VLYP Touch Pod Kit
Now we know the disposable ban is coming, it seems like everyone is looking to take a bite of that market, and we are seeing all sorts of interesting new kits coming through that are all vying for their place at the table. It is a great time to be involved with vaping as it really feels like we are on the cusp of big change, and where we face restrictions, the vaping scene has a habit of responding vigorously. One of these new kits is the VLYP Touch which has more than a couple of cool tricks up its sleeve.
First Looks and Getting Started
For this review, I have been sent the full presentation kit with the main device along with all the options on offer, so I got to test out everything you can expect from the VLYP Touch.
Starting with the base kit, this comes presented in a way which will feel very familiar if you are coming in from disposable vapes. There is a small cardboard box which carries the device which is sealed in a tear to open bag for freshness. The coil has a sticker on the base to prevent it from connecting in transit, and there is a bung in the top of prefilled pod and another sticker on the base to keep the contents fresh. It also comes fully charged, or at least my review sample was, so once you have assembled everything, it is good to go. The only thing not included is a charging cable, but this is just a regular USB cable which if you have a modern phone, you will probably have at least one lying around at home anyway.
- Dimensions: 27.1*18*91.1mm
- Battery Capacity: 650mAh
- E-liquid Capacity: 2ml
- Resistance: 1.1ohm
- Constant Volts: 3.6V
- Charging: USB Type C
- Display: 4 LED Lights
The VLYP Touch come in black and is small and pocket friendly. There are no buttons or controls, it is a vape and go device, so it is very suitable for anyone leaving disposables behind. There is some discreet branding on the front, along with some battery status lights, and on the bottom is the charging port. It is all very simple.
It was about here that I noticed something very interesting. Looking at the prefilled pod, which is a dark smoked plastic, I quickly realised that there was something there that I haven’t seen for years. I’m going to take you on a trip back to the early days of vaping for a moment, back to a time before the tanks and pods as we know them now, back to the good old days of the Fluval revolution! The very earliest atomizers, the things we used to use to hold our e-liquid and coils, were not empty vessels, instead they used a spongy material which absorbed and held the juice ready for the internal atomiser to heat. These weren’t meant to be user serviceable, but we were a creative bunch, and someone soon noticed that this material was very similar to Fluval, a sponge like material that was used in aquarium filters. You could go down to your local aquatics supplier and buy a big block of the stuff and cut off what you needed. They were happy days, and as a result, I also ended up keeping tropical fish for a while! Of course, things moved on, and tanks and cotton wicks started to take over and that is what most people these days know as proper vape gear. But VLYP has brought back this old method, and inside their pods is a big wedge of spongy material which holds and absorbs the juice. Thankfully the coils are not old school at all, and this old method has been given a new lease of life, but we will get to that properly a bit later.
From that history lesson, you should be able to tell that I have been vaping for a long time. I have seen it all and I know my way around most kits, so I smugly didn’t bother to look at the instructions. I can be a right know-it-all sometimes and usually I get away with it just fine, but I quickly came unstuck here. I took all the component parts out, put the coil in the tank and placed that in the main body and tried to take a vape and….nothing! Looking at the tank, I could tell there was something very wrong, the coil didn’t look right at all. So I took it all apart again and replaced the coil, and this was when I realised that you could push the coil in way too far and there was no way that it would touch with the battery connection. I took it back out again, stared at it for a while, scratched my head a bit, and then had to admit defeat, it was time to actually look at the instructions. Where most kits require you to put the coil into the tank to make one unit, on the VLYP Touch you put the coil directly onto the connector in the main device, and then you slide the filled tank over that. There is no way I would have worked that out myself, I have never seen this system used. Lesson learned, sometimes you really should read the manual! Once everything is in place, it all felt very solid and safe. I think the silicone base of the pods helps as it seems almost grip the main body and it needs a fairly firm pull to take things apart. It also seals the e-liquid in well and I think you are very unlikely to get any leaks unless you accidentally overfill things yourself.
So now I had a ready to use kit all correctly assembled so I took a vape and….nothing again! OK maybe I need to turn it on? Hmmm no buttons, so I was back to staring at the kit and scratching my head. I pulled the tank off again, made sure everything was absolutely secure and all the connections were correct, took another vape, and still nothing. Back to the instructions then! It turns out that I wasn’t missing anything, there is no visible to turn the VLYP touch on but there is a rather ingenious child lock system. It is rather like a secret handshake, when you know, you know, but if the VLYP falls into the wrong hands, there is no way it can be used. To activate it, you have to tap the USB charging port five times to unlock the child protection. After doing that, and really promising to read the manual thoroughly, I finally managed to take my first real vape.
The Pods and Coils
Back in the day, Fluval did a much better job than what had previously been around, but the coil technology was very basic. Things really have come on a long way. The VLYP Touch uses some pretty unique coils too. Instead of having small wicking ports like most modern coils, the VLYP coils have two rows of long slots with the wicking material very clearly visible, and these absorb the e-liquid that is held by the sponge tank material. These extra-long ports on the coil do a superb job of sucking up the e-liquid and I was able to chain vape like a champ with no sign of a dry hit anywhere. The flavour was also great, not the most nuanced, but it was strong and pronounced and I think it will rival any disposable. I was surprised how well the VLYP Touch vaped, it might be using an old idea, but make no mistake, this is a thoroughly modern vape. The vape is very much a mouth to lung hit, it is a satisfyingly tight draw, and the 1.1ohm mesh coils are perfectly suited to this kind of vaping.
The kit came with a prefilled Blurazz pod, this holds 2ml of nic salt e-liquid and comes in 20mg stregth so will be a direct rival to disposables. The flavour was juicy and sweet, but with a bright tang. It tasted great. I was also sent a pack of Strawberry Milkshake pods, and each pack comes with two prefilled pods. This was a sweet, thick flavour, creamy but with a generous helping of fresh strawberries. There was a slight taste which reminded me of American chocolate, whether that is a good thing of not will be down to your personal preference. Both prefilled pods provided lots of flavour though, very much on par with the levels you find in disposables. Plus, once you have vaped the prefilled pods dry, you can still use them with your own e-liquid, so they are not conventional single use items.
But what if you don’t get on with Nic Salts or want to vape less than 20mg strength e-liquid? Well, you haven’t been forgotten as you can also buy empty pods ready to fill with your own juice. Personally, I only vape nic salts for reviewing, so I grabbed a bottle of 50VG/50PG freebase e-liquid and got busy filling my own pod. To do this, you need to remove the silicone base of the pod which will give you access to the sponge, and you just drip you juice directly on to it. It does take a little bit longer than usual as the sponge needs to absorb everything. This was the only area that the instructions were a little unclear so I took one for the team and got to mess up so you don’t have to. The instructions say “Pull out the silicone plug from the bottom of the pod, fill e-liquid through the hole, put the silicone plug back in place after filling is finished”, so I removed the plug and looked for the hole. The only one I could see was running straight through the centre of the pod, but it was the only hole I could see so that is where my e-liquid went, and I promptly made a right mess as the juice flowed straight out of the mouthpiece. So then I let common sense take over and just dripped the liquid straight on to the sponge, and that worked perfectly. This was a better test for the flavour too as I know this e-liquid well, and it came through strong and clear. As this is a mouth to lung kit, I wouldn’t even bother trying 70VG/30PG juice, it may work but I suspect it would be too thick and won’t wick as well, stick to 50VG/50PG or bar salts for the best results.
The final trick up the VLYP Touch’s sleeve is that as the pods themselves contain no coils or e-liquid, so the empty ones can come in either 2ml regular pods or 7ml XL, but are still perfectly legal as they contain nothing but a bit of sponge. The bigger pods use exactly the same coils too, it just means that you can fill up a bit more to last you through the day. This is a bit of a master stroke which will make daily use a lot more straightforward. The battery may only be 650mAh, but I was able to easily last a full workday and then a bit more before I hit the final red light on the LED battery indicator, so a larger juice capacity will work well if you just want to fill up once before you head out and not have to worry until you get home again.
Final Thoughts
I wasn’t expecting much from the VLYP Touch, it looked like a very basic kit hoping to cash in on the upcoming gap in the market left by disposables. There are a couple of well-known big name brands of ecigs that you can pick up from a range of high street shops, and I was expecting a similar level of performance here, but the VLYP Touch gave me a very respectable vape, with decent flavour and little fannying around. There are enough options to suit most new vapers or seasoned pros that need a reliable out and about kit they can stick in their pocket and forget about. The only real complaint I have is that I am still not sure how to pronounce the name, vilip, vlip, vleyep, vlilple, I have no idea! For now, you don’t need to worry about that though as you can just order everything online direct from VLYP. The main kit including a prefilled pod is £15, a pack of two prefilled pods is £5.99 (so the same as two disposables), a pack of three replacement coils is £5.99, and the empty pods are £5.99.
Pros
- Simple to use
- Surprisingly good flavour
- Optional large capacity pod
- Reusable with a large selection of consumables
- Prefilled or user refillable pods
- Child lock safety feature
Cons
- Unpronounceable name
- You have to actually read the manual (this isn’t really a con, but a word from the wise)
8/10 – The VLYP Touch is interesting twist which will give any disposable a run for their money
