OXVA Xlim SE 2 Review: Powerful & Accessible!

OXVA has just released the latest vape in the Xlim series: the OXVA Xlim SE 2. This new and improved version of the Xlim SE boasts more power, a bigger battery, and added accessibility features. Let’s take a closer look at the Xlim SE 2!

I’ve been saying for ages that a vape manufacturer should release a vape kit with accessibility features to cater to older vapers, given that swathes of smokers are now making the switch—including many people over 60. In my opinion, it’s about time a vape kit catered to this growing demographic. 

Enter the OXVA Xlim SE 2: strong, powerful, and chock-full of flavour for the average MTL vaper, with the added bonus of accessibility features for vapers who need them. This is a vape for every vaper.

Of course, the Xlim SE 2 isn’t designed exclusively for those who need the added voice features—it’s a slim and powerful little starter kit in its own rite. If you’re after an easy, no-nonsense pod kit with a unique Siri-like voice for functionality, the Xlim SE 2 has you covered.

OXVA was kind enough to send one over for us to review, so let’s get into it!

OXVA Xlim SE 2 Overview

In lieu of a confusing menu screen, the OXVA Xlim SE 2 features a voice function to keep you apprised of things like battery life, the resistance of the pod you’re using, your wattage, and any errors you encounter. 

Plus, the vape is compatible with the OXVA Xlim Prefilled Pods, making it infinitely more accessible for older vapers and those with dexterity issues.

Even if you’re not looking for accessibility, this sleek and handy little vape packs tons of power, and the voice function is a smooth and efficient alternative to an OLED screen.

With up to 30W of adjustable power output, a larger 1000mAh battery than its predecessor, adjustable airflow, and RGB marquee lighting, this vape is impressive for its size and price point.

I was really eager to try the Xlim SE 2 after my experience writing the OXVA Xlim Pro review. That was the highest rating I ever gave a device, so I couldn’t wait to try the Xlim SE 2. As you can tell, I’m a huge OXVA fan.  

But I could go on and on—so before I start waffling, let’s dive into my impressions!

Design & Appearance

I received the Gunmetal finish. I’m more into flashy colours, personally, but I quite like the rich grey colour. The device has a cool brushed metal finish with a diagonal striped pattern to it. I don’t love the pattern, but I’m not in it for the looks.

On the front of the Xlim SE 2, you’ll find the small speaker located smack in the middle, with the OXVA logo and the RGB marquee lighting strip along the bottom. The back of the kit is blank, and the bottom has the USB-C port used for recharging the device. 

On one side, you’ll see the adjustable airflow toggle, and on the other, you’ll find the two buttons: one with a lightning bolt icon for firing and power and the other with a speaker icon for voice notifications. 

I don’t have much to say about the design here, though I do wish there were some other patterns available. The device looks much like the original Xlim SE: sleek and functional without too many bells and whistles.

Interface & Features

The Xlim SE 2 features adjustable airflow and dual activation modes, offering both inhale activation and button-firing. I feel that the button firing is a little redundant on this model with how close together the buttons are. 

Plus, you can lock the fire button, but you can’t turn off the auto-draw (which isn’t a con for me), so why bother using the button to fire anyway? 

The fire button is useful for adjusting wattage, but that’s about it. I’ve hardly touched it since I started using the device a couple of weeks ago.

Wattage Adjustment

You can adjust your wattage when the fire button is unlocked (unlocked by long-pressing both buttons at once). This is an excellent feature to have on such a minimal device.

To adjust your wattage, press the fire button once and the voice will notify you of your current wattage. You can cycle through 16W, 18W, 20W, 22W, and 25W with the 0.6Ω (ohm) pod installed. The default setting is 20W.

You’ll have different wattage options depending on the resistance of the pod you’re using. The 1.2Ω (ohm) pods, for instance, offer a wattage range of 10W through 13W in single-watt increments, with 12W as a default.

My favourite thing about the adjustable-wattage OXVA vapes I’ve tried is that they remember your preference for each pod resistance. For example, I swapped from the 0.6Ω pod (set at 22W, not the default) to a pre-filled 1.2Ω pod (12W), and when I swapped back to the 0.6Ω pod, it remembered my 22W preference.

My main issue with the wattage adjustment is that you can only feasibly do it with the voice mode on. With the voice off, you can press the button and the wattage will change, but you have no idea what you’re setting the device to. The light on the bottom glows the same colour regardless.

It happened once that I had the voice turned off during my commute, and when I turned it back on afterward, I found that I’d accidentally pressed the fire button and changed the wattage without realising. Again, this only happened once in the few weeks since I started using the device, but it’s worth noting.

I understand that without a screen, a voice, or a variable light indicator, it’s really difficult to communicate wattage adjustments, but it seems like an oversight. Perhaps a progress bar-style light indicator would work better for this. With the RGB marquee lighting, there’s definitely opportunity for a better visual indicator.

Battery Level

I have a similar issue with monitoring the battery level, though it’s forgiven a bit by the RGB light. The light will glow green at 60%-100% battery, blue at 20%-60% battery, and red at 0%-20% battery. This is pretty standard.

However, you can actually monitor the battery in 10% increments—but again, only with the voice mode on. When the vape is green, you could be fully charged or almost at half battery—but you won’t know unless you press the voice button to find out. 

This is less of an issue than the wattage adjustment given that you have the RGB light colours, but it’s still a (very) minor con for me.

It’ll be hard not to use the voice feature on the device with regular use, so if you’re not fond of the idea of a talking vape, this might be an issue for you. You’ll need the voice on when adjusting the wattage and monitoring battery level to some extent, otherwise you’re left in the dark.

Then again, if you don’t want your vape to talk, I wouldn’t recommend the Xlim SE 2 anyway. A huge part of this vape’s allure is its Siri-like voice notifications.

Voice Mode Feature

Onto the good bit. This is the first vape I’ve ever seen which offers voice notifications to its user. This is a boon for vapers with a visual impairment, but it’s also just a really nice and easy alternative to a visual interface. There’s no need for a confusing menu screen when the vape can simply talk to you. 

The Xlim SE 2 has a cheerful female voice (with a California accent, I suspect), which notifies you of just about everything you need to know about your vape. Now, unlike Siri, you can’t ask the vape questions, but you can prompt it to speak with various cues.

Press and hold the voice button to turn the notifications on, and single-press the button to hear your current battery level.

With voice broadcasting on, you’ll know when your pod falls out or is removed with a “no atomiser” notification. And when you pop the pod back in, the Xlim SE 2 tells you its resistance and what wattage the device is set to. When you unplug it from a charger, it’ll automatically tell you the updated battery level. 

The sound is a little tinny, but honestly, it’s coming out of an aluminium alloy body—so this is appropriate. The voice is much clearer and easier to understand than I was anticipating, to be perfectly honest.

I’ve been using the vape with the voice on, and I haven’t had any issues with it at all. It has thankfully not embarrassed me on public transit in the few weeks since I started using it, which is a bonus.

Battery Life & Performance

Like most other vapes on the market today, the Xlim SE 2 came fully charged. It has an impressive 1000mAh battery, which lasted me quite a while compared to my now-aged Xlim Pro, which has degraded with time. As a heavy vaper, the Xlim SE 2 lasted me about three quarters of the day from 100% battery, which is really good. I’m lucky to get half a day out of most vapes given my usage.

The Xlim SE 2 has 1A USB-C charging, which isn’t as fast as 2A, but I haven’t found the device to be slow to charge. I’d say it takes roughly 45 minutes to charge to full battery from 0%

I was pleased to find that the Xlim SE 2 held its charge really well, and that the flavour didn’t really diminish at all as the battery level went down. I’ve found that a lot of vapes tend to lose flavour the further they get from about 80% battery, but that wasn’t the case with the SE 2.

And thankfully, there’s a cable included with the kit to help you get started.

As far as performance goes, it’s 100% faultless. Not a single hiccup. It does exactly what you want it to do when you want it to do it, without any accidental firing or button presses. No weird auto-firing or missed inhales. As always, I’m very impressed by this OXVA kit’s performance.

OXVA Xlim Pods

Plus, almost all the OXVA vape pods are interchangeable, so there are plenty of options to choose from.

On top of this, the Xlim SE 2 is compatible with all of the pods in the OXVA Xlim series, except for the Xlim C pods, which means you can also use the OXVA Xlim prefilled pods if you so choose. These are great if you don’t want the hassle of having to refill. Simply vape them until they’re empty and replace them.

I wrote an OXVA Xlim prefilled pods review if you’re curious to learn more about them.

Vaping the OXVA Xlim SE 2

Vaping the Xlim SE 2 is as easy as could be. Simply inhale on the mouthpiece to get a lungful of your favourite E-Liquid flavour. You can tailor your wattage if you’d like, but the device will set it for you automatically when you pop in a pod.

The flavour, as always, is excellent from both pods, though I favour the 0.6Ω pod because it provides slightly larger, more flavourful clouds with more power. I know the 0.6Ω is more for freebase nicotine while the 0.8Ω is better for nic salts, but I’ve used nic salts in both pods and found that both resistances provide exceptional flavour and longevity. 

The vape is excellent whether you’re an MTL or an RDTL vaper. The RDTL airflow setting is quite airy, allowing for a less restrictive inhale if you so choose. I like to keep my airflow pretty tight, which the vape can easily accommodate, so there’s plenty of range when it comes to tailoring your inhale.

Who should get the OXVA Xlim SE 2?

I’ve talked a lot about accessibility—and I’ll be talking about it some more—but it’s important to point out that this vape is designed for just about everyone. It’s easy to use and the performance is seamless, and it offers enough power to satisfy even the greediest of vapers.

I can’t emphasise enough how universal this vape is. If you’re an MTL vaper, it’s perfect for you—it doesn’t matter if you’re a newbie or a long-time vaper, if you’re tech-savvy or technophobic. This vape is just as suitable for a seasoned vaper looking for a new daily driver as it is for your elderly nan who just quit smoking.

That’s my favourite thing about this vape, to be perfectly honest. Realistically, any vaper can use it.

OXVA Xlim SE 2 Accessibility

The OXVA Xlim SE 2 was designed to be accessible. And while it does more for accessibility than any vape I’ve ever seen before, there are still some small kinks that need to be worked out.

My one main niggling concern about this vape—and other vapes with accessibility features like haptic feedback—is that if you’re visually impaired, you won’t know when the pod is empty. You’ll only know once you’ve taken one too many puffs and get a mouthful of chemical-tasting, burnt vapour.

I wish the vape could notify you when the E-Liquid level runs low, but this might be a bit of a pipe dream as it would require some sort of sensor inside the pod. 

In addition, vapers with a visual impairment will have difficulty with refills given how small the fill port is and how you need to be able to see the E-Liquid level inside the pod to refill. This isn’t like a cup of coffee where you can stick your finger along the rim to know when it’s full—you’ll need visual confirmation when filling the pods.

Despite these issues, if you’re a visually impaired vaper, I would still wholeheartedly recommend the Xlim SE 2—with the caveat that you should opt for the OXVA Xlim prefilled pods. That way, you can avoid refilling and you won’t have to worry about your pod running low. Instead, once the prefilled pod starts losing its flavour or has a hint of a burnt taste, replace it with a new one.

This is definitely the most accessible refillable, reusable vape kit available today, and I’m so glad to see that OXVA is leading the way in making vaping more available to vapers who are visually impaired. 

OXVA Xlim SE 2 FAQs

Conclusion: A Vape for Every Vaper

As always, I’m extremely impressed with OXVA’s latest offering. The OXVA Xlim SE 2 is the vape of the people, with universal appeal and added accessibility for the vapers who need it. And for those who don’t, the voice mode is a handy little feature to make the vape easier to navigate and use.

All I can say is bravo, OXVA.

Since the battery on my Xlim Pro is reaching the end of its natural lifespan, I imagine I’ll be using this as my daily vape until something better comes along—but I imagine I’ll be waiting a long while for that to happen.

Thanks again to OXVA for sending this over for review, and as always, if you have any questions or need help navigating the vape landscape, don’t hesitate to reach out and contact our support. Our team of expert vapers is on standby to answer any and all questions you may have.