KandyPens Elite Review: It’s Leak Proof Because of Glue
UPDATE 11/14/2018: Kandypens has recently committed to removing all glue from vaporizers. This is a great development and we hope in the future they produce better quality vape pens like they did with the Prism and Prism+.
Kandypens releases their KandyPens Elite for concentrate enthusiasts. With new “Leak Proof Technology™”, this $140 vape pen vies for top spot in Vape Pen Guides. Does it build upon earlier Kandypens models? Or is it a new coat of paint on the same old vape?
Design & Quality
The KandyPens Elite is a standard size pen at 14mm in diameter. It has a 650mah battery with 4 voltage settings. It comes in different combinations of metallic gold colors, or white with gold accents. The button is a K that lights up to show the voltage setting as well another K underneath that also lights up depending on voltage color.
On the attachment itself the air carb is situated nicely near the middle of the attachment. Your index finger naturally lands on it if screwed on the right way. This was a good part of the design.
The quartz chamber has 4 raised airflow holes near the top of the cup, to prevent from wax of leaking out when filling the chamber. There are then two 1mm air vents on the side of the vent. The top part of the mouthpiece has a 2mm air carb you can cover for bigger clouds. The carb hole works very well, but suffers from the same problem as the KandyPens Mini. A small annoying whistle that happens every so often.
It comes with 2 atomizers. A quartz double coil and a coil-less ceramic plate atomizer. Same atomizers as their Kandypens Gravity, both of which KandyPens brands as containing “Leak Proof Technology.™”
We opened up the atomizers and found that the quartz double coil had a green mucus-colored blob of glue under the quartz cup inside the atomizer. This should not be the case on future Kandypens models. The ceramic plate also has a white blog of sealant under the heater. The coil according to the website is titanium. Their product site also says “No Wicks, Glues, or Dyes” and the statement was later removed. With their recent statements that claim may come back legitimately.
Type of metal in coil
Real Titanium has a very low resistance, so a double coil would typically require a sub-ohm battery, so this might be a Titanium Alloy coil at best.
Below you can see the glue on the back of the atomizer bowl of the KandyPens Elite quartz atomizer. These are for the old atomizer, we will update pictures when they official release glue free atomizers, which is coming soon.
Below you will see the ceramic coilless atomizer also has glue on the back of its bowl.
KandyPens failed on quality due to the use of glue. However, they have fixed this issue and it should not effect new pens coming out.
Ease of Use
The Kandypens Elite is ridiculously easy to use. In this category it shines. Simply turn the power on by pressing 5 times. Press 3 times to cycle through the 4 different power settings. Power up, inhale, and breathe. The air carb is situated nicely near the middle of the attachment. Your index finger naturally lands on it if screwed on the right way.
Power settings are Pink for Very Low, Red for Low, Green for Medium, and Blue for High. These are easy to see with the bright power button and K under the battery. If you’d like to switch atomizers simply unscrew one. Then replace it with the other one.
The airflow is open. With the air carb you easily can attain fat clouds. Even with the coil-less atomizer.
The only downside is the battery needs to be unscrewed from the attachment to charge. In 2017 this can be easily fixed by a USB port on the side.
Strength
KandyPens clearly designed the Elite for strength and it delivers. The “titanium” coil lights up red hot in 3-5 seconds. It completely devours your wax. You get big vape clouds. Especially hard hits come when paired with the air carb.
The coilless ceramic plate delivers smoother low temp hits, but at highest Blue setting, the Elite can still deliver a strong hit.
Efficiency
The double coils’ rods are close together very low in the chamber. This makes it less likely you’ll miss them and your wax drips down the sides, never to be vaped again. You get some wax dripping down the sides of the coils, but as long as you don’t miss the coils, the red-hot coils gobble most up.
The coilless atomizer is much less efficient. The ceramic plate is separate to the ceramic chamber that houses it, so you have a small crevice in between the ceramic plate and the chamber walls. When you heat up the atomizer, some wax “runs” away from the heating center towards the walls, which means you lose some wax down that crevice. You’ll notice it because there’s always a consistent dark ring of wax around the ceramic plate. The lack of power from the battery may be the issue. This does appear to be a standard eCig style battery.
Versatility / Atomizer Options
The Kandypens Elite includes 2 different atomizers. Though not advertised extensively (probably due to the color mis-match) it also works with the low temp KandyPens Donuts ceramic donut atomizers and Galaxy Tornado atomizers with variable airflow.
No new atomizers have been announced, and though the 2 atomizers cover the bases on low temp and cloud production, we’d like to see more options in the future.
Portability
The Kandypens Elite fits comfortably in the palm of your hand, and the included case makes it simple and a breeze to throw it in your backpack, purse, or bag. The square shape makes it an awkward shape to carry in your pocket, but you can take the battery without even noticing in your pocket.
Discretion
The small size of the Kandypens Elite makes it very discreet, but the light both on the button and especially underneath, shines so bright, that even covering with your hand completely, still has lets some light escape. Neither can be turned off, so if you’re looking to vape at night or in the dark in a room, look elsewhere.
Remember that air carb sometimes whistles when open? Well, just like the Kandypens Mini, the annoying whistling sound will turn some heads. If they made the air carb 1mm larger, this could easily be solved.
Taste
The coilless atomizer on the KandyPens Elite excels at giving you great flavor out of your concentrates. The low temp atomizer compliments the strength of the double coil atomizer very well. If you like to sip on terpenes this will be one of your favorite atomizers.
The main problem in taste here and we got a dock a couple of points is the double coil atomizer. It’s so harsh to burn your wax at the very end. It also leaves a faint taste of “vape pen” metal. Once you rip through about half of the wax in the chamber, the coils get hot so fast it kills the taste. And at one point, I just get headaches if I used the coiled atomizer.
I should note that I could not taste the glue. I did not get any glue or odd type taste, besides the vape pen metal taste. It is likely that the glue is not melting at the temperature that the eGo battery puts out.
Value
The Kandypens Elite includes 1 double coil atomizer, 1 coilless ceramic plate atomizer, 1 small dabber, a charger, and a case. Kandypens also offers a very rare Lifetime Warranty on the battery, which means that you’re guaranteed a working battery no matter what.
At $139.95 though, it’s an expensive vape pen. No free shipping either. They do have 20% off coupons floating around the Internet which makes the price much more palatable. The Lifetime Warranty is excellent. But really it only covers a variable voltage eGo battery which does not have a high value on its own. If you take off the shiny finish, this is the same type of battery you would get in a cheaper eCig kit.
If you do purchase online you end up paying $9.95 shipping, so you lose a little of the savings.
Replacements
Both the quartz double coil and the coilless ceramic atomizer are $24.95 for the KandyPens Elite. Even after you use one of their available coupons, you’re still looking at around $20 a pop, before shipping and handling, so be very careful with your atomizers, or this will get very pricey very quick. Their shipping and handling is a minimum of $9.95, so purchase in bulk if you plan to use a coupon or purchase in store for the most affordable price.
The coilless atomizer’s price is a better option considering the prices and qualities of each.
The Elite looks sleek in gold.
Conclusion
The KandyPens Elite is sleek looking and very easy to use. Price wise its quite much at effectively almost $150 with shipping for only having a very basic eGo threaded battery. It did work consistently with no issues. The coilless atomizer delivered good flavor. The double coil quartz delivered big hits, but lacked in the flavor department. We are curious to see how the new pens without glue turn out. The Prism and Prism+ turned out good.