Honest review time: The Smoant Battlestar Squonker

Here’s a look at the latest from Smoant. It’s a squonker kit inspired by one of their best selling devices the Battlestar mod, a dual battery device that was quite popular about two years ago or so. Probably the biggest feature that sets it apart from other squonk mods is its pump action bottle system. It’s not the first pump action system we’ve seen but it does take a slightly different approach from most. Here are my honest thoughts on the Smoant Battlestar Squonker from Smoant.

Package contents:

Listed features:

Specs:

Packaging and contents:

The kit comes packed in a bright yellow and black box. On the front is a stylized image of the kit and on the back it lists the contents, specs and some manufacturer info as well as an authenticity check sticker. In the box the kit is well protected in a sponge insert and underneath is hidden all of the extras and accessories that come with the kit. Included are the Smoant Battlestart Squonker, the Battlestar Squonker RDA, a manual, warranty card, warning card, a micro USB cable and a spare eliquid bottle. You also get a bag containing some cotton, two premade coils, a few O-rings, four spare grubs, a solid 510 pin, a blue handled screwdriver and an Allen key. Along with the spare bottle you also get a couple of small O-rings and some little rubber nubs. It’s a well stocked kit and you get absolutely everything you’d need to get started with the exception of juice.

The mod:

The Battlestar Squonker definitely takes some design queues from the original Batttlestar mod which was a dual battery mod that used a fairly uncommon form factor, basically a trapezoid shape that was surprisingly comfortable to grip. With the Battlestar Squonker they’ve stuck with the same shaped but with a little extra girth around the back to support the squonk bottle or rather pump bottle as it is with the Battlestar squonker. Like the original it’s a dual 18650 device and to access the batteries you slide open the bottom cover which also gives you access to their proprietary bottle system.

The two bottles that come with the kit are round on one side and flat on the other and hold a comfortable 7ml of liquid. Unlike most squonkers however it uses a pump action to push liquid up to the atomizer as opposed to a more traditional squeeze bottle. Basically it’s like the pump in a bottle of hand soap and that pump is contained in the bottles. With the tank plugged in a little gold coloured push button juts out the top right next to the atomizer to create and easy push button pump system. I’ve heard some say the gold button kind of sticks out from the device which it does both figuratively and literally but when paired with the Battlestar RDA the gold accents do compliment each other fairly well. Smoant markets it as a no-over squonk pump but if you get overzealous with it you can definitely over-squonk as it doesn’t seem to draw liquid back in as effectively as a regular squeeze bottle or at all really. However I almost feel as though you have a bit more control over how much liquid is pumped/squonked and in my experience it’s pretty unlikely to happen once you get the hang of it. For me I tend to give it about 4-5 pumps every few hits and I haven’t had any issues yet. That little gold coloured button actually unscrews so theoretically it could be replaced with a different style or shape but it’s unlikely we’ll see it as an option or 3rd party accessory.

Those little rubber bits that came with the tank go in to the back of the device to mitigate any rattle between the bottle and the mod however I noticed it still left a tiny bit movement in the tank. Not a lot but enough that I notice it when gripping the mod, like if you squeeze it it’s kind of squishy. While the hard plastic bottles do hold quite a bit of liquid I also find accessing them, filling them and rinsing them to be a bit of a pain when compared to most others squonk mod bottles. Basically you have to open the battery compartment to get to the bottle which also shuts off the device. You then either hold the whole thing upside down to keep the batteries from falling out or take it out completely to fill it. It fills up like most pod devices with a silicone plug you can pop out on the bottom. The fill hole is fairly wide but it can still get a bit messy with no vent hole which is also why it can be a challenge to clean it out. With the bottle being so close to the batteries you’ll always want to make sure you clean up any liquid that escapes after topping up. I’m not saying it’s difficult to use it just requires a bit of care to maintain it. Also because the liquid is being fed up through that button/pump assembly the white nub coming out of the top of the bottle is usually a bit wet as is the gold button when the tank is removed. Some liquid also stays in the line that goes from the pump to the 510 so when changing flavours there can be a bit of cross over unless you take the time to clear it out. I found you can blow in to the 510 with a tissue under the button to catch any liquid trapped in the line, it’s usually only a few drops though.

At the top of the device it’s got a really nice stainless steel 510 connection with an O-ring embedded in the top to prevent juice leaking out between your atomizer and the mod. It’s an incredible little feature that I’d really like to see implemented on more squonk mods and it seems to do a good job keeping the juice contained but it does pop out from time to time so you got to keep an eye on it. Because the 510 is not centered it sits up against the edge where the buttons and screen live and the 24mm diameter Battlestar Squonker RDA that comes with the kit comes right up to the edge of the device so anything beyond 24mm or 24.5mm will likely overhang. Running down the face of the mod are the fire button, screen, adjustment buttons and micro USB port for charging and firmware updates. The device can charge at a rate of 5V/2A with balance charging and should be able to fully charge the device in about 2.5 hours. The Fire button is square and made of plastic but has a decent click to it with no rattle or anything. The 0.96″ OLED screen sits behind a tinted plastic and although it’s easy enough to read indoors when outdoors it might be a challenge to see it. The adjustment buttons are similar to the fire button and are also square and plastic but again with no rattle or anything to them.

The rest of the mod pretty much resembles the original Battlestar mod with some engraved lines and shapes on the sides giving it a little extra flair. It’s made of a zinc-alloy so it has a bit of heft to it especially considering it’s a dual battery squonker. Still because of the shape of it the Battlestar Squonker if comfortable to hold and feels ergonomic in the hand. I’ve primarily been thumb firing it and with the placement of the fire button and pump trigger I find I’m doing a bit of a thumb war sort of move whenever I need to give it a few pumps. You can sort of finger fire it and press the pump with your thumb but it doesn’t feel quite as natural as with the thumb fire at least for me.

Features and function wise it’s pretty much an updated version of the original Battlestar with a max output of 200W and support for all of the same modes and a few new ones like Variable voltage and a new power curve which Smoant calls DVW. Altogether it has support for the following modes VW, VV, DVW(Power Curves) and Temp control for NI, TI, SS and TCR. It also includes all of the usual built-in protections we expect to see in regulated mods like reverse battery protection, over-heating, over current, over-time, over charge and low voltage protection so it should remain safe in nearly any scenario.

To turn it on and off it uses the usual five clicks of the fire button. When booting up it shows a little animation of the Smoant logo and mascot, a little ant character. Three clicks of the fire button lets you highlight the mode in the top left corner and pressing +/- lets you cycle through the various modes. In variable wattage and voltage modes you can adjust the watts or volts accordingly and if in temp control you can switch between adjusting temp or watts by holding fire and +. It adjusts in 0.1 increments but speeds up to full point increments if you hold down the adjustment button. You can’t manually lock the resistance but it will prompt if it’s a new coil when attaching your atomizer which effectively locks it. Also there is an AUTO mode for both TC and TCR which will automatically adjust the output power according to the resistance of the atomizer or as usual you can adjust it manually. In DVW mode which is their power curve setup you can press fire and – to set the wattage for a five increment curve, pressing power and + will let you adjust the duration of those increments from 0.5-2s so you can really customize the curve to your liking if that’s your thing. In my basic testing everything performed as I’d expect and even the AUTO mode in TC did a pretty good job of automatically adjusting the output to match whatever TC build I was testing.

The RDA:

The RDA that comes with the kit is called the Battlestar Squonker RDA and it too leans heavily on the previous Battlestar RDA for design influence. In fact it’s pretty much identical to the original with the exception of the top cap which no longer has the odd squinty face on the side and instead opts for a much cleaner look with just a series of chevrons ringing the base of the cap. They look sort of like greater than/less than symbols but facing up and down. Made of 304 stainless steel and brass the RDA is 24mm in diameter and only stands about 22mm tall so it’s fairly compact. It comes equipped with a resin 810 drip tip that’s nice and comfortable on the lips. Inside it’s a dual coil rebuildable dripper that can also be used for squonking. The domed cap which has two oval slots cut in to it can be turned to adjust the airflow which lines up with the airflow inlets on the deck. They aren’t fully enclosed inlets more like a ramp that cuts in to the outer edge of the deck. The shiny deck which looks like it’s gold plated uses a classic dual post design with each post having two holes to slide your leads through. Flat head grubs make it super easy to tighten it all down and line every thing up. A tiny block in the center of the deck helps spread the liquid to both sides when squonking.

It’s a pretty basic but well proven design that works well for dual coils and is easy to setup and maintain. I wasn’t too sure what the included coils were made of so I opted to build it using dual fused claptons (2×26/38) which was a very straightforward installation. Wicking it just as I would any other dual coil dripper this RDA should be easy enough to handle for nearly any builder. I personally prefer single coil and would have liked to have seen a single coil adapter included but it’s easy enough for me to just switch to another atomizer. At full open the Battlestar Squonker RDA is really airy and I preferred to use it closed down about half way for a slightly restricted direct lung hit. Flavour and vapour production pretty much depend on how you build it and run it but with the dual fused claptons I popped in I was getting some good flavour and some considerable vapour production.

Overall:

While I kind of feel like Battlestar Squonker RDA could’ve used a bit more of an update I thought Smoant did a fantastic job of bringing their classic Battlestar design up to date with the added functionality of a pump action squonker. For some the bottle system might not be ideal but it does work quite well and adds some measure of control when pumping/squonking and I personally enjoy using it over some more traditional often difficult to squeeze squonk bottles so kudos to Smoant for trying something a bit different. The chip that powers it is pretty much proven at this point and as mentioned performance will greatly depend on your ability to build and wick but as it stands I wouldn’t have any issues recommending it for someone looking for a dual battery squonker pumper with a slightly different design. I think fans of the original Battlestar who are in to squonking will appreciate what the Battlestar Squonker brings.

Check the reviews for Samoant Pasito as well!!