The iCare mini - my how times have changed

was.deevey

So I was on a holiday and spotted the iCare mini PPC kit in a Vape Shop and after playing around with it decided I might as well give it a try as a "when I'm stuck" or in-the-car mod. My current go-to is an Evic Mini and Griffin, so this was quite a change. 

Firstly, its so goddam small! At around the same hight as a cigarette, about the same width and just 3/4 wide - its only a 300mah battery, but holds enough power for quite a few long long puffs.You wont go a whole day on it, but if you drop it back into the cradle thats in your pocket when not in use like I do, you wont be stuck. I honestly have not had the battery run out - ever. 

If you forget the battery cradle however, no fear, theres a mini USB port there anyhow and you'll have 100% charge in about 20 mins.

The magnetic charging cradle and aluminum body of the main device makes feels like this was built by Apple everything has a nice "clicky" feel to it. The base holds lots of power, 2300mah and is pretty small itself, maybe 1/2 bigger than an 18650 battery. And you can vape whilst connected to the cradle.  

It holds about 1.3mls of Juice, which seems like quite a small amount, but its designed to be used with higher nicotine quantities and comes with 1.1 ohm atty's - I made up a batch of 50/50 12mg, which for me is a decent nic hit coming from my go-to "cloudchasing" device in which I used 2mg - you aren't gonna be chugging on it for 5 or 10 mins at a time anyhow, its more designed as a cigarette replacement.    

On/Off?  Well its automatic, like the old "Cigalikes" of days gone by -  I did not think I would be able to get used to an automatic switch after 5+ years of click and vape and 2 years prior of dodgy cigalikes with auto switches that clogged at the slightest sign of moisture. Its simple though, suck and it switches on, and I haven't had any issues whatsoever with it.
Airflow control - WTF, now bear in mind the "chimney" is only around 4mm wide, but they managed to squeeze in a lil airflow collar with 5 holes which personally I thought was cool as hell. I found fully open too "airy" and flavorless, the device did not get hot enough to produce a satisfying vape, but it could push decent enough clouds with a big draw. 

For me, I felt that adding more flavor is really a requirement to get the best from it - but either way it'll satisfy a craving. 
Filling is handy enough, the top cap acts as a "tool" that allows you to unscrew the chimney and atomizer assembly to fill it. 

Theres a visible tank down one side with a line halfway up - overfilling unfortunately results in liquid spewing out around the chimney, so tissues are required from time to time.  

Coils are easily replaced, by unscrewing the chimney, and screwing off the old atty and replacing with a new one.  

All in all, if you are looking for a really stealthy refillable vape that will quell the urges when you really can't / don't want to blow clouds or carry a large mod around, you cant go wrong.

Like I said, this is really designed as a "stop smoking" device and I definitely think its easy enough to use that a novice would be up and running in minutes with minimal fuss however the filling can be messy the first few times - instinct automatically tells you to ignore the line and overfill.    
 
I genuinely cant say enough good things about the build quality and the thought thats gone into the engineering - I never thought I would go near a low wattage micro device again, but its found a place in my world.

jambofc

theres a heap of other devices with better battery life,holds more juice and around the same price,i cant see the point of them tbh

was.deevey

jambofc wrote: »

theres a heap of other devices with better battery life,holds more juice and around the same price,i cant see the point of them tbh

Honestly I didn't either for a long time. I'm well aware theres tons of other devices, but its simply not possible to physically get any more battery or juice capacity given its size and form factor.  

Theres still lots of smokers who consider a regular ego too big when moving from cigarettes and plenty of work, activities and sports where its just much more practical to have a teeny tiny, sturdy device that is no bigger than a key fob that you can take a quick puff from every now and then in the field. 

I must have smashed and broken 10+ ego's, oodles of clearomizers and various cig-alikes back in the day and not to mention numerous tanks and one or two rda's on mods big and small alike. Never mind the leaking...ugh.  

It's certainly not a replacement for a bigger mod if you already have one, or if you are intent on chugging big beautiful clouds, but it does what it does very well.

Thecageyone

This would have been great a few years back IMO. Sounds like precisely what I was looking for when I started. But had to make do with smokegreen's lousy battery life and pre-loaded atomizers that ran out of steam and flavour after about an hour. They weren't cheap either. From that experience I jumped to the Ego-C system and progressed from there. But something like this might have been ideal. Nowadays, I tend to have a bag of some sort with me when out and about, so size isn't a big deal. I take something like the Smok Alien, which is tidy and battery life is great, and a full tank that will last the better part of a day. I throw a bottle of my own DIY juice in the bag also, J.I.C. But I don't vape much when out, so any charged mod/tank combo usually suffices.