the year — the mod is already up there. What do you think of the Vaporesso Luxe & SKRR kit? Let me know in the comment section.