Product intro
The Obelisk 65FC is the latest AIO pod mod by Geekvape, a company that’s known for making some of the best vape mods on the market. The star of the show is mainly their rugged Aegis line but lately have been also working on their Obelisk line as well as a variety of pod systems.
The Obelisk 65FC is the follow-up to the Obelisk 60 AIO, and it is a pod mod made for DL vaping. FC stands for fast charging, which means that when paired with a higher voltage charging brick it can charge very fast (they claim 18 minutes for this device). It also supports USB OTG (on-the-go,) so it can be used as a portable charger. It uses dual internal batteries rated at 1100 mAh each (2200 mAh in total,) has a large color screen and takes proprietary pods that fit 4.5 mL of e-liquid.
Build quality and design
The Obelisk 65FC is a medium-sized AIO system that’s very pocketable. It’s similar to the many we’ve seen of this style like the Freemax Marvos and VAPORESSO LUXE 80. It’s about the size of a small single-cell box mod with a tank. It stands at 101 mm x 27 mm x 42 mm and it’s pretty lightweight and portable.
There are six color options currently available. The frames are all the same color (silver,) and the color difference is just the panels. The exception to that is the rainbow which does have a rainbow frame. I received the Lava edition, which has panels that are red, black, and silver, in a resin style design. It looks great from up close and I’ve experienced no paint chipping or issues with it at all.
On the front of the device, you have a very nice 0.96-inch color rectangular screen. There are three buttons on the device: the fire button which is right above the screen, and the up and down buttons under the screen. Branding is very simple with a small Obelisk logo on the fire button and a medium-sized Geekvape logo on each of the panels.
All in all, it’s a great-looking device, and it feels well-built while being relatively lightweight and compact.
Getting started
The Obelisk 65FC is a pretty simple AIO system to use, but a little more complex than other similar devices due to a large number of modes available. Here’s a rundown of basic operations:
l Click fire five times to turn it on/off.
l Use up and down to adjust wattage.
l Hold down and fire or up and fire to adjust the brightness of the screen.
l Hold up and down to lock the adjustment buttons (the device can still fire.)
l (With the adjustment buttons locked) click fire three times to lock the device from firing.
l (With the adjustment buttons not locked) click fire three times to you to cycle through the modes.
The screen displays the wattage, a puff counter, a battery meter, and resistance. As for modes, you have Power mode, Smart mode (which is just power mode that’ll limit your max wattage based on resistance,) Temp control mode for SS and TCR, Bypass mode, and finally VPC—which is a watt curve mode that allows you to set your wattage in five increments so you can fine-tune your vape a little more.
I’d normally praise them for TC but none of their coils are TC-compatible and there’s no RBA for it (at least not yet.) As for Bypass, I am not a fan and can’t find much use for it. Honestly, they could have just done Power mode and VPC and been done with it since this is a beginner device. It makes it a little more complex than it needs to be. Finally, there is OTG (on-the-go) charging, which allows you to use the device as a battery bank to charge another device—I’ll go over that more later in the battery section.
The pod is held in place by magnets and pops in and out. To adjust the airflow there is a typical AFC between the pod body and the drop tip. It’s nice and smooth, it has a stopper, and it’s easy to adjust. The pod is sadly a little too tinted, making it hard to see the juice level unless in really good lighting. I wish it would have been clear instead. I get that it’s done for style, but I prefer functionality first.
The coils are designed with the same plug-n-play system we’ve seen on many of these devices. To replace the coil, just pull it out from the bottom and pop in a new one. Then put the pod back in and refill it. You do need to pretty much empty the pod before replacing the coil but if you do it sideways a little juice can stay in there as well. Sadly, like many of these devices, the coil is hard to remove with your hands and you are much better off using the included tool or something like a flathead screwdriver to pop it out. Putting in a new coil is easy though.
Refilling the Obelisk 65 FC pod tank is easy. You don’t need to remove the pod which is nice. There is a rubber plug on the top front; just pop it open and expose the large fill hole and fill. Nothing groundbreaking, but it’s a proven great method for refilling these tanks.
Overall, it’s kind of a device that tries to do too much when compared to similar devices, but not a bad option for someone a little more versed in how mods work.
Performance
The most important part of any pod or AIO device is going to be the coils. The Obelisk 65FC takes the B series coil line, which is a line that’s been around for a while and used in a few of their devices like the Aegis Boost. As a matter of fact, I actually reviewed one of the included coils here back in 2019 when I did the Aegis Boost review. The Obelisk comes with two coil options in the box: a 0.4-ohm coil rated for 25-35 watts (which is the coil I’ve gone over before,) and a 0.2-ohm coil rated 50-58 watts.
For coil performance, I started my testing with the 0.4-ohm coil and found it best around 25 watts. The flavor was good, and I got pretty good life out of it at 40 mL. No complaints considering what it is, but for me, coils in the 20-30 watt range are kind of in a no man’s land. Τhey seems too low for DL vaping and too high for MTL vaping with high nic. So, while the coil itself is good, it’s just kind of mismatched in this device. Then I used the 0.2-ohm coil. I found it best around 54 watts. I got a really good flavor and it’s more fitting for this device and worked well. I also got good life out of it at about 65-70 mL of juice, so no complaints there.
Overall, it’s a really good vape with the 0.2-ohm coil but not so much with the 0.4-ohm coil. Of course, it comes with both so you can always judge for yourself.
Battery life and charging
The Type-C port is located on the left side of the device. Geekvape lists the device with an internal battery rated for 2200 mAh (dual 1100 mAh batteries) and a charge rate of 2A with a standard 5V charger. They also list an 18-minute charge with the use of a fast charger. They, unfortunately, didn’t include one in this kit, so I didn’t test that. I test items that come for review as is, not with additional accessories not included. With that said, I have tested the Obelisk 120 in the past which claimed a 15-minute charge with a fast charger (and had one included,) and it did pass the test. So I think the 18-minute claim with a fast charger is plausible on this device.
Using a standard 5V charger, the max charge rate I got was 2.12A which surpasses their 2A rating. It does allow for passthrough vaping as well, so you can vape while it charges. Charge time is 49 minutes, which is really good for a device like this.
For battery size, I got a usable 1721 mAh. It’s not uncommon for companies to overrate battery sizes. It’s to the point where I expect them to be overstated by 10-15% every time. This one is about 22% overrated, so a little high and I’ll ding them for that. In fact, even the listed capacity is a little low for a device like this, considering it’s around the same size as a 18650-powered mod. I actually got more usable battery life out of the Freemax Marvos and VAPORESSO LUXE 80 I recently reviewed, both of which are a little smaller.
Finally, the last part is their OTG mode which allows you to use this device as a battery bank. I guess it could be a bonus for some people, and we’ve seen it on a few devices in the past. I tested the OTG, and it worked well with no issues. The max charge rate I got with it was 1.3A so a good charge rate. Using the device to charge a cell phone or tablet would be fine. No major complaints there. I will say though that this device only has a Type-C port and not a USB-A port like most cables require. They do include a C-to-C cable so charging any device with a Type-C port can be done with what you get in the box. However, for something like an iPhone or an older device with a USB mini, you would require additional adapters and/or cables.
Pros / Cons
+ Solid build quality while being lightweight
+ Nice hand feel
+ Decently sized for portability
+ Seven color options
+ Nice large bright color screen
+ Pod tank is held firmly
+ Easy to fill the pod
+ Good capacity (4.5 mL)
+ Adjustable airflow
+ Two coil options included
+ Three other coil options usable in this kit
+ Excellent flavor and life from the 0.2-ohm coil
+ Fast charge rate (2.12A) and charge time (49 minutes)
+ OTG charging works well and charges fast (1.3A)
+ VPC mode is useful
- Tank is tinted too dark
- The 0.4-ohm coil isn’t really suited well for this kit
- Use of fast charging requires an appropriate charger (not included)
- Uses a coil line that’s been around for two years
- Coils require the use of a tool to remove
- Overstated usable battery life (1721 mAh)
- Mod is a little too complex to be truly beginner-friendly
Verdict
Overall, I’m kind of torn on this device. It’s not a bad device by any means, but as an AIO it’s supposed to be marketed more towards beginners, and this one feels more complex than similar products on the market.
The Obelisk 65FC is a good device for an intermediate vaper who wants to DL vape at around 50 watts and can find a use for the OTG feature. It also charges pretty fast with a standard charger, and probably even faster with a higher voltage charger (although I wasn’t able to test for that since they didn’t send a charger with it).
If this is something you were looking for, you’ll enjoy it and won’t be disappointed. But if you are a new vaper looking to start out, or someone looking to move from MTL to your first DL setup, there are simpler devices with newer coils out there.
Source: https://vaping360.com/
