Voopoo has made great strides in recent years, releasing a string of high-quality vape devices. In particular, the Voopoo Drag series has become one of the most popular device series in the UK in recent months, and has dominated the pod mod category.
There’s a lot of options to the series, but in this post I’m going to be looking at the newest addition, the Voopoo Drag X Pro pod mod.
Brief overview
The Drag X Pro is an upgraded version of the Voopoo Drag X Pod Mod and comes packaged with the new TPP X pod. You have the choice of powering it with an 18650 (slightly lighter) or a 21700 battery (longer lasting). (I find the difference in weight minimal, so always go for the 21700 battery.) It also works with existing PnP pods for vapers who prefer higher resistance coils.
The Drag X Pro is controlled by an upgraded GENE Fan 3.0 chip, which Voopoo says gives a 20% performance boost over previous models. This performance boost refers to multiple elements, including battery life, vapour production and a more stable performance due to an adopted voltage boost function.
The device can provide up to 80 watts of power in Smart Mode, or 100 watts in RBA mode – which, let’s face it, is more than enough for 98% of vapers.
If you are not a fan of replaceable batteries, check out the Drag S Pro, which is pretty much identical apart from having a fixed internal battery.
Design
The Voopoo Drag X Pro combines zinc alloy and a soft leather effect for a sophisticated design that is comfortable to hold. The device, with the battery installed, has a pleasant heft and fits neatly into my medium-sized hands, although it wouldn’t be ideal for a person with small hands.
The screen display is both clear and vivid. Two factors I look for are included. First is information hierarchy, with the most important information (wattage and mode) displayed in larger fonts, and secondly is good use of colour to distinguish between the information.
Firing & locking
The fire button comes with a good bit of resistance. This is great, because if a button has too little resistance, it’s easy to accidentally press it in your pocket, which can cause the coil to burn out.
Of course, ideally you should make sure the device won’t fire accidentally at all. Voopoo have a solution for that too, with a toggle switch which makes it easy to lock the device completely.
What’s really innovative here is that you can switch the function of this switch to make it an on/off button too. When the toggle is set to lock, you can turn the device off by clicking the fire button three times. When the toggle is set to turn on/off, clicking the fire button three times will lock the device.
The Drag X Pro also comes with another neat innovation – inhale to fire. This is common on basic pod systems but rare on more advanced pod mods. As it suggests, you simply inhale and the device fires up. I did find a difference in the vape here – the inhale to fire method seemed airier and cooler than when pressing the button, and produced thicker clouds of vapour. Having the choice of two ways to vape with two different styles is a real bonus.
Airflow
The airflow is built into the mod, separate from the pod. That’s great because with some devices adjusting the airflow means twisting the tank round. The separated design means it’s easy to adjust the airflow without messing with the pod or tank.
Voopoo uses an infinite airflow design, which means you can carry on rotating the airflow round. It’s pretty neat, and as promised does give precise airflow control. It’s also a necessary feature to allow cross compatibility with the VooPoo PnP pod.
Filling
To fill the Drag X Pro, you click a button on the pod and swivel it to the side. You then pull the tab open to reveal the filling hole.
This actually took me a minute or two to get, as you do have to pull the tab right back. (I even had to check the instructions, which I rarely do!) But as soon as you get the hang of it, you can appreciate the benefits. It’s quick and easy to refill, you can’t accidentally unscrew the whole pod and it reduces the risk of leakage.
Modes
Smart mode automatically selects the best wattage for your coil. I am a big fan of anything that makes devices easier and more accessible, and it’s particularly valuable for devices with bigger wattage ranges, as it’s so easy to burn out a coil when you select the wrong wattage.
So as always, having smart mode is a plus, but do see the caveat below in the section ‘what we don’t like’. Advanced users can choose the RBA mode, which gives you an extra 20 watts of power to play with.
I also spent ages looking for the temperature control mode, and even checking back against the manufacturer’s page to make sure it really existed! Finally, I noticed a small line saying “The temperature control mode needs to be downloaded from the official website of Voopoo by yourself.”
I’ve seen fewer and fewer devices coming with temperature control in recent months, so it’s great that Voopoo has provided the option. For ultimate convenience, I’d prefer this to come with the device. When I queried this, Voopoo explained to me that they are finding few people use temperature control nowadays, which I guess is fair enough.
Performance
To test this device, I was using one of my favourite Direct-Lung e-liquids, Wick Liquor Boulevard. With the airflow open wide and a 0.15Ω coil, I got both satisfying clouds of warm (but not hot) vapour and great flavour from the e-liquid. The flavour is even better if you turn down the airflow a bit.
What we don’t like…
Don’t get me wrong – this is a great device. But (as usual) I do have a few quibbles…
Smart mode limitation
My biggest bugbear with this device is the limitation with smart mode. When you first screw in a coil, the device will automatically select the best wattage for the coil, just like it’s supposed to. However, once you adjust the wattage once, you knock smart mode out.
That’s not a problem, except the only way to get smart mode back is to install a new coil. I even tried removing and replacing my existing coil, but the device refused to go back into smart mode.
Replacing the coil
As is pretty standard with modern vapes, the Voopoo Drag X Pro comes with a push pull coil. The pod pulls easily out of the mod, and the coil pulls easily out of the pod. The one drawback is that when you do so, all the e-liquid comes out of the pod.
To be fair, I haven’t seen many devices that are designed to keep e-liquid separate, but it is a feature I love, as it avoids both mess and wasting e-liquid.
Who’s it for?
Despite the name Pro, this isn’t a particularly difficult device to use – at least in smart mode. As long as you let smart mode do the work for you (and don’t fiddle around with wattage settings!), there’s really not too much to do, and any vaper with a bit of experience should be able to handle the device.
The higher power levels, 810 drip tip and low resistance coils do make it suitable for the Direct-Lung vaper who likes some large clouds.
Verdict
Despite my quibbles, this is an excellent device that delivers great performance, and I think it will cement Voopoo’s growing dominance of the pod mod category. The design is neat, and I like the new additions Voopoo have added, such as the separated, infinite airflow, the inhale to vape and press to fill mechanism. It’s easy to use, and delivers great clouds and vapour. All in all, another great device to add to the Voopoo Drag range.