Geekvape Aegis Solo 3

Intro

Are mod boxes so functionally flawed nowadays that we have to be grateful for those which have the least worst issues/annoyances? To me, this sums up the Geekvape Solo 3 perfectly.  Some will be seduced by its sleek appearance, but anyone probing deeper will quickly realise that its main design puppose is apparently creating reviewer drivel talking points & buyers' first honeymoon impressions. IMO, its one saving grace is that it does perform well in power mode. But this is buried within a mass of useless bloatware disguised as innovation, plus several (to me) significant annoyances.

Solo V3 User Manual PDF (for what it's worth)

Conclusion

If you can tolerate its many potential irritations, the Solo V3 can make a credible Dimitri mod which'll take you deep into the realms. However, imo it's such a colossal pity that with less emphasis on hype, short-term eye candy and more paid to longer-term usefulness, it could have been infinitely better. If you do buy one, I suggest disabling the "smart lock" & keeping set to Power mode, in which it performs well. That is, if you're OK with the dim display, abrupt screen timeout and tacky display animation. 
Although the initial eye candy appeal of the the Solo V1 is perhaps less, imo it's a much better device for function delivery and user-friendliness all round, and that's what I'd personally take given a choice.

Modes & Functions

• Smart lock Ludicrously hailed by Geekvape as "Revolutionary Biosensing Technology" 😀,  rather than a useless gimmick at best, as I'd describe it.  Mercifully, it can be disabled (although even fully disabled, the display still activates when the mod is picked up). Basically, the idea is to prevent the mod firing unless it's being hand-held, supposedly rendering it less liable to accidental firing in a bag etc.  But nobody in the right mind would rely on it, especially as it seems prone to false triggering.  

• Smart (Not related to smart lock above). No use for Dimitri. The mod guesses at what non-rebuildable coil model is fitted (by its resistance), then sets the power to the assumed-coil's middle-of-range nicotine Wattage rating. Wattage is displayed on-screen but is only adjustable between the upper and lower spec'd range of the coil model.  Works only with a Z-series and a limited selection B-series coils (as used in the Z-nano 2 tank) but it's far from a foolproof system, even with the recommended coils.  We would never use this mode because, even if using non-rebuildable coils, the specified Wattages are much too high for Dimitri 

• Power The main mode we use for Dimitri and thankfully (and to me, surprisingly) works well.  A couple of watts less than the Solo V1 at the 30W/0.3Ω test (about 1W less at 17W emesh setting), but handles SS316L, KA1 and Ni80 wires/meshes seamlessly without power compensation workarounds.  At last, something positive to say!

• Boosting No use for Dimitri.  Works very similarly to Smart Mode, except the power is set to the highest Wattage specified for the coil model which is assumed to be fitted. The Wattage is neither adjustable and (bafflingly) isn't shown on screen.

• Memory IMO useless. Basically a Power Mode Wattage preset, but requires so many button presses, it's much easier just to set from the Power Mode screen. It stores the latest Power mod Wattage value into one of 5 memory locations.  The colour scheme at the time of saving also is stored but (despite the claim on the Geekvape website) the puff counter isn't. No other parameters are stored and it works only in conjunction with Power Mode.

• Eco No use for Dimitri.  Works very similarly to Smart Mode & Boosting, except the power is set to the lowest Wattage specified for the coil model which is assumed to be fitted. Like Boosting, the Wattage is neither adjustable nor shown on screen.

• TC-TCR Initial tests seem to suggest reasonable TC performance, at least from TCR setting 105 (the Orig Solo's SS default). More testing will be needed to confirm but seems fine.  Be aware I no longer use nor recommend TC, but I do sometimes find it handy for confidence testing the quality of electrical contacts to and inside atomisers.

Pros/Cons

• ☹️ Many useless modes:  Power mode and TC-TCR (maybe) are the only ones I can conceive being of use to us, the remainder clutter up an already convoluted menu

• ☹️ Lacks a VPC mode: I don't often use it, but can be useful for speeding up heating of larger rebuildable non-mesh coils.  A very surprising omission.

• ☹️ Dim display: Pretty in the dark, but even set at max intensity, it's only really readable indoors. Much less bright than Solo V1

• ☹️ Short 5 second non-configurable display timeout: Can be especially annoying because the display abruptly extiguishes after 5 secs. The Original Solo is IMO far more graceful, deactivating any active menu options at 5 secs, dimming the display at 8 secs, and finally fading out after 15 secs. Again, I suspect poorly-developed firmware. 

• ☹️ Poor Display Layout: In several modes, precious display space taken by meaningless and (to me) annoying animations which are plum in the prime viewing area. The space could have been far better used to provide larger text or additional fields (for example an Amperage field in power mode, which the Solo V1 has)

• ☹️ Questionable User Interface: Many button presses to access/configure some functions, and even a glaring typo in the Memory recall screen (Porcess written instead of Process), see pic below

• ☹️ Up/down buttons flush: They might look cool, but I find them far more awkard to locate at higher trip levels.  If only they could have been designed with just 1mm protrusion.

• ☹️ Battery Level Indicator: Initially looks impressive but only changes in intervals of 10%, only showing 100/90/80 etc and nothing in-between

• ☹️ Charge Port location and flap: I really can't understand why every user isn't witheringly critical about this. I personally find the top location extremely awkward and I utterly despise the bendy silicone flap, which suspect will be a longer-term breakage issue.

• 🙂 Power mode works well in a technical sense: No compensation needed for SS wires, and live readouts of resistance and Voltage during a fire cycle.  It's measured about 1W less than the Solo V1 at emesh power, and about 2W down at 30W 0.3Ω test. There is also a toke duration field in power mode, but it resets to the Puff counter value after just 2 seconds. If it wasn't for the power mode performance, I'd dismiss this mod from any hint of recommendation.

• 🙂 Shows live readouts during a fire cycle: resistance, voltage, wattage and calculated temperatures depending upon selected mode.  Sadly, no amperage values are displayed

• 🙂 TCR mode seems to work well for emesh Wattages (more tests in due course) TC mode is no longer suggested/supported on the Discord, but it's an option that some may wish to experiment with

• 🙂 Prices are coming down: I paid £34:95 inc shipping (August 2025).  However the Solo V1 is cheaper on the UK ebay with £20:89 inc shipping currently the least expensive listing I've seen. Of course, the V1 is also currently available with a handling fee from our Trusted Trader (ask on the Discord).