SMOK OSUB Baby Kit Review

I was a big fan of the SMOK OSUB Plus 80W, and I always believed that it didn’t really get the attention it deserved from the vaping community. It was ergonomic, easy to use, had plenty of power under the hood and a built-in battery, features which made it a very versatile vaping device. It’s still in my rotation of mods and performing as well as the day I took it out of the box. So I was glad that SMOK didn’t just abandon the concept and instead came up with different variations of it, the latest of which is the OSUB 80W Baby. This little guy is basically what you get if you slice the original OSUB in two and replace the built-in battery with a removable 18650 one.

To be perfectly honest, there is nothing revolutionary about the new OSUB 80W Mini. it has the same general design as its predecessor, the exact same features and power output, but its main selling point is the reduced size. As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, this vaporizer is half the size of the original OSUB Plus, making it one of the tiniest, if not the tiniest, single-18650 battery mod on the market. So if you’re looking for something really stealthy with a maximum output of 80W and all the features of an advanced mod, look no further.

A Look at the Contents

The OSUB 80W Baby comes in the classic SMOK packaging, a large rectangular cardboard box with a picture of the device on the front, and a short description of the included products, as well as a list of contents and company information, on the back. Inside the box, we have the SMOK OSUB 80W Baby sitting in a styrofoam holder, and under it we have the included SMOK Baby Beast tank, with a pre-installed 0.4Ω coil-head, a spare coil-head, a USB charging cable for the mod, a bag of spare o-rings, a vape band to protect the glass tube of the tank, and a user manual.

As we’ve come to expect from the Chinese manufacturer, this is a very generous starter kit, although I would have also liked to see a spare glass tube included. Those things are life-savers if you happen to drop and crack your tank. But even, so it’s a pretty nice kit, for the price.

Design and Build Quality

There isn’t much to say about the OSUB 80W Baby that hasn’t already been said in my review of the OSUB Plus 80W. The design is pretty much identical, just adapted to the smaller size of the newer mod. It has the same buttons, same OLED display, same 510 connection, and even the same matte finish. So instead of going through all of these things again, I’m just going to focus on the few differences between the two devices.

First of all, the specifications: 83mm x 37mm x 22mm, which makes it just a bit taller than the 75mm OSUB Plus, but almost half as wide and a bit thinner as well. This is definitely the smallest single-18650 mod I have ever used, and I don’t recall seeing another device this size. It’s barely larger than a cigarette lighter, to be honest, and weighs only 130 grams.

Then there is the battery door on the bottom, which is activated by a small latch. Just pull this back and the door springs open, revealing the battery compartment. Then, once you’ve inserted the battery, press it back down and it clicks shut. Thanks to that little latch, you don’t have to worry about the door ever opening by accident, it’s about as tight as it gets.

One thing I didn’t like about the battery door is that it doesn’t have any battery polarity markings, which doesn’t really sound like the SMOK I’m used to. Maybe they just rushed it into production, or they somehow missed it, but the only sign you have is the big red “plus” sign at the bottom of the battery compartment. However, I could see how an inexperienced user could miss that, so I hope that SMOK realize their mistake and slap a big minus sign on the battery door as well.

Other than that, this is the OSUB Plus I loved so much, just in a much smaller package. The firing bar that replaces the classic fire button is the same, the small metallic adjustment buttons are also the same as on the older OSUB, and so are the rectangular display and micro-USB port. The matte paint job is flawless as usual for SMOK products, and it has a matte finish on both the stainless steel and the black versions I received for this review, which means you won’t leave any fingerprints on them.

Menu and Features

The SMOK OSUB 80W Baby has exactly the same menu and features as the OSUB Plus. After you’ve inserted the battery, you power on the device by pressing the fire bar five times in rapid succession. You can adjust the wattage/temperature on the home screen, using the two BB-type buttons next to the display, but for more advanced options you can go into the menu by pressing the fire bar three times rapidly.

In the menu, we have the Mode submenu, where you can choose between wattage and temperature mode and select one of the five available pre-heating settings, from Min. to Max, then we have the Puff menu, where you can view the number of puffs you’ve taken, set max puffs and reset the puff counter. Moving on we have the menu for adjusting the resistance of the atomizer, ehcih I don’t recommend you do, then the TCR, which is another advanced option you shouldn’t be messing with unless you know what you’re doing, the screen settings (brightness, screen timeout, orientation) and finally the power menu, where you can turn off the device.

This is the classic SMOK menu we’ve been seeing on the Chinese company’s advanced mods since the X Cube 2, right up to the awesome Alien 220W vaporizer. It’s easy to navigate and full of useful features, but nothing we haven’t seen before.

The display is large enough that you can see all the information without straining your eyes, even in bright sunlight. You have the battery indicator, atomizer resistance, voltage, puffs, and current wattage/temperature.

Battery Life and Performance

Battery life is relative, depending both on the capacity of the battery you are using, the wattage you are vaping at and you’re style of vaping. I have been using it with an LG HG2 battery (3000 mAh), at 60W, and getting around five hours of use out of it. But I tend to use it a lot, so I guess a casual user vaping at a lower wattage can get a bit more out of it. But I recommend getting at least two batteries to use with this mod, to always have a spare available.

One thing I should point out about the charging, while it support on-board charging via the USB cable, it’s the standard 1 Amp charging, not the fast 2 Amp charging that we’ve started to see on devices like the Wismec Predator 228 or the Joyetech Atopack Penguin. It’s not a big deal, but it’s already starting to feel a bit outdated.

Performance has been on par with the old OSUB Plus. The firing bar is nice and clicky, and activates the battery almost instantly. I have mostly been using the device in wattage mode, and I have had no issues with it whatsoever, but if the similarities with the OSUB Plus are anything to go by, you shouldn’t have any issues with temperature control either. It supports

The OSUB 80W Baby has a wattage range of 6W – 80W and a temperature range of 200 – 600 degrees Fahrenheit, and fires with resistances between 0.06Ω – 3Ω in temp. control mode, and 0.1Ω – 3Ω in wattage mode. That’s pretty much the standard for advanced mods these days.

So, yeah, the OSUB Baby performs just as well as its older brother, the OSUB Plus, so if you liked that device, you’ll probably enjoy using this even more, thanks to its stealthy size.

The Tank

The SMOK OSUB 80W Baby comes with the Chinese company’s most popular tank to date, the TFV8 Baby Beast. They’ve paired this tank up with dozens of their mods over the last year, and I’ve actually talked about it before when I reviewed the awesome SMOK Alien 220W kit.

The Baby Beast remains one of the most versatile tanks on the market, so it’s really no wonder that SMOK keeps using it for its starter kits, despite since coming up with various other models. It’s a medium-size atomizer that fits great on both small and large vaporizers, and features the insane vapor production capabilities of its bigger brother, the TFV8 Cloud Beast. It’s an all around great tank to have.

The Baby Beast comes with two identical coil-heads with a resistance of 0.4Ω that perform really well, especially with high VG e-juices. I get at least a week’s use out of them, but you can use them for twice as long with no issues, provided you’re vaping clear, lightly sweetened e-liquid. Sugar tends to build-up on the coil much faster and eventually gives out a burnt taste.

The Baby Beast holds 3ml of e-liquid, features SMOK’s trademark swivel-cap top-filling system, and an adjustable bottom airflow system with two large airflow slots. I’ve had no leaking issues with this tank whatsoever, but I did have a tough time removing the pre-installed coil-head when disassembling the tank. I ended up using some pliers, and noticed that the threading on the bottom of the tank weren’t as smooth as I would have liked. I didn’t have this problem the first time I tested the Baby Beast tank, so this could be just a singular anomaly, not necessarily a problem of the model.

Conclusion

While I can’t say that I was overly impressed with the new OSUB 80W Baby kit, I can see why SMOK thought it would be a good idea to basically relaunch last year’s OSUB Plus in a much smaller size. You basically get all the great features and performance of the original device, but in a package that can easily be stored in the smallest jeans pocket. It’s this form factor that’s bound to appeal to consumers, especially those looking for a powerful mod that doesn’t take up much space and can be used without drawing too much attention. It’ll be interesting to see if the OSUB 80W Baby proves a commercial success, but squeezing an advanced mod into such a small body is a success in itself.

Tags : mod reviews,OSUB 80W Baby,OSUB Baby,OSUB Baby kit,OSUB mod,SMOK,SMOK OSUB