Introduction – The Espion Silk TC Kit by Joyetech

The Joyetech Espion Silk is a 1w to 80w temperature control box mod, that has some scratching their heads!

Well know Chinese e-cig manufacturer Joyetech needs no introduction to the wider vaping community, they have been in the business since 2007. They have been at forefront of innovation for many years; past and present they have a huge product list! Ekee mod, evic primo mini, Espion Infinite, AIO, Ocular C, Batpack, Atopack Dolphin to name just a few.

Let take an in depth look at the funky little 80w kit that Joyetech calls the Espion Silk which comes along with the Notchcore Atomizer.

This Kit was sent to us for the purpose of this review. As always my views are my own.

Hands On Joyetech Espion Video Review

In The Box

• 1x ESPION Silk MOD
• 1x NotchCore Tank(2.5ml)
• 1x Notch Coil head(Pre-installed)
• 4x Notch Coil head
• 1x Glass Tube
• 1x QC USB cable
• 1x Manual
• 1x Warranty card
• 1x Warning card
• Spare Parts

Main Specs/Features

ESPION Silk MOD

• Size: 29.5 x 40.0 x 80.0mm
• Screen type: 0.69-inch OLED display
• Battery: built-in 2800mAh battery
• Output wattage: 1-80W
• Modes: Power/Bypass/Temp
• Resistance range: 0.05-1.5ohm for TEMP/TCR mode
  05-3.5ohm for POWER mode
• Temperature range: 100-315°C/ 200-600°F
• Max charging current: 2A
• Thread: spring-loaded 510

NotchCore Atomizer

• Size: 22.0 x 49.5mm
• Capacity: 2.5ml
• Coil: 0.45Ω Notch Coil
• Thread: 510
  

Design and Build Quality

The kit comes in a large card box with an over sleeve, to be quite honest with the kit contents it’s far too big with lots of space lost inside.

The Mod

Well the Espion Silk mod isn’t going to win any prizes for the best looking mod around, with all that silicone rubber coating my fingers are just itching to pick it off LOL, to be honest I think it’s rather ugly! The device has a diameter of 29.5mm, the height is 80mm and the width is 40mm, the mod is made of plastic with an internal 2800mAh battery, the mod features a rather small 0.69-inch OLED display with plastic fire and adjustment buttons.The top of the device has a 510 connection which is stainless steel with well turned threads, the connection pin is gold plated and spring loaded. The bottom has 4 small vent holes for your battery and a reset hole; the usual CE marks have been molded into the plastic.

The Joyetech Espion Silk is designed to be Hypoallergenic, or kind to skin, hence all the silicone glued to the mod, personally I don’t know of anyone who is allergic to their mod LOL. It is, however, very light weight and very comfortable to hold, the silicone has a pattern to it to make it non slip. Despite being constructed of plastic and silicone I would say that quality is good, the design…. well it has grown on me the last few weeks.

NotchCore Tank

The NotchCore Tank is where I would say Joyetech have put innovation to work, the quality and design are both very good with this tank.

Made of stainless steel, Pyrex and delrin, the tank dismantles into 4 parts for easy cleaning.

Base/ Airflow

Starting on the bottom of the base, they have laser etched Notchcore and the normal CE marks other than that the base bottom is pretty plain.The diameter of the base is 22mm and has a gold plated connection pin with stainless steel threading which are well turned. Moving up you have a dual cylon type AF which is firm to operate, whatever you place on one side is mirror the other.

Inside the deck, when you first open the tank up you will see 1 of the 5 notch coils supplied has been pre installed.The coil sits in a gold plated cradle which is surrounded by a peek insulator. Around the edge of the base you have a washer for your glass to sit on and threads to screw the chimney section over the coil.

Glass Tank

The tank is made of Pyrex glass the liquid capacity of the Notchcore when filled is 2.5ml, you have a spare tank in the box in case of accidents.

Chimney/ Top Cap/ Fill Port

This section is one piece and made of stainless steel, The coil cover screws onto the base and has 6 wick holes for your liquid to reach the coil.You have a long chimney section that connect to the cap around the top of the chimney is an O’ring for your glass tank.Above this you have the fill port a single kidney shaped hole in white silicone the outside of the fill port has knurling.The cap is pushed to one side for filling as indicated by the red triangle on the cap, you have a turret type decoration on the top of the cap leading to the drip tip space.

Mouth Piece

The 510 drip tip is made of delrin and sits in the space provided on the top cap.

Paint Work

The paint work of the tank is a high gloss finish, this can be difficult to grab if you need to change coil or fill the tank if you have liquid on your fingers, I had no problem turning the bottom AF though.

A quick setup guide

No need to empty the tank before changing coils, turn the tank upside down and unscrew the base.

• Change coils by lifting out the old one with a pin and replacing a new one carefully it will click into place.
• Dampen the cotton and coil with e-liquid (pre wick).
• Reassemble the tank.
• Fill the tank with your desired e-liquid.
• Screw on to the mod and leave for a few minutes.

I haven’t tried yet but it should be possible to change the cotton in the coil (I have done this for other notch coils in the past).

Basic menu guide

The menu system for the Espion Silk is very simple and comparable to other devices.

• 5 Clicks of the fire button for on and off
• 3 Clicks to switch modes, Power/ TC/ Bypass/ TCR.
• Up and down buttons to lock and unlock the device (you can still fire the mod).
• Fire button and up to enter the menu, 7 options are available, 9 for TC.
• Flip the screen while off, hold up and down buttons together.

How Does The The Joyetech Espion Silk TC Kit Perform?

For this review I have filled the Notchcore tank with 70VG/30PG e-liquid from Yogi called Strawberry Granola bar, the coil is reading 0.45Ω.

18W

Airflow wide open the vape was cool the vapour was plentiful for the wattage and very flavoursome.

25w

AF wide, if possible the vapour production was even better, really thick and creamy no discernible change to the flavour it was still pretty great.

30w

AF again wide open this time the vapour was incredibly thick and a wee bit warmer the flavour has not changed as far as I could tell, now according to the information I have gleaned about these particular notch coils, they are recommended to vape up to 30w.

35w +

I was able to take the up to 50w with the AF wide open and DTL style of vape I did this in 5w increments without loss of flavour, as one might expect the vapour progressively got a lot warmer! At 55w and immediately got a burning taste.

I have settled at 40W as the best vape for me with the Joyetech Notchcore tank.

The Espion Silk

The mod will fire up to 80W. Like all Joyetech mods I have used to date, the menu system is very familiar.

What a strange looking thing, I have taken the time to show the mod around to a few of my friends and most agree its ugly but strangely compelling in a weird sort of way LOL.

The silicon bits of rubber surrounding the outside of the mod make the mod very comfortable to hold, but as I said earlier my fingers are itching to rip it off LOL.

TC

I have used the mod with dual SS316L 0.3Ω in my Mutation X5 RDA at 420f at 65w the mod functioned perfectly, however like all mods when firing SS316L I locked the wire resistance.

The Joyetech Espion Silk is update-able (update not released yet). Another itch I’ve got is to push a pin in the reset hole on the bottom of the mod just to see what it does LOL so far I have resisted!.

The battery is an internal 2800mAh battery; I had no problem at 30W with the battery charge lasting nearly 5 hours.

Chain vaping

At 30w the kit (NotchCore tank on the Espion Silk) stood up very well to this test, 8 chain vapes with the AF wide open, resulted in no discernible heat from the tank.

Pros

Espion Silk

• Very good quality
• Good design if you can over look the silicon
• Very comfortable in the hand
• 80w of power more than enough for the average vaper
• Very good battery life

Notchcore Tank

• Very good quality
• Design is weird lol
• I love the notch coil placement
• Top filling mark clear
• 5ml capacity
• No leaking
• Handles both MTL and DTL very well
• Chain vape test *Passed*

Cons

• I have no real concerns or complaints with this kit apart from its butt ugly LOL.

Final Review Verdict

Why Joyetech did you ever stick bits of silicon rubber to the Espion Silk mod? For a good performer you have ruined its look! The Notchcore tank on the other hand is a wonderful little tank, the ohms of the notch coil in my opinion could have been lower! I’m unsure what category this tank should be in would you class it as an RBA or a stock tank? I think I’d go with RBA, let us know below what you think of the Espion Silk kit.

Would I buy the Joyetech Espion Silk TC Kit should I lose or damage this one? Maybe not the mod but strangely for me I would the tank.