OFRF Nexmini Pod Review by Simon

December 23, 2020

239

This OFRF Nexmini Pod Kit was sent by Health Cabin for review purposes.
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I’m a little late to the party with this one but still took the opportunity to review it as it did grab my attention somewhat as it appears to tick all the boxes, I was also keen to see if I would prefer it over the superb Vaporesso XROS pod.

There’s not a lot that jumps out that we haven’t already seen but the adjustable airflow and Type C charging stand out the most, a 0.6 Ohm parallel plain wire coil was a little intriguing.

The box is very logo heavy and a sign of things to come inside, I kind of like the presentation though, it’s one of those products hat would stand out in a vape shop.

The contents were minimal, granted you don’t need much with a basic pod system but an extra pod would have been nice.

My first impressions of the Nexmini in the hand were very positive, I like he square shape and the rounded off edges make it really comfortable to handle, including the base which something I didn’t like on the XROS, the fire button is well placed and protrudes enough to find it easily by touch.

It is heavily branded though, usually I wouldn’t appreciate this but it suits the NexMini nicely and it’s part of its styling with the mesh styled panel, the indented OFRF looks really cool too.

The USB-C charging port is on the base, I know this bothers some people but I prefer it there on slim items as I always lay them down while charging.

The screen side is well laid out and the buttons have the perfect amount of resistance making it easy enough to operate but difficult to accidentally fire/adjust, the screen is pretty bright and the wattage display is very clear, the rest is pretty small though and hard to read, there’s also 2 pointless items displayed; applied voltage which you can only see when the fire button is pressed and the puff timer which you have to be lightning fast to see before it disappears.

OFRF Nexmini Pod-mesh styled panel & Charging port

Functions

Up/Down buttons increase/decrease the wattage.
3 x Fire button to lock the power
5 x Fire button to turn the device Off/On
Hold Up & Fire together to clear the puff counter.

It has no smart wattage feature so you will need to know the wattage range of your chosen coil, this isn’t obvious and you need to do some digging to find out, it is marked on the side of the coil but once it is fitted you obviously cannot see that, this isn’t a big deal but it can lead to newer users being confused and burning out their coils too soon, generally I’m not impressed with the ‘NEXCHIP INSIDE’ especially in 2020 compared to the competition’s smart wattage capability so NEXCHIP is nothing to boast about.

The pod fits into the housing securely and is held in place with magnets, there is zero wobble and the housing is waterproof sealed to prevent any leaks or condensation getting into the electronics which is very welcome as this is the No1 pod killer in my experience.

The coil fitting is well thought out and I really like the effective airflow control incorporated into the coil which is well machined and a very good fit making the airflow control adjustment one of the best I’ve seen on a pod.

Filling is achieve via a silicone bung on the base of the pod, the fill hole is a generous size and I had no problems or spillage when filling it up.

Performance

After filling up and leaving it around 10 minutes to saturate I set my wattage at 13 watts on the M22 Mesh coil with the airflow closed off to just 1 hole, instantly I found the vape superb, the airflow was a proper MTL draw and very smooth, the power was instant and consistent, the coil break in period seemed to be instant as I was getting no cotton after-taste, the flavour was intense, the surprising thing was that I was still at the lower wattage range and it already felt like the sweet spot, I did increase it to the max but it was too hot for my taste but it did perform well and kept up without any dry hits.

I then tried the M21 plain wire coil, I wasn’t expecting it to perform as good as the mesh but was pretty close, again it performed so well at the lower wattage of 13 watts, I even took it under the recommended level and 10 watts was still giving me a really satisfying MTL vape I ended up sticking to 13 watts and really enjoyed this coil.

Despite my bitching about the NEXCHIP it certainly packed a punch, instantly firing and I was left wondering if it was already applying a preheat, mesh is instant anyway but round wire usually benefits from a preheat or primer puff, this was not the case on the NEXMINI as a puff from cold was consistent to a warmed up puff.

Battery life impressed me a lot, there was never a doubt of it not lasting me a full day and evening, when fully charged it seemed to take ages to get to 50% but after 50% it did drain faster, I usually found myself recharging around 40% and it took around 40 minutes to fully charge, the screen only shows a battery charging bar instead of percentage or time remaining which was a bit pants, it is USB-C charging but only 1.2 amps so not much faster than the normal 1 amp micro-USB but it was no biggie as it didn’t take long either way.

Coil lifespan has been impressive, I only had the included coils and both are still going strong, the M21 has had the most hammer and no signs of it giving up after 2 weeks so far which is just as well since the price of coils is expensive compared to the competition.

NEXMINI / XROS Comparison

Thought the XROS doesn’t have a screen they are similar in some ways and since the XROS had been the most impressive simple MTL pod at the time I felt the 2 were worth comparing, both have adjustable airflow, USB-C, the draw and flavour are pretty similar for MTL but here’s a few of the differences:

NEXMINI strengths
Far more comfortable.
Adjustable wattage.
Screen.
More styling.
Coil change (less wasteful)

XROS strengths
Auto draw & manual firing.
Better for beginners.
Leak resistant pod structure.
Easy top fill.

For me the NEXMINI edges it mostly due to its ergonomics, if the XROS felt better in the hand I would have chosen the XROS but it’s a close thing and I don’t think you can go too wrong with either, I have to choose one to go into the best of 2020 round-up and I could end up flipping a coin!

Conclusion

The NEXMINI ticks most of the boxes for a MTL/RDL pod kit and performs really well delivering outstanding flavour with a superb airflow adjuster, I can’t say there’s any innovation other than the coil technology but OFRF have refined the best features of a pod system and the result is one of the better pods out there, currently in my top 5 of all time.

It’s not perfect, like many pods it is prone to leak when sat unused or towards the end of its coil life but the sealed housing should prevent this ruining the hardware, time will tell on that, the screen and variable wattage will appeal to some users but I don’t think it’s a game changer or indeed very useful compared to none-screen variable power pod systems.

Pros

Variable wattage.
Comfortable.
Effective airflow control.
Great MTL draw and flavour.

Cons

Overbranding (even though I like it).
Pointless screen Voltage and Puff Time display (vanishes too fast).
Coils are more expensive.
No spare pod.

Final Thoughts

The NEXMINI is certainly one of the very best pod releases of 2020, its not perfect but it does offer a near perfect MTL vape which is the important thing, everything else is just gravy, in recent months the pod bar has been raised really high and I suspect it may have peaked, the NEXMINI has at least reached that bar, if you enjoy a tight intense MTL vape and like the looks of it then I doubt you will be disappointed, I certainly am not.

RDL users will also enjoy this pod but for me I will be sticking to MTL as it is right up my street.

One of the best MTL pods out there.