Table of Contents
Starre Tank PRO
FreeMax
$34.99
AVE40
Grade: A – “An Excellent Sub-Ohm Tank”
Overview Of The FreeMax Starre PRO
The Starre Pro is an upgraded version over the original Starre Tank reviewed back in Mid-April of this 
year. The new Starre PRO Sub Ohm Tank features Ni200 .25ohm temperature sensing coil wire and comes with an extra .15ohm coil Ni200 (Nickel) wire coil head. The coil heads are effective between 20w and 100w, making it one of the most powerful sub ohm tanks on the market. With its Ni200 (Nickel) wire coil head you’re ready for vaping with any Temperature Control Mod, right out of the box. Nevertheless, the FreeMax Starre PRO has its own characteristics that improve the overall performance over its earlier iteration.
Features and Improvements
Convenient Top Filling Design
This is new direction for sub ohm tanks and one we heartily approve of. Filling the tank is performed by doing the following: (Unless you know how to perform the following maneuvers it will be difficult to fill. It is not intuitive.)
1. Remove top portion of the mouthpiece (drip tip) It has a removable tip and a base. The base is not removable from the top cape.
2. Grip and turn the knurled drip tip base and turn to unscrew the top part of the top cap. The top cap has a sort of “lid” so the entire top cap does not come off. By turning the knurled base of the drip tip you will see the ‘lid’ portion of the top cap lift up. Lift and remove.
3. One the lid part of the to cap is removed you will see two large elongated slots that make filling the tank very easy. Because it is a top fill tank you can fill it right up to the top of the tank. Finally a tank that will actually look full.
4. Screw the lid portion of the top cap back on, place the drip tip, adjust the drip tip ‘base’ airflow control.
Zero-Leaking
The method of filling and refilling the Starre Pro has the added benefit of equalizing the pressure inside the tank. The pressure outside the tank and inside the tank being prevents leaking caused by air pressure. The seals for the rest of the tank are tight and secure. Additionally, because the air pressure remains equal it can withstand extreme temperature changes in the environment. As an example, if you leave your vaporizer and Starre Pro tank in your car the heat from sitting in the sub will not affect the e liquid in the tank, nor will flying across the country with the tank in your bag, briefcase, or purse. I was able to test this by leaving a full tank in my car for a couple of hours and sure enough, there was no leaking from the tank. I imagine the altitude and cabin pressure of flying would react the same way.
Warning: It is vital that you fill your tank properly in order to avoid leaking. I experienced quite a bit of leaking and learned that hard way that the Starre Pro requires you to keep an eye on the lower part of the mouthpiece. The mouthpiece consists of a removable drip tip AND a non-removable piece that is part of the top-filling cap. If you take a close look at the top cap of your tank you’ll see an light engraving of a curved arrow. At each end of the curve arrow you’ll see either On or Off. Before you unscrew the upper part of the top cap you need to turn the mouthpiece to the “On” position. Once you fill the tank you screw on the top cap.
While you might think that the job is done and you’re ready to vape, you’re not quite ready. In order to prevent leaking you must turn the mouthpiece to the “Off” position. This creates a vacuum in the tank and as long as the mouthpiece remains on the “Off” position your tank, in most cases, will not leak. However, the mouthpiece can, and does, move freely, especially if you adjust the airflow control in the mouthpiece. After a while that twist portion of the mouthpiece can move with the slightest action on your part. If you discover your tank is leaking this is the ‘probable’ cause.
Product Features & Specs:
304 stainless steel throughout
Top fill design
Recommended wattage: 20~100W
Ni200 nickel temperature sensing wire
Two massive Cyclops style adjustable airflow slots
Airflow control wide bore 510 drip tip
Unique anti-leak design
Pyrex glass tank
Tank capacity: 4mL
Dual vertical Ni200 Sub Ohm coil head design
0.15 ohm and 0.25 ohm Ni200 coil heads
Japanese organic cotton
Cloud chasing vapor production
Enhance flavor output
Standard 510 threading connection
Diameter: 22mm
Compatible with FreeMax Starre Kanthal Wire coils (original coil heads)
What’s in the Box?
1x Starre Pro Sub Ohm Tank (0.25ohm Ni200 Coil Pre-installed)
1x Airflow Control Wide Bore Drip Tip
1x Replacement Coil Head (0.15ohm)
Warranty – Vendor – Ave40 places a 6-month limited warranty on all vape gear. If you purchase the Starre PRO elsewhere we urge you to learn the warranty details before your buy.
Impressions
If you watched my review for the original FreeMax Starre Tank you already know I was disappointed with the heavily knurled airflow controller at the bottom of the tank. The Starre Pro as much less knurling on the base than the previous model. The entire tank is more attractive and very much aesthetically pleasing. FreeMax seems to have learned a great deal about the vape community ‘wants and desires‘ and produced a sub ohm tank that looks fantastic and performs better than ever.
The original Starre tank produced massive amounts of vapor and flavor. The Starre PRO improves upon each one, increasing vapor production about 20-25% and delivering a deeper flavor from the e liquids I used for this review.
Because the coil heads that come with the Starre Pro are Ni200 (Nickel) wire they are primed and ready for a temperature controlled Vaporizer, but that doesn’t mean you can’t vape them in a non-temperature controlled mod. They work just fine without temperature control, as you’ll see later on in this section of the review. I should also mention that you can purchase the Starre Pro with normal coil heads of 0.25-ohm and 0.50-ohm.
The FreeMax Starre Pro features its own version of “top filling”, as does the Aspire Triton. Both work effectively, but the nod goes to the Starre Pro for its ingenious design of its “lifting the lid” method, a method that not only allows a faster refill with less mess, but also a great way to equalize the air pressure for a no-leak tank construction. (See my warning above about the top-filling and leaking)
The size of the coil heads and the center post are large enough to force FreeMax to make the Starre PRO 
substantially larger than a Kanger Subtank Mini, though the Subtank Mini has a slightly higher e liquid capacity, 4mL for the Starre Pro, 4.5mL for the Subtank Mini. To get some perspective on the size of the Starre PRO (2.99-inches w/o drip tip) I attached it to the IPV D2 form Pioneer4you and it looked massive. Attached to the Sigelei 150w TC the Starre PRO looked fairly normal. Perhaps this is nothing more than nitpicking, but I think you should be aware of the fact that the Starre Pro is a larger-than-most sub-ohm tank. From the base to the top cap the Starre PRO is 2.99-inches, add in the 510-threaded post at the bottom and the drip tip at the top and you’re looking at about 3.50-inches tall. The diameter of the tank is a normal 22mm.
Coil Heads – I should also comment on the coil heads themselves. While the Ni200 (Nickel) wire coils are nice to have, there is more to these coil heads than that. The coil heads are dual vertical, which provides room for more organic cotton. Looking down into the coil head all you see is organic cotton wicking. The side of the coil head features 4 (!) large rounds holes exposing the organic cotton and allowing it to absorb the eliquid quickly. Not only that, but the holes are large enough to keep the coil head completely saturated no matter how high the wattage or how long the individual drags. Without them the coil head couldn’t possibly stand up to wattage coming in. Fewer or smaller holes would require the user to frequently drip e liquid into the coil head, much like a Dripper using an RDA.
Both coil heads are ultra-low resistance, just 0.25 and 0.15 ohms, and as such they can withstand lots of power before topping out. Using my Sigelei 150w TC to test the Starre Pro my results were outstanding. Below are summations of those tests.
Vaporizer: Sigelei 150w TC
Eliquid Used: Teleos Remixed “Pound Cake”, a 70:30 VG: PG blend perfectly suited to a 0.2-ohm coil and above.
Sigelei 150w TC in Temperature Control mode – Both coil heads seemed to read accurately on the Sigelei box mod, with only slight, random, fluctuations. The 0.25-ohm coil head fluctuated to 0.22 to 0.3 a few times, but most of the time the ohms readings were spot on. Using the 0.15-ohm coil head the fluctuations occurred slightly more often, but less so than many other sub ohm tanks I used this year.
The Sigelei 150w TC can reach a maximum of 572f degrees, and with both coil heads I was able to max it out without getting vapor that I considered too hot to handle. However, I found 530f to be optimal for both, though they did offer up slightly different levels of warmth. Where the Starre Pro became too much hot to handle was during an attempt to push the wattage up until it reached diminished returns, i.e., unfavorable flavor and vapor that was too hot. For the 0.25-ohm coil head that maxed out wattage was 70w, for the 0.15-ohm an extra 10w, or 80w total was the upper limit for me. That said, I’m absolutely sure that with the right person behind the Sigelei 150w TC mod and the Starre Pro filled with a High VG eliquid the wattage could reach the 100w level.
Sigelei 150w TC without Temperature Control mode – Despite the Ni200 coil heads the Starre Pro performed admirably without the TC mode kicked in. Playing it up in pure wattage mode I found virtually no difference in temperature warmth of the vapor, nor vapor production or flavor. In this case, with this particular mod and this particular sub ohm tank, I began to understand the “temperature limiting” feature of TC-mode. Still, I was not able to push either coil to the full 100w claimed by FreeMax, but have no doubt Vapers will do it successfully every day.
One Last Test – FreeMax claims very wide latitudes in the wattage requirements. A sub-ohm tank sporting Ni200 (Nickel) coil heads rated at 0.25-ohm or 0.15-ohm performing at just 20 watts seems impossible. The lower the ohms the more power it takes to generate vapor. FreeMax wants us to believe that with the tank attached to a modern Vaporizer with variable wattage and temperature control tech you and I should be able to vape properly at 20 watts to 100 watts and every point in between. So, can we? Well, yes and no. I’ll explain.
Using temperature control mode we can set the wattage at 20w and our temperature up to 572f (with the Sigelei 150w TC) and upon taking a pull on the drip tip we can produce quite a bit of vapor. However, we cannot get anywhere near the 572f with a 35A battery. The end result is a “decent” vape consisting of almost room temperature vapor. So, yes you can vape the Starre Pro at 20 watts, but you probably won’t want to. Personally, I found “my” optimal vape at 60w (0.25-ohm coil) and 520f, and 70w (0.15-ohm) and 520f.
UPDATE: Last night Tom McBride stopped by and I asked him to try out one of the Starre Pro tanks. He bought along his Snowwolf 200w TC and some 100% VG juice. Tom loved the top-filling feature and the coil heads, so he was excited to give it a go. Tom started off at 60 watts with the 0.15-ohm coil head and topped out at 85 watts. He says he could go higher but any higher than 85 watts would create too much heat, making long-term vaping nearly impossible. His verdict on the tank is the same as mine; a great tank with great performance, made by a company that is looking to future, not the past.
Recommendation
FreeMax went a long way toward improving their flagship tank. The Starre Pro is significantly better than the original Starre Tank. Better designed, better performance, and more attractive. With Ni200 coil heads as standard equipment this sub ohm tank means business. Does all this mean the Starre Pro is a sub ohm tank every Vaper needs in their vape gear arsenal? No, not really.
Using a very powerful sub-ohm tank for every day, all-day vaping means you’ll spend more money on e juice and experience reduced battery life. And while there is no denying that a tank like this, one that can fill up a room with dense vapor in a matter of 2 minutes is a lot of fun, it would ultimately take a lot out of you by the end of the day.
John and I agree that we would recommend the Starre Pro to any Vapor as a special-use sub-ohm tank. What that means is that the Starre PRO would make an outstanding competitor tank, a tank to vape your favorite e liquids for an hour or so, or to take to a party to show the folks just how thick vapor clouds can be. For everyday, all day vaping a less magnificent tank makes more sense.
Grade: A – Why an A? – FreeMax set out to create a maximum performance sub-ohm tank and achieved it in flying colors. Strong, clean lines, high end materials, and coil heads that are designed for temperature controlled Vaporizers, the FreeMax Starre Pro is, at the moment, the one sucking up all the air in the room. The Aspire Triton comes really close, but at the end of the day I have to admit that FreeMax takes the prize. Just remember, keep the mouthpiece on the OFF position while vaping, and especially if you lay the tank on its side. If the top mouthpiece is not kept on the OFF position it will leak…and leak badly.
Tom McBride
