4stars

Rincoe Tix Review

If you’re in the market for a simple and portable vape mod, but can’t stand rudimentary pod system, then maybe this little all-in-one device is the compromise you’ve been looking for. It’s compact, but has a nice weight to it, and while easy to use, it does offer a bit of customization. Let’s take a look at the Rincoe Tix:

A Look at the Contents

The Rincoe Tix Pod Kit – this thing is actually more than a simple pod system – comes in a small, rectangular box featuring a small picture of the device on the front, as well as pictograms representing its most intriguing features, and a list of contents, warnings, and company information on the back.

Inside the packaging, you’ll find the surprisingly nice-looking Tix mod, a replaceable coil-head for the pod, a micro-USB charger, user manual and warranty card, as w well as a black lanyard. The guys at Rincoe were kind enough to send me a metallic lanyard as well, which, funnily enough, looks a lot like the one that came with the VooPoo Drag Nano. You’ll have to pay extra for it, though.

Design and Build Quality

Having previously reviewed the Rincoe Manto S and Rincoe Manto Mini, two relatively low quality vape mods with appropriately low prices, I wasn’t expecting the Tix to look and feel too good. However, as soon as I picked it up I realized this wasn’t one of those cheap, disposable devices that have been flooding the market in recent years. This device feels solid and durable, which were not the kinds of adjective I expected to use in this review.

The Tix measures 91mm x 43mm x 19mm and is made primarily of zinc alloy, with polycarbonate inserts. It comes only in black with seven different artistic designs on one of the side panels. My review sample features the US flag, but you can get the British flag, as well as some skulls and other cool designs.

At the top of the device, we have the mouthpiece of the removable pod sticking out, but unlike other similar devices, the removable pod doesn’t come out through the top. Instead, you have to first remove one of the metallic side panels (held in place by magnets) to pull the pod through the side. It’s a design I’ve only seen before on the Artery Pal 2, which appears to have been the main inspiration for the Tix.

This removable panel isn’t the most elegant solution I’ve ever seen, as it basically adds an extra step to removing the pod, for no good reason, but it’s not really a big con either. It’s just different, and in my opinion, kind of inefficient. The magnets work fairly well though, although the removable panel does tend to wobble a bit when you”re holding the device.

On the opposite panel we have that lacquered artistic design I mentioned above, as well as a red logo which also acts as a fire button. You probably didn’t see that one coming. I know I didn’t,so until I read the user manual I was struggling to get the Rincoe Tix to fire. It’s actually quite ingenious, turning a decorative element into something with a functional purpose and it actually works quite well.

On one of the narrow sides of the Rincoe Tix all-in-one vape mod you’ll find a small button, a couple of LED Indicators, a small hole and USB Type-C charging port. The latter is pretty self-explanatory, but the rest aren’t, so I’ll try to explain, if you don’t feel like reading the user manual. The hole near the top is airflow slots that feeds air to the coil-head, the small button allows you to cycle among three power levels, and the two LED indicators let you keep an eye on battery life as well as on the current output of the mod.

The refillable pods are a combination of several designs we’ve seen recently, more specifically the large pods of the Smoant Pasito and the bottom airflow control system of the Eleaf Tance. The pods hold up to 2 ml of e-liquid and feature a large fill port on the side. Like with the Pasito and the Tance pod systems, you can change the coil-heads inside the pod, and you actually get two different types of coil-heads, a circular wire coil, and a mesh coil. Also, thanks to the airflow control system at the bottom of the refillable pod, you can adjust the airflow for both direct lung and mouth-to-lung vaping.

All in all, the Rincoe Tix was a very pleasant surprise in terms of quality. It’s a solid, durable device that feels a lot better than those cheap pod systems flooding the market these days. The design is pretty nice too, with the artistically-designed panel and the logo-shaped fire button. The only cons mentioning are the wobbly side panel, and the fact that you have to remove that side panel in order to refill or replace the pod.

Battery Life and Performance

One of the main flaws of most pod systems today is battery life. You can only cram so much battery into a small vape mod,so the more compact it is the less battery life you’ll get out of it. Luckily, the Rincoe Tix has more than double the battery life of the average pod system. Devices like the Suorin Air or Smoant Karat have a battery capacity of around 400mAh, but the Tix is rated at 1,000mAh, which will keep you having a full day without needing a recharge. Granted, this is a much thicker device than the other two pod systems I mentioned, but it’s still compact, so if battery life is worth more to you than slick design, you’ll appreciate the 1,000mAh battery of the Rincoe Tix.

According to the official Rincoe website, the Tix features fast charging via its USB Type-C port, and while I didn’t actually measure the charging speed, I did notice it charging to full in about an hour, which is not bad at all for such a large capacity battery. You can also use the Tix while it is charging, but I recommend using a longer cable, because the one it comes with is ridiculously short. It works, but it makes using the mod as a passthrough virtually impossible.

The Rincoe Tix, like most pod systems, has a battery indicator based on colored LED lights. When the green light turns on, you have between 50% and 100% battery power left, blue light means you have between 15% and 50%, and red signals that your battery is at under 15% capacity and you should recharge. Just remember that the battery indicator is the one under the little button next to the USB Type-C charging port, not the one above.

I’m glad to report that the performance of the Rincoe Tix is about as solid as the mod itself. I’ve been using it for over a week now and I think I’ve finally found a device to replace the Renova Zero pod I had grown so attached to over the last few months. The adjustable airflow and power outpout, the ability to switch from direct lung mode to mouth-to-lung and the superior coil-head variety make this device better than all the pod systems I’ve tried so far.

That said, the Tix is not without its own faults. As I said, having to constantly detach the magnetic panel to either adjust the airflow, or change the pod is not the most convenient thing in the world. Also, I’ve had some issues with the airflow control system on the bottom of the pod; after closing it down all the way, I couldn’t open it all without unscrewing the attached coil-head from the pod and spilling all the juice inside. I managed to do it eventually, but it took a lot more work than it should have. Not being able to keep an eye on the e-liquid inside the pod without removing the side panel every once in a while is a bit of a con as well.

But, when it comes to vaping, the Rincoe Tix is really quite an impressive device. One of my main gripes with modern pod systems was that they had drifted toward direct-lung vaping, which really didn’t make any sense to me. With so many advanced mods already available for that style of vaping, why not focus on the most important demographic, smokers? Luckily, this little gadget does both DL and MTL, thanks to its adjustable airflow and power output.

I’ve been using my review unit with the pre-installed mesh coil-head, with the airflow closed up all the way and the power level set to minimum (red). I found it to be the perfect setting for mouth-to-lung, as it makes the draw very restrictive, which is how I like it. But if you prefer a looser draw, hotter vapor, or just more of it, you can play with the settings and find the sweet spot that works for you.

Conclusion

The Rincoe Tix all-in-one mod was a very nice surprise that I didn’t see coming. The quality of the materials used was much higher than I expected, the degree of customization was impressive, and the sheer performance left me impressed. This is definitely the type of vaping device we needed to transition to the next level of pod mods. The rudimentary ones were nice to begin with, but it’s time to move on to bigger and better things. Hopefully, the Tix is a sign of things to come in this sector.