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Anthony Vapes: Eleaf Istick Pico 25 Kit text review and Tech test results

SirRichardRear

AKA Anthony Vapes on Youtube
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Hi All, Anthony Vapes back here with a text review and video link here https://youtu.be/UoM0F05KJx0
for my honest review of the Eleaf Istick Pico 25 Kit. Disclaimer Wise this product was sent to me for the purpose of the review from directvapor.com

Introduction:
The Eleaf Istick Pico 25 kit is a single 18650 85 watt mod. The pico series is known as one of the top small single battery mods out there across the internet. I was happy to get my hands on one to see if it lives up to the hype. The pico 25 is called that as it can handle 25mm tanks with no overhang. The older picos couldn’t handle more than 22mm tanks due to the battery cap blocking the atomizers. It could be bypassed with a heat sink though. It comes with the Ello tank. A mini sub ohm tank that fits somewhere between a baby beats and big baby beast, or we can call it a baby melo 300

Manufacturer's Specs: (pico 25)
  • Dimensions: 2-3/4" x 1-7/8" x 15/16"
  • Wattage Output: 1.0W - 85W
  • Temperature Control: Ni200, Titanium, SS 316, TCR Modes
  • Temperature Control: 100-315C / 220-600F
  • Bypass Mode
  • Stealth Functionality
  • 0.91" OLED Display Screen
  • Firmware Upgradeable
  • Side Micro USB Charging Port
  • Dual Circuit Protection
Manufacturer's Specs: (ELLO tank)
  • Dimensions: 1-3/4" x 15/16"
  • 25mm Diameter
  • 2.0ml E juice Capacity
  • 4.0mL E juice Capacity with Expansion Glass
  • Dual Airflow Slots
  • Adjustable Airflow Control Valve
  • 810 Tip
  • Available in Stainless Steel, Black, Green, Red, Blue (matches mod color)
Included in box:
  • 1 x Eleaf iStick Pico 25 Vape MOD

  • 1 x Eleaf ELLO Sub Ohm Tank

  • 1 x Eleaf HW1 Single Cylinder 0.2ohm Coil (Pre-Installed)

  • 1 x Eleaf HW2 Dual Cylinder 0.3ohm Replacement Coil

  • 1 x Ultra Wide Delrin Drip Tip

  • 1 x 4.0mL Expansion Glass

  • 1 x Expansion Glass Adapter

  • 1 x Quick Charge USB Cable

  • 1 x Spare Parts
Pictures:
Stock Shot colors:
ispc25-2.png


Test Chart:
A501YRY.png


Spreadsheet:
uL03Whs.png


Inside look at 510 pin:
vZ2PTOE.png


2 glass options:
aIKO1jo.png


Tank Fill:
ekYGyuz.png


Mod Screen:
vR644IX.png


Battery Cap/ Tank Air:
kECGju1.png


Initial Impressions and features
When I first got this kit, my initial thought was dam it’s small. It comes with the tank in 2ml mode as well making it really compact. I used both the 2ml and 4ml mode and flavor was pretty much the same so I opted to stick with the 4ml mode for extra capacity. 2ml you have to fill alot. The coils really suck juice and it was almost like using an RDA. that’s how often I had to fill. 4ml was much better for me. The tank features a top fill method like the melo 300. I like it alot. Just slide it back and it exposes a large fill hole. The mod itself has a sleek look. Plastic colored middle section contrasts the outside metal parts. It’s a 3 piece body that’s easy to disassemble. Battery goes positive down with the battery cap acting as the negative contact for the battery. The screen itself is a “dna style” with a similar layout. The adjustment buttons are on the bottom of the mod which i found annoying personally. It’s an 85 watt mod with all the typical modes (temp SS, ti, ni and Memory settings)

Watt Mode Performance
Let’s get into some data. I ran tests at .1, .14, .18 and .5 for the high resistance to get the voltage limit. Tests were run at max watts (85) , 50, 25, and 10. The mod reads a bit on the low side. Somewhere in the .01 to .02 range which is more than acceptable. At .1 the mod was able to put out it’s full 85 watts and then some. Topping out at 87 watts. At 50 watts it hit 1 watt low which is fine by me. I never split hairs over a watt or 2. At 25 and 10 is was dead on. With the .14 test it was still able to hit it’s max watts going at 86. At 50 it was dead on, at 25 it hit 1 watt high and at 10 it was dead on. At the .18 it hit 84 watts when set to 85 and 49 when set to 50 so 1 watt low. The 25 and 10 were dead on. For the high resistance test at .5 it was still able to get it’s 85 watts maxing out at 88 hitting a few watts high. The 50 watt test was 1 watt high the 25 was 1 low and the 10 was dead on. Overall this is a very accurate mod. More often than not being dead on or a watt off but never more than 2 or 3 off. And it can do it’s max watts at a large resistance range. The .1 to .5 was all able to hit it’s max wattage. Voltage and amp limits never kicked it. Most amps i got it to output was 30 but that was max watts at .1 Most volts i got was 6.637 but it could have a higher limit if i used a higher resistance coil. Output was always smooth and consistent and the mod never got hot nor did the battery. Overall I’m very impressed with this mod as a watt mode device

Temperature Control
Using SS wire in SS mode, Due to the single battery and 85 watt limit. I opted not to run dual fancy coils in it. It wouldn’t power them. I settled on running 4 different fancy single coil builds. One in the ammit 25, one in my black pharaoh, one in my gold pharaoh, and one in my reload clone (yup running it in single coil lol) so 4 different builds 4 different attys. A little less than i normally do because of the watt limit and being single battery and all. For the most part it hits very much on the high side. About 50 to 100 degrees. 350 feels more like what 450 should feel like at times. But it’s also inconsistent. I had to constantly adjust temp 10-40 degrees to try and find consistency that’s why my “feel” range is so wide apart. It was pretty inconsistent. When it did reach temp it was pulsey and didn’t provide a good smooth vape. Overall not something I’d recommend for temp control. I’m hoping it improves when i install arctic fox on it, but I don’t review with 3rd party firmware so for temp control i’ll consider it passable but not good.

Ello Tank Performance
The Ello tank it came with is like a smaller version of the Melo 300. I guess you can say it’s like the big baby beast is to the TFV8. I live the fact it has capacity options. 2ml if you want super small or 4ml if you want more capacity and it’s still pretty small. I love the top fill on it. It comes with the HW2 and HW1 coils. I started with the HW1 coil. It is labeled best 50-65 watts. I found it great at around 60. You can push it to 70 but battery life won’t be great. 60 as a good balance. Flavor was on par with the smok line of tanks (baby beast bg baby beats etc) coil lasted me about 10 days. So i’ll say a week to 1.5 weeks. Good coil life IMO. i expect 1 week anything less is bad anything more is a bonus. It’s a good coil all around for flavor and for clouds. Then onto the HW2 coil. I used that for a week prior to my review recording. It lasted as long as i need. Now a few days later it’s about all but done so 10 days again. I put life at 1-1.5 weeks as well. It’s not as good as the HW1 coil IMO but it’s not bad. Just a small step down in flavor and vapor. Range is listed at 45-60 i found it best at 55-60 watts personally. Not much of a difference in the watt range from the HW1 coil. There are also 2 optional HW3 and HW4 coils. They don’t come in the kit so I didn’t get to try them. These are compatible with the aieres tank that comes in the tap kit as well. The joyetech versions for the aeries tank sucked (the provore coils) as i mentioned in my tap kit review so if you have aeries tank i’d recommend buying the eleaf coils instead. They work much better. The rest of the tank is pretty standard. Bottom adjustable airflow on a stopper (and plenty of it) good build quality and good performance. It comes with 2 810 tips and a weird looking 510 adapter i wouldn’t bother to use. The 810 tips are great and work great. The chimney is really wide so the 810 suites it well. I was really impressed with the tank and love the color options
 

SirRichardRear

AKA Anthony Vapes on Youtube
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Overall Impressions
The Pico has had a pretty big following for quite some time. It’s probably the most recommended single battery mod on the internet. And rarely do we hear any issues. After my testing and the Month+ i spent with the mod i can clearly see why. It’s small, light portable and very accurate device. I have very few gripes about this kit. The only one really being the bottom adjustment buttons. The tank itself is great and right on par with the big baby beast so if you're not a fan of smok but want similar performance it’s a great option. As a small portable kit I love this thing. It just works, it’s inexpensive, looks great and should keep most vapers happy. I’d be hard pressed to find someone disappointed with this kit. It’ll be my new “portable” set up for the time being. If arctic fox can make the temp control work better, it could be a nice budget DNA 75 replacement. But that remains to be seen.

Pros: (mod)
  • Watt Mode Performance (accurate, smooth, consistent)
  • Size (super small and portable)
  • Handles 25mm or smaller attys no overhang
  • Looks and style
  • Easy to use (good menu system)
  • Good 510 pin! (see pic)
Cons: (mod)
  • Bottom Buttons are annoying

  • Bottom Buttons Rattle

  • Battery cap (can block air holes on attys) (see pic)

  • Temp control performance not very good
Pros: (tank)
  • Above Average Flavor (and clouds if that’s your thing)
  • Above average coil life (should get a little over a week)
  • 2 and 4 ml capacity options
  • Coil options (4 kinds)
  • Looks and color options (matches mod)
  • Build Quality

  • Top fill design

  • 810 drip tip
Cons: (tank)
  • The 2 coils run about the same watts

  • HW2 coil is just ok
Conclusion
So with all that said, do I recommend this Kit? I don’t do hard yes or no but this leans very heavily towards the yes. As a single battery watt mode device, I doubt you’ll find anything as good in the price range. Not to mention the tank it comes with is a great one as well. I wouldn’t recommend it for temp control but that could change with AF firmware if you are the type that doesn't mind going the extra step to install it. But as a simple mod for low watt vaping to pair with a MTL for people quitting the stinkies it’s great or if you are looking to go DTL from MTL it’s a great 1st kit to start with. I’ll be adding the mod as a single battery watt mod to my sheet and the tank as a sub ohm tank in my sheet as well

For good recommendations feel free to check out my google sheet of recommendations located here https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1c4MZ2xYBE-1-0A6rLYY46OHtzHCM-roJINpxghmhzXM/edit?usp=sharing this sheet will be updated regularly so feel free to bookmark it. It has 3 tabs one for juice, one for mods, and 1 for attys

I want to thank you guys for reading (or watching or both). Stay tuned later this week for more reviews on my channel. Wednesday on my channel i’ll have the kylin multicolor rta review, thursday will be the supreme v2 rta review, and friday will be the boxer 160tc review. No info vidoes on friday the next 2 weeks but after that i’ll resume it :) Next week on reddit will be the ammit 25 and lost vape drone.

Again i want to thank www.directvapor.com for sending me this kit for review. The link to it is right here https://www.directvapor.com/premium-mods/eleaf-istick-pico-25-vape-starter-kit.html
 
Does it leak when I place it upside down or lay it down on its side?
I received mine a few days ago and I found in a few occasions that there had been little leak (a drop or two) when I did that.
 

SirRichardRear

AKA Anthony Vapes on Youtube
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Does it leak when I place it upside down or lay it down on its side?
I received mine a few days ago and I found in a few occasions that there had been little leak (a drop or two) when I did that.
nope no leaks. it's a sealed tank. I could see it leaking if you don't use enough watts or don't use it for a week lol but in regular usage shouldn't be any issue
 
nope no leaks. it's a sealed tank. I could see it leaking if you don't use enough watts or don't use it for a week lol but in regular usage shouldn't be any issue

Thanks for the reply. I use it quite often. I just tested it and when I put it down side way, it leaks from the air hole.. Am I doing something wrong? I am using HW1 coil with 50W setting
 

SirRichardRear

AKA Anthony Vapes on Youtube
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Thanks for the reply. I use it quite often. I just tested it and when I put it down side way, it leaks from the air hole.. Am I doing something wrong? I am using HW1 coil with 50W setting
I wouldn't say wrong. Personally i'd bump it up to 60 watts and that should go away
 

David Wolf

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Nice review of the Pico 25. It sounds a lot like my Pico 75W's, I had not expected much change in the firmware. I agree the vape on Power control is very good, and your finding that the Pico 25 in Temp Control is hitting a lot hotter than the setting certainly mirrors my experiences with the standard SS firmware setting for my Pico 75W, in fact I tested it and confirmed that its hitting over 50 deg higher at 400 deg F on SS mode. I've fixed all of that with some methods that work, and now get very good temperature control (decent accuracy, and stable control as well) on my Pico 75's, the things I do will likely work with the Pico 25 as well (if anyone tries it, let me know), posted here on my blog so I can refer to it in the future:
http://vapingunderground.com/blogs/eleaf-istick-pico-temperature-control-using-stainless-steel.42/

I've installed Arctic Fox on two of my three Pico's (yep, love these small units for low power vaping, easy to pocket), and love that firmware, yet I get pretty good TC with the methods in my blog on my Pico with the standard firmware as well. Arctic Fox graphs while I vape show that the device is very capable of good temperature control with no pulsing, and djlsbvapes video (linked in my blog) shows good control without pulsing as well on the standard firmware, though far off on temperature accuracy.
What resistance were the coils you used for TC? Were they spaced? I coil 28AWG 316L for around 0.6 ohms and 11W power (Mouth to Lung vaping) and get good results, however I have my doubts if this device will do good TC at low resistances.
 

SirRichardRear

AKA Anthony Vapes on Youtube
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Nice review of the Pico 25. It sounds a lot like my Pico 75W's, I had not expected much change in the firmware. I agree the vape on Power control is very good, and your finding that the Pico 25 in Temp Control is hitting a lot hotter than the setting certainly mirrors my experiences with the standard SS firmware setting for my Pico 75W, in fact I tested it and confirmed that its hitting over 50 deg higher at 400 deg F on SS mode. I've fixed all of that with some methods that work, and now get very good temperature control (decent accuracy, and stable control as well) on my Pico 75's, the things I do will likely work with the Pico 25 as well (if anyone tries it, let me know), posted here on my blog so I can refer to it in the future:
http://vapingunderground.com/blogs/eleaf-istick-pico-temperature-control-using-stainless-steel.42/

I've installed Arctic Fox on two of my three Pico's (yep, love these small units for low power vaping, easy to pocket), and love that firmware, yet I get pretty good TC with the methods in my blog on my Pico with the standard firmware as well. Arctic Fox graphs while I vape show that the device is very capable of good temperature control with no pulsing, and djlsbvapes video (linked in my blog) shows good control without pulsing as well on the standard firmware, though far off on temperature accuracy.
What resistance were the coils you used for TC? Were they spaced? I coil 28AWG 316L for around 0.6 ohms and 11W power (Mouth to Lung vaping) and get good results, however I have my doubts if this device will do good TC at low resistances.
I won't remember exactly but for testing TC (and mind you a bit limited on the pico due to 85 watts) but i have 2 "basic builds" a single coil spaced 28G SS and a dual coil spaced 28G SS. then i run different builds based on other atomizers i have built at the time. for the pico I was limited to single coil ones so i ran my ammit25, and 2 pharoahs with different fancy single coil builds. none of my builds were super low. IIRC the lowest was around a .3? Nothing gave me what i would consider a good vape. I've since installed AF and it hasn't improved either it throttles way too hard for a good vape. It's a really nice little single battery power mod, but for temp control I would never find myself reaching for it
 

David Wolf

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I won't remember exactly but for testing TC (and mind you a bit limited on the pico due to 85 watts) but i have 2 "basic builds" a single coil spaced 28G SS and a dual coil spaced 28G SS. then i run different builds based on other atomizers i have built at the time. for the pico I was limited to single coil ones so i ran my ammit25, and 2 pharoahs with different fancy single coil builds. none of my builds were super low. IIRC the lowest was around a .3? Nothing gave me what i would consider a good vape. I've since installed AF and it hasn't improved either it throttles way too hard for a good vape. It's a really nice little single battery power mod, but for temp control I would never find myself reaching for it

You should read my blog link, take the advice, build a coil around 0.5 or so spaced coil, and give it another shot if you want to be fair regarding this device. It does work well for me and others for lower power vaping. What are you hitting it at? Did you look at DJLSBvapes video, showing good temp control on the Pico 75? I wouldn't think they would have made the Pico 25 worse, likely pretty much similar firmware. I might build a 0.3 ohm coil and try it there myself.
 

SirRichardRear

AKA Anthony Vapes on Youtube
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You should read my blog link, take the advice, build a coil around 0.5 or so, and give it another shot if you want to be fair regarding this device. It does work well for me and others for lower power vaping. What are you hitting it at? Did you look at DJLSBvapes video, showing good temp control?
having to build around .5 and use only simple spaced coils isn't' an indicator of good temp control. it would be like saying this si a great mod if you build .25 and vape 30 watts but sucks otherwise lol. I did read your blog, very nice write up indeed.
 

David Wolf

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having to build around .5 and use only simple spaced coils isn't' an indicator of good temp control. it would be like saying this si a great mod if you build .25 and vape 30 watts but sucks otherwise lol. I did read your blog, very nice write up indeed.
yeah, I understand if it doesn't work for you, its not for you, everyone vapes differently. I don't see the point of folks using contact coils for TC though, thats not going to do anything but make things worse. :)
 

SirRichardRear

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yeah, I understand if it doesn't work for you, its not for you, everyone vapes differently. I don't see the point of folks using contact coils for TC though, thats not going to do anything but make things worse. :)
contact coils are a myth actually. the reason people said to use spaced coil in temp control was back in the days temp control was NI or Ti wire only and since your not supposed to dry burn them the idea of spacing was so you wouldn't get hot spots. then it kind of caught on that spaced was "better for temp control" when it was actually only better for Ni or Ti wire so you wouldn't have hot spots. with SS wire it's no different since you can remove hot spots prior to using

and yes it's true that everyone vapes differently, hence the reason i have to reviews product for a wide range of vapers and ti should do as promised. I can't say something works good if it only does so in one specific scenario.
 

David Wolf

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contact coils are a myth actually. the reason people said to use spaced coil in temp control was back in the days temp control was NI or Ti wire only and since your not supposed to dry burn them the idea of spacing was so you wouldn't get hot spots. then it kind of caught on that spaced was "better for temp control" when it was actually only better for Ni or Ti wire so you wouldn't have hot spots. with SS wire it's no different since you can remove hot spots prior to using

and yes it's true that everyone vapes differently, hence the reason i have to reviews product for a wide range of vapers and ti should do as promised. I can't say something works good if it only does so in one specific scenario.
No myth for an electrical engineer, lol. TCR values are based on wire resistance not in contact. And counting on oxidation by dry firing to prevent contact of the SS between winds isn't going to be foolproof, even a high resistance can affect results.
 

SirRichardRear

AKA Anthony Vapes on Youtube
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No myth for an electrical engineer, lol. TCR values are based on wire resistance not in contact. And counting on oxidation by dry firing to prevent contact of the SS between winds isn't going to be foolproof, even a high resistance can affect results.
if anything it makes it a little less accurate but even as DJL points out, accuracy chances between dual and single coil as well. it's not going to make it perform worse or better, it'll just make you have to adjust your temp a bit. even with your build in your blog you say you use TCR of 79 which isn't correct so you are already compensating for the mods lack of performance.
 

David Wolf

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if anything it makes it a little less accurate but even as DJL points out, accuracy chances between dual and single coil as well. it's not going to make it perform worse or better, it'll just make you have to adjust your temp a bit. even with your build in your blog you say you use TCR of 79 which isn't correct so you are already compensating for the mods lack of performance.
What I'm doing is setting the device to a TCR that works well for the device for temp control, the same as everyone else does, and successfully vaping in temp control mode with 316L with very good control and good accuracy. :)
 

SirRichardRear

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What I'm doing is setting the device to a TCR that works well for the device for temp control, the same as everyone else does, and successfully vaping in temp control mode with 316L with very good control and good accuracy. :)
that's cool if it works for you in a specific build and setting. enjoy your vape. it needs to work on a wider range to get my approval. You are free to do a review and give TC a thumbs up if you want. we all have different standards and requirements.
 

David Wolf

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that's cool if it works for you in a specific build and setting. enjoy your vape. it needs to work on a wider range to get my approval. You are free to do a review and give TC a thumbs up if you want. we all have different standards and requirements.
Well my thumbs up is in this thread :) I've used it in several resistance ranges with spaced coils, and it's common knowledge that using low resistances for SS makes it harder to control. With Arctic Fox, using the DNA tables for 316L worked perfectly as well on the Pico. So yeah big thumbs up. We get to disagree as we sometimes do, I thought you had a good review but using this thing every day for a couple months now, looking at the data on Artic Fox the price I'm impressed. Sorry it's not working for your style :)
 

SirRichardRear

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Well my thumbs up is in this thread :) I've used it in several resistance ranges with spaced coils, and it's common knowledge that using low resistances for SS makes it harder to control. With Arctic Fox, using the DNA tables for 316L worked perfectly as well on the Pico. So yeah big thumbs up. We get to disagree as we sometimes do, I thought you had a good review but using this thing every day for a couple months now, looking at the data on Artic Fox the price I'm impressed. Sorry it's not working for your style :)
I'm impressed with it overall. for it's price point, build quality, good 510, accuracy in power mode and even the ello tank was one of the better sub ohm tanks for it's watt range. I just wasn't impressed with the temp performance. But were both adults we can have differing opinions :)
 

David Wolf

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I'm impressed with it overall. for it's price point, build quality, good 510, accuracy in power mode and even the ello tank was one of the better sub ohm tanks for it's watt range. I just wasn't impressed with the temp performance. But were both adults we can have differing opinions :)
I'ts certainly no DNA for temp control.. I just pointed out that with the methods I use, it can give very good temperature control. For those who prefer low resistance and contact coils, power control should be fine as you pointed out. I was impressed that you hit on the fact that out of the box the temp was high, even though you didn't have a thermcouple to measure temperature, and you were right. Again, good review overall. :)
 

SirRichardRear

AKA Anthony Vapes on Youtube
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I'ts certainly no DNA for temp control.. I just pointed out that with the methods I use, it can give very good temperature control. For those who prefer low resistance and contact coils, power control should be fine as you pointed out. I was impressed that you hit on the fact that out of the box the temp was high, even though you didn't have a thermcouple to measure temperature, and you were right. Again, good review overall. :)
thanks man! and yeah i really have developed a feel for temp lol
 

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