VAPORESSO ARMOUR ULTRA Kit Review: Test Results Are In

Product intro and specs

The ARMOUR ULTRA is the latest mod and tank kit from VAPORESSO. The star of the show here is the ARMOUR ULTRA box mod, a 100-watt mod featuring an internal 5500 mAh battery and a bright 0.96-inch color screen. The mod is paired with the iTank T, which is a 6 mL top airflow sub ohm tank that takes the GTi coils. The kit is a good starter kit for people who enjoy DL vaping, especially with the included coils, which are rated between 50 and 75 watts.

The mod features fast charging (9V/2A or 5V/3A), and it’s also a rugged mod with IP68, IP69K, and MIL-STD-810H certifications. That means it's waterproof, water jet-proof, dust-proof, and has 1.2m military-grade drop resistance, making it direct competition to the Geekvape Aegis line of mods.

All in all, it's a pretty impressive looking kit to start, so let's get into the details.

Price: TBA (at Element Vape) 

Colors: Camo silver, dune gold, emerald green, light pink, obsidian black, storm blue, titanium silver 

Build quality and design

The build quality of this mod is absolutely fantastic. It is built like a tank! It will easily be able to handle the everyday wear and tear and abuse that we all subject our mods to when we carry them around. Sometimes you can't help dropping your mods, much like your cell phone, but in this case, you can drop it all you like, and nothing's going to happen to it. Easily one of the most durable, well-built mods on the market, and rivals the Geekvape Aegis line.

Now let's talk about the design. For this review, I got the camo silver, which looks fantastic as a kit. Most of the kits look pretty good together with the tank, although I wish the pink one came with a matching tank, and the emerald green and storm blue would probably look better with a black tank included instead of the gunmetal.

Clearly, the overall design was based on the Geekvape Aegis line. However, VAPORESSO did an excellent job of making it their own. The metal frame looks fantastic, the leather feels great, and with the rounded edges, it's really easy to hold in your hand. The 0.96-inch color screen is crisp, easy to read, and bright. Finally, there is a large fire button in a good spot. It is very clicky and has no rattle.

All in all, the ARMOUR ULTRA is a well-built mod with a classy design that should turn heads when you're using it, and will continue to work no matter how many times you drop it.

Features and functions

Let's talk about the features and functions of what they call the “world's first ULTRA mod”. VAPORESSO claims that the mod has the smallest 5500 mAh battery (in vaping?), measuring 25% smaller and offering 111% the battery life of a single 18650 battery. As mentioned in the introduction, it carries numerous certifications for ruggedness, and it also features a Boost mode, which they claim provides a 25% improvement compared to pulse mode—basically, it outputs more wattage.

It does have one of my favorite features, which is a lock slider. That allows you to easily lock the device without having to do a bunch of button presses. Really odd that they don't mention it on their site.

It does feature quite a few modes, including temperature control mode. Outside of that, you have a Boost mode (higher output), a Pulse mode (medium output), and an Eco mode (basically regular mode). I really wish that when they make modes like this, they just stick to more basic names instead of overcomplicating it. If I set a mod to 50 watts, I just want it to be 50 watts. I don't want it to have all this other stuff, and I would like to have the option of a pre-heat where I can heat it up a little bit quicker, especially for dealing with larger, thicker coils.

There are also other features inside the menu, such as the puff counter that you can reset, brightness change for your screen, and the ability to lock your coil resistance for temp mode. You also get different themes called ARMOUR, Waves, and Leap.

That sums up all your features. Let's get into how to use the device.

Using the ARMOUR ULTRA mod

The ARMOUR ULTRA mod is a pretty easy-to-use device—if you're familiar with vape mods, you'll know how to use it pretty naturally.

There's a lock slider on the right side that you can flip down to lock the device and flip up to unlock the device. When the device is locked, none of the buttons will work.

If you click the fire button three times, it will go into the menu, and you use the up and down arrows to navigate it. When you have something highlighted on the menu, click the fire button to enter that sub-menu.

When in temp control mode, you can hold the up and fire buttons, and that will let you adjust the power. I'm not sure why they capped it at 80 watts when it’s a 100-watt mod, but I don't think it's that big of a deal.

Power mode performance

The mod did an excellent job of not getting too hot, and it proved to be a very accurate mod. They only list the maximum wattage (100 watts), so neither max voltage nor amps are listed on their site.

In my testing, the max wattage I got was 101, so it passes the test. The max voltage I got was 7.97 plus, and I add the “plus” because it was maxed out on wattage, so it could be even higher. Voltage shouldn’t be an issue with this mod at all. Finally, I got a max of 29 amps, which is really good. Most internal battery mods like this will have a rating of 25 to 30 amps in testing.

Overall, this is a pretty accurate mod. It does fire a little bit lower with a really low resistance of 0.11 ohm, but not by much. It's actually better in this low resistance range than most of the mods I’ve tested, and by the time I was using a 0.2-ohm coil, the accuracy was pretty much dead on. I was very impressed with the overall performance of the ARMOUR ULTRA.

Temperature control performance

The ARMOUR ULTRA does have a temperature control mode, which is a positive in its own right since most mods nowadays do not. In temp control mode, we have options for nickel, titanium, and stainless steel. Most TC vapers use SS nowadays, so that's what I use for my testing.

You have full power adjustment up to 80 watts. Personally, I set it at 80 watts for the fastest heat-up. I did my testing using coils for 40 and 60 watts. Overall, the mod performed pretty well. I got a nice warm vape at around 420 to 430°F, so it's a little hotter than you would expect. Probably by about 20° or 30°, but that's not a big deal at all. What you're looking for is consistency. And for that, the ARMOUR ULTRA did a good job, so I don't have any complaints.

It's not going to be the best temp control that you can get, but it's more than functional. So, while I wouldn't buy this mod strictly for temp control, it's a good mod to try it out for the first time if you've never used it before.

VAPORESSO iTank T rundown

The iTank that comes with the ARMOUR ULTRA is a top airflow 6 mL tank that uses the GTI coils. It comes with the 0.2-ohm mesh coil with a 60 to 75 watts rating and the 0.4-ohm mesh coil rated 50 to 60 watts.

They say that the best wattage for the 0.2-ohm coil is 65 watts, and for the 0.4-ohm coil is 55 watts, and I would have to agree with both of those. At this point, I think most people are familiar with the GTI coils. It's a line that has been out for quite some time. I have reviewed quite a few of them, and overall, they are solid coils. They're not the best, but for a tank that's included in a kit, they're not bad at all.

The tank has precise air flow adjustment on the top that actually has numbers. You can keep track of exactly where you want it. That is a pretty cool feature that I haven't seen before. There's a nice knurling for grip on the airflow control, and it moves nice and smooth. It does not have a stopper, though—it completely free spins. To fill the tank, just push back on the mouthpiece and slide the top. It will expose the large fill hole, which is protected by a rubber flapper.

As always with top airflow tanks, you get really good protection against leaks, but you're going to sacrifice some flavor. But it's acceptable, especially for a tank that’s included in a kit. And you can always update to a different tank for more flavor if you want to.

Battery life and charging

VAPORESSO lists the battery as having a 5500 mAh capacity and a charge rate of 9V/2A or 5V/3A via USB-C. When I did my testing, I tested the 9V/2A version of the charge. A full charge took about 2 hours, but I did not get 2 amps—I only got about 1.17A max. So I'm going to ding them a little bit there.

As for the capacity, since it's listed at 5500 mAh, I expected at least 4400 mAh (around 20% less usable capacity is always to be expected). After doing the math for the 9V/2A charging, the capacity came in at around 4500 mAh, so it passed the test there.

Overall it does charge fast considering the size of the battery, and the capacity passes my test as well, so I'm pretty happy with the battery stats.

Pros / Cons

Gallery

Verdict

Overall, the ARMOUR ULTRA is a fantastic mod. Excellent if you are in the market for a rugged mod with a built-in battery that's going to last and just perform well. You get dependable performance, long battery life, great build quality, and an eye-catching design. The only real con I found is that the charging rate is overrated, but it charges fast enough, and possibly even faster with a 5V charge.

All in all, the ARMOUR ULTRA mod is easily one of the top choices on the market. The included tank is solid, and better than the average tank that comes in a kit—but you can always upgrade to a standalone tank or a rebuildable later if you want.

VAPORESSO ARMOUR ULTRA

4.5

Buy now

The Vaporesso Armour Ultra is a 100-watt maximum output DTL box kit featuring a powerful 5500 mAh built-in battery. The mod is certified IP68, IP69K, and MIL-STD-810H (1.2 meter drop resistance) for multi-proof protection. It includes the 6 mL iTank T with widened top airflow and is powered by the AXON chip with Boost Mode and GTi Dual Mesh Coils.

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