Up for review today is the new Kbox 200 mod. This box mod was provided by the fantastic crew over at Vapor Beast for the purposes of this review. Besides being the latest addition to the KBOX series, this mod also sets the pace for the company in their entry into the competitive high powered mods space.
With a current sale price of $44.95 (after coupon “YEAHBABY”) at the time of this writing, it is a little higher than some of the other 200 watt capable devices on the market, but bears the Kanger name which tends to sell a lot of gear. It’s also the only 200w mod packed with the capacity to provide 5 different modes to suit different vaping styles.
If you’ve been wondering what is kbox or whether it is really worth it, please check out the rest of our Kbox review to find out more.
Ratings
- Package and Design: 4.5/5/0
- Features: 4.5/5.0
- Safety: 5.0/5.0
- Battery Performance: 4.5/5.0
- Performance: 4.0/5.0
The Kbox 200 feels really nice in the hand, although for a dual battery mod, it’s a little light. It does not have the same quality solid feel as some other mods, including their own KBOX Mini Platinum. This could be a result of lighter materials used in the frame to reduce the weight which makes this mod feel cheap and poorly constructed.
Its battery door is a simple sleeve style door held in place by a friction lock mechanism, rather than the more common magnet based doors that even their own Topbox Platinum uses. The mod is supposed to be capable of temperature control on Nickel (Ni), Titanium (Ti), Stainless Steel (SS) and NiChrome (NiCr). Performance-wise, it brings a mixed and balanced experience at the same time. More about this later in our review.
coupon code: YEAHBABY
On top of that, it’s a dual battery mod that is capable of pushing 200 watts and comes loaded with a set of features aimed at not just maintaining the battery life but also keeping you safe and ensure the mod lasts longer. It also has a gorgeous, high gloss, painted finish.
The display is bright, clear, and very usable. The buttons are well shaped, although a bit loud and clicky for my tastes. Overall, the Kbox 200 is pretty lightweight, which also means it doesn’t feel all that solid. It’s pretty wide to account for the batteries, but the front and rear faces are rounded, making it easy to hold.
Pros
Professional Packaging
KangerTech has the packaging down, plain and simply put, they have definitely broken the code on producing professional looking packaging. It is a simple sleeve styled box, in the well-known KangerTech red and black color scheme.
Battery Stickers For Easy Identification
The package comes with four black battery stickers. I personally don’t have any use for the battery stickers, but I suppose if you want to ensure that you have marked your batteries in married pairs, these would help to do the trick. Personally, I mark my batteries with a sharpie, it doesn’t come off like a sticker can, and works really well.
Spacious And Compatible
The mod itself is very wide, to account for the dual 18650 batteries and display/electronics, but the front and back have been rounded so that it fits well in your hand. The 510 connector is spring loaded and works with all the tanks I tried on it.
Safety
To show you how much they care for your safety, creators of this unit packed into it a set of features that are all targeted not only at making it safer to use but also ensuring that your device lasts longer. They include the reverse polarity, high temp guard, low voltage cut off, short-circuit guard, battery charging as well as discharge protection on each cell.
KangerTech has the packaging down, plain and simply put, they have definitely broken the code on producing professional looking packaging. It is a simple sleeve styled box, in the well known KangerTech red and black color scheme.
In the box is a poorly translated, multi fold instruction sheet, an authenticity card and four black battery stickers. I personally don't have any use for the battery stickers, but I suppose if you want to ensure that you have marked your batteries in married pairs, these would help to do the trick. Personally, I mark my batteries with a sharpie, it doesn't come off like a sticker can, and works really well.
Instructions
Poorly Translated Instructions
The included instruction sheet is a cheap and simple multifold sheet. It’s a long skinny, 7 fold sheet of glossy paper with instructions poorly translated from Chinese into English and several other languages. Don’t expect too much though, the English portion of the instructions is only a couple of pages, the remainder is all in other languages, likely to be as poorly translated as the English.
Design issues
Kanger did make some, in my opinion, design decisions that I don’t understand. For starters, the KBOX Mini Platinum has a very nice door held on with powerful magnets, yet the Kbox 200 door is a simple, cheap metal door that is held on by nothing more than a little bit of pressure.
With the brand new mod, the door seems to fit fairly well and the lines are mostly clean, although just a little off. On the mod, the door seems to do its job, but off the mod it feels pretty flimsy, even more so than the friction door of the IPV D2, of course that is only a single battery mod.
Poor materials
It seems KangerTech may have skimped on the materials for the mod. It is very lightweight, and doesn’t feel very solid overall. Even with 2 batteries in it, it is quite light and doesn’t weigh as much as some of my more solid single battery mods.
Confusing And Limiting
If you have EVER used any other manufacturers regulated mods, then you better read the provided written directions before trying to use this mod, otherwise you will really confuse yourself trying to figure it out.
The menu system is counter intuitive and I found it both very confusing and limiting. For example, most mods allow you to set both the temperature of the coil and the maximum wattage you want delivered while vaping. Not so with the Kbox 200, all you can set is the coil temperature, and the mod ALWAYS starts at 200 watts, then drops from there. You can watch the KangerTech Kbox temperature review below:
Top Features Of The KBOX 200
Performance Features
Unlike other mods in its class, this mod is able to deliver exceptional performance in all modes thanks to its 360 kHz high-speed synchronous DC-DC control and the TI Infineon stability chip. Best of all, even at 200 watts, you are spared from pulse moderation. Getting those remarkably dense clouds pretty much depends with your choice of juice.
The unit will work extremely well with Kanthal when switched to NiCr mode not to mention Stainless-steel, Nichrome, Titanium and Nickel as well. And as we saw earlier in this Kanger Kbox 200w mod review, you can pair it up with most tanks, thanks to the 510 threading. 22mm tanks or those smaller than that are the ideal choice.
Sometimes it can get tough telling apart the KBOX 2oo from counterfeits and so the real manufacturer of this unit insist that you press the -+ buttons alternatively until the unit displays an anti-counterfeiting SN which you then match to KangerTech’s database.
Design
My mod came in Kanger’s signature bright red color with black buttons and it just looks fantastic. The display “looks” like a traditional small display, but KangerTech managed to make it much more usable with a very nice magnifying overlay. This is an ingenious feature. Why try to design a mod around a larger display when a simple magnifying lens on top of a small display can achieve the same results? It’s very bright, and easily readable under almost any condition, and shows all the information you would expect on a modern regulated mod.
Easy Set Up And Operation
Each of these tasks: changing the power modes, firing the Kbox, adjusting the wattage and temperature, switching between left and right handed display, switching between light or dark screen modes, and attaching another atomizer can all be handled with ease. In under 2-3 minutes, you can master how to set up the unit and be able maneuver between each of these tasks with ease.
Conclusion
To sum up our Kbox review, it’s clear that this is a budget mod with a lot of capability provided you can make it work for you. If you already own KangerTech equipment, and are comfortable with how they implement the controls, then this may just be for you.
However, I have mixed feelings on the fit and finish of this particular mod. On the one hand, it is absolutely gorgeous. KangerTech stole a play out of Joyetech’s book (the eVic VT) with a beautiful, high gloss (think “new car”) paint job. Mine came in Red and it is absolutely flawless.
It’s great that they designed the logo to double up as the battery door and a venting channel but on the flip side, this also allows dirt and moisture into the mod and could pose as a problem to the unit. As for the buttons, they provide a nice positive feedback, but they are a bit noisier than I would have preferred.
The Kbox 200 just feels cheap and insubstantial, especially when compared against my other mods. The fact that this is a dual battery mod, but doesn’t weigh any more than most of my single battery mods could be a good or a bad point. In my mind, it isn’t good, although if the frame is strong enough, then the lack of the additional weight may prove to be beneficial in other vaper’s hands.
Also, I really don’t like the way the controls are implemented by KangerTech, I wish they had stayed a little more in line with the traditional control design found on many of their competitors, especially with temperature control. I very much dislike that Kanger will not allow me to set my preferred maximum wattage with any given temperature control coil.
Overall, if I were going to put my money into a mod, I would pass on this one. There are too many good mods out there that will outperform this one for most vaping needs. If you just want a budget 200 watt capable mod, and weren’t going to use any of the temperature control modes, then by all means, pick this one up. Otherwise, read reviews on some of the other mods in this price range and pick out something that looks like it will work for you, chances are good you will find a better mod at the same price point.
coupon code: YEAHBABY
I recently purchased the 120w version. I have yet to try it with a temp control coil on it. I am currently running a Horizon Arctic Turbo, with standard coils. Performance in this mode has been excellent. The build quality, I would give higher scores, I like the fact it’s lighter. I don’t worry so much about the hatch because I have a silicone sleeve on it, no issues there. It does fit the hand, and pocket nicely.
Will check back in when I try a temp control on it.
Ive been using the kbox 200 for over a year now. I vape 100ml a week and this thing is still running strong. The fire button has stuck 4 times probably and the paint sucks. I wrapped it, but this is the best box for the price.