Our VaporFi Vox 80W TC mod review tests out the portable powerhouse box mod from the people at VaporFi: does it blow all the previous incarnations of the Vox out of the water?
Is it worth buying?
The VaporFi Vox 80W TC is a fantastic mod. There are more powerful mods out there and features like bypass mode might not be too useful in most circumstances, but on the whole there isn’t much to complain about.
The main issue, as with most VaporFi devices, is the price. At $69.99 for the mod, it’s very steep, and you could find devices with a similar feature-set for less money, but it’s a question of what’s important to you.
If budget is an issue for you, then there are many other devices you could consider (including best vape mods under $100 or even cheaper mods under $50), but if you’re happy to pay a bit more for high-quality craftsmanship, dependability and US-based customer service to help you out if anything goes wrong, then you won’t be disappointed with VaporFi or the Vox 80 TC.
Full review
The Vox series is VaporFi’s original line of box mods. The first one, frankly, wasn’t put together all that well and had a few issues, but was still a hard-hitting yet portable device for the time. But from the Vox Mini version onwards, they really stepped things up with the Vox series, which are consistently powerful, well-designed and feature-packed mods. The latest incarnation is the Vox 80 TC, which boasts an in-built 4000 mAh battery and up to 80 W of power. But the price of $119.99 $69.99 for the device (or $107.99 as a starter kit) is pretty steep. The question is: does the mod justify the high price? Our VaporFi Vox 80W TC review puts the device through its paces to find out.
What You Get
The Vox 80W TC vape mod comes in the standard white VaporFi-style box. There’s a picture of the mod on the front, a list of contents and a warning on the back and branding anywhere left over. Inside, the box mod sits in a layer of white foam, with a small loop of ribbon attached to it so you can get to the manual and USB charging cable below. It’s a very bare offering, but that’s really all you need.
VaporFi Vox 80W Mod Design
Appearance
The VaporFi Vox 80W TC box mod has a really cool look. It hits on the winning strategy for a well-designed mod: just keep it simple. The main body of the device is bare, aside from a VaporFi logo on the back edge, a micro USB port on one side and the front panel’s screen and buttons. It’s available in black or stainless steel, but in either case everything is one solid color. The top has a slightly reflective coating, with a spring-loaded 510 connection at the back end, but overall the Vox 80W TC just looks like a sleek black box.
This might sound dull, but it’s really not: the straightforward design makes the whole package really visually appealing.
The Display Screen and Front Panel
The front panel is where the action happens with the mod. There’s a square fire button with a smaller indented square in the middle, a big OLED display screen and two adjustment buttons below. This is all very standard for mods these days, so vapers will be right at home and new users will be able to adapt easily.
The screen itself follows the trend in both the vaping world and for VaporFi’s newer mods (like the Vex 150 TC mod). It’s the same as Joyetech’s screen layout for the eGrip 2 and any other recent devices. The main setting is at the top, and three lines below showing the voltage/wattage (depending on your mode), the resistance of your coil and either the current, a puff counter or a puff timer. There's also a simpler home-screen layout with a clock, your main setting and your coil's resistance displayed on it. There’s a battery icon so you can see your charge level at a glance too.
USB Port
The USB port on the Vox 80 wattage temperature control mod is on the left face of the device (when viewed from the front panel), right up to the front edge and towards the bottom of the device. This makes it perfectly positioned for charging while keeping the mod stood upright, and is tucked away so it doesn’t impact the look of the device.
510 Connection
The 510 connection is spring-loaded, so you won’t have connection problems with any sub ohm tank or 510-threaded atomizer. Simply put, it’ll work with basically anything on the market these days.
Overall
VaporFi hasn’t taken any risks with the design, but the mod has everything you need it to without unnecessary clutter. It’s excellent, overall.
VaporFi Vox 80W TC – The Features
Variable Wattage
As always, the mod supports variable wattage vaping, up to the 80 wattage limit alluded to in the name. The system works well – the longer you hold one of the adjustment buttons down, the faster it scrolls. So even if you’re going from low-wattage vaping to high-wattage, it won’t take long to make the adjustment. You can vape in VW mode using any coil with a resistance between 0.1 and 3 ohms.
There is also a “bypass mode,” which lets you vape with the unadjusted battery voltage in the same way as a mech mod. When the device is fully charged or near a full charge, this means you can get more than 80W of power from the mod. However, at lower charge levels using the standard VW mode gives the best performance.
Temperature Control
Unsurprisingly, the VaporFi Vox 80 vape mod also offers temperature control, and it works with nickel, stainless steel and titanium coils. You can easily adjust your ramp-up wattage, and you can set your maximum temperature anywhere from 200 to 600 °F or 100 to 315 °C. It also allows you to “lock” your room temperature resistance to ensure you get consistent performance in TC mode. For TC mode, the resistance range is 0.05 to 1.5 ohms.
There are also three TCR modes, which gives you more control over how the TC performs. We’ve explained this properly elsewhere, but it basically allows you to tailor your performance in TC mode to suit more wire types (such as other grades of stainless steel) or just to suit your preferences in terms of responsiveness.
On the whole, the TC does everything you need it to and more.
The Menu System
Switching modes, locking your initial resistance, changing from a puff counter to a display of the current flowing and most other things you’ll need to do on the Vox 80 TC vape mod are really straightforward. Pressing the fire button three times in quick succession opens up the “menu,” which really means your main setting (or the clock, in that home screen mode) starts flashing. From here, you press – to highlight something else and + to change what you have highlighted.
So to go from VW mode to TC mode, you press the fire button three times, then press + until you reach one of the “Temp” modes. Then press – again to highlight the material (either Ni, Ti or SS316) and + until your desired one is selected. You can keep scrolling through the options with – to lock in your resistance and change your ramp-up wattage too.
It might sound a bit complicated if you’re new to mods, but you’ll get the hang of it in no time.
VaporFi Vox 80 TC Manual – How to Activate Stealth Mode, Key Lock, TCR Settings and More
Like on the Vex 150 TC, VaporFi has apparently decided that you don’t need a comprehensive manual for the Vox 80W TC, and this means finding some features is a bit of a fishing trip. So here are how to activate the key lock, stealth mode, change the TCR values and more:
- Stealth Mode: Hold the fire button and – key down.
- Key Lock: Hold both adjustment buttons (+ and –) down.
- Screen timer: Hold the fire button and +.
- TCR adjustment: With the device turned off (five presses of the fire button), press and hold the fire and + buttons until the menu appears. Select M1, M2 or M3 using the adjustment buttons, then press the fire button to go over to the setting column and adjust as needed.
- Remaining battery life (in volts): With the Vox 80 TC switched off, holding down the fire button and – shows the battery life left in the mod, in volts (maximum 4.2 V).
As features, these are all nice little extras, but would it have really been that difficult to include the above in the manual?
Safety Features
The VaporFi Vox 80 mod comes with all of the standard safety features you expect from any modern regulated device. This includes overcharging protection, over-discharge protection, high current protection and a 10 second cutoff to reduce the risks if you accidentally activate the device. Overall, you can rest assured you can vape safely with the Vox 80.
Overall
The Vox 80W box mod has pretty much everything you could need when it comes to features, from a well-equipped TC mode to little extras like stealth mode and right through to the expected safety features.
VaporFi Vox 80 TC Battery
The 4,000 mAh battery included with the Vox 80 TC offers more than enough power to get you through a day’s worth of vaping. For me – usually vaping at 40 W or so – it lasts about one and a half days before I need to recharge, but this will vary based on how often you vape and the settings you use.
However, the battery is huge, so even if you’re a high-power chain vaper, you’ll be able to do that for longer than you would on many other devices without having to recharge. When the battery does need charging, you simply insert the USB cable into the slot on the mod and it’ll start recharging. Charging the device takes between 3 and 4 hours, and you can vape while the device charges. However, vaping while charging will notably increase your charging time.
VaporFi Vox 80W TC Review – In Use
So the VaporFi Vox 80W has an impressive feature-set, a sleek design and a sizable, capable battery, but how does it perform? How well does it meet your day-to-day vaping needs?
Performance – VW Mode
The mod works just as you’d hope in variable wattage mode. It responds quickly and hits hard, performing excellently right up to the very top of the wattage range. If the 80W maximum power isn’t enough for you, bypass mode performs just as well.
Performance – TC Mode
Thanks to the multitude of TC-related features on the Vox 80 TC, the performance in TC mode is exceptional. After locking in the resistance at room temperature and setting your desired ramp-up wattage, TC mode offers consistent performance. As always, TC mode doesn’t have as much of a punch as VW mode, but it does a good job of keeping the temperature consistent without producing a staccato, stop-start sort of experience. The vapor production is still excellent, and the power output changes smoothly over the course of your draw. Overall, there are no complaints at all about TC mode.
Ease of Use
The VaporFi Vox 80 TC is very easy to use, as far as full-featured mods go. Most of the time, all you have to do is adjust your power setting, change modes, turn the device on or off and hit the fire button to vape. All of these are really easy to do, and quickly become second-nature. There is a bit more to do in TC mode – setting your ramp-up wattage and locking in your resistance – but once you’ve done this, it’s really easy to vape and make any minor adjustments you need to.
The main issue when it comes to ease of use is the collection of features not covered by the “quick start guide,” but using the instructions given above you won’t have issues.
Portability
The VaporFi Vox 80 e-cig mod isn’t the smallest mod in the world, but it strikes a nice balance between being chunky enough to make room for a high-capacity battery and being compact enough to take with you out of the house. The mod can comfortably slip into a pocket, and the size makes it a good fit for the front pocket of a backpack or a compartment of a handbag. If you want something really portable, there are better options, but unless you’re wearing skinny jeans and don’t carry a bag, you’re unlikely to have problems taking the Vox 80 TC wherever you happen to be going.
Comfort and Ergonomics
The boxy shape of the Vox 80 TC makes it a bit of an uncomfortable fit in your hand, but the size means it’s easy to get accustomed to. You can hold the device so either your thumb or your index finger falls on the fire button, but the positioning of your atomizer means that using your index finger is more comfortable. You can do it with your thumb, but you have to twist your hand around when you’re vaping so you can get the mouthpiece to your lips.
A rounded back edge would have made it a nicer fit in your palm, but the relatively compact size prevents the boxy nature of the device from being a problem when it comes to comfort.
Build Quality
As with all of VaporFi’s devices, the Vox 80w temperature control mod is really well put together. It’s one of those solid box mods that feels like it could stand up to being dropped or pretty much any abuse it’s likely to deal with. The black coating on my device has picked up a couple of scuffs – revealing the metallic, brushed zinc body – but on the whole it’s excellently built and performs dependably, even after being dropped.