Should you decide to take the plunge and pop over to Element Vape to pick up the latest Starter Kit from iJoy, the new iJoy Elite Mini 60W with the Elite (Captain Mini) Sub-Ohm & RTA Tank, you’ll notice it’s smaller than the photos accompanying this review make it appear. In this case, its smallness works in its favor. After all, it is just a 60W Mod. However, where is falls a bit short in maximum wattage output it makes up in being one smart-looking mod, and the included Sub-Ohm/RTA fits the chassis spectacularly well.

While its overall size is a mere 74.7mm by 45mm by 25mm, everything else about the Mod is over-sized; large front panel fire button, laser-sharp OLED display, and even the arrow-shaped adjustment buttons are amply sized for the chassis of the Elite Mini. Although in many ways it is a true iJoy device, there are design elements that seem to be inspired by SMOKTech, particularly its carbon fiber side panels. And I can see a little Eleaf influence as well. If you’re familiar with the iJoy Elite PS2170, this “mini” Elite looks nothing like it.

Maybe it does max out at 60W, but the versatility of the Elite Mini makes it one of the most innovative Mods yet from iJoy I’ve seen this year. What other Mod on the market includes a tank that is both a sub-ohm tank with prebuilt coils, a removeable build deck for a clean looking RTA, and a J&P adapter that allows the Mod to use Juul and Phix “Pods”?

The iJoy ELITE Mini 60W Starter Kit’s features a decent internal 2200mAh Li-Po battery, plus all-inclusive output modes that puts the Elite Sub-Ohm RTA Tank to the task. The iJoy ELITE Mini 60W Kit is lightweight and compact, with exemplary battery management that can allow for a lengthy vape time before recharging.

The Elite Mini’s temperature control settings allow the user to build coils with Stainless Steel, Nickel, and Titanium wire, and allows the user to customize the optimal vape through its TCR Mode. And should the user also vape with a Juul pod mod, the included adapter turns the unit into one of the best methods for vaping nicotine salt e-juice. I was surprised to see actual pods inside the box as well.

While using the Elite Mini tank as an RTA the user can build coils with an ultra-low resistance of 0.05-ohm, or as high as 3.0-ohms. Used as a sub-ohm, the Elite Mini includes 2x 0.25-ohm prebuilt coils with a range of 30-60W. Offering excellent flavor fidelity and ample clouds with these low wattage requirements means a much longer battery life and a lot less e-juice consumption than its mid-wattage and high-wattage counterparts.

As I previously mentioned, the iJoy Elite Sub-Ohm & RTA tank features a removable deck, and it also has a nice push-n-slide top-fill system and airflow slots that provide more than enough air for big direct lung pulls.

The aforementioned J&P adapter screws onto the 510-connector atop the Elite Mini making it supremely easy for a Juul and Phix pod (included) to be attached.

The push-n-slide top fill system is virtually leakproof, and the silicone covering the fill slots will prevent e-juice from leaking when turned upside down. Of course, that also means that in order to properly fill the tank you’ll need to push through the silicone to get the dropper or unicorn bottle needle nose into the tank.  Its dual bottom base airflow slots let air in from the bottom base cap and is then forced up and past the coils for pure flavor and vapor. Whether the tank is being used as a full-blown RTA or as a sub-ohm tank, the vape experience can be tailored for the optimal vape of the user… to a point. Lastly, its 810 wide bore drip tip keeps things nice and cool, while being large enough for strong pulls.

Its included coils are outfitted with exposed dual wire coils and organic cotton wicking. From the outset the user will get an RTA vape quality that is surprisingly good. The last time I used coils built this way was during a GeekVape Eagle Sub-Ohm Tank review.

The only negative of this otherwise excellent tank is its size; the preinstalled glass tank has a TPD compliant 2mL capacity, and inside the box is a small bubble glass tank that provides an additional 1mL capacity. While the maximum wattage range is lower than most sub-ohms, its small capacity will still require frequent refills.

As I mentioned in the first paragraph, the chassis of the Elite Mini is smaller than you might realize, yet its grip fits any sized hand comfortably. It’s large fire button is an easy reach, and its firm and responsive as more costly alternatives.

Despite the Elite Sub-Ohm/RTA being included in the Starter Kit, you can use other Sub-Ohm tanks or RTA/RDA/RDTA provided they won’t need more than 60W, nor more than 25mm wide. I found vaping with several sub-ohm tanks, including the SMOK Baby Prince, (23mm width at the base) the Cascade Baby (reviewed here with the Vaporesso Armour) which has a 24.5mm width at the base, and now available as a standalone tank. as well as the Joyetech ProCore Air Plus.

Most of the time I used the prebuilt Kanthal coils that come with the starter kit (and Kanthal used in the additional Sub-Ohm Tanks) and found them to be very effective at producing huge clouds of vapor at just 50W-60W with the right choice of coils. Flavor fidelity was spot on with my favorite e-liquids, and after 5 days of vaping fairly heavily with the included coils of the Elite Mini tank, the coil life doesn’t seem diminished at all.

The two included coils make it easy to remove the cotton wicking and replace them, and if the user maintains the wire coils they can last a very long time (for coils anyway).

Everyday vaping by this reviewer allowed for more than 4 hours of vape time before needing to recharge the battery. Recharge time averaged about 2 hours to fully recharge the depleted battery. For a complete look at the Specs of both the Elite Mini and the Elite (Captain Mini) Sub-Ohm, see the dropdown boxes above.

For my vape needs the iJoy Elite Mini and Elite Mini sub-ohm (Captain Mini) won’t replace my high-wattage mod or large 5-7.5mL sub-ohm tanks, but as a secondary device it certainly fills the bill. Users that are not looking for a high-wattage vape, the Elite Mini and its Sub-Ohm/RTA tank is an excellent choice. There is a lot to offer the user for under $55.

The iJoy Elite Mini 60W Starter Kit is currently available in Mirror Silver or Mirror Red. My test unit was the Mirror Red. Perhaps if the Elite Mini starter kit finds an audience iJoy will see fit to offer more color configurations.

iJoy has attempted to provide just about every type of Vaper with a device that can do more than most people need, albeit with just 60W of power. I’m not really sure that attempting to provide such a solution was the right idea, but as a departure for iJoy it wasn’t a bad move. Still, as someone that vapes exclusively “variable wattage” with Kanthal coils I have to admit that I enjoyed the vape experience, except for the fact that even with the 3mL bubble glass tank, there were just a few too many refills to my liking. Balancing out the pros and the cons, I arrived at what I believed to be a true score of B+.

Score: B+