The Eleaf Pico 21700’s build quality is exactly what you’d expect. It’s sturdy and solid, but due to its nicely curved chassis, it still feels somewhat compact and comfortable in the hand.

The Pico line for me has always symbolized what a simplistic vape mod should be. Eleaf doesn’t try to over-complicate matters with bells and whistles. Instead, they focus on good build quality and giving the vaper what they need.

The Pico 21700 is no different, on the face of it it’s just a bigger version of the original Pico. It’s inflated size can now accommodate the higher capacity 21700 batteries and 25mm diameter atomizers.

It still rather annoyingly houses the function and wattage adjustment buttons on the base of the mod. I understand why they left them there for the clean design, and realistically they don’t interfere when you place the mod down on a table, but being a larger device I’d like to have seen them in a more traditional place… but that’s just me.

There’s now a larger OLED screen on the front face, and the Pico 21700 does come with some functionality improvements under the hood, which we will cover later.

One significant improvement to me (although it might seem trivial to others) is the included knurling on the battery cap. I always found the original to be a little janky when it came to removing the battery, and now, well it’s a little less so.

All in all, the Pico 21700 is a very well made device with absolutely no distinct flaws or rattles and comes with the expected Pico quirks just to keep it honest.

Also, it has to be mentioned that Eleaf includes an Avatar 21700 (4000mah) battery in the kit. I’m not sure that’s the case with all retail versions, but if it is, then kudos to Eleaf for thinking of their users.

The Ello tank is well built and makes a great looking combo with the Pico. It is not 510 compatible but does come with a very comfortable curved drip tip, and a wide bore DT tip.

It features an easy-fill slider top cap, which has a small arrow to indicate where to push it open. Once it is open, you will see a small fill port hole, which will accommodate most bottles, although I do wish it was a little larger.

This tank comes pre-installed with a 2 ml (TPD compliant) glass section. However, Eleaf does give you a 4 ml glass section and a chimney extender. This tank is better in 4ml mode, in my opinion, it loses none of the performance, is still stealthy looking and gives you better capacity.

The Ello tank has dual bottom airflow, which is controlled by a smooth AFC ring which has a stopper at both ends. The airflow is smooth with coils provided (more on this later).

The tank has a screw in coil system, which is a straightforward design that we’ve seen before.

There is some Eleaf branding on the bottom of the base, and the 510 pin is gold plated with stainless steel threading which is nice and smooth. The Ello tank seems to fit flush on every device I’ve tried it on.

Eleaf iStick Pico 21700 Kit Specifications:

• Tank capacity – 2ml
• Atomizer resistance – 0.25ohm / 0.3ohm
• Output wattage – 1 – 100W
• Output modes – VW / Bypass / TC-Ni / TC-Ti / TC-SS
• Resistance range – 0.05-1.5ohm for TC/TCR mode / 0.1-3.5ohm for Power mode
• Temperature range – 100-315°C/ 200-600°F
• Dimensions – 50.5mm x 25.5mm x 119.0mm
• Battery – 1 x 21700, 4000mAh (supplied)

Eleaf iStick Pico 21700 Kit Contents:

• 1 x iStick Pico 21700
• 1 x Ello tank
• 1 x 21700 battery
• 2 x HW atomizer heads
• 1 x QC USB cable
• 2 x User manuals

Firstly, if you do get the full kit with Eleaf’s included 21700 battery, don’t be a fool like me, pay attention and remove the piece of film on the negative side of the battery.

Yep, it’s there for safety to stop connections during transportation and to trick eager fools like me.

Once I got the Pico 21700 fired up, it was good to see the inclusion of Temp Control and TCR settings, something the original lacked. I gave it a little run out in TC mode on SS wire, and while it worked, it wasn’t the greatest.

I’ve gone on record before saying Eleaf doesn’t have the smoothest TC performance with their boards, and it is much the same here. However, the Pico 21700 is firmware upgradable, so maybe we’ll see some improvements down the line.

Eleaf has also included bypass mode, which is good if you like to use RDA’s in mech mode.

In power mode, I can’t say for sure whether it hits a true 100W on the included 21700 battery. But when I did venture up into the higher ranges, the power output didn’t feel lacking.

Battery life is quite obviously an improvement on the original, I don’t have any real measurements, but it did last me a day of conservative vaping. Again it’s great that they include the Avatar 21700 in the kit, although it’s not the best on the market – check out Mooch’s report on it here

I do think the size to power trade-off with is a good one, and in my opinion, it’s worth it with the Pico.

The Ello tank is a very solid performing tank, it has good airflow and produces very decent flavor. Most of which is down to the Eleaf mini coils.

With the Pico 21700 and Ello tank kit, you get two coils:

• HW1-C Single Cylinder Kanthal 0.25 ohm Atomizer Head (Recommended: 35 – 40 watts)
• HW2 Dual Cylinder Kanthal 0.3 ohm Atomizer Head (Recommended: 45 – 60 watts)

Both coils perform great and producing good flavor and clouds, and I was actually really impressed with the quality of the coils Eleaf are now producing.

I ended up using the HW1-C coil more, not out of preference, but just because it seemed to last forever before the flavor dropped. I’m sure I made it over two weeks before I noticed any real degradation in performance. The HW1-C is Eleaf’s ceramic wrapped coil; which is made out of Kanthal and is designed to retain heat, be more efficient, and give better flavor, and I guess I can’t argue with that.

I think most will be impressed with this tank and coil combination.

There are no real surprises with this kit. If you ever used a Pico, then you know what to expect.

Yes, it does have some improved functionality over the original, but on the whole, it is a Pico that is capable of using larger capacity batteries.

But that’s not a bad thing; it continues the Pico tradition of being a simple, well-built device and the increased size is an easy trade-off for battery versatility.

If Temp Control is not important to you, and you vape under 75 watts but want a versatile pocketable mod – then the Pico 21700 is a very good choice.

I can see it being another hit for Eleaf, but it’s not something I would use on a regular basis. However, if Eleaf were to come out with a Pico 21700 squeeze then that might be a different story….come on Eleaf make it happen.