The Kick by Evolv Review

The Kick by Evolv is one of the most highly anticipated e-cigarette accessories to hit the market in quite a while.  The device promises to deliver high-end technology to even of the lowliest of tube mod style e-cigarettes.  The idea is simple.  Set your desired wattage (not voltage) on the dial and put the tiny disc in-line with your battery.  The Kick handles the rest and adjusts voltage on the fly for you.

Does it work?  I guess you’ll have to read this review of the Kick by Evolv to find out.

The Kick Design

The Kick looks like a small, round circuit board.  On the bottom of the board is the contact for the battery.  On the top is the contact for the e-cigarette switch, along with a small dial (potentiometer) that can be adjusted with a small phillips screwdriver.

Unlike the ProVari or Lavatube, the Kick lets you set the desired wattage and then adjusts the voltage up or down to deliver the desired wattage based on the resistance of the atomizer placed on your e-cigarette mod.

The circuitry is essentially the same thing found in Evolv’s high-rent Darwin mod.  Of course you only get the basic variable wattage functionality.  This is a simple device, no LCD screens or adjustment wheel here.  No astronomical price tag either.

Along the side of the device is a small spring.  This is the ground spring and must make solid contact with metal inside the mod (sorry, wood mods).  Without the contact to the same ground source as the battery, the device won’t fire at all.

Depending on the device, if the tube is anodized or painted on the inside, the finish inside the tube will have to be sanded to expose the bare metal.  Getting the Kick placed just right may take a little bit of practice depending on how your e-cigarette mod is designed.

The Kick is designed to work on 18650 tube mods.  Substitute an IMR 18490/18500 battery for the 18650 to make up for the space taken up by the Kick.

Keep in mind the Kick requires IMR batteries as opposed to protected lithium batteries.  IMR batters can handle the higher current draw placed on them by technology that boosts the current.

Using the Kick

Usage is pretty straight forward.  Set the wattage (clockwise for higher up to 10w, counterclockwise to lower the voltage) and drop the device inline with your battery.

Finding the right wattage likely will take some trial and error.  There are small notches along the pot’s dial, but they are tiny.  I wished I had a magnifying glass to see them better, and I have pretty good eyesight.

A simple dial may not be as precise for setting the wattage.  It also takes a little bit of time to adjust to the concept of variable wattage as opposed to voltage.

Once you find your proverbial sweet spot, the theory is that the Kick will do all the work for you.  Drop in a higher resistance atomizer, no problem the Kick will up the voltage for you.

In practice I found that didn’t translate exactly when moving to different types of hardware.  Atomizers for example can take more voltage than a CE2-based cartomizer.  If I deviated too far, I had to pull out the Kick and lower the wattage setting a little.

If you don’t swap between different types of gear like I do, this probably won’t be as much of an issue.  Once you find the vapor to your liking, let it go on auto pilot for you.

Dual coil fans, I know you’re out there.  Let me just put this out here now.  This probably isn’t the best device for you.  Because the wattage adjustment on the Kick is a calculation based on the resistance of the cartomizer, the Kick will only top out around 3.8v.

Does it Work?

Due to a technical difficulty, the only mod I had at the time that could accomodate the Kick was the Maxi Rough Stack.  This made putting the inline volt meter on for testing a little tricky.  I had to use a couple of adapters which could have thrown the voltage readings off.

I tested the setup with a 3Ω atomizer and a 2.2Ω CE3 clearomizer.  For the record, don’t try to run clearomizers, even good ones, at 10w.

For the most part the Kick adjusted the voltage admirably as I swapped around the atomizer and carto.  Oddly, at 10w, the Kick only drove the CE3 around 9w according to my calculator.  The atomizer came in at 10.05w.

Did I mention don’t vape a clearomizer at 10w (or 9w)?

Dropping down to a more reasonable 8 watts provided a more consistent experience with both pieces of hardware coming in right around where I’d expected them to.

Despite the hunt for finding the correct vaping sweet spot, the Kick takes quite a bit of the work out of variable voltage.  If you don’t like to jump around a lot, and have the patience to find the right setting, this device really will let you just toss it in your favorite mod and forget about it.

Too Long; Didn’t Read

The Kick by Evolv is a tiny disc shaped circuit board that can convert even the most humble of e-cigarette tubes into an advanced variable wattage e-cigarette.  While it takes a little work to get the Kick dialed in, once you find the magic spot, it’s pretty much cruise control for your vaping habits.  This device will appeal to the more hard core gadget hounds among us.  You know who you are.  The biggest issue may be finding some place that has these little guys in stock.

Look for the Kick by Evolv at Nhaler, ElectroNicStix or AltSmoke.

Pros:

• Not terribly expensive
• Set and forget operation
• Elevates even the lowliest of devices to advanced status

Cons:

• Hard to read adjustment settings
• Takes some work to find the perfect setting
• Hard to get a hold of
• Takes up valuable battery space
• Doesn’t work with all mods

Details:

Device name: The Kick by Evolv
Available From: Nhaler, AltSmoke, ElectroNicStix
Price: ~$45
Wattage range: 5 – 10 watts