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 goal was apparently creating reviewer drivel talking points & buyers' first impressions. So overall a lacklustre mod with its one saving grace that it does perform well in power mode. But this is buried within a mass of useless gimmicky 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 numerous irritations, the Solo V3 can make a credible Dimitri mod. However, imo it's such a colossal pity that with less emphasis on hype, short-term eye candy and more focus on longer-term usefulness, it could have been infinitely better.
If you do buy one, I suggest disabling the "smart lock" & keeping in Power mode, where it performs surprisingly well. That is, if you're OK with the dim display, abrupt screen timeout, tacky display animations, unwanted screen activations, not to mention the irrelevant screen icons that would disgace a 1970s space invader arcade game.
Although the initial eye candy appeal of the the Solo V1 might be less, imo it's an massively better device for function delivery & user-friendliness all round, and that's what I'd personally take every time, given a choice. I do wish Geekvape would return to the days when they produced good solid devices that just worked well.

Modes & Functions

• Smart lock Ludicrously hailed by Geekvape as "Revolutionary Biosensing Technology" 😀 rather than an annoying useless gimmick as I'd describe it.  It can be disabled, but even then the display still activates when the mod is picked up. I suspect the smartlock sensor prevents deep sleep of the processor which might explain the higher than usual battery drain during standby. One major annoyance for me when tripping in the dark, the display illuminates when picking up the mod, or sometimes changing position in my hand, which I find extremely distracting. And as mentioned - even when Smartlock is disabled via the menu it's impossible to prevent this happening.
  Geekvape's claim is that Smartlock prevents 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. I utterly detest it with a passion.

• Smart (Not related to smart lock above). Zero use for Dimitri. The mod guesses at which 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 assumed coil model.  Works only with Z-series and a limited selection of B-series coils (as used in the Z-nano 2 tank) but it's anything but 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 & thankfully (to me, surprisingly) works very 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 Again, useless 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 isn't adjustable 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 claims 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 credible 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 bloatware 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

• ☹️ Packed stiff with annoyances: Power drain at idle, "quantised" battery level meter, meaningless animations, over-complicated menu, lack of feeling on up/down buttons, unwanted display activations, abrupt display timeout and inadequate display brightness are just some (see below)

• ☹️ 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:  OKish indoors, but even set at max intensity, it's impossible to read outdoors in daylight. Much, much less bright than Solo V1

• ☹️ Higher Standby Current Draw: I don't usually power off any of my mods, hitherto all have kept their charge level for months of idle without noticeable drain.  However, the Solo V3 depletes its cell charge to 0% if left for a month or two in a power-on idle state,  and needs charging before switching back on.  I suspect the "Smart Lock" sensor is the root cause of this power drain, although disabling the smartlock (as far as is possible) doesn't prevent the idle state battery drain.

• ☹️ Short 5 second non-configurable display timeout: Can be especially annoying because the display abruptly extinguishes 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) infuriating 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 awkward to locate at higher trip levels.  If only they could have been designed with just 1mm protrusion.

• ☹️ Battery Level Indicator: Initially looks impressive but changes in intervals of 10%, only showing 100/90/80 etc and nothing in-between.  IME, this is unusual - and I suspect is a sneaky attempt to disguise the higher than usual battery drain during standby.

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

• 🙂 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 £21ish 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).