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Anthony Vapes: Smok Nord Pod Kit Review

SirRichardRear

AKA Anthony Vapes on Youtube
VU Donator
Diamond Contributor
Member For 3 Years
Reviewer
Hi All, Anthony Vapes back here with my review of the Smok Nord Pod Kit, please see the bottom for disclaimers and links. Note this is not marked as a sample version.

Introduction:
The Smok Nord Pod is one of the latest Pod Kit from popular vape manufacturer Smok. They been around a long time in vaping and probably currently the most popular manufacturer out there although not well loved in the community. I haven’t reviewed a ton of their products but mostly i find there stuff to be pretty average. This is my first time reviewing a pod system form them and from what i hear they make a pretty good pod so now i get to see for myself if that is true or not. The Nord is a rectangle style AIO Pod system like a breeze 2 or innokin EQ with refillable pods and a built in 1100mah battery and is press button to fire. It’s available in 6 colors Black, Gold, Rainbow, Red, Green and White/Black. Elementvape has them for 27.95 all colors in stock so good price point. Replacement coils are pretty cheap as well 12.95 to 15.95 for a 5 pack and replacement pods are only 5.95 and come with 2 coils as well so really good prices on replacement coils and pods.

Manufacturer's Specs:
  • Dimensions - 94mm by 30mm by 18.8mm
  • Weight - 80g
  • Integrated 1100mAh Rechargeable Battery
  • Wattage Output Range: 10-15W
  • Voltage Input Range: 3.3-4.2V
  • Charging Current: 370mA
  • Direct Voltage Based Output
  • One-Button Firing Mechanism
  • LED Light Battery Indicator
  • Cobra Plated Panels - Exquisite Design
  • 3mL Juice Capacity - Fillable Pod System
  • Replaceable Coil Design
  • 0.6ohm Nord Mesh Coils - Optimized for Sub-Ohm Experience
  • 1.4ohm Nord Regular Coils - Optimized for MTL Experience
  • 1.0ohm Nord Ceramic Coils - Sold Separately
  • Air-Driven Pod System
  • Ergonomically Curved Mouthpiece
  • 8 Seconds Cut-Off Protection
  • Short-Circuit Protection
  • Low Voltage Warning
  • Micro USB Port Charging System
  • Proprietary Magnetized Connection
  • Available in Full Black, Prism Rainbow, Prism Gold, Bottle Gold, Red, White Black
Included in box:
  • 1 NORD Pod System
  • 1 0.6ohm Nord Mesh Coils
  • 1 1.4ohm Nord Regular Coils
  • 1 Micro USB Cable
  • 1 Instructional Manual
Coil Options
  • 0.6ohm Nord Mesh Coils
  • 1.4ohm Nord Regular Coils
  • 1.4ohm Nord Ceramic Coils
Picture Album
album



Kit Rundown
The Smok Nord is a rectangle style AIO (all in one) Pod kit, meaning there isn’t a separate mod or tank that can be used with anything else. It does have replaceable pods so you can carry spares, but those are sold separately and the coils themselves are replaceable inside the pod much like the aspire breeze 2 or nautilus AIO. It’s a pretty small size all things considered and comparable to the breeze 2 and nautilus AIO and innokin EQ in sizing and shape. There is no air on this device which would have been cool but not a big deal as most have no options for that. It has a large capacity of 3 ml. The battery is listed at 1100mah so pretty good size based on the size of the device itself and one of the larger capacities in a pod system i’ve seen. No complaints there. It features built in USB charging where they list a limit of .37A charging. I tested this 4 times with 2 different inline USB meters and for the charge rate it held steady around .46-.5A so it’s actually underrated by smok. Still 1A charging would have been nice especially based on the battery size but at least they didn’t overrate it and actually under sold themselves. Should have been listed at .5A charging. Battery size wise my 4 tests had results between 1038mah and 1143 mah so good rating on their battery as well. It charges in about 2.5 hours so having 1A charging would have made that much faster. Nothing way overstated form what they list it as which is all i’m looking for so good ratings. It does have passthrough vaping as well which is great. The drip tip is proprietary and part of the pod itself. The Nord is very nicely build and feels solid and has some niece weight. You can see in the pics how thick the frame is. It has a really nice well built feel to it. The coloring is also excellent. I luckily got the green my favorite color and it’s a deep coloring with a nice clear coat looking appearance. Smok has really stepped up their paint jobs since the alien issues for sure. The front and back panels feature a snakeskin design which on the green has gold highlights and a bit of a sparkle finish. It actually reminds me a lot of the paint job i chose for one of my custom mods so really nicely done.

The Pod itself is easy to fill. It comes with an empty pod and the coils are separate and pop in and pop out via o-rings (no threading) . The pods attach to the battery via a clip in system and are easy to get in and out and fit really well so good job there and fit it nicely with no wiggle or play. To fill them it uses a standard rubber plug you remove to fill and the fill hole is large enough to use with a fine tip bottle easily. The rubber plug even for me and my non fingernails was easy to remove as it hangs a bit off the side of the pod for grip. Also i doubt it was intentional but more of a happy accident but the plug also tucks into the side of the pod when filling so it’s completely out of your way which is nice.

Usage is pretty easy. It’s a simple fire button device with just the 1 button and no modes or anything. You can click fire 5 times to turn on and off. It’s direct output but you don’t notice much of a drop off until it’s really low. There is a tiny but easy to see LED in the fire button. It’s white when vaping. To check your battery level click fire 3 times. Green means 70% or more, Orange means 30-70% and Red means below 30%. There is also a cut out window and the pods are not tinted so it’s easy to see the juice level until it gets really low then you have to flip it to see if there is juice on the bottom or pop out the pod and look. A lower juice window would have been nice but not a major deal.
 

SirRichardRear

AKA Anthony Vapes on Youtube
VU Donator
Diamond Contributor
Member For 3 Years
Reviewer
Coil Performance and details
The Smok Nord Pod Kit comes with 2 coils which is great. All kits should always include 2 coils/pods, so happy they did as a lot of them seem not to. No spare pod but you can buy those seperate if you please if you wanted to carry a spare. There are 3 total coil options. A “mesh” .6 ohm, a 1.4 ohm cotton (both included) and a 1.4 ohm ceramic (not included). The mesh though isn’t really mesh and doesn’t match their pics but is more of the honeycomb like design you can see that in my album. The pods are also not tinted so it’s easy to juice your juice level and there is a cutout in the battery as well. Very well done there as many pod systems don’t get this right. Performance wise though i used both coils in the kit. I used all 50/50 and 60/40 nic salt juices 20-25 mg nicotine. I started with the .6 mesh coil and it’s a nice restrictive DTL vape. I was also able to vape 20mg nic salts with no issues but 30 would have probably been a bit much at that power. Flavor was really good though and it lasted 30ml of juice so overall a really good coil. Then i used the 1.4 ohm one. The vape on this is more of a loose MTL and has good flavor as well and probably the coil of choice for most as far as using high MG juices. I ran 21ml though that coil with no issues either. So good flavor and good life on that as well. I usually look for around 10 ml per coil from pod devices and both these coils exceeded that greatly and flavor is a “tier one” as in one of the best i’ve used for a pod system. The pricing structure is also quite cheap at around 3 bucks per coil replacement and the replacement pods are basically free as they come with 2 coils and cost 6 bucks so it’s like a free pod with the purchase of 2 coils so really well done there as many replacement pods are usually in the 5-6 dollar range

Pros:
  • color options (6 total)
  • Great 3ml capacity
  • Great build quality on battery
  • nice simple looks
  • excellent paint job
  • small size for easy portability
  • Passthrough Vaping
  • accurate ratings for battery size and charge rate (charge rate a bit underrated)
  • great flavor for a pod system
  • pods are easy to remove and install as are coils
  • juice level is easy to see until really low
  • good battery meter that is easy to see
  • great coil life
  • comes with 2 coils
  • filling pods is easy
  • very large battery
  • pods not tinted
  • price point for device and coils
  • coil options (3 options)
Cons:
  • Juice level a little hard to see when really low without removing
  • should have had 1A charging
Conclusion
So with all that said, do I recommend this POD kit or not? I don’t like to do a hard yes or no, but this one leans pretty heavy towards the yes for me. The Nord gets a lot of things right that other pod systems don’t. It’s easy to use, simple, easy to fill, small, portable, and most importantly really good performance. It’s one of the best pod systems i’ve used to date across the board. Only real improvements i would have liked to see is the juice window cut a little lower and the charge rate be a little faster. Quality wise too it feels “premium” as in really well built compared to other pods. I will be adding this to my spreadsheet of recs which is linked below.

This is Anthony Vapes just keeping it honest, hopefully you all can say the same and i’ll catch you on my next review.

Product Disclaimer
This product was sent to me from Elementvape

Review Disclaimer
Due to possible QC difference your experience may vary.

Reviewer Disclaimer
I’ve been doing vape reviews since late 2016 and have done around 300 reviews to date. I enjoy helping vapers on forums as well and helping contribute to the great vape community. I’m not an “out of the box” reviewer. I do my best to be thorough at all times and have enough experience with many products to tell what’s good and what’s not. All mods get tested with an oscilloscope and stress tested and results are posted in my reviews.

Recommendations and Past Review Links
written reviews list here

Spreadsheet of Recommendations here

Best of 2018 list here

Best of 2017 list here
 

Just Frank

Platinum Contributor
Member For 5 Years
Nice review @SirRichardRear! Ive been using the 1.4Ω coil to start. I've been liking it a lot. I'm almost to the bottom of a 30ml of salt liquid (Propaganda Blue Slushee 25mg). I like that its not draw activated too. I think vaping has gotten me used to pressing a button to vape lol. I've wanted to try the mesh coil but didn't know if it was a good idea with this liquid. Plus this coil is still hanging in there. You're right about the quality. It's built really well. I'm not a big Smok hater but know what ya mean.
 

SirRichardRear

AKA Anthony Vapes on Youtube
VU Donator
Diamond Contributor
Member For 3 Years
Reviewer
Nice review @SirRichardRear! Ive been using the 1.4Ω coil to start. I've been liking it a lot. I'm almost to the bottom of a 30ml of salt liquid (Propaganda Blue Slushee 25mg). I like that its not draw activated too. I think vaping has gotten me used to pressing a button to vape lol. I've wanted to try the mesh coil but didn't know if it was a good idea with this liquid. Plus this coil is still hanging in there. You're right about the quality. It's built really well. I'm not a big Smok hater but know what ya mean.
glad u like it and glad u picked a good pod :) so many bad ones out there sadly
 

NGAHaze

Gold Contributor
Member For 5 Years
Nice review! If this device holds up, it might give the new ( non DNA ) Orion a run for it's money since it allows you to change coils, something you can't do with the Orion. Not to mention, the pods for the Orion are more expensive. It doesn't look as sleek as the Orion but for my money, I'll go with better functionality every time.

Thanks!
 

PopcornSmell

Member For 1 Year
Love your review! Very clear and a lot of detail. Smok in NZ is quite popular, lots of my mates use and love it and I'm considering getting one myself. I just check the Smok page in our local store and it seems that there are new skins for the Nord Pod Kit. Not sure if there is any change besides the skin but I definitely love that kick-ass blue colour shown in the product page :xD:
 

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