Very light, a quality or a defect?
Hosted in a black cardboard beautiful box with pictures of the device and the Aspire brand’s logos, Plato is definitely well presented. Inside, one discovers Plato, a pretty bicolor box, consisting mostly of steel with a few plastic parts.
With only 190 g, including the battery, Plato is rather light, which is an advantage for portable use. In turn, one can also feel is as a proof of poor quality. As an indication, the EVIC VTC Mini weights 160 g without its atomizer.
Nice touch, in addition to the traditional USB cable (a flat cable), Aspire provides a 18,650 battery of 2500 mAh to power the 50 W of Plato. It’s always a pleasure. Finally, users are granted with two drip-tips (a stainless steel one for a indirect vape and a Delrin one, wider, for direct inhalation), and two additional plastic seals that block the supply of e-liquid.
Warning: Breakage!
The absence of a spare Pyrex tube is regrettable; hopefully Aspires will market the spare parts in a near future. For now, in case of breakage, the box turns unusable.
Technical characteristics
The main feature of the Aspire Plato are:
- A box mod with variable power from 1 to 50 W,
- Compatible coil resistance: 0.05 Ω to 2 Ω for the TC-Ni/TC-Ti modes, 0.2 Ω to 3 Ω for the bypass mode and 0.1 Ω to 3 Ω for the VW mode,
- Screen: blue OLED,
- An integrated clearomiseur with a capacity of 4.6 to 5.6 ml depending on the coil,
- A kanthal coil of 1.8 Ω to use between 10 W and 13 W,
- A Kanthal coil of 0.4 Ω to use betwee 40 to 50 W,
- A stainless steel drip-tip for indirect inhalation,
- A Derlin drip-tip, wider, for direct inhalation,
- A removable Pyrek tank,
- USB charging socket not protected by a cover,
- Material: plastic/stainless steel
- A USB cable flat
- A key to mount the coil
- Length: 100 mm (including the drip-tip)
- Width: 50 mm
- Depth: 23 mm
- Weight: 138 g
- Seven colors available
The metal lid slides, but a little bit too easily, I would have appreciated more powerful magnets. The mounting of the coils is achieved through the top of the box by unscrewing the two screws with a metal key (provided). To start, I chose the 1.8 Ω coil. The insertion and screwing of the long metal rod are easy. The cap is screwed with the key, then the supply of liquid can be opened, at the top of the atomizer.
Comfortable tank volume and rotating screen
Note that the overall tank capacity varies with the type of coil. With a 1.8 Ω coil, you may reach the beautiful volume of 5.6 ml. It is reduced to 4.6 ml when mounting the 0.4 Ω coil.
The Plato offers several modes: temperature control, bypass or variable voltage/power. Nice little detail, though, the blue OLED screen is rotatable and easily readable.
A perfectible usability
The usability of the Plato chipset is quite confusing. A Five-press on the Fire button does not turn off the box, it locks it. For example, to turn it off, it will still require an additional three-second press. To enter stealth mode, push the switch on three times. Another annoyance, the + and – buttons are reversed (the + on the left). In short, it is not very intuitive and for its use, one often has to refer to user manual. That said, let’s start vaping.
With the BVC coil of 1.8 Ω, Aspire recommends using the Plato between 10 and 13 W. Not surprisingly, the vape is quiet. The rendering of flavors is enjoyable with the airflow underneath the box. One can switch from a tight vape to an aerial vape without worries, or leaks. With the airflow wide open, Plato produces an excellent volume and a very dense vape, pleasant and tasty. Success at this level.
A vape accessible to everyone
Mounting the new Plato Subohm coil of 0.4 Ω obviously changes the universe. One has to tune the box to 40 W. Suddenly, it fits to direct inhalation and produces big curls. Remember though to reduce the nicotine strength, otherwise your throat and your head might notice it very fast.
One oversight that will probably disappoint vapers who like to vape and recharge the battery via the USB cable: With Plato, that is impossible because it does not offer a passthrough mode. A shame since most of the current box mods embark such a functionality. Hopefully, Aspire will fix it soon, via its firmware upgrade.
The chipset already upgraded
Joyetech’s example with an upgradable firmware in the EVIC VTC Mini seems to have emulated other brands. So does the Plato firmware. Currently, the new downloadable firmware, V04, offers no dramatic changes. Instead, it was rather dealing with a rationalization of the system with the removal of the Bypass mode, rarely used according to Aspire, and of the titanium temperature control mode, since no Titanium coil is available for this mod. If you are not convinced by the V04, you may still get back to the V03.
In summary
The “+”:
- Beautiful design,
- Rotative screen,
- 18,650 battery, 2500 mAh supplied,
- Ease of use,
- Compact,
- Comfortable tank capacity,
- No leaks,
- Bottom airflow,
- Upgradable firmware.
The “-“:
- No passthrough mode,
- Leakage if some e-liquid remains while changing coil,
- Unconventional chipset usability,
- Weak magnetic lid,
- No spare Pyrex tube.
Conclusions
Rating 3.6/5. After taming, the Aspire Plato proves to be an interesting box. Compact, lightweight, attractive and versatile, it offers a great quality of vape for an affordable price. Two flaws anyway. It is hoped that the average quality of the materials is not a handicap for use, and Aspires supplies spare Pyrex tubes, otherwise its life may be limited.
I am very sorry I bought one of these. I do not do mouth to lung. I do direct lung vaping. Once the included sub ohm coil was fouled, I called around to my local vape stores to see who had them in stock. Nobody did. I called around in a 50 mile radius. Nope. I called in a 100 mile radius. Nobody. Looking online, very few. Of the places that did, I haven’t ever heard of them. Vapenw, VaporDNA, ECiggity, no well known place carries the coils. I now have a small light paperweight.
Hi Maxwell, I use the 1.8 Aspire coils and buy them from this site… they are genuine (checked the ID number on Eleaf) and well priced at $9.99…. fast delivery.. https://www.vapeshop.com/aspire-nautilus-bvc-coils-pack-of-5/