VAPORESSO XROS 4 Nano Review: The Perfect Pod Vape?

Product intro and specs

VAPORESSO is at it once again, dropping another pod system for the wildly popular XROS line. The XROS 4 Nano is marketed as a tiny pod system with a large screen and large battery capacity. With a battery listed at 1350 mAh, 2A fast charging, and a beautiful 1.3-inch TFT color screen, it seems to fit the bill perfectly. And most importantly, it is compatible with a well-known line of pods that's been praised by many (myself included) for offering some of the best-performing and long-lasting coils in vaping.

The XROS 4 Nano really seems like a winner, and with VAPORESSO’s long history of making great products, I'll have to really put it to the test in this review. Keep reading to find out how it performs and if it’s a worthy entry to one of vaping’s most popular lines.

Price: TBA
Colors: Race track, word-pop yellow, aquamarine, word-pop blue, camouflage, twilight purple, graphite black, titanium silver

Build quality and design

The XROS 4 Nano design reminds me of one of my favorite pod systems, the VAPORESSO ECO Nano. It’s really tiny and comes in the popular little square style that made the Mi-Pod a best seller once upon a time. Its footprint makes it really easy to slide in your pocket and barely notice it’s there. 

It's built around a solid frame with a lanyard hook on the top next to the pod, then front and back panels that look very sleek. Especially the Race Track color I got for review, which has a pearl white frame and a blue, purple, and red racing stripe. On the back, the stripe is offset, while on the front, it’s centered along with the large color 1.3-inch TFT screen. Adding to that is the color screen, which has three different themes. One of them is the "motorcycle" theme, which fits the racing stripe color well. The other two options are "flower" and "universe," and their animations are pretty cute. The motorcycle animation zooms in, the earth rotates, and the flower has a gentle breeze on it.

On the right side is the “do everything” button, but the device is inhale-to-vape as well, so there is no need to use the button to fire. On the left, there is a smooth air slider that you slide all the way down for a restricted DL vape and all the way up for an MTL vape. You can also slide it to the middle for a loose MTL vape. The USB-C port is on the right side under the button. In your hand, it has some weight and feels about as well built as an old-school Nokia cellphone. If you don't get the reference, the Nano seems to be able to withstand a beating!

Color options are plentiful and quite different. The aforementioned race track features a silver frame, just like the titanium silver option, which is all silver. Outside of that, the rest have a different color frame that matches the theme. Aquamarine is teal, and Twilight Purple has a purple frame with purple panels with a design on them. Graphite black is all-black for the classic look. Camouflage has an army green frame with camo panels, and the two funky word pop colors have writing on them like the graffiti of the ECO Nano. That's eight total colors, so there’s something for everyone.

Getting started

The XROS 4 Nano is easy enough for a beginner but advanced enough for more experienced vapers. The pods are nice and clear, and the juice level is easy to see. If you can’t see any juice while it’s just sitting on your table, then it’s time for a refill. The pod pops in and out super easy thanks to some strong magnets that hold it in place. Thanks to the top-fill design of the pods, you don’t need to remove them to fill. Filling is barely an inconvenience and super easy. Just push the flat side of the mouthpiece, and it’ll pop right off. Then, just stick a fine-tip bottle down the fill hole, which comes complete with a rubber gasket. There is an air hole on the other side, so the air can escape as you refill.

Using the device will depend on the coil installed, which is a new thing. For every coil other than the 0.4-ohm one, you can just pop it in and inhale to vape. Using the 0.4-ohm coil is a little different. With the 0.4-ohm coil, the XROS 4 Nano enters a regular power mode, and you have to manually set your wattage. It gives you a range of 15-30 watts, adjustable in half-watt increments. To do that, tap the button three times, which will make the power blink. Then keep tapping or hold it to cycle through the wattage until you get what you want. Release for a second and it’ll lock it in for you.

With the rest of the pods there is adjustment, but instead of selecting the watts, you have three modes to pick: Eco (soft), Normal (normal), and Power (hard). 

The rest of the pod mod functions are activated using their “1-2-3-4-5” design: 

• One click to fire
• Two clicks for the settings menu (lets you pick the theme, reset puffs, and turn the animations on or off)
• Three clicks for the power/mode settings
• Four clicks to lock and unlock
• Five clicks to turn the device on/off

It’s the perfect blend of simplicity and features for a pod system.

Performance

The XROS 4 Nano comes with two pods. The device is completely cross-compatible with all the XROS pods. There are three 2 mL options (0.4, 0.8, and 0.6 ohm) and five 3 mL options (0.4 ohm, 0.6 ohm, 0.8 ohm, 1.0 ohm, and 1.2 ohm.) The global and CRC kits come with the 0.4-ohm and 0.8-ohm pods, while the US and TPD kits come with the 0.6-ohm and 0.8-ohm pods. 

The kit I received to review came with the 3 ml versions of the 0.4-ohm and 0.8-ohm pods. I’ll just give you a spoiler before I go into more detail: I've used many of these coils, and the whole XROS line is great. You really can’t go wrong with any device that uses the XROS coils. My favorite, though, is the 0.8 ohm pod.

The preinstalled 0.4-ohm coil is great, but doesn’t quite hit my sweet spot. The reason is that the recommended wattage for them is 25 watts, and I find that to be a bit much for the nicotine salt juices I use. Typically, I use 20-30 mg nicotine juices, so I like to keep those at 20 watts or less. However, the 0.4-ohm pod did vape great with the airflow fully open at 16-18 watts, so I can’t complain. The flavor really comes through from your juice, and the coils last a really long time. Very happy with it. 

The 0.8-ohm pod is a clear favorite. It vaped great on Eco, Normal, and Power mode, both with the slider fully open for a restricted DL and halfway open for a loose MTL. Overall, both coils are great (the whole line is), but I really like the 0.8-ohm one and think it’s the sweet spot for this pod system.

Battery life and charging

I have a few things to look at here. First, to get something quick out of the way, the battery meter on the large screen is shown as a percentage, which I love. When charging, it also tells you how much longer it’ll take to fully charge. When you plug it in from dead, it reads “40 min”. The manual and site claim a 2A charge rate and 1350 mAh battery, so there are pretty hefty expectations there. The website also claims four days on one charge, but I can't give any validity to those claims because it really depends on how much you vape and what power setting and coil you are using. I never got four full days on a single charge on any device, however I do consider this an all-day charge because I vape a lot and was able to use it a full day without charging easily.

When I test these batteries, I try to be fair across the board. In reality, you never get the usable mAh when it comes to battery ratings. Due to soft cell cut-offs and what the device thinks is a full charge, typically, the rule of thumb is to drop 20% off the advertised mAh to get to the actual usable battery. I’ve tested tons of these devices in my review career, and the data shows that. So, my expectation for this device was 1080 usable mAh. As far as the charge rate goes, every company rounds up, so I expect a max charge rate of 1.75A or higher. 

So what were the results? The max charge rate I got was 1.85A, so it is more than good enough for the 2A rating. The charge time I got was between 35-37 minutes, which is really fast. Most of these devices charge in the 30-60 minute range, so this is toward the quicker end. For usable mAh, through the average of three tests I got 1003 mAh, so it falls a little short there, and I'll have to ding them for that. A rating of 1200 mAh would have been fairer. Still, the battery is large and around the same size as the ECO Nano, which was one of the few devices whose rating was actually on point. Either way, a 1000 usable mAh on a pod vape is great. Last but not least, it does have passthrough vaping, as all pods should.

Pros / Cons

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