VIP Alpha Range – Review

In our latest vaping review, we’re going to take a look at the Alpha Range from VIP. The company have launched their own branded hardware that meets the variety of vaping styles. Be it Mouth To Lung (MTL) Direct Lung (DL) or somewhere in-between, VIP have you covered. We’ve spent nearly a month with the mods and tanks in daily rotation. Read on for the reviews….

 

Alpha Mini Base Kit

First up, it’s the Alpha Mini Base kit. Priced at £24.99 and available in silver or black, this device is aimed at the back to basic trend. I quit smoking using something similar in February 2016. The Alpha Mini is a MTL vape, which has a tight draw with very little clouds but surprisingly great flavour. I’d use this with a high nicotine % e-juice, or some nic salts or free base. The airflow is adjustable at the top to let more air down into the coil thus more clouds. An 800 mAh battery lasts a full day but I mostly use something like this for a stealth vape on my lunch break. Although the cigarette like vape mods are popular, I much prefer the Pod style All In One.

A simple device to set-up and use with only a fire button plus 5 click on off feature. The tank itself is let down a little with poor O rings that don’t hold the tension, when unscrewing to refill, the entire tank comes apart which could cause a mess. Just be mindful.

Included in the box

• Alpha Mini 800 mAh battery,
• Alpha Mini 1.4Ω atmoizer,
• Additional 1.4Ω coil,
• Micro USB cable,
• User guide.

The VIP Alpha is compatible with the VIP Alpha Mini Coils in 1.4Ω.

 

 

Alpha Base Kit

 

My favourite of the three devices we reviewed is the Alpha Base Kit. Priced at £29.99 and available in black or the silver. The Alpha Base feels nice and weighty in the hand like a big cuban cigar. Simple to set up and use like it’s mini brother. There’s no screen for settings to adjust wattage, just fire to take a few blasts and five clicks to turn the device off and put it in your pocket again. The 3000 mAh battery lasts all day in rotation with other mods. A nice airy draw with a warmish inhale, the Alpha Base bangs out great flavour. The included 0.3 ohm coil is very very good and lasted nearly two weeks which is fine with me.

The Alpha Base feels great in the hand, has great flavour and the battery lasts long enough. Again, sadly, let down by poor O-rings and tight threads when unscrewing and refilling.

Included in the box

• 3000mAh battery,
• Alpha 0.3Ω atomizer,
• Additional 0.5Ω coil,
• Spare glass,
• Micro USB cable,
• User guide.

The VIP Alpha is compatible with the VIP Alpha/Tense Coils in 0.3Ω or 0.5Ω.

 

 

Tense Stick

Next up is the Tense Stick. Why is this called a stick when obviously the Base Kit is more a stick? Priced at £48.99 this is the most expensive mod that we reviewed from VIP. The Tense Stick is only available in black.. The device is tiny in the hand, it tries to be a more expensive mod with fancy hexagon buttons, but it feels cheap to me in my honest opinion. The buttons rattle like your granny’s coin purse. I can’t find the battery capacity of the Tense Stick but under fairly average usage the battery only lasted a few hours. A 0.3 ohm coil running at 50 watts should last longer than that! Granted you interchange the coils with the Base Kit, so the flavour is great if you can find the sweet spot in your wattage setting. There’s settings for different temperature controls for wire types like Ni, Ti, SS and memory settings M1 and M2. The ramp up can be changed but I found the settings to be extremely frustrating to navigate and had to read the documentation, imagine that!

 

As mentioned, I really enjoyed the Base Kit and the Mini has a market audience which isn’t me. I was surprised by the flavour of all the tanks and fairly impressed with coil life too. Nobody wants to be purchasing coils every week for their mods. A pack of coils will last over a month for £9.99 plus shipping which is ok with me. I notice that VIP are offering 10% off when you sign up to their newsletter, the company pride themselves on great products and customer service. Free shipping is provided for purchasing items over £10, there’s never been a better time to quit smoking this Stoptober / Switchtober.