The Tobeco Blade

We’re going to take a break from reviewing the latest crop of GGTS clones to take a look at something different: The Tobeco Blade, a clone of an American-made mod, the Apex Vapor Alpha.

Tobeco Blade with AGR Tank

This one’s really all about the switch. The distinguishing characteristic of the Apex Alpha, and this mod, are the large, ribbed switch in the middle of the tube. Rather than press a button to fire the mod the center tube is slid upward, pushing the battery into the center post at the top of the mod.

This inside tube is a sort of removable battery sleeve that slides freely within the outer tube that forms the main body of the mod.  The long center post is mounted with a spring to allow it to move along with the battery tube, pushing it up to make contact with the atomizer.  While this sounds a bit like it might make the Blade prone to misfires, we’ve found that not to be the case. While quite an amount of throw is required to make contact — maybe a half-inch or so — our Blade has fired quite reliably.

We do have some concerns about the potential wear of this setup. We don’t imagine the chrome plating of the inner tube will last long if we’re constantly sliding it against the outer tube to fire the mod. We’re not seeing signs of wear after a day or two with the Blade, but we fully expect it to look like hell fast. Raw stainless steel would probably have made a better choice of materials — it’s still get scratched up, but few things look worse than a mod with the plating rubbed off it in random spots.

We were pleased to find brass contacts at both battery connections and the center post, and a very minimal amount of voltage drop (less than .01 volts) across the mod.

Build Quality: 7/10

The parts of this mod fit together quite well for an inexpensive Chinese clone, with very smooth threading and seemingly tight tolerances all around. The battery sleeve, for example, holds our Panasonic 18650s so snugly that we have to shake it a bit to get the battery out, as a vacuum is formed behind it when removing it.  This may mean that some thicker batteries won’t quite fit, but so far we’ve had no issues with the Panasonics and AWs we usually use around here.

Looks: 7/10

The Blade is certainly eye-grabbing, but many will recognize it as a direct knock-off of the Apex mod it emulates. We have doubts, however, that it will stay pretty for long, with a design practically guaranteed to wear away much of the chrome plating in short order.

Flexibility: 5/10

There’s not much flexibility here. This is a strictly 18650-only mechanical mod, though we had no problems using an 18500 with a Kick.  The diameter of the top cap may be troublesome for some. It’s not as wide as most flat-top mods, and narrower than a slant-top, putting it into a middle ground that may be difficult to match with an atomizer. Our AGR tanks and GG iAtty were both very good fits, but most of our other atomizers were either too big or too small.

Performance: 8/10

With brass contacts and very low voltage loss, the Blade performed very well in our tests. The switch, however, may make it a bit difficult for some to use this mod effectively.

Price: 8/10

This is another of those mods that hasn’t really started hitting retailers yet.  We grabbed ours through a Facebook co-op for $36, shipped, so it seems likely we’ll be seeing at at retailers for somewhere near the $50-$70 range.   Considering the performance and relative uniqueness of the mod, we suppose many will find the price quite attractive, though we will certainly revise our score here if it turns out we’re way off the mark.

Overall Score: 7.0

 

The Tobeco Blade