The Excellent SMOK Mag Starter Kit Review

The SMOK Mag Starter Kit Review – I don’t write a lot of reviews these days, but I do use every device that comes through the door. When I do write a review, I choose the product because I think it’s special, and I want to be that guy that stands up and says “Hey, pay attention to this one!”. There are so many products on the vaping market right now, with many more to come, that the truly good ones can get lost in the mountain of reviews, both written and video reviews.

The SMOK Mag and the TFV12 Prince, aka, The SMOK Mag Starter Kit, is one wicked nice Kit. If you don’t mind a little heft in your setup, the Mag/Prince Kit is the best handling mod, sporting the best Sub-Ohm Tank SMOK had produced to date. I began using mine last week, and like the ProColor kit, The Mag Kit is the setup I’m using all day every day… at least until a better one shows up.

With fully charged, high-amp batteries like the official Spinfuel VAPE battery, the Nitecore 3100mAh 35A 18650 cells, you can get pretty damn close to that magical 225 watts maximum if you ever need to. It certainly nice to have this much power to use when you’re using other high-wattage tanks and RDAs, but the majority of Vapers that will buy the SMOK Mag Starter Kit, the TFV12 Prince Sub-Ohm Tank will be the only tank he or she will need.

The TFV12 Prince is the perfect Sub-Ohm tank for the Mag mod. With a top-end wattage range of just 110W for the Prince Coils, users won’t care much about the 225W the Mag can push.

Let’s take a look at the SMOK Mag specifications before getting into what it’s like to use on a day-to-day basis.

Threading: 510

Wattage Range: 6W – 225W – Most users will, and should, stay with the Prince tank, so look to a range of 60-90W as realistic needed wattage.

Temperature Range: 200°F – 600°F (100°C – 315°C) – SMOK Coils are Kanthal, you’ll need the RBA Deck to TC heating elements, or using another tank/RDA/RTA/RDTA

Voltage Range: 0.5V – 9V

Battery Compatibility: Two 18650 Batteries ( high-amp matched batteries)

Resistance Range (TC Mode): 0.05 Ohms – 3.0 Ohms

Resistance Range (Wattage Mode): 0.1 Ohms – 3.0 Ohms – You’ll probably stay in low resistance range of 0.17-0.4-ohm range

Height: 3.63 Inches (92.3mm)

Width: 2.55 Inches (65mm)

Depth: 1.18 Inches (30mm)

Weight: Hefty, solid, nice, even without the batteries or Prince Tank.

As with nearly every Mod released in the past 3 years, the SMOK Mag features a full, accurate Temperature Control suite. Most Vapers won’t ever need it since I truly believe that most will use the TFV12 Prince, with the Replacement Coils. SMOK Replacement Coils are all Kanthal wires and organic cotton. Only the optional RBA head can be used for Titanium, Nickel, or Stainless-Steel.

Forget what you’ve heard about issues with the Prince Coil life. First, yes, the Replacement Coils for the TFV12 Prince are proprietary, yes, they have larger e-liquid ports to keep up with the most aggressive Direct Lung pulls, and no, the coils are not short-lived. Well, unless you happen to vape e-juice that has been drenched in sweeteners. But that’s a topic for another day.

The TFV12 Prince is the hottest selling Sub-Ohm Tank on the market right now. All the vendors I’ve talked to have told me that keeping the Prince in stock isn’t easy.

Part of the popularity goes to the aesthetics of the Prince. It’s gorgeous in any color, and the 8mL bulb-shaped glass tank provides more capacity for juice than it looks. And the Cobra drip tips are spectacular.

The aesthetics might persuade hobbyists to pick one up, but only performance will keep them coming back. As the hobbyists begin talking about the Prince, the casual Vapers pick up on the chatter and decide to try one themselves. Before long, the TFV12 Prince becomes a hot item.

The first TFV12 to come to market was the SMOK TFV12 Cloud Beast King, with coils that would reach 350W. The King was massive, and only those Vapers that wanted to push their new 300-350W Box Mods needed the King. As it turned out, the Cloud Beast King was not an all-day-every-day Sub-Ohm Tank for the rest of us. It demanded too much power, and too much e-juice. Sales for the Cloud Beast King slowed, and with the Prince on the market now, the King sales have slowed even more.

You see, the real innovation in the Prince is not the aesthetics, it’s the Coils. SMOK has engineered these Coils to produce superior flavor from any e-liquid, and create huge clouds of vapor, all with less than 110W of power.

Inside the SMOK Mag Starter Kit is a TFV12-Prince-Q4 and a TFV12-Prince-T10. Each is designed to emphasis different aspects of a great vape.

The Q4 Coil is preinstalled in the Prince. It’s a Quad coil, 0.4-ohm resistance, with a wattage range of 40-100W, but with an optimal wattage range of 60-80W. The Q4 could be considered the ‘default’ coil for the Prince. A coil has displays both flavor and clouds with equal emphasis. My sweet spot for most of my e-liquids is 70W.

The T10 Coil is the ‘extra’ Coil in the box, and it is spectacular. The T10 is 0.12-ohm, ultra-low resistance coil with a wattage range of 60-120W, but with an optimal range of 80-110. Using the T10, my sweet spot is 85W, still well under 100W.

The Prince T10 chucks clouds every bit as massive as the Cloud Beast King’s version, the V12-T12, a Duodenary coil with the same low resistance of 0.12-ohm, but with a wattage range of 60-350W (optimal range is 130-200W). As for flavor fidelity, the Prince T10 and the V12-T12 are equally matched, it just take a whole lot more power for the V12-T12 to produce that flavor.

For more about the TFV12 Prince, check out these two reviews:

TFV12 Prince Review  1

TFV12 Prince Review 2

• 25mm Diameter Base
  • 28mm at Widest Point
• Hinge and Lock Top Fill System
  • Swivels Open and Shut
  • Fill Port
• 5ml Max Standard Capacity
• 8ml Max Convex Glass Extension Capacity
• SMOK V12 Prince Coil Family
  • V12 Prince-T10 Decuple Coil Head
    • 0.12 ohm
    • Patented Decuple Coil
    • 60 to 120W Range
    • 80 to 110W Recommended Range
  • V12 Prince-X6 Sextuple Coil Head (not included in the Kit)
    • 0.15 ohm
    • Patented Quadruple Coil
    • 50 to 120W
    • 80 to 100W Recommended Range
  • V12 Prince-Q4 Quadruple Coil Head
    • 0.4 ohm
    • Patented Quadruple Coil
    • 40 to 100W
    • 60 to 80W Recommended Range
  • Compatible with Additional V12 Prince Coils
• Dual Adjustable Air slots
• Stainless Steel and Glass Construction

I admit that when I first heard about the SMOK Mag I was not sold on the idea. It will remind many people of a handgun, and it really shouldn’t. Yes, there is a pistol-like grip that makes up the body, there is the Trigger-shaped Fire Button, and even a button on the side of the body that reminds a handgun owner of the guns ‘safety’.

There is a reason a handgun is shaped the way it is. The owner, or user, of the handgun must be able to get a good grip, a stable grip. The SMOK Mag provides that same firm, stable grip.

There is only one thing about the design of the SMOK Mag that might upset anti-gun owners, and that’s the battery release cartridge.

Changing batteries in the SMOK Mag is like releasing the clip of a semi-automatic pistol. Press a button (the ‘safety’) to release the clip, out pops the dual 18650 “cartridge”. Empty the batteries (shells), pop in two fresh batteries, then slam the cartridge back up into the Mag’s grip-shaped mod, and you’re back in the game.

One note of interest however: Unlike some mods, the SMOK Mag shuts down completely when the batteries are exchanged. This slows down the action a little. When you slam that battery cartridge back up and into the Mag with fresh 18650’s, you’re going to have to press the trigger (fire button) 5 times to activate the mod again.

The battery tray, or cartridge, fits tight with virtually no rattle. That ‘safety’ is found on the side of the mod, and is a stainless-steel button and it works like a cartridge release on a handgun. Press it, cartridge pops down and out.

Every Day Usage

I stuck with the SMOK Mag and the Prince Tank during the review period. Both the Q4 and T10 coils were used, with two different Prince tanks.

As we discussed a couple of times, the Prince tank is truly an all-day-every-day Tank that requires moderate wattage and returns superior flavor and clouds. Sitting atop the SMOK Mag, with its comfortable grip, trigger finger fire button, and easy pop out and pop in battery cartridge, I never felt the need to switch to another device at all.

If you’ve grown tired with SMOK’s “variations on a theme” box mods, including the ProColor, the Majesty, and the T-PRIV, the SMOK Mag is truly different. The performance of all the mods are similar, but the unique body design of the Mag, plus the addition of the TFV12 Prince, gives this new Starter Kit a leg’s up on its own brand competition.

As long as you don’t mind some heft to your Mod, this is the one I highly recommend… at this time. The SMOK Mag is the first to utilize the TFV12 Prince as part of the Starter Kit, but it shouldn’t be the last.

SMOK TFV12 Prince – A+

SMOK Mag Mod – A

Mag Starter Kit – A+ (quality, price, performance)

1 x SMOK Mag MOD

1 x SMOK TFV12 Prince Tank

1 x SMOK V12 Prince Q4 Core Atomizer Coil (0.4 Ohms) – (Pre-Installed)

1 x SMOK V12 Prince T10 Atomizer Coil (0.12 Ohms)

1 x USB Charging Cable

1 x Replacement Pyrex Glass Tube

1 x Bag of Spare Parts

1 x User Manual