Bo One Vaping Kit
Bo is a subsidiary of French manufacturer JWell. The Bo One is their attempt to take the crown from JUUL when it comes to pod style vapes. The Bo One may strike a slight resemblance to the JUUL pod vape pen, but it certainly does have a little more character about it.
It comes in a short and slender package, only weighing 22 grams and standing barely four inches tall. It also has a wide range of accessories and flavors to help it stand out from the competition.
Let’s take a look at the full Bo Vaping experience.
The Good
Excellent build quality, sleek and small device with a great draw and fantastic flavors.
The Bad
A bit tricky to see remaining liquid level.
The Bottom Line
Probably the best Pod-mod style vape pen on the market. Has the perfect draw and a magnificent range of flavors and accessories to go with it.
Disclosure: This product was sent to us by Bo (JWell) for the purpose of this review.
The Bo One comes in both a ceramic and soft touch rubberized coating finish.
The ceramic finish is just like that of the JUUL. However, the soft touch feels more premium, and its quality is akin to something from JAC Vapour or Vaporshark with the finish.
We have the soft touch version in for review, and I have to tell you this thing is a delight to hold in the hand. It’s smooth, sleek and incredibly light.
I like the fact that Bo kept the branding to a bare minimum with just a simple faint Bo logo printed at the bottom of the front face of the device.
There is a small light in the front center of the device which helps indicate battery life. It’s blue when the device is at full battery, white when at 50% and red when it is running low. The light is definitely bright enough to see, but not too bright to take away from the subtle styling of the rest of the device.
A lot of the small pod mod systems are very similar in format, but I have to say that the Bo One to me feels like it has the best build quality…..not by a mile but it does just feel a little more premium than the others.
The Pods or Caps
Bo refers to their cartridges or pods as caps. Each of the caps is color-coded to help you identify their flavor range, and there are currently 20 different flavors available.
The caps have a 1.5ml capacity, which is double that of the JUUL, which is impressive. Even more impressive is just how easily these caps fit into the device, it really is just simple ‘plug-and-play’ device.
When the cap is plugged into the device you do have a small window where you can see some of the liquid, but it is only the top half of the pod, so you can’t really get a sense of when levels are running low.
The pods have detachable rubber housing on both the bottom and the mouthpiece. The pods we received did have some minor residue on them, but I wouldn’t say that they easily leak.
The pods come in three varying nicotine strengths: 0mg, 8 mg/mL, and 16 mg/mL – all in a standard 50/50 PG/VG mix. Their packaging is color-coded blister packs, which kind of resembles cough lozenges but does provide a practical indication as to which one you are vaping.
Bo doesn’t actually advertise the fact, but you can pull off the top cap of the pods, to reveal a rubber grommet which can be removed so you can refill the pod. It’s a bit of a hack, but worth knowing if you are caught waiting for replacement caps in the post.
The Coils
Bo Vaping uses stainless steel coils and wicking material supplied by another French Company – Fiber Freaks. They are known for using natural wood-derived cellulose or a cellulose-cotton blend as their wicking fiber.
I’m not sure if it’s due to this, but the flavor production for me is far more impressive than that of the JUUL or My Von Earl that I recently tried.
The Flavors
Although flavor can be subjective I’ll give you a quick rundown on some of the flavors we received:
Gold RX (16 mg/mL)
Complex Tobacco – This has a really nice sweet taste; almost like gingerbread notes coming through. I actually enjoyed it more than any other tobacco pod flavor I’ve tried.
USA MIXX (8 mg/mL)
US Tobacco – More of a traditional tobacco taste, quite clean and crisp. But not as nice as GOLD RX in my opinion.
Bubble Bubble (8 mg/mL)
Bubblegum – A delightful juicy bubble gum, not too overpowering but just right. This was probably my favorite of all the flavors.
Red Light (8 mg/mL)
Red Fruits – This was a strange one for me, I get the red fruits come through, but there seems to be anise or mint also in the mix. Not my favorite, but not bad at all.
Dragon Blood (8 mg/mL)
Strawberry Cream – More of a strawberry custard than cream to me. It’s a deep vanilla with a nice sweet strawberry coming through.
Charging
The Bo One’s battery capacity is 380 mAh (approximately 380 puffs), which is reasonable for such a small pod mod device. However, it won’t see you through a full day of vaping. This is where the included USB charger comes in handy, which also features pass-through vaping.
For even more flexibility you can also upgrade and purchase the Bo Cable or Bo Power separately. The Bo Power is a sleek metal box with a magnetic leather cover, a charging slot and storage slot for one extra pod. Bo Power portable charging case has a 1500 mAh capacity and can charge the Bo One four times over. Whether you’re charging directly from a USB socket, via the cable, or plugged into the portable charging case, all three options allow pass-through vaping – which is great.
Bo One Vaping Kit Features and Specs:
Bo One:
- Anthracite ceramic finish
- Height – 10 cm
- Weight – 22 grams
- Battery capacity – 380 mAh or 380 “puffs”
Bo Cable:
- Magnetic USB charging cable
- Allows pass-through vaping
Bo Caps:
- 1.5ml capacity
- 3 nicotine levels: Zero, 8mg/mL, 16mg/mL
- 50/50 PG/VG blend
Also available – Bo Power:
- Battery capacity – 1500 mAh
- Micro USB charging cable and socket
- Magnetic connector pin
- Storage compartment for 1 Bo Cap
Bo One Vaping Kit Includes:
- Bo One pod vape
- Magnet USB charger
- 2 x Bo “caps” (flavor pods)
- User manual
Bo Cable:
- Magnetic USB cable for pass-through vaping
Bo Caps:
- Sets of 3
- Choice of 5 color ranges
- Yellow – tobacco: MI5 | Gold RX | USA Mixx
- Purple – fruit: Red Light | Purple Light | Orange Light
- Blue – gourmand: Dr. Vintage | Dragon Blood | Hoodoo | Notre Dame
- Green – mint: Icy Mint | Arctical
- Pink – Bubblegum
The one thing I found with a lot of vape pens of this style is the airflow can sometimes be either too tight, or too loose. The Bo One has it just right.
It has a slightly looser airflow than the JUUL but is still a great MTL vape, and the vapor production is comparable to a cigarette. Being a pod system, it’s easy to swap out caps quickly. Ok, it won’t produce massive clouds, but that goes without saying for all pod style vape pens. However, all the flavors I tried are rich and prominent.
The fact the pods have a 1.5ml capacity is also great, and they do seem to last longer than the JUUL ones.
The only one slight negative with the BO caps is you can’t see how much e-liquid is remaining in the cap, without pulling it out. It’s not that much of an issue, and you do notice vapor production reducing as you near the end of the pod.
Likes
- Simple to use
- Practical form factor
- Flavors are rich and intense
- Pods hold 1.5ml (more than most other pods)
- No break-in time for coils
- No wicking problems
- Perfect for stealth or on-the-go vaping
- Pods can be hacked and refilled
- Pod system allows for quick change of flavor
- Pass-through vaping is possible with all three charging options
Dislikes
- Heavy ex-smokers might find highest nicotine level is too low
- Difficult to see the remaining liquid level
- Chain vaping will require frequent charging
Pod style vape pens are perfect for the smoker transitioning to vaping. The vape experience you get from them is far better than the old cig-a-likes when I started vaping. The Bo One system is the best I’ve tried so far.
It is a well made stealthy device, and not only do Bo produce some excellent flavors, but being able to refill the pods yourself is a major plus. The normal downside with this small vape pens is battery life, but with the extra charge kits available and the fact you can still vape on them while charging, really helps to put the Bo Vaping experience top of my list – even if having the full kit might be a little more expensive.
If you are looking for an easy to use pod style system, with a perfect draw and excellent range of flavors – then you definitely won’t be disappointed choosing the Bo One over the JUUL or the My Von Erl.
