Telescopic V2 by Gus

Greece has become a hotbed of vaping hardware production in recent years. Many highly-regarded brands have emerged from the Mediterranean country in recent years, including names like Golden Greek, Atmizone, Atmomixani, and others.  Another of these names is Gus, with their series of mechanical mods.  We recently received the latest version of their Telescopic mod and have been putting it through its paces.

The Gus Telescopic is constructed of polished stainless steel, and other than the shininess of the mirror-polished surface, the first thing that struck us was the size.  The Gus Telescopic is a very small mod, particularly for one that telescopes. The thin top cap and button mean that the entire mod is hardly longer than the battery used inside it, which can be anything from an 18350 to an 18650.  A Kick can reliably be used with batteries up to the size of an 18500.

We were particularly impressed with the button. It is bottom-mounted and fires very easily, and includes a locking ring to prevent firing during those times you’d rather it didn’t.  The ring is very well-threaded, like the rest of the mod, and spins easily; we were able to lock and unlock the button with a simple flick of a finger.

It is a very attractive mod as well. The finish is excellent, and includes several very nice touches such as the dimpling on the locking ring, laser-etched millimeter measuring marks on the center extension tube, and the clean, tasteful “Gus” and crown logo on the bottom tube.  Coupled with a polished atomizer, we’ve found the Gus Telescopic simply stunning.

Contact on our Gus Telescopic were brass at both the positive and negative poles, with the battery inserted positive-end down. While we did have some trouble getting it to fire at first, once we discovered how to adjust the center pin to meet our atomizer (though it should probably be mentioned that the pin is only minimally adjustable, and not particularly easy to do), it’s been extremely reliable ever since. With it’s small, convenient size, excellent performance, and classy good looks, we can easily see the Gus Telescopic become one of our most-used mods.

So, how does it rate on our grading scale?

Build Quality: 8/10

The Gus Telescopic is built from quality materials and the pieces mesh together very well. Threading is clean and , if not the smoothest we’ve ever encountered, it is better than most. The mod is very easy to disassemble and put back together. Size was an obvious consideration in the design and execution, and as a result the Gus Telescopic is easily one of the smallest telescoping mods we’ve come across. Our only real complaint is that, out of the box, it would not fire an atomizer, requiring that we adjust the center pin, which is more of a short, headless screw, before we could use the unit.  A slightly longer pin, or a slotted end to allow the use of a screwdriver rather than the needle-nose pliers we had to use, would have been an improvement.

Looks: 9/10

The Gus Telescopic is a strikingly beautiful mod, and full of small flourishes like laser engraving, dimpling and venting that all add to the look of the mod rather than detract from it.

Flexibility: 8/10

Obviously, the telescopic nature of this Gus mod allows the use of a range of batteries.  The size makes this feature even more attractive by keeping the mod compact, even with the largest batteries it supports.  We ran into no issues running the mod with a Kick to provide variable wattage.

Performance: 8/10

First impressions are that the throughput of this mod are quite good.  We will soon be going back and retesting mods for things like voltage loss and internal resistance, but for now it appears that the use of brass contacts, coupled with tight construction, have resulted in a mod that performs exceptionally well.

Price: 7/10

The price of this mod can vary greatly, in large part due to somewhat limited availability, particularly from U.S. vendors.  Our Telescopic was purchased from Vape Revolution in Cerritos, California, where it is still currently in stock, for $140.  While $140 may seem steep to some, it is not by any means an outlandish price for a mod of the Gus’s build quality, and would certainly recommend buying one at this price.

Overall Score: 8.0

Telescopic V2 by Gus