Geekvape Obelisk 120 FC Review: Test Results Are In

Product intro and specs

The Obelisk 120 FC kit is the latest kit from popular vape manufacturer Geekvape. They probably don’t need much of an introduction these days as they have made many popular products, including the rugged IP67 Aegis line and a couple of my personal favorites in the Nova mod and Alpha tank. Overall, they have been making really good products for a long time, so we’ll see how the Obelisk 120 FC stacks up.

The Obelisk 120 FC is an internal battery box mod with a color screen. It is rated for 120 watts and is marketed for its fast charging (15-minute charge) and ability to use as a power bank. The retail version comes as a kit with the Z (Zeus) sub ohm tank, but my review sample came with the Obelisk tank—and that’s what I will be testing for this review.

Price: $93.99 (Here)
Colors: Black, silver, blue, gunmetal/teal.

Specifications

Mod dimensions: 27 mm x 48.4 mm x 130.2 mm
Built-in battery: 7.4V / 2*1850 mAh / 13.69 wh
Output: 5-120 watts
Mode: Power/ TC-SS/ TCR/ VPC/ Bypass/ OTG
Screen: 0.96-inch TFT Color Display
Temperature range: 200-600F / 100-315C
Fast charging: 65W PD Fast Charging (20V/3.25A/15 mins)
Over 300 times cycle charging
Regular charging: 5V / max 2A
OTG reverse charging: 5V / max 2.4A
Cut off: 10 seconds
Charging port: USB-C
Charger type: Wall charger with interchangeable adapter (US / UK / EU Version)
Output voltage: 5V 3A/9V 3A/12V 3A/15 3A/20V 3.25A
Input voltage: 100-240V
Fast charging protocols: Support PD2.0 PD3.0 QC2.0 QC3.0 QC4.0
Certificates: CCC UL/CUL FCC CB CE SAA RCM

Kit contents

1x Obelisk 120 FC Mod
1x Z Tank (Zeus Tank)
2x Geekvape Z series coil (pre-installed 0.2 ohm 70-80 watts / spare coil 0.4 ohm 50-60 watts)
1x 65-watt PD charger
1x Interchangeable plug
1x Coil tool
1x USB-C cable
1x Spare parts pack
1x Spare glass tube (5 mL)
1x User manual

First impressions

When I first unboxed this kit, I liked the design a lot. It’s a very simple and basic-looking mod compared to the flashy designs we’ve seen of late. I was sent the black one and it’s a basic black box like we saw when vape mods first started becoming a thing. But unlike old school box mods, the Obelisk comes with a very nice and large color screen, similar to what we’ve seen from Geekvape with the Nova and L200 mods. The tank is pretty standard and nothing new. A bottom airflow with plug and play coils and a slide top refill. Not reinventing the wheel, but a solid basic-looking kit which I like.

Build quality and design

The Obelisk 120 FC is a solid and nicely built and designed mod. It’s mostly rectangular, but still very comfy in the hand thanks to the rounded edges on the back. It features a front-facing color screen and an off-center 510 pin that is more towards the back than the front. It is very lightweight even with the built-in batteries, and it’s about the same size as the Jackaroo Pod Kit I recently reviewed.

The kit is available in four color options with black, blue, and silver all colored uniformly and the gunmetal coming with a gunmetal frame and teal panels. The frame itself is matte while the panels are shiny and reflective and fingerprint up pretty easily. Branding was kept very nice and simple. There is “Geekvape” on both side panels and a small “Obelisk” logo right below the adjustment buttons.

The screen is a 0.96-inch rectangular screen that’s bright and colored. There’s no option to change the color which would have been nice to have, but no big deal. Outside of that, it’s a great screen.

There is no button rattle on this mod at all either. The 510 pin is great and gave me no issues with any atomizer. It is not centered but flat and fits flush, and can handle a 25 mm atomizer without overhang. The USB C port is at the side of the mod. Overall a simple and nicely built box mod.

Features and functions

The Geekvape Obelisk 120 FC has a wide variety of modes to suit any vaper. Their website doesn’t list much of what the mod does, and the manual itself doesn’t match either, so I’m going by what is just on the mod only. And at the time of writing this, there is no firmware update, and doesn’t seem like the mod is updatable either.

On the mod you have Power mode (watts) with no preheat options, Bypass Mode, watt curve mode (VPC), and Temp control mode for SS and TCR. No Ni or Ti modes which is fine by me anyway as they aren’t really used much these days—and with TCR mode you can adjust for any TC compatible coil type. There is also OTG mode which is the mode that lets you use the mod as a battery bank to charge other devices. I’ll go over that in the battery section of the review.

Using the Obelisk 120 FC

As far as the menu goes, it has the same setup as their recent Aegis mods:

Five clicks of the fire button to turn on and off
Three clicks to enter mode swap (use up and down to scroll and fire to accept)
Press + and – to lock the adjustment buttons (can still fire)
Press + and fire or – and fire to adjust screen brightness

Overall, a pretty simple menu that’s very easy to navigate.

Power mode performance

Testing on this mod was done with the internal batteries. They list the specs at 120 watts, 8.4 volts, and 20 amps. Very happy they listed all three which is something that all companies should do. During my testing the max achieved wattage was 106, so a little overrated at 120 watts. You also can’t hit over 100 watts with any coil below 0.2 ohm. The amp limit I got was 32 amps which is above average for a single battery mod these days. Much higher than their listed rating of 20A which would have been too low. The volt limit I got with a 0.63-ohm coil was 7.153 volts, which is a bit under their listed 8.4 volts.

The mod adjusts in 0.5-watt increments and it scrolls pretty fast making it very easy to adjust. During my testing, the mod did a great job of not getting hot. As for accuracy, it’s not a very accurate mod when used with lower ohm coils. It hit pretty weakly on my three lower resistance tests (0.22 ohm and below) but was accurate on the 0.63-ohm test, so it’s a much better-performing mod with higher ohm coils. Overall, not a good performer in power mode compared to many other mods I’ve tested, and poor ratings on their specs as well. They underrated the amps by a lot, which is actually a positive for the user, but overrated the volts and watts by quite a bit. I would have rated it at 100 watts, 7 volts, and 30 amps, and it would have slightly outperformed all those specs. You can see the full test results above.

Temperature control performance

Temp control performance was pretty easy to test on this mod as it simply doesn’t work. Which is a disappointment for me as Geekvape has been one of the companies doing good temp control when most don’t. The mod just doesn’t cut off at all. At one point I set the temp to 300F which should barely fire, and even though the mod knew it was over and the screen showed the live temp climbing to well over 450F, it never stopped or throttled. It’s an easy fail for me here.

Battery and charge rate

This area is where Geekvape makes most of their claims for this mod on their site. There are quite a few claims, so I’ll go over them all. They claim they have two 1850 mAh batteries for a total of 3700 mAh battery capacity. They claim a 15-minute charge time with their charger from dead to full. They also claim up to two days vaping on one charge—they mention “1 million puffs at 60W” right below that, but it’s unclear if this is a ridiculous claim for puffs per charge or the full lifespan of the battery. And lastly, they claim it can fast charge your other devices as a battery bank with the OTG mode.

Now I’ve tested all these claims so let’s go through them one by one. For battery capacity, I got around 2700 mAh usable which is well short of 3700 mAh claimed. I did notice the mod considers the batteries dead at around 15-18% and won’t fire anymore. So, removing that from the 3700 mAh claimed nets you about 3000-3100 mAh. With the high cut-off and the batteries being a little lower than listed, it’s pretty far off. The 15-minute full charge claim is correct when using their included charger, which is a 20V 3.25A charger. It’s big and bulky but good for a quick charge at home. I couldn’t test the rate, but I could time it and it did charge in 15-16 minutes from dead to full, so that’s an accurate claim for sure. I did test it with a standard fast charger as well in case you are on the go, and it charged at 2.02 amps, which is still fast and takes about 80 minutes.

The next claim is two days vaping on one charge. That isn’t really a testable claim since everyone vapes differently. If you take two puffs a day you could get weeks. If you are like me and need a three-battery mod to last one day, it won’t cut it. It all depends on the user. The next claim is one million puffs at 60 watts. I’m hoping that this refers to the overall lifespan of the battery, but my curiosity got to me to see how many puffs you can get at 60 watts on this device and the answer is 212.

Finally, the OTG mode was a disaster. It’s very finicky and didn’t work at all for me. It kicks you out of the mode to power mode in the middle of charging too. I couldn’t get it to consistently charge anything. I tried a few devices and had the most luck with my Android phone that charged at 0.09 amps, which is pretty useless. It wouldn’t charge my iPhone at all. Overall, outside of the 15-min fast charge with the included bulky charger, all the claims are huge fails.

Obelisk tank rundown

Ok, so let’s do a quick rundown of the tank. The tank I received is the Obelisk tank which is not included in the retail version (retail comes with the Z sub ohm tank). However, the Obelisk tank is for sale separately and uses the same coils as the Z tank (the Z line of coils) so I’ll go over it anyway.

The Obelisk a pretty basic tank and nothing new. It’s 25 mm diameter at the base to match the Obelisk mod and comes with a matte finish to it. It’s a bottom airflow sub ohm tank with a 5.5 mL capacity and a slide back fill with locking. The coils are plug and play and the drip tip is a standard Delrin 810 tip.

To replace the coils, you need to unscrew the base from the tank and then pop them out. You can’t do it with a full tank but can be done with about a 75% full tank which is nice. However, the coil is hard to grip so you’re best off using the included tool or a flat head screwdriver. I wish it was easier to replace on the go without the need for a tool. The slide back fill has a lock, so you have to pull up the top then slide it back. The slide part isn’t marked until you pull up to see the silver dot on where to push back. Not a big deal, but a little annoying. The fill hole has a flapper, but that only makes it harder to fill. It’s easier done if you remove the drip tip. It just feels like too much work to refill and replace coils compared to other tanks these days.

Performance wise these are the same coils that come in the retail kit and compatible with the Z coils as well. There are four options in total:

Geekvape Z0.4 coil rated 50-60 watts
Geekvape Z0.2 coil rated 70-80 watts
Geekvape Z0.25 dual coil rated 45-57 watts
Geekvape Z0.15 coil rated 80-90 watts

The two included in the kit were the Z0.2 and Z0.4. Starting with the Z0.2 coil I found it best around 70 watts. The flavor started off poorly but broke in after a tank. Still, not great flavor, and the coil only lasted about 55 mL which is low by today’s standards. Overall, not a good coil. Then with the Z0.4, which I found best at around 50 watts. Flavor was a little better than the Z0.4 coil, but still just ok. Life was the same at around 55 mL. All in all, both coils were not up to today’s standards and the tank is nothing special.

Pros / Cons

(+) Great build quality
(+) Nice simple looks
(+) Relatively compact and very lightweight
(+) Nice bright and large color screen
(+) Handles 25 mm atomizers without overhang
(+) Four color options
(+) Easy to use menu system
(+) Good amp limit
(+) Watt curve mode available (VPC)
(+) Super-fast charge with included charger (15 mins)
(+) Fast charging with standard chargers (2A)

(-) Poor power mode performance
(-) Overrated battery capacity
(-) Overrated volts and watts
(-) TC mode doesn’t work
(-) Ridiculous claims about battery life and amount of puffs per charge
(-) OTG charging doesn't work
(-) Tank is and old design done better by many others already
(-) Coils are subpar