Eleaf Tessera Kit Review

The new Eleaf Tessera is a compact vaporizer featuring an internal dual-cell battery, a maximum power output of 150W, all the usual advanced features you would expect to find on an advanced vaping device, and last but certainly not least, a really interesting design. I’ve never really been a fan of Eleaf design. Most of their mods were ergonomic and practical, but in terms of looks, they never really appealed to me. The Tessera is different, though; it’s actually one of the nicest-looking compact mods I’ve ever used.

A Loot at the Contents

The Tessera kit comes in the usual Eleaf packaging, a large, white cardboard box, with a picture of the mod paired with the included Ello TS tank, on the front, and a list of contents, company information and the standard warnings, on the back.

Inside the box, we have the Tessera 150W mod laying next to the Eleaf Ello TS tank and a spare glass tube for the tank. Underneath the Styrofoam holder you’ll find two user manuals, one ofr the mod and another for the tank, a micro-USB charging cable, a spare coil head – the other comes pre-installed in the Ello tank – and a small bag of accessories for the tank (spare o-rings, gaskets and a second drip-tip).

Design and Build Quality

When I saw the first pictures of the Tessera online – before it was actually released – I was under the impression that it was going to be this bulky, rectangular juggernaut, kind of like the SnowWolf 200W box mod. It turns out this thing looks much bigger than it really is, as it’s one of the most compact, comfortable to use devices I’ve ever tried.

The Eleaf Tessera measures 82.5 mm x 42 mm x 29 mm and weighs just under 160 grams, which puts it in the same category as popular mid-size mods like the Joyetech Espion or the SMOK Alien. What sets the Tessera apart from these devices, though, is that it has an internal Li-po battery, so you can’t take it out and replace it with a fully charged one. But that’s pretty much the only downside to an internal battery vape mod, and if you happen to have a USB port around you most of the time, it’s not an issue at all.

As I mentioned in the opening paragraph of this review, I honestly think that Eleaf has come up with their most exciting design yet, for the Tessera. It’s a huge leap forward from the tame design of the PICO 21700, for example, and I really hope that it pays off  for them, because I want to see more of this avant-garde design in the future.

The Eleaf Tessera may have a rectangular shape, but that’s about all that’s common about it. The metallic frame comes in five different colors – green, red, silver, black and rainbow – and features one of the nicest paint finishes I’ve seen on a vaping device. This is a subjective opinion, though, because I love glossy car-like paint, and this is very close to that. I don’t know how it will hold up in the long-run, but right now it looks amazing.

The two plastic panels on each side of the mod share a diamond theme, as they are both feature several irregular facets. One of the panels has a purely decorative function, while the other houses both the 1.45-inch TFT color display and the three adjustment buttons. The display actually seems to be tilted, due to the angle of the faceted protective screen, but it’s actually perfectly straight, large and very bright.

The adjustment buttons have a somewhat strange placement, in the lower right corner of the mod, under the display. They are also shaped as irregular diamond facets and are almost flush on the mod, protruding only slightly from it. I think this makes them less of a distraction, allowing you to admire the elegant design of the device, but their strange shape and the fact that they are so close together could make them a bit frustrating to operate for people with large fingers. I for one have had no trouble with them so far, but I can see them being a bit awkward to press for some people.

The Tessera mod features a firing bar instead of the classic fire button, and it’s a very good one too. Not only does it respond when pressed in the lower half, but it also feels very sturdy as well.

One of the things I like most about this mod is the centered 510 connection. More and more companies a re adopting this positioning and I’m glad to see Eleaf jumping on the bandwagon as well.. The connection is buried under the metal frame of the mod, so you don’t have to worry about it coming off, and features a spring-loaded, gold-plated 510 pin. Due to the slightly raised edge around the connection, no atomizer is going to sit perfectly flush on the Tessera, but the gap is so small you can barely see it, and you don’t have to worry about scratching the paint by tightening your atomizer too tight.

The micro-USB port is located right at the bottom, under the three adjustment buttons I mentioned earlier, and can be used both for charging and upgrading the firmware. Finally, on the bottom of the device, we have a small ‘reset’ buttons, which you have to keep pressed for a few seconds to return the device to factory settings, in case something goes wrong.

There are some things about the Tessera that I don’t like, for example the plastic panels seem prone to scratching, but overall the mod feels pretty solid. The design is eye-catching, I love the centered 510 connection and that large color display is one of the nicest I’ve seen yet.

Menu System and Navigation

The Eleaf mods I had tried before didn’t really have the most impressive menus. The latest one, the PICO 21700, was an improvement over the original iStick PICO, but not a huge one. However, the Tessera is on a whole other level.

First of all, thanks to the large color screen and the clean interface, all the information on screen is clearly visible, so that’s definitely a big plus. Then there’s the amount of information available on the home screen at any given time, which is also really impressive. But let’s take it one step at a time.

To turn the Eleaf Tessera on and off, you just have to press the fire bar five times in rapid succession. Keep in mind that because of its internal battery, the mod never shuts down completely. For example, if you press the fire bar when the device is off, the clock shows up on the screen, so you can check the time.

You can adjust the power/temperature on the home screen, by pressing the ‘+’ and ‘-‘ adjustment buttons which are not marked, but are very easy to identify once you get used to the device. If you keep them both pressed for a couple of seconds, you can lock them, while leaving the firing bar active. The third button, which is also the smallest one, is a confirmation button similar to the one we’ve seen on the Wismec Ravage 230, but it also acts as a one-press “stealth mode”. Just give it a press, and the display shuts off.

To access the menu, just press the firing bar three times rapidly. You’ll see four icons show up on the display, in the shape of a diamond. These represent for sub-menus: Mode, Set, Colors and Info. Keep in mind that in the menu, the firing bar actually acts as a ‘back’ button, so you need to press that small confirmation button I mentioned earlier in order to access sub-menus and input changes.

In mode, you can select the mode you want the Eleaf Tessera to operate in, from power mode, temp-control for three supported materials (Ni200, titanium and stainless steel), three TCR memory modes and something called RTC. At first I thought this was a new mode I hadn’t heard of before, but in fact it just stands for Real Time CLock, and all it does is set the clock as the top main information displayed on the screen when you vape. I don’t really see the point of it, but I can’t call it a con either. What I can complain about is the lack of a curves mode, though.

In Set, you can adjust a number of options. You can lock the resistance of your coil, activate or deactivate ENU, which is the internal monitoring of the battery temperature, set the wattage for temperature control, select which sub-parameters are displayed on the home screen (amperage, puff counter or puff timer), you can set the clock and date, adjust the power and duration of the preheat and set the cut-off time of the mod, or deactivate it completely.

In Colors, you can choose to have the information on screen displayed in one of various colors, although the way this works is a bit weird. Some colors will apply to everything that shows up on screen, while others only to the brackets around the voltage and clock, while the wattage and time are actually displayed white. It’s not a big deal, it’s just weird that the changes are not consistent across the board.

Finally, in Info, you can check the wattage of the built-in batteries (two Li-po cells), as well as the hardware and firmware versions.

And that’s about it. The Eleaf Tessera has a very intuitive menu and navigation system, and thanks to the that small confirmation button, selecting an option and returning to a previous menu is actually very easy to do.

Battery Life and Overall Performance

The Eleaf Tessera features a built-in 3400 mAh battery, which should last you at least half a day, if you vape at reasonable wattage levels (around 50W or less). If you plan on using this device close to its maximum wattage output of 150W, don’t be surprised if you have to recharge it every couple of hours. Luckily, it supports vaping while charging, so if you’re vaping next to a computer, you can just keep it plugged in and not have to worry about battery life.

But even if you do have to charge it from time to time, you’ll be pleased to know that it does feature fast charging, so you won’t have to wait too long for it to recharge.

I’ve been using mine both with the included Ello TS tank and with the Ehpro Bachelor X RTA I love so much, at around 60W, and I’ve gotten about 6 hours of exclusive use out of it. I tend to vape a lot these days, though, so you might actually get more vape time out of it.

In terms of performance, the Eleaf Tessera seems really solid. I’ve been using it for about two and a half weeks now, and I’ve had absolutely no issues with it. It fires very fast, and the power ramp-up time, although not as fast as that of the VooPoo Drag, for example, is definitely acceptable, especially if you tweak the preheat function as well.

Although I don’t have the equipment or the technical knowledge to test the power output and performance in temp. control of the Tessera, I will say that as far as I can tell, this is a very accurate device. I’ve mostly been using it in power mode, as that’s just how I usually vape, and I never felt that the device was underpowered, or that it was putting out more power than what I had set it to. In temp.control, I only tried it with a couple of simple stainless steel coils and it seemed to be doing a good job of protecting the coils. However, I have read some complaints that the mod tends to jump out of temperature control when used with low-resistance exotic coils, which is a shame. It doesn’t affect me because I don’t usually vape in temp.control, but it’s something you should keep in mind if you plan on using this feature.

Again, overall, I’ve been very pleased with the performance of this device, it works as advertised and apart from those reports regarding the iffy temperature control, I have nothing negative to report.

The Tank

I’m not going to do a review of the Ello TS tank that Eleaf paired their new mod with because it is the exact same tank I talked about when I reviewed the iStick 21700. That was called the Ello, while this is the Ello TS, which I assume is short for “Tessera”. It has teh same design, uses the exact same coil-heads, and the only noticeable difference I spotted is the knurling on the top cap and the base of the tank, which on the TS versions are designed to match the diamond facets on the mod.

Conclusion

The Tessera 150W mod is, in my opinion, the best looking mod Eleaf has ever created. It’s elegant and intriguing at the same time, not to mention ergonomic, and that paint finish is superb. It also has all the features you’d expect to find on a modern advanced mod, and the performance is quite impressive as well. The only thing that can be considered a con is the built-in, non-removable battery, and that’s not a huge issue. In fact, I’m sure some people would prefer not having to recharge the batteries externally.

The Eleaf Tessera Kit was supplied for the purpose of this review by Vapesourcing. They are currently selling it for just $48.90, which is a really great deal for such an awesome product.

Tags : Eleaf,Eleaf Tessera,Ello TS tank,mod reviews,Tessera,Tessera kit