Sure, whenever drawing off a vape mod, a lot of ex-smokers still refer to it as “taking a drag.” But am I the only one who thinks of “a drag” as something bad or boring? Because of that, I wonder why a company like Voopoo would keep the brand going with the all-new Drag Resin. But what do I know? Performance is what matters, and on this mod, it’s definitely NOT a drag.

Unlike the Voopoo Gold Drag, which I reviewed here a few months back, the Drag Resin takes a slightly more conservative approach to design. Now, that doesn’t mean it’s subtle – the Drag Resin is still louder than Metallica’s first soundcheck – but instead of trying to blind users, the mod’s bright resin side plates are tempered by matte black zinc alloy which helps to keep things reasonable.

Like previous Drag models, the resin itself is pretty nice – maybe not as thick or unique as other competing vape mods, but certainly better than cheap inlays or stickers. More importantly, the soft-textured panels feel better in the hand than cheaper renditions, which tend to feel greasy and oily after some extended use.

This is a good thing, because the Drag’s signature hard edges and sharp corners are back, in full force. Like I’ve mentioned before, these mods aren’t designed for holding all day as much as they’re meant for quick hits and flat surfaces. I’ve definitely used less comfortable mods, but I’ve certainly used MORE comfortable ones, as well.

Another annoying design carryover from previous Drag mods is the emblazoned “DRAG” logo on the panel, instead of using another piece of matching resin. The logo looks out of place, and a little silly, even on a mod series known for gaudiness.

Finally, we need to address Voopoo’s continued insistence of making the Drag series devices just 24mm wide, when its companion tank (the Uforce) is 25mm itself! To be fair, the beveled edges help make MOST atomizers look right at home, but on a mod with a ton of hard edges already, having a tank hang over them seems a little strange. It’s not like the Drag Resin is small, by any means. It’s odd design, to these eyes anyway.

For all the flash and pomp, Voopoo continues to get one thing very right with the Drag Resin – the vaunted GENE chipset, which makes the mod’s 157 watts sing like a choir. Not only has this chipset powered most of the company’s top-line devices these past few years, but remains one of the fastest-ramping, smoothest performing boards on the market. With a near-instant 0.025-second firing speed, there’s nothing you have in your collection that will trip up the Drag Resin.

And yes, the mod also has the chipset’s highly touted battery efficiency, so these hard-hitting draws keep coming throughout a full day.

As we’ve mentioned before, the GENE chipset features a full array of temperature control and customization options. In fact, it’s near-DNA quality in terms of precision, and a surprisingly easy experience, even with the Drag Resin’s antiquated display.

I genuinely believe this series will need to move to a more graphical UI to make the most of the device’s capabilities. While there’s something to be said for simplicity, I still can’t understand why a monochrome OLED screen is considered adequate for these levels of customization. Even the steadfast Evolv moved to a simpler interface, and now it’s time for the GENE people to do the same.

Of course, there’s also a companion app to make more intricate changes to the GENE’s settings, but I found myself defaulting to the onboard adjustments, and I think most users will, too. Not that there’s anything wrong with the app, but once you’ve used Escribe for these types of customizations, it’s difficult to go back and rough it on a less-elaborate platform.

It’s probably not a surprise, but I found the Drag Resin to be best at straight wattage vaping. Yes, the TC controls and adjustments are more than precise, and do their jobs admirably. But with so many advancements being made on preheat control and custom wattage curves, it’s hard to justify finicky TC coils, ambient temps and more.

Like its predecessors, I ran the Drag Resin through my entire arsenal of tanks and RDAs, and it shone brightly with all of them. Even some dusty relics from my Kayfun days found their way onto the mod, and I was thrilled to see how well it performed at lower wattages. The same careful, measured ramp up was evident at 18 watts as it was at 118, and when the Drag Resin got up to speed, the resulting vape quality was tremendous.

Just like I noticed with the Gold Drag, the Drag Resin offers more power and flavor at 60 watts than most competing devices do at much higher levels. Even some of my highest-wattage coils, rated for upwards of 120 watts or more, offered unbelievable warmth, flavor and cloud production at the lowest ends of their ranges. And when you can get such performance at 60 watts, why double it when there’s no need?

Personal Tip: Of all the combinations I tested, I found the ideal match was the Drag Resin with an equally loud tank, the FreeMax FireLuke Pro (resin edition). Both the looks and performance are not for the faint of heart, and the FireLuke actually seemed more “at home” on the Drag Resin than the company’s own Uforce series. Something to keep in mind when shopping for a new rig.

The only nitpick I had? Comfort. As much as I thought I’d get used to it, the Drag Resin’s unnecessarily sharp edges made for a very uncomfortable hand feel, and before long, I was putting it down in favor of more ergonomic mods. I get that Voopoo wanted to make a commanding statement, but when a mod is more effective on a table than in your hand, there’s a problem

Voopoo seems hell bent on milking this series for all it’s worth, and the Drag Resin might be my favorite one yet. The resin portions are appropriately loud, but the matte black counters the noise nicely. More importantly, the Drag Resin simply performs like a champion, no matter what the exterior is giving off.

I encourage you to check out the Drag Resin to see if the design and frame are in line with your needs. Because if you can get past the slight discomfort, there’s a hell of an advanced vape mod here – one that experienced vapers should try for themselves.

Score: A-