If you’ve been vaping for any length of time, you’re no doubt very aware of the fact that pod vapes are the hottest vaping devices in the world right now. No matter what type of vaping device you’re currently using, if you’re in the market for a new vape, there’s a good chance that you’re at least considering buying a pod system. Well, we’re here to help. In this buying guide, we’ll list the best pod vapes on the market and explain the things that you should consider before buying any pod system.
Note: All prices are current at the time of writing. Watch the front page of this site to find out about our latest sales and coupon codes!
Geekvape Wenax Q Ultra
Key Features:
- Full-screen touch display feels and looks like a smartphone screen
- Adjustable power up to 30 watts and 1,300 mAh of battery life
- Beautiful appearance and unprecedented room for customization
The Geekvape Wenax Q Ultra is probably the most advanced stick-shaped pod vape on the market. If you have any experience with other pod systems that have adjustable power, you know that changing the device’s settings isn’t always the easiest thing in the world to do. A few pod vapes have standalone adjustment buttons, and others use the fire button for all functions.
Well, the people at Geekvape have found a better way. The Geekvape Wenax Q Ultra has a large touch-sensitive display stretching across the device’s entire front panel, and using it feels almost like using a smartphone. The Wenax Q Ultra wakes up automatically when you pick it up, and it offers full support for both swipes and taps. Navigating the menu system is an absolute breeze, and you can customize almost every function to your exact specifications.
SMOK Novo 5
Key Features:
- Adjustable power with 30-watt range
- Supports both button-activated and puff-activated firing
- Convenient top-filling pod
The SMOK Novo series has historically been SMOK’s offering for newer vapers who want something that’s small, simple and easy to use. With the Novo 5, though, they’ve moved the series into the modern age to satisfy the demands of today’s vapers for devices that offer more features and greater power. Working with the new Novo 5 0.7-ohm mesh coil pod, the SMOK Novo 5 offers fully adjustable power and works at up to 30 watts. It also has fully adjustable airflow, ensuring that you can enjoy exactly the airflow tightness you prefer.
Geekvape Sonder Q
Key Features:
- Small, stylish design with an extremely pocketable shape
- Top filling and puff activated for maximum simplicity
- Adjustable airflow to provide your preferred draw resistance
As much demand as there is for more flexible and powerful pod vapes these days, there are still plenty of people who believe that the best pod vapes are the ones that are the ones that are small and completely straightforward – just charge your device, fill it and start puffing. That’s exactly the type of experience you’ll enjoy with the Geekvape Sonder Q, which couples simple operation with a modern, streamlined design. The Sonder Q may be tiny, but it’s not short on power. Outfitted with a 1,000 mAh battery, the Sonder Q operates at up to 20 watts depending on the resistance of the installed pod.
Vaporesso XROS 4 Nano
Key Features:
- Incredibly small for a pod system with 1,350 mAh of battery life and 30 watts of power
- Full-color circular display with excellent text quality and attractive animations
- Offers adjustable wattage or three preset power settings depending on the installed pod
As they’ve become more and more capable over the years, the best pod vapes of today are almost like tiny vape mods. They offer the same cloud production that full-sized mods would have just a few years ago, but they’re practically invisible in your hand and weightless in your pocket.
You’re going to be amazed the first time you look at the Vaporesso XROS Nano, which is the first device in the XROS series to feature fully adjustable power when used with the 0.4-ohm XROS pod. Want things to be a little simpler than that? With other XROS pods, the XROS 4 Nano uses a more straightforward low-medium-high system for power adjustments. The circular high-resolution display also adds greatly to the XROS 4 Nano’s visual appeal.
Voopoo Argus A
Key Features:
- Stylish design with dual color displays
- Choose fully adjustable power or pre-configured smart modes
- Physical on-off switch for easy pocket carrying
There’s no other vaping device in the world that looks quite like the Voopoo Argus A. With two round screens overlaid across one another to create the shape of an eclipse, the Argus A has a very striking appearance. The screens also allow plenty of room to display some fun animations along with all of the information you need as you vape.
The Argus A also allows you to make your vaping experience as simple or as flexible as you want. In the Power vaping mode, the Argus A gives you fully adjustable power up to a maximum of 30 watts. If you’d prefer to have the device configure itself, you can choose the Super mode for maximum vapor or the Eco mode for maximum battery life.
SMOK Novo Pro
Key Features:
- Stylish new design is surprisingly thin for a vape with 1,300 mAh of battery life
- Configures itself automatically, or you can take full control over the wattage
- Adjustable airflow
If you’ve watched the evolution of the SMOK Novo series over the years and have started to get the impression that the designs are starting to get a little long in the tooth, someone at SMOK apparently agrees with you because they’ve given the new SMOK Novo Pro a radical visual overhaul. Looking thinner than ever but somehow managing to sport a 1,300 mAh battery, the SMOK Novo Pro looks absolutely amazing.
Adjustability is the name of the game in the best pod vapes these days, and the SMOK Novo Pro follows that trend with fully adjustable power up to a maximum of 30 watts. The device accomplishes it in the best possible way by giving you the best of both worlds. When you insert a new pod, the Novo Pro automatically suggests the best wattage and switches to it. If you want to choose a different wattage, all that you need to do is click the button. It’s a stellar experience for beginners and experts alike.
Voopoo Argus G2
Price: $24.49 | Buy It Now
Key Features:
- High-resolution screen and attractive colors make for a polished and beautiful appearance
- Adjustable power up to a maximum of 30 watts
- Haptic vibrations provide gentle sensory feedback as you vape
We love the Voopoo Argus G2 because it strikes the best possible balance between sleek design and high-end performance. The Argus G2 features adjustable airflow, sub-ohm pods and a 30-watt power range to give you whatever type of vaping experience you want, whether it’s a tight cigarette-like draw or more of a cloud-chasing extravaganza. The best part is that all of this device’s power and flexibility comes in a package that’s the same size as any other stick-shaped pod vape. The Argus G2 works with the full range of Argus pods, and you can even use a pod with a replaceable coil if you like. It’s hard to imagine wanting anything from a pod system that this device doesn’t deliver.
Vaporesso XROS 4
Price: $29.95 | Buy It Now | Read our XROS Guide
Key Features:
- Excellent combination of simplicity and flexibility
- Provides three levels of power with the click of a button
- Compatible with all Vaporesso XROS pods
The Vaporesso XROS series is another one of the longest-running series in the history of pod vapes, and it’s difficult to believe that the series is already up to its fourth generation after just a few years. Like all XROS devices, the XROS 4 works with all Vaporesso XROS pods – but this device has a few surprises up its sleeve. The first of those is adjustable power. The XROS 4 offers three different vaping modes, giving you the ability to customize your experience without miring you in the complexity of wattage settings. It also has a sleek unibody aluminum shell, making it look and feel like the luxury piece of consumer electronics that it is.
Why Should You Buy a Pod Vape?
Let’s begin by discussing the features that make pod vapes different from other types of vaping devices. Why should you choose a pod vape instead of another type of vaping device such as a vape pen or a box mod?
The simple answer is that pod systems represent the furthest evolution that the industry has reached to date in terms of making vaping as easy, user friendly and satisfying as it can possibly be. We love pod systems because:
- They’re simple. To vape, all that you need to do is charge the device, fill the pod and inhale.
- They’re satisfying. Pod systems are designed to deliver big, satisfying vapor clouds. Fill your pod with a strong nicotine salt e-liquid, and you’ll experience the same type of throat hit that you’d get from smoking a cigarette.
- They’re user friendly. You can always see how much vape juice you have left just by looking at your pod. Some pod systems even feature automatic temperature limiting, which prevents you from experiencing an unpleasant “dry hit” if you forget to refill the pod.
- They’re fun. If you’re the type of person who enjoyed clicking a lighter open and closed back when you were a smoker, you’ll enjoy the simple satisfaction of feeling a vape pod locking into place when you use a pod system.
How to Choose the Best Pod Vape for Your Needs
Now that you have a better understanding of what makes pod systems so great, how do you choose the best pod vape for your needs? In this article, we’ll list our picks for the best pod systems on the market. Before we do that, though, these are some of the decisions you’ll need to make during the process of buying a pod vape.
Buy a Refillable Pod System
You’ll notice that here at VapeJuice.com, we only offer refillable pod systems and do not sell any of the pre-filled vaping devices that you can find at convenience stores and supermarkets. There are some very simple reasons for that. A pre-filled vaping device can be a great and inexpensive introduction to vaping, but we’d never suggest a pre-filled device for long-term use because:
- They’re extremely expensive to use. A single pre-filled vape pod can cost almost as much as a pack of cigarettes. If you can’t limit your vaping to one pod per day, you’ll end up spending more on vaping than you would on smoking. With a refillable pod system, on the other hand, you’ll use bottled nicotine salt vape juice. Vaping is always more affordable when you buy your e-liquid by the bottle.
- They’re only available in two flavors: tobacco and menthol. You might end up loving tobacco or menthol e-liquid, but the research suggests that you won’t. You’re far more likely to enjoy something else, like a fruity vape juice. The only way to choose from the full range of e-liquid flavors is by buying a refillable vaping device.
Choose Between Simplicity or a Large Feature Set
Most of the pod vaping systems on the market work the way we described above; all that you need to do is charge the device, fill the pod and vape. Some people, though, have already had their fill of the simple vaping experience and are looking for devices that offer more advanced features. The manufacturers have heard that request loud and clear and have begun to develop more advanced pod systems called pod mods. With a pod mod, you’ll get more advanced features like sub-ohm coil compatibility and variable power levels. You’ll need to choose the type of vaping experience that you want.
Choose Between a Replaceable Pod or a Replaceable Coil
The biggest decision you’ll need to make when you buy a pod system is whether you want a replaceable coil pod system or a device that uses disposable pods. The benefit of using a device with disposable pods is simplicity; when the pod’s flavor changes, you just throw it away. The drawback of disposable pods, however, is that they cost more than coils. You’ll spend a bit less on replacement components for your device if you choose one that allows you to replace the atomizer coil while keeping the pod.