The Innokin Jem / Goby is a new starter kit release from a brand known for both safety of their devices and never forgetting their roots – in other words at the end of the day vaping is a healthier replacement to smoking.
The JEM follows in the footsteps of kits such as the Pocket Mod – The Endura T18 and Endura T20s – and MTL tanks such as the Prism and the recently released Zenith Zlide tank. ore recently the Innokin Jem Pen has been released.
There’s many more too many in fact to mention here – but as you can see Innokin are not about flashy LEDs and high powered devices – just look at the awesome Proton kit to see that – design – safety and performance over gimmicks is their motto.
The Innokin JEM Mod
So has their latest release – the so good they named it twice JEM / Goby set-up been able to sit shoulder to shoulder with Innokin’s impressive stable of vaping starter kits?
The American version of this kit will be called the Goby – which I’m led to believe is a fish – quite why that’s more appealing to our cousins across the pond I have no idea – answers on a postcard – though I guess at a push it looks like a fish if an anorexic one…
So is the JEM a little diamond of a kit to vape on or more of a shiny but disappointing cubic zirconia? More importantly is this one of the best small vape mods out there?
Let’s take a closer look.
This was sent for the purpose of this review and as always my thoughts and opinions are my own.
In the Box
The usual slide out box – nicely presented as always these days from Innokin.
Inside you’ll find:
- 1 x JEM Battery (1000 mAh capacity)
- 1 x JEM Tank (2ml EU Compliant)
- 2 x JEM 1.6 Ohm Coils (1 pre-installed)
- 1 x Micro USB Charging Cable
- 1 x Quick Start Guide
- Spare Parts
Plenty of stuff in there including a plethora of detailed paper work and those ubiquitous Innokin stickers – does anyone actually use those?
Innokin JEM/Goby Kit Specs
- E juice capacity: 2ml
- Battery type: 1000mAh (built-in)
- Power output: 10 to 13.5 Watts (variable)
- USB charge port on battery
- Up & down arrows to adjust wattage
- Pyrex glass e-juice tank
- Mouth-to-lung (MTL) style drip-tip
- Adjustable airflow on tank base
- Available in Purple, Red, Blue, Grey, or Black
JEM/Goby Quick Start Guide
- X5 clicks of the fire button on and off
- Remove coil by unscrewing the base and prime your coil and replace!
- Unscrew top cap to fill and close
- Wait 10 minutes
- Use up and down buttons to set wattage/power
- Press fire – inhale and vape!
Key Features
Ok this predominantly designed for brand new vapers looking for something effective – stylish and easy to use.
It’s powered by an internal 1000mAH battery and has 5 power settings:
10W – 11W – 12W – 13W – 13.5W
I found between 10w and 12w the vape was cool and flavour not as good as the higher settings where the vapour was warm and the flavour popped a lot more.
You scroll through those settings using the up and down buttons and each one lights up clearly – like I said this is about as easy as it gets.
The airflow control is pretty generous for a low powered device with a total of six holes – 3 mirrored on each side.
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Jem airflow
More on that in the run down on how the JEM performs.
The 2ml top fill tank is very old school to look at reminding me of those old clearomizers we used to use on our ego pen set-ups!
The battery and tank comes in various colour combos and has a lovely almost metallic finish to it.
It’s certainly lightweight and compact and is closer to a vape pen style than a box mod.
Design and Build Quality
It’s an Innokin product so as you might expect it’s put together very well indeed.
The tank comes apart easily enough with nice threading though the top cap is initially very tight – a tiny drop of e-liquid soon loosened things up.
Design wise I have to say it looks great especially in the red version I received.
As I’ve already mentioned it’s as close to a Vape pen style device that a box mod could get.
I can’t stress enough how dainty this is with the battery about the same thickness as a marker pen – as you can see it literally disappears into my hand.
The tank is almost as big as the battery and really is old school looking like one of those very early clearomizers with one of those retro vase shaped proper [lol] Mouth toLung (MTL) drip tips.
Further Reading: What’s The Difference Between MTL and DTL Styles of Vaping?
Other 510 drip tips of mine do fit – some don’t 😉
Yup – it looks good – feels nice in the hand and comfortable in the mouth – so most importantly how does it vape?
How Does the Innokin JEM/Goby Perform?
OK, once you’re all filled up and ready to vape the JEM really does give a good flavour and surprisingly good clouds for an MTL tank.
Filling is extremely easy as is swapping out the coils which can be done whilst the tank is filled.
Setting your power level is also as easy as it gets and is very responsive flicking through the settings quickly and efficiently.
It’s the airflow that is shall we say a little bit of an overkill.
There’s x6 air flow holes and to get that tight draw that smokers need means you really do have to shut it down to almost half of one hole or is that half of two given they mirror lol.
Any more than that and the vape becomes loose and airy with the merest and I mean merest drop in flavour.
Speaking of flavour I regularly vape on the Innokin Prism tank and the JEM almost matches it – it’s definitely a tasty tank!
- top fill
Battery life as you might expect is very good too and vaping at the max setting of 13.5 watts I was getting 6 to 8 hours before the battery drained.
I’ve been using this for a couple of hours per day since Boxing Day and haven’t had to change coils yet – so the longevity of them looks good.
One minor niggle is the placing of the USB charge port.
It’s on the base which means you either have to lay it flat on its side – or lean it against something.
BTW for fun and science I did lay it on its side filled with juice and had the tiniest amount of seepage through the wide open airflow holes – none with them closed – after an hour so be aware of that! If carrying in a bag or pocket close up the airflow.
Charge time is extremely fast – under an hour from flat – and you can vape whilst charging [pass through].
What I Like
Can’t fault the build and design of the Innokin JEM kit.
I’ll admit when I first took it out of the box I thought it felt a bit plasticcy – however that was just down to the weight – it really is light as a feather even when fully filled.
It’s actually a very light alloy I’m guessing with a lovely metallic finish – very nice indeed.
Using it is as simple as pie with the bare minimum of buttons to press – an easy coil swap and handy top fill.
Put it this way the JEM won’t faze any newcomers to vaping so Innokin has really hit the beginner vapers market bang on with this little beauty.
Flavour is very good indeed and with the airflow turned way down there’s a good throat hit too – I was using my go to high nicotine tobacco e-liquid [50/50 VG PG] and it certainly matched the Prism.
I did fill it with a 70/30 e-liquid mix and the little coil wicked a treat – so no worries on it coping with thicker consistencies.
This is definitely one to buy for or suggest to the smoker in your life looking to quit and as a regular MTL vaper I’d be happy to use this as my go to kit.
What I Don’t Like
Just the amount of airflow really – it’s a lot.
I like a reasonably airy MTL draw but wide open this is verging on a restricted sub ohm lung hit – not a bad thing and at least you have the option – unlike the Prism.
- Innokin EZ Watt and Jem Kit
Whilst I use the Innokin EZ Watt very regularly and it is more powerful – changing the settings can be a pain whereas the JEM is very simple!
Final Review Verdict
The Innokin Jem / Goby kit is nigh on perfect for absolute beginners to e-cigarettes – I really wish vaping starter kits had been around when I began because you could add another year to the six years I’ve stopped smoking!Some of those early kits were truly awful weren’t they!
Pros
- Easy peasy to use
- 5 power levels
- Top fill
- Great flavour
- Surprisingly good vapour
- Easy coil swap
- Good battery life
- Fast charging and pass through
- Lightweight compact and pleasing design
- Solid build
- Great price
Cons
- Airflow a bit over the top – just a niggle 😉
I’m with you our Neil – I got the Goby version and didn’t expect much to be honest, however using this with Nic Salts and its an amazing little kit, the vapour is way more than I expected and this little battery is doing amazing too.
What a lovely little surprise!