OXVA Xlim Pro 2 Pod Kit

Two things make the Xlim easy to live with. First, the cartridge top-fills: you lift the mouthpiece and drip your e-liquid straight in, no prising a stopper out of the side and no mess on your fingers. Second, the airflow slider on the side lets you set the draw exactly where you want it, from a tight, cigarette-like mouth-to-lung pull to a looser, airier one. It is one of the smoother airflow controls on any pod kit.

Add the auto-draw firing, which means there is no button to press, you just inhale, and the Xlim Pro 2 is about as fuss-free as a refillable gets. The 0.56-inch Ultra-HD screen keeps you posted on wattage, battery and puff count.

A 50/50 nic salt is the natural match, smooth on the throat and thin enough to wick well in a 2ml cartridge. Any of our salts suit: Hayati Pro Max, MaryLiq, ELFLIQ or IVG Intense. For a firmer hit at a lower strength, a freebase 10ml like IVG 50/50 works in the higher-resistance cartridge.

Steer clear of thick, high-VG sub-ohm juice, which a small cartridge cannot wick and which will leave you with dry hits. Stick to 50/50 and the Xlim tastes its best.

If you are coming from disposables, the one new habit is filling and priming the cartridge, and the Xlim makes it about as painless as it gets. Lift the mouthpiece off the top of the cartridge, drip your e-liquid into the exposed fill hole until it looks full, and press the mouthpiece back down. There are no fiddly side bungs to line up, which is the main reason people rate the top-fill design. With a brand-new cartridge, leave it to stand a minute or two so the coil wicks through, then take two or three gentle draws without firing to prime it. Skipping that soak is the usual cause of an early burnt taste on any refillable pod.

After that there is almost nothing to manage. It is auto-draw, so it fires when you inhale, and the screen wakes to show wattage, battery and a puff count. Set the airflow slider to suit the cartridge, tighter for the 0.8ohm, a touch more open for the 0.6ohm, and leave it. When you refill, top the cartridge up before it runs bone dry, since firing a near-empty pod is the other quick way to scorch a coil. A cartridge usually gives a week or two of refills before the flavour fades and it is time to swap.

The case for the Xlim Pro 2, like any refillable, is mostly money and waste. The kit is £17.99 once, then your only spend is cartridges and e-liquid. A cartridge lasts a week or two and costs a couple of pounds, while a 10ml bottle of salt is a pound or two and refills the 2ml cartridge several times over. Against a disposable habit, where each device is a few pounds and lasts a day or two, the Xlim typically pays for itself within a couple of weeks and saves steadily after that.

There is an environmental angle too. A disposable is a battery and a circuit board in the bin every couple of days, whereas the Xlim Pro 2 is one rechargeable device you keep for a year or more, with only the small cartridge as a consumable. The huge Xlim pod ecosystem also means you are never forced into a single proprietary pod, so the device stays useful and cheap to feed for a long time.

They are the two big refillable pod kits, and you would be happy with either. The Xlim Pro 2 wins on the top-filling cartridge, the smooth airflow slider and the enormous Xlim pod range, plus the simple no-button, auto-draw firing. The XROS 5 edges it on battery, 1500mAh against 1300, and charges a little faster at 3A.

If you value easy top-filling, fine airflow control and the widest choice of pods, the Xlim Pro 2 is the pick. If you want the biggest battery and the fastest charge, the XROS 5 shades it. Both are 30W, 2ml refillable kits with a screen, and both are excellent first refillables.