Honest review time: The Aspire MIXX and Nautilus GT Mini

Here’s a review I’ve been really anxious to get to. Recently Aspire one of the oldest and most respected companies in the industry partnered up with Sunbox. If you’re not familiar with Sunbox they’re a European company that’s known for creating high-end and somewhat exclusive mods. This is their second such partnership the first being with Taifun a company out of Germany who produces enthusiast grade atomizers and with this second pairing Aspire is unveiling their newest line of products which they call the Prestige line. This review will focus on the Taifun Nautilus GT Mini and the Aspire MiXX and while they don’t officially ship together, they’re basically a match made in heaven. Here are my honest thoughts on the Nautilus GT Mini and the Mixx from Aspire in partnership with Taifun and Sunbox.

Package contents:

Nautilus GT Mini 
1 xNautilus GT Mini Tank (2.8 ml)
1 xGlass Tube
1 xNautilus BVC 1.6Ω
1 xNautilus 2S Mesh Coil 0.7Ω (Preinstalled)
1 xNautilus GT Mini User Manual
1 xSet of O-rings
MIXX Mod
1 xMIXX Mod
1 x18350 Battery Metal Sleeve
2 xScrews
1 xMixx User manual

Listed features and specs:

Nautilus GT Mini 
Tank capacity:2.8ml/2ml(TPD)/3.5ml with extension PSU tube
Dimensions:54 x 22mm
Airflow:5 adjustments
CoilsNautilus coils
Fill method:Top fill
Drip tip:510
MIXX Mod
Screen:0.91" OLED
Size:48 x 24 x 83mm / 48 x 24 x 53mm
Output mode:W/VW/Bypass
Battery:Single 18650/18350

Packaging and contents:

Both kits come packed in very slick looking black packaging with some gold and silver lettering to denote they are from the Prestige line. On the front they both bear images of their respective contents while on the back it lists what’s inside, some basic warnings and some company info. In the Nautilus GT Mini kit you get the tank, two coils, a spare glass, a user manual and a spare set of o-rings. In the MIXX kit you get the MIXX mod, a sleeve for an 18350 battery, 2 screws to secure it and a user manual. Both kits are packed light with no real extras aside from the few spare parts they include.

The Nautilus GT Mini tank:

If you caught my review of the full sized Nautilus GT you probably already know I’m a fan. For a person who is mainly a mouth to lung vaper and someone who has always appreciate the performance of Aspires Nautilus coils the Nautilus GT was a godsend. Now with the release of the Nautilus GT Mini I may have a new favorite. I’m the type of guy who likes to keep my gear compact so when I saw that one of my new favorite tanks was now available in a smaller more compact package I knew I would love it and love it I do. It’s pretty much the same tank just smaller so I’m not going to go into extreme but it should be enough to give you an idea.

At the top it once again comes packed with a dual material mouth to lung style drip tip. It’s nice and comfortable and looks great paired up with the tank. Just below it is the twist to open top fill. It uses a sort of locking groove mechanism to hold it in place and from my experience with the full sized tank once it’s in place it stays in place. Under the top fill cap are the two kidney shaped fill holes, they were a bit small and recessed on the original but now are even smaller. It’s not an issue to just squeeze your juice in though and I’ve yet to make a real mess with it so no complaints there.

The tank as mentioned holds 2.8ml of liquid and uses heat resistant pyrex for the glass which if using salts easily tends to last me the day but if you need a bit more capacity you can opt for a 3.5ml PSU plastic replacement tank that’s sold separately. The TPD version for some reason is made of Acrylic but I don’t live in a TPD region. The tank can also be broken down for cleaning or replacing the glass and has a nice protective outer metal sleeve which should help against tipping over or short falls. To access the coils you simple unscrew the tank portion from the base. Being Nautilus coils they screw into the base but the tank also include a long chimney so you really don’t need to drain the tank before swapping coils.

As for airflow much like it’s bigger brother, the Nautilus GT Mini has five airflow settings that you can set by turning the airflow control ring on the base. The options range from 1, 1.2, 1.6, 1.8 up to 2.5mm providing a really nice range of tight to fairly loose mouth to lung draws. On the biggest hole you can pretty much get a tight mouth to lung but where this thing really shines is with mouth to lung. I myself prefer a 1mm hole so I set it to the tightest option and it’s absolutely perfect for my tastes!

The Aspire MIXX mod:

The MIXX mod is a gorgeously designed side-by-side style device that out of the box supports a single 18560 battery but also includes a sleeve and some screws so it can be used with 18350 batteries. A side-by-side if you’re not familiar is a mod where the battery sits side by side with the atomizer in order to help keep things more compact. It’s an older design concept that was popular with enthusiasts but never really went mainstream aside from a few devices that snuck through. I will mention, one slight draw back to the side-by-side design is depending on where your atomizers airflow is located you can sometimes block it with your hand just gripping the device but anyone familiar with the design will know to expect it. Although compact, the mod still has some heft to it as it’s pretty much entirely made of metal. Unlike so many other devices these days the main body of the MIXX is milled from a single piece of metal and not molded or stamped giving it a really solid and well constructed feel. It’s available in Jet Black, Quicksilver or Tuxedo which is a mix of black and silver.

With the side by side configuration the device can support atomizers up to 24mm in diameter which means it will also fit the original Nautilus GT perfectly. The battery tube as mentioned can be swapped but both of them use a threaded battery cap, which does feel a bit old school and considering the device doesn’t have any charging built-in you’re going to be using it quite often. The threads are on the finer side so I’d recommend using caution when opening and closing the battery compartment. Also the battery cap has an open design so the bottom of the battery is technically exposed. It’s the negative end so it should be relatively safe but it’s an interesting design choice to say the least. Swapping configurations is just a matter of undoing two screws and unscrewing the battery tube, swapping it out and screwing it all back together. Oddly though, they don’t include an Allan key in the kit to do it with so you’ll need to provide your own.

The fire button is located on the side of the device and is best used with the ring or middle finger. The adjustment buttons are located on one of the faces while the 0.91″ black and white OLED screen is located on the base. The fire and adjustment buttons are both metallic and nice and clicky but the fire button on mine has the ever so slightest rattle to it if shaken. Now I’m not the type to sit there shaking my device and I would never notice it on the MIXX unless looking for it so I’m not even going to list it as a con. The screen layout is a bit old school but very familiar and will no doubt be easy to pick up and use by most.

Powered by Aspires ASP chipset it’s got a simplified interface and can fire up to 60W. It’s only got three modes which I appreciate, Variable Wattage, Variable Voltage and Bypass. That means no temp control, curves or any of that extra junk which I personally never tend to use and which only tends to confuse new vapers. Turning it on and off uses three click while five clicks will lock the device, pressing fire and + will cycle through the three modes and pressing fire and – will lock the adjustment buttons. Super simple and easy to pick up but still powerful and reliable enough to meet most peoples needs.

Overall:

I really don’t have anything bad to say about the Nautilus GT mini at all, it’s basically a smaller version of the Nautilus GT which I have to say is one of my favorite Nautilus coil based MTL tanks available at the moment. Also considering either the full size or the mini pairs absolutely perfect with the MIXX mod it’s hard to go wrong with either one. The MIXX also gave me very little to complain about and I’m pretty sure a lot of enthusiasts are really going to appreciate not only it’s design but also it’s quality construction which coming from Aspire is second to none. Sure I had a couple of very minor complaints like no internal charging but nothing that would prevent me from wanting to pick up another. Like I think that Tuxedo version is calling my name. I’d think any fans of side-by-side mods will appreciate this pairing and for either new or seasoned vapers I’d have no trouble giving this set up two enthusiastic thumbs up!!

How it adds up
Beautiful designBuild qualityEase of useFit and finishRegulated outputBattery optionsOverall performanceTop fillAirflow on tankUses Nautilus coils
No onboard chargingBattery cover threads are fineNo Allen key in the kit
9.3Overall
Presentation9.5
Build Quality9.5
Performance9