Honest review time: The Magic Atopack from Joyetech

Here’s a look at an interesting new release from Joyetech. It’s a pod device aimed at high resistance low power vaping which for the most part means nic salts with one very special feature we haven’t yet seen in any other pod device on the market. It’s called the Magic Atopack and it borrows from one of their recent rebuildable atomizer releases the Cubis Max which used a very unique type of coil Joyetech called an NCFilm heater. I had a pretty good experience with the Cubis max so I was quite interested in seeing what the Magic Atopack would bring. Here are my honest thoughts on the Magic Atopack from Joyetech.

Package contents:

Listed features and specs:

Packaging and contents:

The kit comes packed in a nice blue and black cardboard box. On the front is an image of the device while on the back it lists the contents of the kit and includes and authenticity check sticker. Slide off the outer sleeve and there’s a black textured box. Inside the black box is the Magic Atopack nicely presented in black sponge along with an accessory kit. Underneath is hidden a manual, a warranty card, a warning card and an unusual package of cotton all cut up in to little squares about 1cm by 1cm. In the accessory box you get a rather nice looking micro USB cable and a decent pair of tweezers. Seems odd but it’ll make sense shortly. Noticeably absent are any coils or replacement pods…

The mod:

The Magic Atopack is the third iteration in the Atopack line, it’s a slick looking device albeit a bit on the big side for a pod device. It’s mostly made of metal and feels incredibly solid in hand if not a tiny bit heavy. It makes up for it’s size with a 1300mAh battery and a whopping 7ml capacity refillable pod(2ml if in a TPD region). It stands about 101mm tall, 38mm wide and 18mm thick. It’s still very comfortable in hand and fits the pocket with ease but it’s not exactly a lightweight device. The body of the device has a nice matte finish that while it still picks up some finger prints they aren’t very obvious unless looking for them. The matte finish though gives it a premium feel and so far has been holding up well to regular abuse.

There’s very little to it with one side having a rounded square fire button almost dead center and the other side bearing a micro USB port with a tiny LED hole above it to indicate when it’s charging. It uses the usual five clicks to turn it on and off and pressing the button while it’s on fires the device. On the side with the button it’s got some subtle branding along the bottom with ‘Magic Atopack’ printed in silver and ‘Joyetech’ in the same place on the other side. A few vent holes and the usual CE markings adorn the bottom. Details were a bit sparse at the time of this review but I’m pretty sure it includes all the usual safety protections like over charge, over discharge, short circuit etc. I did test the cutoff which seems to be set at 10 seconds. It also appears to support pass-through vaping so you can vape on it while it charges.

The only other real feature is the ability to change the colour of the LED indicator on it which only really shows through the charge indicator and USB port which is on the side opposite the fire button. It does shine under the pod but you really can’t see it through the pod unless you take it out. To change the colour of the LED you click the fire button three times quickly and then cycle through all of the colour options by single pressing, when you’ve chosen your colour just let it time out and it will now shine the colour of your choice when firing or charging. To indicate remaining battery life it flashes for a short duration every time after you fire the device with a long flash indicating full battery and quick flashes indicating the battery is depleting. It does however have what Joyetech calls ultra-low constant voltage meaning the output on this thing is regulated to 2.3V, still a somewhat rare feature on a pod device and one that I personally really appreciate. With a max output of 9W and a 1300mAh battery this thing lasts all day and then some with a consistent hit pretty much every time.

The pod:

The pods that come with the Magic Atopack are pretty interesting and incorporate a few handy features. The pod also acts as the mouthpiece so when it’s time to replace the pod you’ll also be replacing the mouthpiece. It’s a top airflow pod meaning airflow comes in from a little hole off to one side of the mouthpiece. It’s got a pretty loose mouth to lung draw or a tight direct lung hit with no way to adjust it. Pulling the pod out we see it has a sticker on one side where you can fill in your juice details to keep track of what you’ve got in the pod. The pods as I mentioned holds an incredible 7ml of liquid and are easily refilled by popping them out of the device and flipping open the bottom cover that’s held closed with a friction fit clip. A large round hole in the bottom lets you fill it up easily with little to no mess.

As I mentioned above the Magic Atopack also uses a pretty innovative new coil system or rather coil-less system wherein the pod contains a small element called an NCFilm heater a smaller version of the one they used in their Cubis Max tank. It’s essentially in between a notch coil and a mesh coil and looks like a thin notched sheet of metal that forms a rudimentary coil. To me it looks sort of like a barbecue grill and actually works in a similar fashion drawing liquid off of a pad of cotton and producing vapour off the top of the grill. That’s where those little cotton squares come in. Right next to the fill hole and a bit hard to see is a little silicone square flap that you can flip up to see a tiny cotton pad, this is also where the tweezers come in, if you flip that up you see the little cotton square that feeds the NCFilm heater which acts as the coil in this innovative new pod system. To replace it just peel the old one out and lay a new one in.

Much the same as my experience was with the Cubis Max I found the flavour just the tiniest bit muted, like it’s airier than the vape I get from a more traditional coil. Don’t get me wrong it’s not flavourless by any means and is even less noticeable with the Magic Atopack but it’s definitely a different kind of vape. I believe it has to do with the fact that it’s top airflow and just sort of scoops the vapour off the top of the NCFilm heater. With the regulated output however it’s a pretty consistent vape each and every time and despite being a little bit airier than usual it’s pretty satisfying when paired with a good salt nicotine based eliquid.

Now the main problems I encountered with it seem to concentrate around replacing that little cotton square. It seems every time I’ve replaced it I needed to fiddle around quite a bit to get it to close up properly and not leak. I found I usually had to peel a layer or two off the cotton square to make it fit and allow the square flap to close properly. If not it left a gap around the silicone flap where juice would leak out. Even if I got it all closed up without any leaking I often found the chamber would flood and I would get juice in my mouth, especially if it was left sitting for a while. I’m sure as I get better at replacing the cotton it will become less of a hassle but as it stands it definitely requires a little more attention than your average pod system.

Overall:

While I did find the wicking method on this thing to be a little finicky, when it’s working it actually works quite well. The fact that it uses a reusable heater coil that pretty much only requires you change the cotton from time to time means it should last longer than your typical pod or coil. The regulated output along with the the capacity of the battery and the tank also means it should last most folks all day long. Being that it does take a bit more care I think this one would be a little better suited to more seasoned vapers who likely won’t struggle as much with the wicking.