Sue from Healthcabin was kind enough to send this new Wotofo Manik for review, It’s a little outside of my usual range of vaping products and not something I probably would have bought myself, but these ‘pod mods’ seem to be all over the place at the moment so I figured I may as well try one out. I’m not really sure they offer much over a mod and traditional tank but I’m curious to see if I can figure out the appeal, or the thinking behind them.
I like how the packaging looks and the information about the coils on the side of the box is useful. Curiously it seems all the coils available are 0.2 ohms with similar power ratings, the only real difference being the kind of mesh they are made of. I have two different ones included (D14 and D15) so we’ll see how they vape later. It seems like a bit of a missed opportunity to me to offer a much wider range of coils. It’s an 80w device that seems to have coils that can only be used up to 55w and nothing under 35w. As an AIO device that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. But maybe there will be more coils available later.
According to the top edge of the box there’s an ‘RBA cartridge’ available which I guess will offer the chance to build different coils but sadly this is not included. I’d like to see what this is like as it appears that it’s not just an RBA coil that you use in the pod, but a whole different ‘rebuildable pod’… interesting.
MANIK Pod Mod Kit 
MANIK Pod Mod Kit 
MANIK Pod Mod Kit
The ‘mod’ part of this device is nice, I like it a lot, it’s small and very comfortable to hold and use. The ‘leather’ section feels like rubber to me, If it is leather it’s been highly processed and coated. As far as ‘modes’ go, there’s not a lot to talk about. It will go from 5w to 80w and that’s it, no TC, no boost, no nothing. Features are wattage lock (hold up/down buttons), Puff count clear (fire and down) and colour change (fire button and up). The usual 5 clicks on the fire button will turn it on and off, 3 clicks while on will lock all the buttons. The display is pretty clear and shows everything you would expect. If this was a regular mod, it’s actually the kind of thing I would consider buying, it’s lightweight, single 18650, comfortable and simple. I also think it looks pretty smart and feels well made. It would make a great little set up with a short 22mm tank on top of it. But this isn’t a regular mod of course, it’s a ‘pod mod’ and that’s where for me it starts to come unstuck a little.
The pod that clips into the top of the mod section has less features than the mod, the worst part of this for me is the non-adjustable airflow which comes in through 2 large slots either side of the pod. Lets get this out of the way, this pod has little to no airflow restriction. It’s pure wide open DTL. Putting this in my mouth and breathing through it was really no different than just breathing through my mouth. (when I was testing the device I ended up blocking one side with tape, just to enable me to vape it in what I would call a ‘Normal/Medium’ DTL fashion.) the tip is fixed, filling is by a rubber bung on the top, which works ok, but a sliding top/door or something would have been much nicer. It’s also very dark tinted and almost impossible to see the liquid level. The pod section of the set up is by far the most disappointing aspect of the kit. If you like a wide open DTL vape then I presume you’ll be OK with it, but anything else and there’s nothing you can change or adjust to make it more suitable for you.
Unlike a lot of pod systems, the pod is not magnetic, it clips into the top and that’s a bit of a worry for me. Right now it feels very secure with no movement at all, but if that little clip on the bottom edge of the pod starts to wear or even break then you are going to be buying a replacement.
I have to be honest, there isn’t much I like about this ‘pod tank’ and it does nothing to convince me that it’s in anyway better than a regular tank. But lets not get too down in these challenging times, lets fill it up with some Manabush Bunkr Maple Pecan and see how it vapes.
It’s got the D15 ‘clapton mesh’ coil already fitted so we’ll start with that. ‘best power’ is supposed to be 45-55w but best for me was 35w and one air slot taped over. Like that it was a very enjoyable vape, full of flavour and enough vapour to fill my kitchen in just a few draws. At 55w and with the air slot uncovered it was bordering on the ridiculous for me, a proper cloud chucker. If that’s what you enjoy then you’ll love it… and that’s fine, it’s just a shame that you can’t adjust it for anything else. It’s a bit of a one trick pony. The D14 ‘conical’ coil was slightly better for me and can run perfectly fine around 30w but again without airflow adjustment it’s way too airy to run at that power level and the flavour starts to suffer. Because of the huge amount of airflow you really do need to up the wattage to get the best flavour.
Things I like very much
Everything about the mod section, 18650 powered, The screen, The simplicity, The grippy leather section, etc.
Things I don’t like as much (or you may not like)
The pod, The non-adjustable (very open) airflow.
To conclude
If you like a very open DTL vape around 40-50w then you’ll probably like this a lot as it will do everything you want it to with minimal fuss. … and it will do it well to be fair, plenty of vapour and good flavour.
If that isn’t you, then this really isn’t for you….. yet anyway, Wotofo have a nice little device here, if we start to see more power range in the coils, a restricted DTL/MTL pod, a pod with some airflow adjustment, a pod with a removable drip tip etc. Then I think I would like this more and I think you would too. As it stands now I think it has limited appeal, there’s time and room to expand that appeal and I would encourage Wotofo to do that.
I’ll try and track down an RBA soon so we can see what that offers too.
You can find the Wotofo Manik at Health Cabin here
Spare 4.5ml Pods here
Replacement coils here
This review was written by Simon from planetofthevapes, click to view original review.
