SirRichardRear
AKA Anthony Vapes on Youtube
VU Donator
Diamond Contributor
Member For 3 Years
Reviewer
Hi All, Anthony Vapes back here with mt review of the Smoant gaia. Disclaimer: this product was sent to me from smoant
Review Disclaimer
I review products for what they are with no account of where it comes from or who makes it. The test results are the results for what is in my hand. Due to possible QC difference your experience may vary. I spend more time with products then most reviewers and try to be thorough, do disassemblies to check for design flaws, do accuracy testing, and stress testing, something that is typically done in maintenance industries to try and “force” a failure or diagnose a potential failure point to give me an idea of a devices longevity. With that said, there is no way for myself or anyone to predict if a device will last 6 months, 1 year, 5 years etc. Any manufactured item from cars to phones to computers to mods have a possibility of arriving DOA or having a small % failure rate. There is no way to predict this or quantify this. That’s why warranties and lemon laws exist. I can only review what I have in my hand for better or for worse. Contrary to popular belief, there is no special review samples of higher quality. Most of the time personally i get retail versions, the few times i’ve gotten early releases they are usually worse than the final retail version.
Introduction:
The Smoant Gaia is a dual 18650 battery 200 watt mod. It features a more square shaped design then most mods making it a little wider than most but shorter. The Gaia, named after the greek god who is said to be the personification of earth itself and mother of all life, has the iconic god engraved into the front of the mod and the back has a passage explaining who gaia is. It gives it a simple yet unique look at the same time. It comes in 2 colors Gold and SS.
Manufacturer's Specs
Chart:
Spreadsheet:
Size comparisons
Handchecks:
Battery Tray and inside door
Box and contents
Initial Impressions and features
When I first got this Mod, I was pretty impressed with the looks and design of it. It felt like a more classic style of mod part classy and part basic.The engraving is beautiful and makes it look like a much more expensive mod then it is. The screen is just like the battlestar and charon 218 TC mods. Simple and small “DNA style” screen. It’s bright and easy to see. You can also change it to a white background with black numbers as well like the battlestar. I like the shape and size. It feels smaller than it really is due to being such a short mod. It feels really comfortable in the hand and all the edges are rounded. The artwork inside the battery door is a nice touch as well and it can handle 25mm atomizers flush.
Watt Mode Performance
Let’s get into some data. I ran my normal testing. Testing resistances were done at .12 , .16, .21, and .5 ohms. wattage points were max (200), 150, 100, 75, 50, and 25. At .12 ohms it maxed out at 187 watts and 39 amps. The 39 amps is average for dual battery mods which i found to be around 40 so no complaints there. The mod hits high 5-8 watts for the rest of my testing. At .16 it maxed out at 202 watts so it does meet it’s published spec. The rest of the testing it was high 3-8 watts except at 100 when it was dead on. For the .21 test it maxed out at 183 watts. Under 100 it was anywhere from 1 low to 5 high. 100 or more it was 12-15 watts high. For the .5 testing it maxed out at 102 watts and 7.153 volts which is pretty average for most dual battery mods as well maxing out around 7 at .5 ohms is the average. The rest of the testing it was 5-8 watts high.
Overall i found this to be a solid performer in power mode that tends to hit on the high side most of the time, usually around 5-8 watts. The mod has an auto set wattage when attaching a new atomizer and reads live resistance and doesn't ask if it’s a new coil in power mode like the battlestar does. It reads resistance pretty accurate, sometimes .01 high which is very good. The output was smooth and consistent during all of my testing. The mod never gets hot and barely even gets warm during the stress testing.
Temperature Control
Using SS316 wire with the default SS mode. I tested 6 builds ranging from single round spaced single and dual coils, to fancy single coil and Fancy dual coil builds . Much like the battlestar it does run hot but this time only around 20-30 degrees or so roughly. I found my ideal range to be about 420-450 and i think most will be happy with it in the 400-470f range. It was smooth and consistent and offers excellent ramp up and has no limit on power in TC mode. The dry hit protection is great as well. It cuts off hard on a dry coil but won’t give a burnt hit which is nice. Overall it feels like a slightly improved battlestar in temp control mode so earns a pass from me for sure.
Other Usage Notes
I didn’t do a disassembly as nothing in my usage or testing hinted to any possible hardware problems. The 510 is very nice and worked great with all the attys i used on it. 25mm will sit flush but larger will overhang. It has TCR mode for temp control as well as a nichrome mode but i didn’t use nichrome and the SS default was good enough i didn’t feel the need for TCR. It also has 2 “PW” modes which seem like just wattage memory. The manual is really good except when talking about the PW mode which barely gets a mention as a preheat but I found no such settings currently to have a preheat. The mod is built very solid and feels durable. The fire button has a little rattle but the plus and minus to not.
Usage is simple and lines up with other smoant mods. 3 clicks for menu and cycle through to pick your mode. 5 clicks on and off. Holding all 3 buttons locks adjustments. In power mode plus and fire changes the screen colors from black/white to white/black. When in temp mode plus and fire allow you to adjust wattage. Holding plus and minus flips the screen. Overall i was very impressed with this mod, it feels like a throwback to Smoant’s designs from the battlestar. A classic, simple, well built, good performing mod at a reasonable price
Pros:
So with all that said, do I recommend this mod or not. I Don’t like to do hard yes or no, but this leans heavily towards the yes. It’s a big winner from Smoant and i’m surprised it’s not more popular. I wasn’t impressed with the charon TS, but this is more like the charon TC or battlestar just in a different body. It does run a little high so make note of that, but i do recommend this as a power mode mod and as a mid range temp control device and will adding this to my sheet.
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.
Again I want to thank Smoant for sending me this for the purpose of this review.
Review Disclaimer
I review products for what they are with no account of where it comes from or who makes it. The test results are the results for what is in my hand. Due to possible QC difference your experience may vary. I spend more time with products then most reviewers and try to be thorough, do disassemblies to check for design flaws, do accuracy testing, and stress testing, something that is typically done in maintenance industries to try and “force” a failure or diagnose a potential failure point to give me an idea of a devices longevity. With that said, there is no way for myself or anyone to predict if a device will last 6 months, 1 year, 5 years etc. Any manufactured item from cars to phones to computers to mods have a possibility of arriving DOA or having a small % failure rate. There is no way to predict this or quantify this. That’s why warranties and lemon laws exist. I can only review what I have in my hand for better or for worse. Contrary to popular belief, there is no special review samples of higher quality. Most of the time personally i get retail versions, the few times i’ve gotten early releases they are usually worse than the final retail version.
Introduction:
The Smoant Gaia is a dual 18650 battery 200 watt mod. It features a more square shaped design then most mods making it a little wider than most but shorter. The Gaia, named after the greek god who is said to be the personification of earth itself and mother of all life, has the iconic god engraved into the front of the mod and the back has a passage explaining who gaia is. It gives it a simple yet unique look at the same time. It comes in 2 colors Gold and SS.
Manufacturer's Specs
- Max wattage: 200W
- Battery type: Dual 18650 batteries (no included)
- Mode: VW/ TC
- Display Screen: 0.96-inch
- Suitable tank: almost atomizers with 510 thread
- Size: 80x57.8x25mm
- Battery: 18650
- Voltage: 0.5-8.4V
- Material: all metal
- Temperature control mode: 200-600 ° F (100-300 ° C)
- 1 x Smoant Gaia
- 1 x Micro USB Cable
- 1 x Warranty Card and Manual
Chart:
Spreadsheet:
Size comparisons
Handchecks:
Battery Tray and inside door
Box and contents
Initial Impressions and features
When I first got this Mod, I was pretty impressed with the looks and design of it. It felt like a more classic style of mod part classy and part basic.The engraving is beautiful and makes it look like a much more expensive mod then it is. The screen is just like the battlestar and charon 218 TC mods. Simple and small “DNA style” screen. It’s bright and easy to see. You can also change it to a white background with black numbers as well like the battlestar. I like the shape and size. It feels smaller than it really is due to being such a short mod. It feels really comfortable in the hand and all the edges are rounded. The artwork inside the battery door is a nice touch as well and it can handle 25mm atomizers flush.
Watt Mode Performance
Let’s get into some data. I ran my normal testing. Testing resistances were done at .12 , .16, .21, and .5 ohms. wattage points were max (200), 150, 100, 75, 50, and 25. At .12 ohms it maxed out at 187 watts and 39 amps. The 39 amps is average for dual battery mods which i found to be around 40 so no complaints there. The mod hits high 5-8 watts for the rest of my testing. At .16 it maxed out at 202 watts so it does meet it’s published spec. The rest of the testing it was high 3-8 watts except at 100 when it was dead on. For the .21 test it maxed out at 183 watts. Under 100 it was anywhere from 1 low to 5 high. 100 or more it was 12-15 watts high. For the .5 testing it maxed out at 102 watts and 7.153 volts which is pretty average for most dual battery mods as well maxing out around 7 at .5 ohms is the average. The rest of the testing it was 5-8 watts high.
Overall i found this to be a solid performer in power mode that tends to hit on the high side most of the time, usually around 5-8 watts. The mod has an auto set wattage when attaching a new atomizer and reads live resistance and doesn't ask if it’s a new coil in power mode like the battlestar does. It reads resistance pretty accurate, sometimes .01 high which is very good. The output was smooth and consistent during all of my testing. The mod never gets hot and barely even gets warm during the stress testing.
Temperature Control
Using SS316 wire with the default SS mode. I tested 6 builds ranging from single round spaced single and dual coils, to fancy single coil and Fancy dual coil builds . Much like the battlestar it does run hot but this time only around 20-30 degrees or so roughly. I found my ideal range to be about 420-450 and i think most will be happy with it in the 400-470f range. It was smooth and consistent and offers excellent ramp up and has no limit on power in TC mode. The dry hit protection is great as well. It cuts off hard on a dry coil but won’t give a burnt hit which is nice. Overall it feels like a slightly improved battlestar in temp control mode so earns a pass from me for sure.
Other Usage Notes
I didn’t do a disassembly as nothing in my usage or testing hinted to any possible hardware problems. The 510 is very nice and worked great with all the attys i used on it. 25mm will sit flush but larger will overhang. It has TCR mode for temp control as well as a nichrome mode but i didn’t use nichrome and the SS default was good enough i didn’t feel the need for TCR. It also has 2 “PW” modes which seem like just wattage memory. The manual is really good except when talking about the PW mode which barely gets a mention as a preheat but I found no such settings currently to have a preheat. The mod is built very solid and feels durable. The fire button has a little rattle but the plus and minus to not.
Usage is simple and lines up with other smoant mods. 3 clicks for menu and cycle through to pick your mode. 5 clicks on and off. Holding all 3 buttons locks adjustments. In power mode plus and fire changes the screen colors from black/white to white/black. When in temp mode plus and fire allow you to adjust wattage. Holding plus and minus flips the screen. Overall i was very impressed with this mod, it feels like a throwback to Smoant’s designs from the battlestar. A classic, simple, well built, good performing mod at a reasonable price
Pros:
- Power performance
- Temp control performance
- Easy to use menu system
- accurately rated
- Full power allowed in TC mode
- Build Quality
- Seek simple design
- Excellent engraving
- Bright screen
- unique shape
- no preheat option which has become pretty standard in most mods
- small rattle of fire button
So with all that said, do I recommend this mod or not. I Don’t like to do hard yes or no, but this leans heavily towards the yes. It’s a big winner from Smoant and i’m surprised it’s not more popular. I wasn’t impressed with the charon TS, but this is more like the charon TC or battlestar just in a different body. It does run a little high so make note of that, but i do recommend this as a power mode mod and as a mid range temp control device and will adding this to my sheet.
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.
Again I want to thank Smoant for sending me this for the purpose of this review.
thank you!