If you use vape cartridges even semi-frequently, you’ve likely lost, broken, or worn out the rechargeable, 510-threaded battery at some point. You know the one: It looks like a pen, screws into your cart, and has a weed company’s logo on it.
Odds are you bought and re-bought some version of that battery on the floor of a dispensary—probably as an afterthought to a more exciting cartridge purchase. It works until it doesn’t, which is good enough until you buy a few of them at $5-15 a pop and the spendier options start to make sense, even though they are more of an investment.
So here are our picks for quality weed cartridge batteries. You’ll save money in the long run, and you won’t have to look for that vape pen that disappeared that one night.
Silo by CCELL: Simplicity on a budget
Price: $16-26 depending on the retailer
Features at a glance: standard power capacity, aluminum alloy housing, buttonless design, automatic voltage calibration
What’s to love?
- Intuitive design and easy to use
- Sensors auto-calibrate voltage to power your cart
- Quick cartridge release, via a system of magnetic coupling rings
- Always on—if it’s charged, it’s ready to go
- Draw activated—no buttons
- Durable aluminum alloy body houses carts internally for protection
- Little in size, long in run time
What’s the catch?
- No temp control
CCELL’s Silo is a draw-activated, buttonless battery that protects your cartridge by housing it internally. With an aluminum alloy build, the Silo adds just a few inches of heft to carts.
The lack of temp control is arguably a non-issue thanks to CCELL’s automatic voltage-calibration sensors. In fact, the shedding of buttons and options is a big part of what makes CCELL’s product line so popular.
The Silo is CCELL’s followup to their much-lauded Palm. Like the Palm, magnetic coupling rings enable quick releases and swift flavor swaps of different carts.
About the size of two AAA batteries, the Silo fits into a fifth pocket with room to spare. Despite its size, Silo’s clouds are in the Goldilocks zone: satisfying, not too hot, and not too cold.
For the price, build quality, and ease of operation, the Silo is a crowd pleaser we can get behind. And if you shop around a bit, you can usually get one of these for less than pen batteries sold at dispensaries.
PCKT ONE Plus by PCKT: Small, durable, and minimalist
Price: $59.95; often on sale
Features at a glance: above-average battery capacity, machined from a solid aluminum block, draw and button activation, four-setting temp control
What’s to love?
- Indestructible build—formed from a solid block of aluminum
- Carts are housed internally for protection and attach magnetically
- Draw activation and manual pre-heat offer the best of both worlds
- Unique magnetic tube for carrying extra carts
What’s the catch?
- Slightly pricey for the product category
Machined from a solid block of aluminum, PCKT’s ONE Plus is as close to indestructible as a vape battery gets.
I’ve used one as my go-to cartridge battery for going on three years. And not a scratch on the thing, despite having been stored unprotected in backpacks and cluttered pockets through numerous road trips and nights out.
While durability is the headline, the ONE Plus’ virtues extend well beyond a sturdy build: four-setting temp control, a large, long-lasting battery, internal cartridge holding via a magnetic adapter, plus draw activation and manual button-drive power for pre-heating.
Its storage tube is invaluable, which holds cartridges magnetically, safeguarding the breakable bits.
At $59.95—currently on sale for roughly $45 via the manufacturer’s website—the ONE Plus’ price tag reflects an unparalleled build quality and a consumer-first design sense.
The Quad by Ooze: No-frills temperature control
Price: $24.99
Features at a glance: standard battery capacity, plastic housing, four-setting temp control, USB-C port, smart charger, square design
What’s to love?
- Simple temp control improves taste and flavor
- USB-C charging port and a smart charger protects carts from overcharge damage
- Square body won’t roll off surfaces
- Familiar functionality with little to no learning curve
What’s the catch?
- Could be priced a bit more competitively
- Plastic housing
- Fully exposed cartridge is prone to damage
The Quad 510 Thread Square Pen Battery by Ooze is a simple battery like you’re used to: a single on/off button doubles as a temp toggle to cycle through four heat settings, improving the expression of a cart.
Though temp control is pretty common these days, the Quad is different in its square shape, keeping your cartridge out of harm’s way. It’s a small difference, but if you’ve ever lost a brand new cart to a roll-and-fall, the Quad might be looking pretty good right about now.
Additionally, the smart charger extends battery life, solving a common issue with cheap pens that burn out after a few weeks due to overcharging.
Craftsman Series by Vessel: Luxury detailing
Price: $79
Features at a glance: aluminum body with unique walnut accents, four-setting temp control, removable cartridge protector sheath, magnetic charger
What’s to love?
- Fashionable anodized aluminum body with real wood accents
- Temp control (2.4-3.6v)
- Cartridge protection
- Nifty magnetic charger
What’s the catch?
- Fashionable materials aren’t cheap
- Limited battery capacity—lower than others at this price point
- The charger is proprietary—if you lose it, you can’t use another cable sitting around the house
Vessel’s Craftsman Series is a classy cartridge battery, one of the most stylish of the pen class of vape batteries: It has real wood or leather accents atop an aluminum alloy body.
Their flagship batteries offer four temp settings, cartridge protection via an aluminum sleeve, and a proprietary magnetic charger. Alternatively, a charging station can be purchased separately.
While the feature list isn’t mind-boggling when considering the $79 price tag, people shop Vessel mostly for aesthetics. The executive touches are reminiscent of fancy cigar cutters and monogrammed leather flasks, eschewing classic weed culture and repositioning cannabis at the board-room level.
The issue of whether style justifies such a price tag depends largely on your personal preference: Do you want a vape pen that would look right with a classy outfit, or even when dressed for a wedding? The Vessel Craftsman might be your answer.
EVRI by Dip Devices: An all-in-one battery for carts, pods, and dabs
Price: Starter Kit $69.99; Quartz Crystal Attachment $14.99; Nectar Collector Attachment $119.99.
Features at a glance: above-average battery capacity, cart & Juul-pod compatibility, dipper-style vapor tip attachment and top-loading quartz crystal attachment for loose dabs, water filtration via nectar collector attachment
What’s to love?
- Accepts carts, pods, and loose concentrates
- Magnetic attachments expand functionality and swap out with ease
- 900mAh capacity for a longer run time than most cart batteries
What’s the catch?
- While the plastic attachments are sturdy, we’d love to see an all-aluminum version to match the primary battery component
- Quartz crystal and nectar collector attachments are sold separately
- Manufacturer recommends replacing atomizers every 6-8 weeks
Handling carts, pods, and loose extract with ease, the EVRI by Dip Devices is for the cartridge consumer who also wants to dab, and the person carrying multiple batteries for carts and pods who also wants to dab.
The EVRI system is part battery, part dabber—magnetic attachments can be swapped out quickly and easily. The full kit, including battery and attachments, can fit in a pants pocket with room yet for keys.
Included with the starter kit is a 510/pod attachment, capable of handling both 510-threaded carts and Juul-compatible pods, plus the vapor tip attachment: a vertical dab straw with a mouthpiece on one end and an atomizer-tipped ceramic quill that dips directly into a dab container on the other.
Sold apart from the starter kit are a quartz crystal attachment, a top-loading bucket atomizer for loose concentrates, and a nectar collector attachment.
While we’d love to see the EVRI with less plastic—aluminum alloy attachments to match the core battery unit would be great—it’s hard not to fall for the consolidated, multi-use battery system just the way it is.
Ultimately, the EVRI is an easy purchase to make if you get excited about the idea of one battery to power cartridges, pods, and dabs.
Uni Pro Box Mod by YOCAN: Full-featured budget battery
Price: normally $40; now $23.95
Features at a glance: above-average battery capacity, polycarbonate body, adjustable internal cartridge housing, voltage-up and -down buttons, OLED screen, 20+ voltage settings, micro USB port
What’s to love?
- Exceptional value
- More than 20 voltage settings
- OLED screen displays battery and voltage
- Dedicated voltage-up and -down buttons
- Accommodates different cartridge sizes
- Houses cartridges internally via magnetic adapter ring
What’s the catch?
- Made mostly of plastic, the build doesn’t feel as solid as other Yocan products or competing aluminum alloy options
Vape manufacturer Yocan never fails to offer an impressive value with a future-forward twist, and the UNI Pro Box Mod is no exception. And for about $25 bucks, it’s one of the most competitive options on this list.
With 20+ voltage settings, magnetic cartridge coupling, and a unique design feature to accommodate carts of unusual shapes and sizes, the UNI Pro is a crossover between a cartridge battery and a beefier “box mod” —larger, more feature-rich rigs usually reserved for nicotine juice pods.
Like many box mods, an onboard OLED screen displays battery life and voltage. Voltage is toggled with two arrow-shaped buttons, and a third rectangular button delivers a charge to your cart.
While the added features speak to people who use box mods, the device is primarily for stoners, incorporating many features to address weed cartridges.
To accommodate cartridges of varying length and diameter, the UNI Pro has two design elements we haven’t seen elsewhere: A slider raises and lowers a cart within the housing, accommodating both short half-grams and long full-grams, and thicker carts can fit with a thumbwheel adjuster and retractable collar.
Utillian 5 by Utillian: Vape cartridge/dab pen hybrid
Price: Utillian 5 Kit $109.99; Utillian 5 Glass Bubbler $49.99.
Features at a glance: long-lasting battery, PVD-coated stainless steel body, four-setting temp control, adjustable airflow, ceramic heating chamber, micro USB charger, interchangeable 510-threaded atomizers: twisted kanthal coil and triple titanium coil
What’s to love?
- Built for dabs and works great with cartridges—perfect for dedicated dabbers who use carts occasionally
- Stainless steel build is so tough it feels like a self-defense tool
- Huge 1,500mAh battery capacity to vape all day
- Heavy-duty coils chew through dabs of up to 0.3 grams
What’s the catch?
- It’s not exactly a cartridge battery; more of a dabber
- Larger than average pen batteries
- Definitely not necessary if you’re only into cartridges
The Utillian 5 by Utillian is an industrial-strength, top-loading dab pen that just so happens to also utilize a 510-thread and powers cartridges if you want it to. Though a bit of a departure from other batteries on this list, it’s a sensible option for people who primarily dab and don’t really need a separate cart battery.
The Utillian 5 comes stock with two beastly atomizers: the triple titanium coil and twisted kanthal coil, both of which are housed in a ceramic chamber.
With enough juice to go all day and then some, at the core of the Utillian 5 is a 1,500mAh battery that exceeds the capacity of others on this list by up to 5x. And with two voltage settings dedicated to cool vapor and two more for warmer, thicker clouds, the experience surpasses expectations for pen-class devices.
At max voltage, filtering the triple titanium coil through the optional bubbler attachment is a combination so powerful, with eyes closed it almost feels like you’re at home with a dab rig. Almost.
Although straying from standard cartridge tech a bit here, we feel folks should know about 510-threaded options that aren’t specifically designed for carts but work with them nonetheless. For people who prefer a dab but throw a cartridge in the mix here and there, the Utillian 5 makes a lot of sense.
Other devices in this dab pen/vape cart crossover class that we like include the Blaze by Linx, the Puffco Plus by Puffco, and the Evolve Plus by Yocan.
