timwis Posted April 17, 2020 Share Posted April 17, 2020 Hi Vapor Talk members, In this review i take a look at the first of two new devices from Smoant, The Knight 80 which is an AIO or PodMod (whatever terminology you prefer) which due to it's size i have named a ModPod. The Knight 80 was supplied for the purpose of this review by Jessi from Smoant. Introduction The Knight 80 is one of two new devices from Smoant, the other being the Ladon 225W TC dual battery mod. The Knight 80 is an AIO device which is quite substantial in size and is powered by a single 18650 battery. The device has adjustable top to bottom airflow control making it leak resistant and comes with either 4ml or 2ml capacity pods. The Kit includes 2 different coils and a base adapor. Also available in an RBA head and a Pasito base adaptor allowing both the Pasito coils and RBA also to be used. The device has a large OLED display and adjustable wattage from 1 to 80W. Also the device has curves, bypass ans full TC suite making it well worth a good look! ___________________________________________________________________ In The Box Contents: Smoant Knight 80 device Pod 4ml/2ml(TPD) 0.3ohm mesh coil (installed) 0.4ohm dual mesh coil USB cable – type C User manual battery safety card warranty card ___________________________________________________________________ Aesthetics and Ergonomics The Knight 80 comes in a cardboard box with outer cardboard sleeve with a picture of the device in the chosen colour on the front. I received the Black version, the options are Black, Bronze Blue, SS, Tiffany Blue and Night Green. The Knight 80 is quite some size in fact the size of a dual battery mod so certainly not a device i would personally use for out and about as i prefer smaller devices so more of a desktop AIO option in my opinion, but then i do see many vapers out with large devices so it's just a preference. The device is a medium weight, not light but not over heavy and has a Zinc Alloy construction making it a durable device. It's looks will divide opinion, it has a very busy look which i like but those who prefer more plain devices won't be so keen, rather than making a poor attempt to describe it's aesthetic features i will let the pictures do the talking! ___________________________________________________________________ Knight 80 Specs and Features: Size: 90mm*45mm*27mm Battery: Single 18650 (not included) Material: Zinc alloy Surface: Electroplating & CPR patch Screen: 0.96 OLED display Power output: 1-80W Conversion rate: 95% Chipset: AI smart ANT-chip Output Mode：VW, DVW, Bypass (best 0.1-3.0ohm) TC Mode: Ni, Ti, SS316, TCR (best 0.1-2.0ohm) Temperature control range: 100-300℃/200-600℉ Charging: 5V/1A Charging port: Type-C Cartridge Capacity: 4ml/2ml(tpd) Compatible coils: Knight 80 0.3ohm mesh coil(best 50-65W) Knight 80 0.4ohm dual mesh coil(best 30-50W) Knight 80 RBA(best 0.3-2ohm) (sold separately) All Pasito coil (with Pasito adaptor, sold separately) Colours: Black, Bronze Blue, SS, Tiffany Blue, Night Green ___________________________________________________________________ The Pod/Cartridge Like the rest of the device the pod is quite a size and has a rectangular form, up top we have a standard fitting Delrin 510 so you can fit your own if you like. The drip tip fits to a Silver airflow control ring but i will do a separate section covering that. The pod is quite darkly tinted which i personally don't find a con as i have had no issues with three of the pod's sides being entirely visible so can see the juice level no problem and the smoked colour suits the design but others will wish the pod was clear. Looking at the size of the pod you would think it had a huge capacity like 8ml but actually the standard pod holds 4ml of juice while the TPD pod which has the same dimensions but just with more internal plastic holds 2ml. This is due to the leak resistance airflow system so the lower 30% is a void where the adaptor sits and 2 sides of the pod are doubled walled with a cavity between. The side of the pod which fits snug to the wall of the device is where the fill bung can be found which has a flap that's easy to grip to lift up revealing a generous fill port. Filling needs doing with the pod on it's side but with a bit of care it can be filled relatively quickly and mess free, protruding from the top of the pod the same side as the fill port we have a hook which hooks into the device. Moving to the base with the coil and adaptor base installed we have the central positive and negative surround, there is also 2 very strong magnets (one either side). You only receive one pod but it's sturdy and will be good for many coil changes and/or RBA builds, when buying a new pod you get both a 0.3ohm single mesh and 0.4ohm dual mesh coil head included. ___________________________________________________________________ Included Coils You receive 2 different coils, pre-installed is the K1 single mesh 0.3ohm coil which is rated between 50W and 65W and you also get the K2 dual mesh 0.4ohm coil which is recommended between 35W and 50W, not sure of material so i assume Kanthal. The coil head needs to be screwed into the base adaptor and then gets press fitted into the pod. The coil head has 2 thick o-rings and base adaptor another o-ring essentially giving a triple seal. ___________________________________________________________________ Fitting The Pod Looking at the pods bay we have an indented circular area with beefy Gold plated, spring loaded contacts, the coil head base adaptor fits snugly in this area with all contacts lined up. Either side to correspond with the magnets on the base of the pod we have 2 large magnets and then on the top of the device a slot cutout for the protruding hook on the pod to hook onto the device. The magnets are strong enough to stop this pod going anywhere of it's own accord and the pod also hooking onto the device is said to be a childproof feature, not sure about that but it does make the pod extremely secure and i like the design a lot! ___________________________________________________________________ What's Available? As well as the 2 different coils included there is also a Knight RBA section available which was sent but isn't included. Also there is a Pasito Base adaptor available allowing the Pasito coils and RBA also to be used which gives the device a mid to loose MTL option. ___________________________________________________________________ The Airflow The Knight 80 has top to bottom adjustable airflow with the drip tip base section being the airflow control. We have 2 curved slots on the top of the pod with corresponding slots on the bottom of the airflow drip tip base, again lined up we have two slots on the side of the drip tip base which allows the air to enter. The air goes through the slots on the drip tip base and travels down through the slots in the top of the pod. The two sides of the pod that the slots face are double walled which form cavities for the air to travel down into the void area at the bottom of the pod where the base adaptor and bottom of the coil head with airflow opening is situated. The Airflow adjusts well by just turning the drip tip base section from fully open to as closed down as you prefer! ___________________________________________________________________ Fitting The Battery The Knight 80 accommodates a single 18650 battery and to fit you will find a small notch on the base to lift off the back panel which has an inner plastic lining. The panel secures with magnets very well and it takes some effort to get any sort of movement so it certainly doesn't move during normal use. Orientation is clearly labelled in White, good job! My only issue is the battery sits deep and no battery ribbon is installed making removing the battery a bit tricky. ___________________________________________________________________ The Display The device has an 0.96" OLED screen which is not the brightest, but sharp and well laid out giving all the required information in an uncluttered fashion with everything easy to read. Top left displays the mode and top right we have the battery status bar. Below is the wattage when in wattage, curves and even bypass displays watts here, when in TC the temperature is displayed. We then have the voltage which displays watts when in TC and underneath this is the resistance followed by puffs and finally at the bottom your current vape duration. ___________________________________________________________________ Operating The Knight 80 The Knight 80 is the usual 5 clicks of the fire button to turn on and 5 clicks to turn off, once on pressing + and - together locks the whole device so it also will not fire. The only other combination key press from all working screens is +, - and fire together, resets your puffs. 3 clicks of the fire button causes the mode to blink which now allows the use of the + and - buttons to scroll through the working screens (modes) which are VW, DVW (curves), Bypass, Ni, Ti, SS and TCR, in the manual their is a full list of TCR setting ranges for various TC wires including Gold. When using curves the + and - alters the wattage for each time segment and fire selects, Bypass is just a case of vaping and it will take the power straight from the battery displaying the wattage that represents. When using a TC mode then by default the wattage is on auto but fire and + together allows wattage to be set for TC, fire and - together allows you to change temperature unit. Wattage adjusts in point 1 increments from 1W to 80W which despite quite quick scrolling i feel after 20W it should switch to 1W increments but to me that's nothing major, that's it! very easy to navigate. ___________________________________________________________________ Protections Low Voltage Protection Reverse Polarity Protection Over-heating Protection Short Circuit Protection 10s Over-vape Protection ___________________________________________________________________ RBA Build The RBA is a separate purchase but one was sent so have tried a couple of builds. It's a single coil RBA with 2 tall posts and decent sized terminals, your leads get fastened from above with Philips grub screws. The airflow outlet is underneath where your coil will be positioned, so bottom airflow and the outlet is a fair size. I have had a 3.0ID fused clapton installed and the pictured build is a 2.5ID Ni80 fused clapton but the airflow, space and terminals will all allow for a 3.5ID coil also if you prefer. Just feed your leads through the terminals positioning the coil above the airflow outlet and then fasten down your leads. Snip your access leads and use a coiling rod or fit for purpose tool to adjust the coils position if needed. Leave your cotton ends long enough to fill the side channels, to get the cotton to stay in the channels while screwing the sleeve over it's much easier if you apply some e-liquid, overall a very easy build! ___________________________________________________________________ My Experience Using The Knight 80! Cons for this AIO device are mainly subjective and only the ones i find an issue with will i put in the cons list because others are not cons for me personally. First is it's size, most who like their pod mods and/or AIO devices like their portability and would probably use single battery standard devices also when out and about, yes this is a single battery device but i have dual 18650 devices that are smaller. For me personally i love the device but as a desktop device as it's just not portable enough for me personally for walking around with. Another con for some but not me as i have had no issues seeing the juice level will be the tinted pod which some would prefer to be clear. Their is nothing wrong with the fill method as it's quick and mess free, the port gets sealed tight and had no escaping e-liquid but i still would prefer not having to remove the pod from the device to fill. The device needs a battery ribbon, getting my battery out has resulted in a bit of blasphemy at times so a real con for me and the only other thing is i really think both the RBA and Pasito adaptor should be included in the kit, after saying that they aren't expensive and the kit it'self i am seeing around the $25 mark which is fantastic value. Now for the pro's, and first is it's leak resistance design, i have suffered not even a hint of escaping e-liquid it's a really nice clean device to use! The airflow control works well but with the included coil heads and Knight RBA it gives just various amounts of direct lung restriction, for any kind of MTL vape you will need to get the Pasito adaptor and use the Pasito coils and RBA. The performance of the device isn't in doubt and having loads of modes is a real plus, it fires instantly and as worked 100% reliably during testing. As well as the Ant Chip it says it also as a Buck boost chip which to be honest other than boosting voltage to maintain wattage when the battery voltage has dropped which is something a variable power device should do anyway i really am non the wiser and am not going to pretend i understand something i don't! When installing a coil it first gives you a wattage range it's suitable to vape at which i really like as the chip isn't just programmed to recognise the Knight and Pasito coils and gives a range to match their recommendations but also gives a range suitable for any build done in either of the RBA's so very smart! Both included coils vaped similar and gave sub-ohm stock coil flavour with the dual mesh K2 just having the slightest more restriction. The pre-installed K1 single mesh i found best at 55W but while testing it wicked fine up to the 70W mark so it's just were you get the balance between flavour and warmth to suit you, the K2 coil i found best at 40W, both are DL but with the adjustable airflow restriction can be tailored to suit. The Knight RBA gave even more air than the included coil heads but again you can restrict it with the airflow control. I found the build to be a doddle and have been getting RTA flavour! The pictured 0.68ohm build which is what i'm rocking at the moment seemed slightly muted at 18W but once bumped up to 25W and airflow closed down to only a quarter open it's now singing. my previous build was a 0.3ohm Kanthal fused clapton 3.0ID which gave even more impressive flavour. The final pros is how efficient the device is, battery life is great, far better than expected for a single 18650 device and It has Type C USB. The charge rate is only 1A but as i wouldn't recommend charging the battery in the device anyway i'm fine with that. ___________________________________________________________________ Like Really nice looking (entirely subjective) Very well designed Good build quality Plenty of colour/design options Leak resistant Adjustable top to bottom airflow DL (does offer MTL option with Pasito coils and RBA) Standard 510 drip tip fitting (use your own) Refillable Replacement coils Includes 2 coils Both coils give sub-ohm stock coil flavour RBA available RBA, easy build, experiencing RTA flavour Pod/Cartridge fit's very securely Compatible with Pasito coils and RBA with Pasito adaptor (separate purchase) Nice sized, well laid out display VW, DVW(curves), Bypass, Ni, Ti, SS, and TCR modes Puff counter (can be reset) Fired without delay, performed excellently AI Smart wattage (gives recommended wattage range) Buck Boost? No idea really! Accommodates 18650 battery Battery panel, no movement Very efficient, experienced excellent battery life for single 18650 Type C USB (1A charge rate!) Very good price Cons Large single 18650 device No battery ribbon installed Being able to fill without removing pod would of been preferable Adjusts in point 1 increments right up to 80W With how much marketing is geared towards both the RBA and being able to use the Knight with Pasito coils then i feel at least the RBA and Pasito adaptor should be included in the kit I would once again like to thank Jessi from Smoant for supplying the Knight 80 for the purpose of this review. ___________________________________________________________________ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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