Aspire and Taifun have come together to produce the new GT Kit, but was the collaboration worth it?
The Nautilus GT Kit is the latest Vape Kit aimed at intermediate vapers and is the first of an interesting collaboration between Chinese manufacturing giant Aspire and the high-end German rebuildable manufacturer Taifun.
Aspire have arguably the best reputation for quality, reliability and affordability in the mass market – built primarily over the last 6 years around the excellent Nautilus, Atlantis and Cleito product ranges. Taifun have been making and selling small batches of very highly regarded rebuildable tanks (and the odd mod) for roughly the same time.
Why have they done this you ask?
Well, the fusion of highly skilled European or American designers/engineers and the affordable, large-scale factories of China is something we’ve seen before – where small companies reach a stage where they want to reach a larger audience, but need the help of one of the ‘big 5’ to make this happen and the big manufacturers are rewarded by the kind of innovation and expertise they cannot find in-house.
Vandy Vape x The Vaping Bogan, Digiflavour x RIP Trippers, Innokin x Phil Bursado and Wismec x Jaybo spring to mind as great examples of this, that have resulted in excellent products available to the mass market and affordable prices.
So what are the results of this latest collaboration and what can you expect? Let’s dive in to the Nautilus GT Kit and find out…
Initial impressions
The kit comes in fairly standard packaging, aside from the inclusion of a few nice print effects and textured board that give the inner box a bit of added quality – but one thing you definitely notice from the moment you pick up the box, is it’s noticeably heavy weight – which gives you an inkling into the build quality of this vape kit. The package also includes a warranty card, USB-C charging cable and a pleasingly thorough user manual, which is refreshing from a Chinese manufacturer.
At first glance, the Glint mod speaks the same visual language of Aspire products with a familiar shape, size and screen and button layout. The only noticeable difference is the use of a polished alloy on the top, bottom and fire button, which does add a degree of quality to the design. It is not a surprise then, to find out that Aspire’s main contribution to this collaboration, was in the design of this part of the kit.
Unless you are a brand new vaper, using the Glint mod is going to be a very familiar experience, with few surprises. It’s a single 18650 battery, 75w fast-charge mod that uses Aspire’s ASP advanced chip-set, with all the protection you will need, including cut-off when fully charged via the USB-C type charge port. We are huge fans of the use of USB-C as it does away with the risk of damaging the port by inserting the cable the wrong way round.
The one exception to the norm is a really nice, unique, twisting battery door on the bottom of the mod, which has a hugely satisfying feel and super-secure click (think ASMR!). It’s the little things, we know, but we have experienced some truly horrifically designed battery doors in the past that lead to chipped nails and flying batteries. This is one of the nicest we’ve seen.
The Nautilus Coil range currently supports up to 28w of power, so one thing worth noting is that, with the 75w Glint mod, it is future proof if at some point you decide to buy a Sub-Ohm Vape Tank and utilise the full power capabilities.
Then we get to the Nautilus GT 2ml (EU) tank…
Nautilus has been a range name that has been in use by Aspire for around 6 years now. It has stood the test of time largely due to the excellent coil design, which has hardly changed, but remains a leader in it’s class and still produces excellent flavour and vapour without compromising on life-span or reliability.
However, name and coils aside, this is where the connection to the Nautilus family ends – the Nautilus GT is a very different tank from any of it’s predecessors and this is due to Taifun having a free reign over the design of this element, bringing all of their skills and experience to the table.
The quality of the materials, machining and attention to detail in design represent a distinct leap from what you would expect from Aspire. The tank itself weighs 50% more than the Cleito Pro, which gives some insight into the composition and strength of materials.
The design also has some really nice touches unique from the rest of the Nautilus range, including a quarter-twist locking top-cap for easy filling, a nicely finished Ultem drip-tip and matching coil connector (which reduces the airflow to focus flavour). 5 different airflow options, which range from pretty wide open for ‘direct-to-lung’ inhalation to super-reduced for ‘mouth-to-lung’ inhales are available through the knurled air-flow ring, which also has a really satisfying click on each of the steps – reminiscent of the original Nautilus tank series from around 2015.
Overall, the Nautilus GT tank feels great and the build quality is satisfyingly good. It vapes really nicely thanks to the design features and dependable Nautilus coil range. We get the impression that it will last a long time if looked after properly.
At £60 for the kit, it does sit at the top end of the range for this type of product (it’s the same price as the Innokin Kroma-A Zenith Kit), but the build quality justifies the extra £10 investment in comparison to a kit made of plastic such as the Wismec Sinuous v80 (£50).
We like the Nautilus GT kit, especially the tank and think it will be in our rotational use for a long time to come. This collaboration is definitely a hit from us. We think it will best suit vapers looking to upgrade a starter-kit for advanced features and vape quality – it’s probably more advanced than someone would need for a first vape, especially before knowing whether or not vaping is going to be the right thing for you to make the switch from smoking – there are more suitable kits, at a lower entry price point such as the Innokin T18 II Kit, which start at £28.50.
Here’s our 5 favourite points:
- Much better build quality (especially on the tank) than other kits in the price range.
- Continues the legacy of the most popular Coil range of all time.
- Some great design features such as the twist-out battery cover.
- Fantastic feeling Ultem drip-tip and chamber reducer.
- Advanced air-flow with a setting for every type of user with a satisfying click!
