Just last May our team reviewed the Innokin Proton Starter Kit. Back then the starter kit consisted of the Proton vape mod and the Scion 2 Sub-Ohm. This month Innokin released the Proton Starter Kit and substituted the Scion Tank with the newer PLEX Tank.

If you read our review on the Innokin Proton and Scion Tank this review might seem a bit redundant for the mod, but the Innokin PLEX Sub-Ohm is all new.

Back in May we said “The Innokin Proton 235W TC Starter Kit is a full-featured vaping system of sleek design elements and a highly intelligent and highly advanced chipset” This holds true today, but since May we’ve seen and reviewed about a hundred newer vape mods. My first question about today’s Innokin Proton was, “has anything changed?” Short answer – No.

The Proton 235W TC Box Mod is still the ergonomically designed mod that is centered around the still huge 1.45″ TFT screen with full color and high resolution. No changes were found.

Even navigating the Proton is the same, using a joystick-style selector. The user moves the joystick left or right, up or down, etc., with the thumb in order to adjust wattage, Temperature, much more.

The Proton uses a large side panel firing bar, easy to navigate menu system, and a sharp HD screen, (with 6 color themes to choose from) and of course, its responsive joystick.

The Proton uses two high-amp 18650 cells that are inserted by releasing the bottom battery door. These two hi-amp cells can push 235W with Innokin’s latest chipset.

The Proton mod is the same mod that it was when it shipped with Scion 2 sub-ohm tank, and available in the same colors as well; red, white, and blue. The PLEX sub-ohm are color matched to the Proton, though when buying the PLEX Tank separately the color choices are; Black, Blue, Rainbow, Black, Gunmetal.

It should be noted that the white Proton/PLEX starter kit is purchased it includes a rainbow colored PLEX Tank.

First thing to note about the PLEX Sub-Ohm is that it uses the same coils as the Scion 2, as well as the better Plexus Coils. The PLEX introduces a new 0.13ohm Plexus Coil which has a similar coil structure to the Scion and Scion II coils but is designed for maximum flavor and ample vapor production. The 0.13-ohm coil is the preinstalled coil, and it registers on the Proton as 0.14-ohm.

While both Coils included in the starter kit have a maximum wattage range of 100W and a 110W, I couldn’t get much past 70W without getting a burnt taste using a 70% VG premium eJuice.

The Innokin PLEX Sub-Ohm Tank is not the cloud-making machine some people are saying. It does okay, but it doesn’t compare to some of the recent sub-ohms I’ve reviewed and used during the past month, including the candidate for 2018 Sub-Ohm of the Year; the Augvape Skynet (reviewed here). The Skynet puts the PLEX to shame in every way.

The PLEX sub-ohm does feature a convenient and easy to use “push top” retractable top fill system. When pushed aside it reveals one silicon reinforced fill slot. Without a slot to allow the displaced air to escape quickly, I would advise filling the tank slower than filling a dual-slot top refill.

The PLEX uses a good quality bubble glass tank section, and has a 4mL maximum, a along with dual slotted bottom airflow.

The Innokin PLEX Tank is a 24mm width tank. Its width indicates that just about any Mod capable of pushing 70W or more should do fine with it.

Both coils that come with this starter kit are using Kanthal wires and organic cotton. From a flavor standpoint, the PLEX provided me with all the proof I need to finally say that NOT every Kanthal Mesh Coil are truly the best flavor coils. You see, the PLEXUS coils might be Mesh coils, but in addition to being very small coils, they also do not deliver as much flavor as I expect from my experience with other, larger, Mesh coils.

To make sure I was not reading something from nothing I performed a taste test using the PLEX and its 0.15-ohm Kanthal Plexus Mesh Coil, and the SMOK Prince Cobra and it’s 0.15ohm V12 Prince Mesh Core, vaping both on the Innokin Proton.

I set the wattage to 68W and vaped both tanks for 10 minutes each. The PLEX set up gave me a much different flavor profile, an inferior flavor profile. In addition, the vapor produced from both tanks couldn’t compare; the Prince Cobra with its Mesh Coil produced so much thicker clouds than the PLEX Mesh ever could.

However, I am not saying the Innokin PLEX is a bad sub-ohm tank, it is not. It’s definitely a nicely crafted tank, made with stainless-steel, thick quality glass, resin 810 drip tip, and decent sized airflow slots. The problem is that Innokin Mesh coils are not as good as they should be.

Using a scale of 1 through 10, 10 being the best tasting, biggest cloud machine I would give the Augvape Skynet (reviewed here) a score of 9.5, the Prince Cobra (reviewed here) a score of 9, and the PLEX Mesh a score of 8.0.

There has been plenty of high-performance mods and tanks on the market since the Proton was first released to consumers, and as much as I like the Innokin Proton mod I can’t recommend this particular Starter Kit.

For the first time in a long time, I believe the Innokin Proton, in all its earned glory, should be purchased as a “mod only”, and for the buyer to use his or her favorite sub-ohm.

The Proton Mod has “average” battery management, a beautiful display, and a superb firing panel. For Innokin fans this is a mod you’ll probably want to own but take a pass on the PLEX.

Another reviewer here at Spinfuel VAPE took his Innokin Proton and used his Geek Vape Loop RDTA (reviewed here) and told me the Proton just might be the easiest mod to set and adjust in TC Mode. (The menu system and the joystick made all the difference)

The 4mL glass stayed cool during some heavy vaping, and its 810-resin drip tip stayed just as cool while vaping at 70W.

I’m just not impressed with the coil life of the included coils, and it seemed to me that these small coils are a step backwards. The idea of a Mesh coil is to provide a lot more surface area for the eJuice to cling to and vaporizer, but when the mesh coil is so small it doesn’t make much difference.

The Innokin Plexus Coils features a 0.15ohm Plexus Coil with mesh design elements and a 0.6ohm Plexus Coil with quad vertical coil design. Each pack contains three replacement coils.

Innokin Scion & PLEX Replacement Coils Features:

• Scion Coil System
• 5ohm Scion Coil – rated for 70-100W
• 28ohm Scion Coil – rated for 100-200W
• 36ohm Scion Quad coil – rated for 80-150W
• New Plexus Coil Technology
• 15ohm Plexus Coil – rated for 60-100W
• Kanthal A1 Coil Material
• Japanese Organic Cotton

The Innokin Proton is a fine vape mod being sold at a decent price. Possessing a lot of features, a beautiful display, and a joystick control that actually works, I give high marks for the Proton. But the PLEX Tank just doesn’t do it for me. Not with so many better ones on the market.

SCORE:

Innokin Proton – A

Innokin PLEX – C

Starter Kit – Not Recommended