ATVS Selene Pod Kit Review: A Device That Totally Misses the Mark

Pod systems… Love them or hate them, they are an integral part of the vape industry and nobody can deny that they’re great to grab when out and about. With a little nic salt, it’s the perfect pocket sized companion – lightweight, easy to use, discreet and fundamental to most people looking to kick that cigarette habit.

I love all types of vaping, from the humble vape pod right up to the hardest hitting series mech mod and RDA combo, vaping is so diverse! It’s one of the things I love about Vaping: everything has its place and pod style kits are definitely here to stay. With that being said, let’s look at the ATVS Selene Pod Kit in more detail. 

ATVS may have been around for a minute but they have brought many products to the market, whether it be a subohm kit, pod style devices or devices aimed towards CBD. The Selene pod is comparable, in terms of features, to their Ghost pod kit which was released in 2019.  Having never used any of their products before, I was interested to give this model a go. 

Box Contents

• 1 x ATVS Selene Kit
• 1 x ATVS Selene Cartridge
• 1 x User Manual
• 1 x Warranty Card

Specifications

• Size: 100*19*11mm
• Battery Capacity: 300mAh built-in battery
• E-Juice Capacity: 1.0ml
• Coil Material: Ceramic Coil
• Resistance: 1.0ohm
• Charging Voltage: 5V, Micro USB 
• Charging Time: 50mins

Design & Build Quality

On opening the box the first thing that strikes me is the size, this device is SMALL! Shorter than a Uwell Caliburn and around the same in terms of thickness, with a form factor that we have come to expect from a pen style pod kit. It feels very nice in the hand and is lightweight.

The build quality is ok, nothing to write home about but it’s not terrible. The paint is a matt finish which almost has a pearlescent look to it and the device is available in four different colors: black; silver; red; blue.  The logos on the front and the back are printed with Selene and ATVS respectively, and your USB charge port is located at the bottom. 

Whilst the Selene is in fact auto draw activated, there is also a nice button though it’s use is only to adjust temp control, pre-heat and turn the device on/off. The button is triangular in shape with rounded edges and the led lights surround.  This is all fairly standard as is the power on/off via 5 clicks but the button feels nice in use, has a decent travel and it responds pretty well. 

Pod

The Selene pod has a 1ohm ceramic coil that holds 1ml of liquid and is very comfortable to use:  the pod tapers in towards the mouth piece which makes it ergonomic in use (similar to other systems).  However, a feature that I like is the ability to see your liquid easily, the plastic is slightly smoked for aesthetics but not so much that you cannot see through it.

The kit that I received had no indication of the coil resistance on the pod itself, which for me is going to be a con.  Fair enough it states it in the manual but it should really be indicated on the actual pod. Magnets hold the pod in place very nicely and they make a satisfying ‘snap’ into place as it makes connection. I had no experience of the pod wobbling or falling out, it’s a great shame I cannot say the same for the drip tip.

The drip tip and filling method is, for me, where this device really suffers. The tip needs to be removed for filling and it’s very loose, it could easily come off in your pocket and it accumulates quite a bit of condensation whilst in use.  Unfortunately from here, it gets worse!

The filling method is top fill, which I’m not against, and there is (like most pods) a rubber bung for filling secured at either side of the top section.  In most cases, you flip the bung open and fill.  But the Selene requires you to remove the tiny rubber bung completely, otherwise your liquid will not have an outlet for air to escape which will lead to bubbles and cause you to spill juice everywhere. This is a huge downfall of this system in my opinion: removing this tiny bung to fill whilst at home may not be an issue but when out and about it proved to be a real pain which is a shame because this lets the device down massively. 

The fill ports are also a problem… they are way too small! Something that ATVS are probably aware of due to the fact that they include a needle nose bottle for filling in the box.

Battery life & Charging

The Selene takes 50 minutes to fully charge from dead. USB-C should be hitting a standard now in vape gear but as with many systems, this uses a micro USB. Having tried it for around two weeks and vaping it a regular amount, the 300mAh battery will get you through most of the day, a small caveat to that would be that heavy vapers would be better suited to a device with an external or larger built in battery.

The Selene has a preheat function and varying levels of temp control which you can see here.

Three clicks changes the temperature:

• Red = 220°C
• Blue = 260°C
• Green = 280°C

A double click of the button will give you a 20 second pre-heat to 150°C on the ceramic coil.

When you vape on the device the color of the LED will display your battery level;

• Green = 60% -100%
• Blue = 30% – 60%
• Red = 0% – 30%

Performance

So with all the tech specs and build out of the way how did I find the performance of the Selene?

Let me start by saying that this is a very easy to use device, quick to set up (despite the convoluted fill system) and as with many pods, it’s pretty self explanatory (aside from the temp control settings, which once familiar are easy to set up and dial in to how you like).

I found this device to be somewhat unsatisfactory in terms of the vape experience, it’s only ‘ok’ when on the highest temp mode and by double tapping for a pre heat before your first vape. Generally speaking what I, and many others, want from a pod is a fill and go experience, something that doesn’t require a double button push or to be at its max temp setting to hit well. 

In terms of the ceramic coil, I’ve found that the wicking in some cases doesn’t keep up. I tried a 70/30 liquid  which gave me a dry taste on the second pull and even with a 20mg nic salt 50/50, it feels as though it’s always ‘on the edge’ and the flavor is extremely muted unfortunately. (I totally get that this device is not made for that but in the name of testing, I tried!) It never leaked on me but, as stated before, there is quite a build up of condensation when the mouth piece is removed, this however is usually not a big issue but when you have a loose mouthpiece in the first place it very quickly becomes a game of ‘Where did my drip tip go?’ 

The life span for the coil is not as good as some out there, it lasted around 6 fills before it needed replacing but only comes with one in the box – not a great selling point.

Airflow on the Selene is actually nice, not adjustable, but for reference it’s a little bit tighter than a Caliburn I would say a fairly restrictive MTL, however this is a subjective point: in most cases but it’s not as tight as a some other devices and I didn’t get any turbulence from it.

Verdict

On the whole the ATVS Selene has missed the mark for me, I just wasn’t getting the nice throat hit that I have come to expect from a pod system without chugging on the thing and I feel as though it’s underpowered, which is a shame.  It almost had it! The pod/coil was the biggest crux of the problem, and in all honesty there are far superior pod systems that I would recommend over this one on the market.

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