VaporFi Rebel II Review

This year, VaporFi supplanted V2 Cigs as our top-rated e-cigarette company because of the excellent job they’ve done of evolving to meet the changing needs of a maturing industry. More and more e-smokers — even complete beginners — are opting to buy advanced personal vaporizers rather than “cig-a-likes,” perhaps because they prefer the superior battery life and vapor production. Tank systems have matured as well, becoming easier to fill and resisting the leaks that were so common among e-cigarette tank systems of the past.

The VaporFi Rebel II isn’t just an advanced personal vaporizer for vaping experts; its simple control scheme and easy-fill tank make it an appropriate choice for beginners with high nicotine needs as well. While many of us at eCig One have been slow to convert to tank systems, the Rebel tank system has made believers of us. E-cigarette tanks have been easy enough to fill for quite some time. However, most tanks that we’ve tried have either leaked or imparted a plastic taste to e-liquids. The VaporFi Rebel tank is the first exception we’ve found; not only does it accurately reproduce the flavors of our favorite e-liquids, but it also does so while producing some of the largest vapor clouds we’ve ever seen.

The VaporFi Rebel II features a telescoping bottom cap to accommodate multiple battery sizes.

VaporFi Rebel II: Price and Value

The VaporFi Rebel II costs about $114 when you click through our link above, which applies an automatic 12 percent discount to your order. This head-turning price puts the Rebel II in the same price range as some of the industry’s best known personal vaporizers, most notably the ProVari. However, the price tag is where the similarities between the Rebel II and the ProVari end. If you buy the ProVari at this price, you’re only getting the device — no batteries, no charger and no attachments. Add two batteries, a charger and a glass tank and the price of the ProVari becomes $206 at the time of writing. The Rebel II kit requires no customization; it includes everything you need to get started.

Under the Hood

The VaporFi Rebel II allows you to adjust the voltage or wattage of the device in increments of 0.1 using two buttons on the sides of the device. The maximum output of the device is 6.0 volts or 15.0 watts, with an over-current limit of 4.0 amps. If you’ve never used an advanced personal vaporizer before, the short version of the story is that you’ll have plenty of headroom to increase the power of your favorite dual-coil or low-resistance atomizer, cartomizer or tank before encountering error messages due to over-current conditions. The ProVari, on the other hand, supports voltage adjustments only and has a maximum current of 3.5 amps. For adjustable wattage and a higher over-current limit, you’ll need to upgrade to the $250 ProVari P3.

The Rebel II doesn’t require an assortment of different end caps to support different battery sizes. Instead, it features a long end cap with telescoping threading. Whichever battery you’d like to use — the Rebel II includes two sizes — you’ll simply twist the end cap until you have a tight fit. We found the machining and lubrication of the end cap flawless; it twists on and off with nary a scrape or squeak.

VaporFi Rebel II Review

We’ve passed the Rebel II between our staffers for several weeks in preparation for this review. One thing we all agree on is that we much prefer the three-button control scheme of the Rebel II over more complex single-button menu systems such as the one used by the ProVari 3. While the ProVari 3 offers advanced features such as the ability to check the quality of the battery, we find many of these features to be essentially novelties that only get used once or twice. It quickly becomes tiresome to press the fire button ten or more times to make a simple voltage or wattage adjustment. With the Rebel II, you only need to press one button. To switch between the voltage and wattage adjustment modes, simply hold both side buttons for a few seconds. It’s simple, intuitive and fast.

If we had to choose a favorite aspect of the VaporFi Rebel II, though, it might not be the device. In fact, it may be the tank. Over the years, we’ve tried a lot of e-cigarette tanks. We’ve tried plastic tanks, glass tanks and cartomizer tanks — some of the most popular models on the market. We’ve never liked them as much as the standard dual-coil cartomizer. Invariably, plastic tanks made our e-liquids taste like plastic. Glass tanks lagged behind the standard cartomizer, too; they demonstrated poor vapor production. If we dialed up the voltage or wattage to compensate, we’d get dry hits because the e-liquid wouldn’t feed quickly enough. To further complicate matters, virtually every tank leaked. Some would leak if you simply held the e-cigarette at the wrong angle, while others would begin to seep e-liquid after extended use.

In the weeks we’ve spent with the VaporFi Rebel II, the tank has exhibited none of these problems. The vapor production is superb; short of building your own atomizer coils, this is the best vapor production we’ve seen to date from an e-cigarette attachment. Our e-liquids taste exactly as they would with cartomizers, we never experience dry puffs because we don’t have to dial the power up to obscene levels. Most importantly, there hasn’t been a single leak. The Rebel tank fills easily by removing the bottom cap, and an adjustable collar allows you to change the airflow to suit your puff style.

The Rebel tank uses a dual-coil atomizer head that twists out for easy replacement. You can expect coils to last roughly four weeks before the vapor production starts to tail off; new coils cost $24.99 per five-pack ($21.99 with our embedded coupon).

VaporFi Rebel II Performance

We have always considered the ProVari the gold standard when testing the performance of a variable-voltage or variable-wattage e-cigarette. With very few exceptions, we have found that when the ProVari is compared side-by-side with another device using the same attachment and power settings, the ProVari produces more vapor. Volcano’s Lavatube, for example, lags behind the ProVari at every voltage setting.

The VaporFi Rebel II doesn’t suffer from this problem at all; we are unable to detect any performance difference between the two vaporizers. Perhaps even more impressively, the vapor production doesn’t drop as the battery charge is depleted. Each puff, from the first to the last, is exactly the same.

VaporFi Rebel II Review: Conclusion

The VaporFi Rebel II is about as close as you’ll find to a perfect e-cigarette or vaporizer. Although we certainly can’t claim to have tried every e-cigarette tank system on the market, the Rebel tank is the best we’ve used by a wide margin. The vapor production and flavor accuracy will be enough to impress and satisfy the most experienced e-smokers, while the easy-fill design and leak resistance make it sufficiently reliable and easy to use for complete beginners. The Rebel II is a top-quality advanced personal vaporizer at a competitive price; it is simply one of the best e-cigarettes we have ever reviewed.