The Pico line has been tremendously popular. Still, if there was one thing that let the designs down, it’s that they didn’t really have that wow factor.

The Pico S is an altogether more modern and fancier looking creation. Eleaf has tried to blend the current trends of flashing LEDs and sporty looks with the Pico’s original form.

The Pico S features a battery tube which is independent of the body of the device and is covered in an engraved swirling pattern to add detail and grip.

LED lights sit behind the device between the body and the battery, emitting an illuminating glow whenever you fire the device. It’s nicely implemented, but I’ll go into more detail on that later.

The result of these design choices by Eleaf is a very striking and unique looking device.

I’m not sure the bold styling of the Pico S is going to be for everyone, and it was certainly a little dividing among our team.

Some liked the separate engraved battery tube, others felt it was a little over the top with the ‘corroded texture’ as Eleaf refers to it – I’m in the latter camp.

However there’s one thing that’s not in dispute, and that’s Eleaf have really upped their game recently with regards to exciting, different designs….and that’s great to see.

The Pico S comes in a selection of colors: Silver, Black, White, Blue, and Dazzling (rainbow). And for once I have to say all of the colors available really suit the device.

The Pico S feels great in the hand, and as you’d expect from Eleaf, the build quality is very good.

The color versions all seem to have decent paintwork, and the silver one has a really nice brushed metal finish. My only slight grievance with the silver version is both the battery tube and tank do not have the same finish as the mod; they are more of a polished chrome. I would’ve preferred to see them all in the same style.

The 510 plate sits slightly proud of the device and will make most atomizers appear to have a slight gap. I have had zero issues with the 510 assembly itself; the pin has a decent throw to it, and all 25mm tanks I’ve tried fit fine. It can actually accommodate up to 26.5 atomizers.

Eleaf have at last moved the +/- buttons to sit beneath the screen, and all of the buttons of the device are responsive with a nice amount of click.

It’s not all great though. The removable battery tube does create a couple of annoyances that I must mention.

Firstly, the threading does not feel like the greatest, and it squeaks and scratches like fingers running down a blackboard, it’s disappointing, to say the least.

Secondly, the 18650 adaptor is incredibly easy to get stuck in the tube and requires a good old whack just to remove it.

The Eleaf Pico S is surprisingly compact for a 21700 device, and it feels good in the hand both in weight and comfort.

It measures in at 128 x 52.5 x 28.5mm, with the ELLO Vate tank on top. That extra gain in size over some of the older Picos is definitely worth it for the battery life. I still consider it to be a pocket-friendly device.

It’s essentially an Eleaf Pico in a new modern form factor, so there’s not much innovation here.

But it is a unique looking device, and I can’t think of any other that has an independent battery tube like the Pico S.

The Pico S comes with all of the features you’d expect from Eleaf.

There’s temp control for SS, Ni, Ti, and three TCR memory modes in addition to a bypass mode.

There also a preheat option, which allows you to enter the power and duration of the preheat.

The screen of the Pico S is quite basic and small, it’s not color and can be quite cramped and difficult to read at times. It just feels a little dated compared to the rest of the device, but I guess this is still a budget mod.

Using the Pico S is fairly easy, although I’m not the hugest fan of the menu system and icons.

Navigation:

• 5 clicks of the fire button for on or off
• 3 click of the fire button to access the modes (Variable Wattage, Bypass & Temp Control
• options: Ni, SS,TI,M1,M2,M3)
• Hold fire button and + for the Menu Options
• Hold + & – buttons to lock/unlock (does not lock fire button)
• Whilst in TC mode click fire button 4 times to adjust wattage

Menu Options & Icons:

• The resistance icon – (only visible when in TC mode) lock or unlock resistance.
• The squares & diamond icon – choose display info; Puff Count, Vape Time or Amps
• The man icon – stealth on or off
• The 3 wavy lines icon – (only visible in wattage mode) preheat settings for wattage mode.
• Lightbulb icon – choose LED colors or disable
• The V icon – hardware and firmware version
• The battery icon – current voltage in the battery

The small screen and condensed icons, do make the Pico S a little more tricky to navigate than the Eleaf Tessera. But on the whole, once you’ve gone through everything a few times, it’s fairly straightforward.

I generally dislike flashy lights on mods. However, I feel that the LEDs on the Pico S have been incorporated tactfully, plus are programmable and can be disabled.

There are seven color options (including Purple) as well as a default option which cycles through red, green and blue.

However, there are not any modes or settings to change the style of the flashing.

The ELLO Vate tank included with the PIco S comes in two variants; a 6.5ml or 2ml (TPD compliant) capacity.

It features slide to fill, dual bottom airflow and comes with 2 new mesh style ELLO coils.

The ELLO Vate as you’d expect is basically the Ello TS tank with a new look.

The main differences are a bubble glass tank to increase capacity (for non-European countries), a single Honeycomb resin drip tip, and slightly different airflow slot size.

The slide to fill mechanism on the top of the ELLO Vate is smooth and works well.

However, much like the ELLO Dura that came paired with the iJust 3, Eleaf include a membrane on the fill port. It is supposed to prevent any leaking, but in reality, it just becomes a nuisance.

Thankfully as with the Dura, they do include a standard open port in the spares kit.

The ELLO Vate comes with two HW coils. A tightly perforated mesh net and a standard mesh, both made from Kanthal.

HW-N (0.2ohm mesh net) is rated between 40-90 watts, and I found that stated resistance to be accurate.

It’s quite a wide open coil, which leads to a very airy vape. So I prefer to shut the airflow down by two thirds and set it around 50W. I think that’s where it performs best.

HW-M (0.15ohm mesh coil) is rated between 50-100 watts. It doesn’t heat up as fast at the mesh net coil, but overall performance is pretty close.

Both coils required about a tanks worth of juice to really break-in.

The ELLO Vate is compatible with Eleaf’s entire ELLO coil range along with being cross-compatible with Smok’s baby beast coils.

There are no surprises when it comes to performance, it’s an Eleaf device, and it’s a Pico, so it’s par for the course.

It’s the usual solid, reliable wattage performance and not so great Temp control I’m afraid.

The Pico S fires reasonably quickly in wattage mode and seems accurate on the power.

With a low ohm coil, I felt like I was getting the full 100W of the device.

The pre-heat settings which enable you to set the duration of the initial power are noticeable and work well.

It’s a shame there are no power curve settings. But overall it’s a thumbs up for the wattage experience.

I tested out TC mode with several different coils with both the resistance locked and unlocked.

Unfortunately, it’s the usual story of an inconsistent vape in TC mode on an Eleaf device.

It really struggles with exotic coils and tends to kick you out of TC mode randomly.

This device is not for temp control vapers.

Being able to use a 21700 battery on a device like this means you are going to get good battery life.

It’s also great that Eleaf includes an Avatar 21700 4000mAh battery in the kit, which if you are vaping around 50W can easily see you through a day.

There’s also 2amp charging if you need to top up in a flash, although as always we recommend charging batteries out of the device.

It’s nice to see a new modern design in the Pico range. It’s just a shame it still has some of the same performance flaws.

If you are a Temp Control vaper, it’s probably best to look elsewhere.

If you want a device solely for wattage vaping, and want the versatility of being able to use 21700, 20700 or 18650 batteries then it’s a solid choice.

Personally, I’m not completely won over by its squeaky independent battery tube, and I much prefer the whole color screen and menu options of the Eleaf Tessera (even though that has an internal battery).