Today we are going to put the Joyetech ESPION Silk with NotchCore kit to the test. This was provided directly from www.joyetech.com for the purpose of this review.
Specs:
ESPION Silk MOD
- Size: 29.5 x 40.0 x 80.0mm
- Screen type: 0.69-inch OLED display
- Battery: built-in 2800mAh battery
- Output wattage: 1-80W
- Modes: POWER/BYPASS/TEMP(NI/TI/SS)/TCR(M1/M2/M3)
- Resistance range: 0.05-1.5ohm for TEMP/TCR mode
0.05-3.5ohm for POWER mode - Temperature range: 100-315°C/ 200-600°F
- Max charging current: 2A
- Thread: spring-loaded 510
NotchCore Atomizer
- Size: 22.0 x 49.5mm
- Capacity: 2.5ml
- Coil: 0.45ohm NotchCoil
- Thread: 510
Comes with
- NotchCore Tank(2.5ml)
- NotchCoil head(Pre-installed)
- (4) spare NotchCoil heads
- ESPION Silk MOD
- (1) spare glass
- USB cable
- Manual
- Warranty card
- Warning card
- Spare Parts for the tank
3 colors to choose from
Getting to know the Espion Silk with NotchCore kit
First I noticed was how light this kit is, 142 grams with the tank and 102 just the mod itself. Covered in a hypoallergenic rubber type material on the front, back and sides it is comfortable in the hand. The buttons don’t have the crispest clickyness but they work fine and the fire button it easy to locate and fire with either your thumb or index finger. 24.5mm tanks are the biggest you can fit without overhang.
The included tank brings back the Notch coil, love it or hate it. This time it is a little different, has gold plated ends and comes pre-wicked. Comes preinstalled with a NotchCore and they include 4 more as spares.
I sort of dug the Orange with Black that I used for my testing out of the other colors they offer. Not something I would generally buy for myself but I thought the color combo looked good and looked decent with other tanks I used during my review.
Power Performance
With the included tank it worked fine since you are basically limited to about 25 watts with the way it is wicked, going to 30 watts it was easy to get dry hits. I did my testing with other high powered tanks and even threw on the new Freemax Fireluke Mesh Pro, got a orange one so close match…lol.
About 4 puffs into it at 80 watts I got the “Device too hot” warning…hmmmm, heat transfer from the tank maybe? Installed a heat sink and let both the mod and tank cool down to try again.
Again, 4 puffs in and device too hot so not a heat transfer, just the mod can’t handle that power without overheating quickly. Decided to try a different tank, the Crown 3 with the 0.25 coil installed. Same thing, at 80 watts I got 4 puffs before it stopped. At 65 watts I was able to get 11 puffs chain vaping before getting the warning. Had to go down to 50 watts and was able to chain vape away and got 25 puffs in before I had to stop…a little too much chain vaping for me but the mod wanted to still keep going.
If you are going to use the Espion Silk at 50 watts and below it is fine, over that and you chain vape it will overheat and quickly at 80 watts. I never recommend 80 watt mods to someone who vapes at 80 watts but if you advertise that then make sure the design will do more than 4 puffs. Definite fail in power performance as the mod is not suitable for over 50 watts IMO.
At least they put the watts in 01 increments until 20 watts then it adjusted in 1 watt increments, I like that.
TC Performance
I do not see where Joyetech lists the material the NotchCore coil is made of but I tried it in SS TC and it can appear to work but is mostly choppy. It did prevent dry hits though at 430F so I am guessing it is SS and at times could be pleasant but inconsistent. I then placed a dual coil SS build on it at 0.25 ohms and nope, kept dropping me out of TC and back into watts mode at 10 watts. Tried another build and got it to stay in TC but it was a choppy vape, not pleasant at all. I had just put a fresh build in a single coil RTA so decided to try that, much better but on the cold side, had to adjust my temp 20F over my usual setting to get a decent TC vape. It wasn’t great though, about half a tank in I just went back to power mode.
You can get an OK TC vape with a single coil regular build, it wasn’t crazy about exotic builds in either single or dual coils. Definitely not recommended for TC vapers though, you will be disappointed.
NotchCore Performance
I don’t know of very many fans of the Notch coil but know there are a lot of people that hate them. My problem with them is they light up really quick, usually a good thing but not if your wicks can’t keep up. To give credit to Joyetech they do rate the NotchCore from 20 to 30 watts, best at 25 watts and that is exactly what I experienced. At 30 watts I could get into dry hit territory rather quickly.
First off you have to prime your wicks, this is important.
At 25 watts it is a decent vape and a lot more cloudy than I would expect at that wattage. Flavor was good, not great like a lot of other subtanks. One thing that I did notice though was how quickly you can change flavors. The notchcore really does clear out that last flavor quickly and give you the new flavor fast. For what it is I think they did a good job and the flavor is there, just don’t expect it to put out flavor like some of the top sub ohm tanks on the market.
The pre installed coil didn’t last too long though before the flavor began to drop off, maybe about 3 to 4 fill ups. I took it out and yeah, the coil was gunked up.
I decided to clean and rewick the coil using Cotton Bacon Prime.
Came out performing better than the factory wicking and I was actually able to put a little more watts into it, 35 to start then 30 watts instead of the 25 watts with the factory wicking. Flavor was about the same but wicking improved. Just make sure your wick is tight inside the NotchCore coil, loose will not provide good performance. It should have a decent amount of resistance when pulling your wick through.
I did notice that the NotchCore needs a little time to break in, more so with the factory wicking. Took about a half a tank before the flavor improved.
While the notch coils are really not my thing if you vape in the 25 watt range it is definitely not bad, I am sure a lot of people will enjoy it. I personally liked the Innokin Zenith tank for flavor better but that is a MTL tank, the NotchCore is more of a restricted deep lung tank. I would not have a problem recommending the NotchCore tank to someone if that is something they really wanted, there are better tanks I would recommend first though.
Battery life
Battery life was decent, I was able to get 230 puffs at 25 watts. Charging is quick too at 2 amp, passthrough charging is included so you can vape while you charge.
Pros:
- Really light and durable
- I like the orange on black color scheme
- Easy to change the coil
- Not a juice hog at 25 watts so that 2.5ml capacity lasts a while
- Easy and comfortable to fire with your thumb or index finger
- Easy to refill with the slide open top
- 510 drip tip compatible
- Good battery life and quick 2 amp passthrough charging
- NotchCore coils can be cleaned and rewicked
Cons:
- Will overheat easily at higher watts, best to keep it under 50 watts
- TC is wildly inconsistent and even when it works it is not great
- Flavor is good but not great
Final thoughts
I really thought I would have more cons but the major one for me is how easily it goes into overheat protection. If you only use the NotchCore tank then you won’t have a problem but if you get a new tank that needs more than 50 watts your not gonna be happy. Joyetech should have capped the watts at 50 if the device cannot do more than that without overheating easily. That is a fail in my opinion, never tested a mod that would go into overheat protection so quickly. As far as TC aren’t we all use to it by now with Joyetech? they generally don’t care about TC, that is why Arctic Fox Firmware is so popular.
With all that said this kit will appeal to a lot of people, my review sample has already had a friend call dibs on it. She can have it as she vapes at low watts and it is convenient for her. It doesn’t work the way I would like it to, that is why it is so easy to give it away. If I was a low wattage vaper I could see continuing to use it though.
The lowest price I see the kit for is $53…ooooff, I would have a hard time paying that. I definitely would not recommend the mod alone, it doesn’t do the stated watts without overheating easily. As a kit though you are talking 25 watts which is does with no problems, if that describes you and you want to find a deal check this link: http://www.vapecrawler.com/results/Espion%20Silk%20kit
I hope this info helps and thanks to Joyetech for sending the Espion Silk kit over for review. You can find more info on there website: http://www.joyetech.com/product/espion-silk-with-notchcore/
Check out how this stacks up to other tasty gear and meet the Steampugs team of reviewers. Your bound to have a good time and read up on some great products, not so great ones too http://www.steampugs.co.uk/
), your outlook/approach tends to fall very much into line with my own expectations of what I want to know, and when you combine that with my general outlook, and shared appreciation of TC, it’s nice to have you sharing!
but I think if I’m selective to start with, I can minimize the need to have to say “this hunk of shit is better off as raw materials than what they did with them”. 
An open book for all to see is never a bad thing