Eleaf are well known for producing some good solid pieces of vaping hardware.
Everything from the incredibly popular iStick range of regulated mods through to some ground breaking (at the time) atomizers such as the Lemo, Lemo Drop (the latter was one of my firm favourite) the Lemo 2 (not such a favourite), Melo, the list goes on and on.
At some point in most vapers journeys, they have had an iStick and probably an Eleaf atomizer in the arsenal somewhere.
So today we’re going to be looking at Eleaf’s latest addition to their atomizer range which comes in the form of the new Lyche tank.
Sporting side filling, similar to that of the Lemo 2 and also an all new top airflow system. In addition to the stock coils, the atomizer also comes complete with a rebuildable deck.
So something for everyone……….!!?
What’s In The Box
• Lyche Atomizer
• 1 × Notch Coil 0.25ohm Head
• 1 × Dual Coil 0.25ohm Head
• 1 x Rebuildable Head
• 2 x Spare Hex Screws
• 2 × Seal Ring
• 1 x Allen/Hex Key
• User Manual
Features
• Stainless Steel & Glass Construction
• 22mm Diameter
• 59mm Length (Drip tip to 510 connection)
• 4.0ml Tank Capacity
• Adjustable Top Airflow Holes
• Side Fill
• Bottom Cup Design
• Replace/Rebuild Coil Without Emptying E-Liquid
• 0.25ohm 316L Stainless steel Notchcoil head 40-60watts
• 0.25ohm 316 Stainless steel Dual Coil head 40-60watts
• Optional RBA Head (Included in kit)
Build Quality & Design
Initially, on the unboxing I was a little dubious about the build quality of the Lyche, as it looked typical of a mass produced atomizer from China.
However, on a much more detailed inspection, this little fella was actually quite well manufactured and assembled. Everything fitting together exceptionally well.
Threading was buttery smooth, no burrs, dents or manufacturing scratches and not a drop of machine oil. So far so good.
At the top of the Lyche there is a very nice stainless steel encased Delrin 510 drip tip, so no hot lips when using this atomizer!
The drip tip has an internal diameter of approximately 8mm so not exactly wide bore but it’s more than adequate.
Below the drip tip is a new style airflow control ring.
You’d actually miss seeing it at first glance as it’s been very cleverly incorporated into the top section of the tank.
The AFC is limited to about a quarter turn for opening & closing and has just the right amount of tention to be easily opened and to stay in the users preferred position.
Below the AFC ring is the side filling port which is also on a rotating ring. Located in the middle of the ring is the ‘Lyche’ logo, this is also the position of your juice port.
Opening the port is relatively simple and straightforward.
- Hold the glass section of the atomizer in one hand and rotate the filling port ring anti-clockwise with the other hand.
- There is a locking feature on the ring so you may have to use a little bit of force to get thing moving but once it start the ring rotates quite freely.
- When the ring has completed its quarter turn the 10mm x 3mm juice port is completely open.
Below the juice port we have the glass section of the atomizer which provides a good clear view of juice level and the stock coil/RBA depending on which is installed.
The base section of the Lyche is cup style in design. This means that apart from the 510 connection on its base, nothing else screws into it.
So no coil or RBA screwed connection. These connect directly into the chimney section of the atomizer and make contact with the base & 510 when the tank is completely assembled.
Personally, this for me was a major flaw with the Lyche, particularly when using the RBA deck, as it means you are unable to dry burn & pinch Kanthal coils.
The 510 connection on the base of the atomizer is non-adjustable and the pin appeared to be silver plated.
Overall the build quality of the Lyche was good.
All threads and screws were very smooth and o-rings fitted nice and snuggly. There were no issues with the 510 connection and the atomizer worked well with all devices it was connected to.
From a design perspective the Lyche has a few flaws which are easily rectifiable, if Eleaf see fit to do so.
How Does The Eleaf Lyche Perform?
The Lyche comes complete with two stock coils in the kit. A 0.25ohm 316 Stainless steel Dual Coil head and a 0.25ohm 316L Stainless steel Notchcoil head.
0.25 Ohm Dual Coil
The first of the two, the 0.25ohm dual coil head performed extremely well at about 50-55watts with good flavour and vapour production.
On the chain vape test, the coil did struggle a little to keep up giving one or two dry hits. I think this was solely down to the size of the juice holes in the coil casing which appear to be a tad on the small side for a sub-ohm coil head.
Overall, the coil performed well but there is room for improvement.
0.25 Ohm Notch coil
Next up was the 0.25ohm Notch coil. On initial use this performed exceptionally well. Flavour was very good as was vapour production.
After about 15-20 minutes of use I did note that there was a little bit of spit-back which gradually got worst.
By about 30 minutes into using the coil it became completely unusable due to the excessive amount of spit back.
I did try and dry the coil out but as soon as the juice was in contact with the coil again I was back to square one with spit-back.
This I repeated several times but to no avail. Needless to say, this was incredibly disappointing considering all the hype over this coil.
RBA Deck
Finally it was on to the RBA deck.
As noted earlier, due to the atomizers arrangement, when using the RBA its not possible to dry burn and pinch Kanthal coils, so for the review I stuck solely with stainless steel to make the coiling process simpler.
This is where I hit another problem with the Lyche. The RBA is incredibly small, measuring only 13mm in diameter, and can only be setup in dual coil arrangement.
Added to this is another problem, the posts only have one set of holes. This is not going too well is it.
So, not only do you have to hold this tiny deck in your hand while trying to install two coils into the same post holes your also pretty limited to the size of coils you can install.
After a bout of hard shorts due to the coils touching the RBA’s outer casing, I finally managed to get two very small micro coils (2.0mm diameter) installed.
Overall, the Notchcoil and RBA were very disappointing to use.
What I Liked
Hand on heart, the only thing I liked about the Lyche was the airflow control.
It works well, was simple to adjust and is well disguised so as not to protrude and be an overpowering focal point on the atomizer.
What I Dislike
Unfortunately, with this atomizer, the dislike list is a long one.
In a nutshell the Notchcoil and RBA deck seriously let this atomizer down.
The Notchcoil floods within about 30 minutes of first use and the RBA is too small and fiddly to be able to build successfully on. All in all, very disappointing.
Final Review Verdict
Pros
- 4.0ml tank capacity
- Innovative airflow control
Cons
- Notchcoil floods too easily
- Spit back from the Notchcoil was excessive making it unusable
- RBA deck fitting arrangement means Kanthal coils can’t be dry burnt & pinched
- RBA deck is difficult to build on
- Airflow is slightly restrictive with the AFC wide open (subjective)
