Aspire Minican 2 Review: Great Performance at an Affordable Price

Design & Build Quality

The first word that comes to my mind to describe the Minican 2 is “cute”. It’s a small device, only 83.1mm tall, 28.1mm wide, and 15.6mm deep and it weighs only 28g. Very compact and very lightweight. 

However, the size isn’t the main reason why I say that it’s cute. It’s more the look. The Minican 2 comes in 5 vibrant colors, a departure from the typical blue, red, green, black, silver that I see from other brands. The Minican 2 comes in pearl (white), pink, sky blue, lavender, lime green, and amber. The color is encased by a clear plastic shell which gives the device a sort of 3D look. This 3D effect is most noticeable with the “Minican 2” that is printed on the front of the device.

At the bottom-front of the vape is an LED indicator. A white LED lights up each time that you take a draw. There are no other colors for the LED. When the battery is low, the LED will blink 10 times to let you know that it’s time to recharge.

There are two airflow holes, one on each side of the Minican 2. There is no airflow adjustment. There is also no wattage adjustment. The Minican 2 functions on bypass output mode, which basically means that the draw gets weaker as the battery dies.

It’s a simple device but the Minican 2 has good build quality and an attractive, vibrant design. 

Pods

The Minican 2 comes with only one pod, which is a disappointment. It’s compatible with all existing Minican pods, of which there are 7 in total. The one that comes in the package is a 1.0Ω pod with a kanthal coil and a 3ml capacity. 

With so many pods available, it sucks to only get 1 in the box. I would have even appreciated two of the same pod, just in case one is a dud or burns out prematurely. Since it only comes with the single pod, you have to be careful to let the pod have enough time to wick and absorb the ejuice before you start vaping it. If you don’t, you’ll be left with a device that you can’t use until you grab more pods.

The pod has a tint on it that makes it difficult to see how much ejuice is inside. This is a frequent complaint that I have about pods on pod vapes but things never seem to change! 

The pod attaches magnetically to the battery and while there is a little wiggle, it’s nothing serious. The pod stays attached securely and takes some force to remove. 

The mouthpiece is ergonomic shaped in a way that fits my lips perfectly. It’s not a gradual slope, but instead almost cut into the mouthpiece with a steep slope. This makes it easy to hold in my mouth and vape, while I type for instance.

The pod is bottom filled which means having to remove it from the battery to fill up. No big deal. The stopper goes rather deep and plugs the hole properly. I have not had leaking issues from the fill hole so it does the job nicely.

Battery

The Minican 2 has a 400mAh battery and it recharges through a Type-C charging port located on the bottom of the device. 400mAh doesn’t sound like a lot (and by today’s standards it isn’t), but it goes a surprisingly long way with this device thanks to the bypass mode output.

The Minican 2’s draw strength is dependent on your battery charge and so the draw gets weaker as the battery dies. However, I did not notice a big difference in the draw from fully charged to nearly dead. The draw is still acceptably strong even near dead and doesn’t feel weak at all.

If this was a constant wattage output device, the battery life would surely suck. But the Minican 2 doesn’t seem to need constant output wattage as it still delivers a good draw down to the end of a battery charge.

You can expect to vape over 2 pods of ejuice off of a single charge, which is really good for a 400mAh battery. It also charges relatively quickly, taking only 40 minutes for a full charge. 

Performance

The Minican 2 performs at a level that is way above average for the simple device that it is. Going into using it, I expected mediocre performance and flavor, just based on how simple and cheap (affordable) of a device that it is. 

What I actually got is above average flavor and great, dense draws which was surprising. This is a device that costs only around $10 USD and it performs just as good as devices that are double or even triple the price.

The draw with the 1.0Ω pod is a medium-loose MTL draw. It’s not too loose that it’s airy so it’s still very enjoyable for a MTL vape. Those looking for a tight MTL draw will be disappointed. Although you can close off the airflow holes on the side with your fingers for a tighter draw, this isn’t a very practical solution.

The coil in this 1.0Ω pod wicks like a champ too. I used a 50/50 nicotine salt ejuice, as well as a 65VG ejuice and I had no trouble whatsoever. The Minican 2 pod did not leak and also did not struggle with wicking. Taking multiple, successive draws are not a problem for this pod. 

The auto-draw sensitivity is also just right. While I had some issues with the Aspire Flexus Q, the Minican 2 is not too sensitive, but still draw activates with little effort. It’s perfectly tuned for draw activation and requires neither too much nor too little effort.

Verdict

For such an affordable device, the Aspire Minican 2 is really great. It’s easily better than other vapes at this price point and even performs just as well as some more expensive pod vapes. The main complaint that I have is that it only comes with one pod so make sure that you purchase a pack of pods with the device. 

Another con that I can see with the Minican is the lack of adjustment. There’s no wattage or airflow adjustment so what it delivers is what you get. You could take two small pieces of tape and close off the airflow holes for a tighter MTL draw, but if you’re purchasing the Minican 2 with that intention, you might as well get another pod vape with a tighter draw.

For the price, the flavor and performance are incredible. If you’re looking for a new pod vape that isn’t going to cost you too much, I can recommend getting the Aspire Minican 2.