Best HNB Devices 2026: IQOS ILUMA, glo Pro, Pulze 3.0 and HEATX

There is no single best HNB device, and any article that hands you a numbered list from first to fifth is selling you something, usually a page of affiliate links.

What I can give you instead is the thing that actually decides the purchase for almost everybody, which is that heated tobacco devices are closed systems. Your device and your consumables come from the same manufacturer, and they do not mix. Once you understand that, the choice narrows to two questions you can actually answer, and the rest of this article is me working through them with you.

I will say up front that HEATX is our own product and the HEATX 5 is also sold as the GEN 5.0. Every HEATX figure here comes from our own product documentation. Figures for the IQOS ILUMA, the glo Pro, the Pulze 3.0, the Ploom TECH+ and the lil SOLID 2.0 come from those manufacturers' published specifications.

The shortlist, in one table

Two rows have blanks in them and I have left them blank on purpose. KT&G does not publish the weight or the size of the lil SOLID 2.0, and Philip Morris does not publish the ILUMA's preheat or session time. I could estimate them, and I have held both devices, but a spec sheet I half remember is worse than an empty cell.

Question one: what can you actually buy where you live

This decides more purchases than any other factor, including price, and it is the one people skip.

TEREA format sticks are the most widely distributed heated tobacco sticks in the world. The IQOS ILUMA uses them and so do the HEATX 1, the HEATX 2, the HEATX 3, the HEATX 5 and the HEATX 6. If you can buy TEREA sticks, you have a wide field.

glo Neo sticks are a British American Tobacco ecosystem and they are only sold in markets where BAT runs the glo brand. The glo Pro heats glo Neo and nothing else.

Pulze 3.0 takes iD sticks and iSENZIA sticks. iSENZIA is the one to know about, because it is tea-based and nicotine-free. If you have moved toward nicotine-free options, that closes the question regardless of everything else in this article. No HEATX device currently offers a nicotine-free stick.

Ploom capsules are capsules, not sticks, and they come from Ploom in Ploom formats.

lil sticks are excellent and in Korea you can buy them anywhere. In much of Europe they are available but in a small number of markets. In the United States, essentially not at all.

Here is the test. Before you compare a single specification, check whether the consumable for your preferred device is on the shelf of a shop near you. Not orderable. On the shelf. If it is not there, that device is not a candidate, no matter how good it is.

Because of that, the HEATX 6 is worth calling out even though it is not in the table above. It is the only HEATX that takes HEETS sticks, the IQOS 3 DUO format. If you already have HEETS, one model in our range and only one will keep them working.

Question two: what do you want out of the session

Once the consumable question is answered, the devices separate along three lines, and you only need two of them to match.

Connected or standalone. The IQOS ILUMA is the only device in this group with an app, Bluetooth and firmware updates. It also has a sliding temperature control and an induction heater with a stick-specific thermal signature, which no third party can replicate because the stick and the heater are designed for each other.

Everything else on this list is standalone. The glo Pro, the Pulze 3.0, the Ploom TECH+, the lil SOLID 2.0 and the whole HEATX range are exactly the device they were on the day you bought them. Some people find that reassuring. Some find it bleak. If the app and the firmware notes are a feature for you, the ILUMA is the product and this article is not for you.

How long the battery lasts, or how long a session is. These are different questions and the market is full of devices that win one and lose the other.

The glo Pro has the biggest battery in the group at 3000 mAh and the longest charge time at around two hours. The Ploom TECH+ has the smallest battery at 480 mAh and the shortest charge time at around 60 minutes, and 37 g, which is still the lightest heated tobacco device I know of. The Pulze 3.0 gives you 25+ sticks per charge on 1850 mAh, which is the best endurance-per-battery figure in the table.

Whether a stick can go back in. This is the one that changes your costs, so it gets its own section.

The second pass, which is the whole cost argument

A Ploom capsule is the entire heating unit for that session. When the five minutes are up it is spent and it goes in the bin. There is no second pass, because the capsule and the heating tube are a single consumable arrangement.

A HEATX stick is heated by a 360° circumferential element that wraps the outside and heats inward. That is what allows a stick you have already used once to go straight back in for another session. The HEATX 2 does 16 puffs on the first pass and 13 on the second, 29 in total from one stick. The HEATX 1, the HEATX 3, the HEATX 5 and the HEATX 6 share the same principle.

The Pulze 3.0 uses a single-session stick format, and I have no basis to claim a second pass there, so I have left it at 25+.

That last row is the number I would put in front of anyone who thinks the HEATX 5 is a mid-range device. Twenty sticks becomes roughly forty sessions.

The cost of a session is the consumable price divided by the sessions you get out of it. I am not going to invent a monthly figure for you, because the price of a TEREA stick, a glo Neo stick, an iD stick and a Ploom capsule varies enormously by country, by retailer and by whether you are buying a carton or a single unit. The formula is simple and it is yours to run with local numbers. The structural advantage of a second pass is not local, though. It is one stick, two sessions, and that holds wherever you buy.

What each one is actually like to live with

A bit on the ones I have not covered properly yet.

The IQOS ILUMA is the most refined heater in the group and the most connected. 74 g, 1728 mAh, about 20 sticks, roughly 90 minutes to charge, TEREA sticks only, sliding temperature control, app, Bluetooth, firmware. The induction heating is the best argument in its favour. The stick-and-heater lock-in is the cost.

The glo Pro is 98 g and 82 × 43 × 21 mm, which is short and wide, and it is the only device in the group with a temperature figure attached to its heating, roughly 280 °C in a ceramic chamber. It has a BOOST mode that halves preheat to 10 seconds and shortens the session to 3 minutes, which is a genuinely useful pairing. Single button, vibration feedback, no screen.

The Pulze 3.0 is the most thoughtful little device here. About 57 g, which is lighter than every HEATX model except the HEATX 1. Inline ceramic rod heating from the inside out, Intense and Mild, a 5 segment LED for battery, and a 5 minute session with no fixed puff cap, which means it does not cut off on a timer while you are still going. And then there is iSENZIA.

The Ploom TECH+ is 37 g, 480 mAh, capsules, 5 minute sessions, about 20 capsules per charge and a 60 minute charge. The Ploom with2 is the slightly bigger version at 43 g and 610 mAh. The Ploom is the lighter object and the simpler format, and the refill economics are set entirely by the manufacturer.

The lil SOLID 2.0 uses ceramic conduction, about 2 sticks per session, 880 mAh, around 95 minutes to charge. The lil Hybrid is the more interesting one: 1250 mAh, dual-zone induction, around 140 minutes to charge, which is the longest in this entire article. KT&G makes good hardware. The problem with lil is usually not the hardware.

The HEATX 5 (GEN 5.0) is 64 g, 2000 mAh, 20 sticks, 30 second preheat, 270 second session, anodised aluminium with a matte finish in five colours, one button, a breathing light for battery and vibration feedback. No app, no Bluetooth, no firmware, and no temperature control.

Where I would not buy any of them

Not buying one of these is a legitimate position and there are three good reasons for it.

If you want the connected side of the category, buy the ILUMA. Do not read a comparison table and then decide the app is unnecessary. You will use it on day three.

If you have moved to nicotine-free, the Pulze 3.0 with iSENZIA is the only device on this list that serves you. The tea-based sticks are not a compromise in the way that sounds. They are a different product.

And if you are in a market where HNB is heavily restricted, or where your local rules do not permit these devices, none of this applies. Check first. Rules differ by country and they change, and importing a device into a restricted market creates a problem for you rather than for the manufacturer.

Where I would not buy a HEATX

Since this is our own range, here is where it drops out of the conversation, in the same order.

No temperature control at all. Not limited temperature control. None. The HEATX 3 has four modes, SOFT, MILD, NORMAL and BOOST. The HEATX 5, the HEATX 6 and the HEATX 1 run one heating profile and you cannot change it.

No app, no Bluetooth, no firmware, so the app-based authentication route that the IQOS ILUMA offers does not exist here. Every check has to be a physical one.

No nicotine-free option. The Pulze 3.0 and its tea-based iSENZIA sticks are the only route in this list, and no HEATX device currently does that.

And the stick format narrows it further. The HEATX 1, 2, 3 and 5 take TEREA format sticks. If you have HEETS, the HEATX 6 is the only one of ours that works.

The HEATX 3 has 3200 mAh and 30 sticks per charge, and it costs you 100 g and a 120 minute charge. The HEATX 1 is 48 g, and 15 sticks per charge is the lowest figure in the range. If weight and size decide it and 15 sticks is acceptable, that is the HEATX 1. If it is not, then nothing in our range is the answer.

If I were buying today

Buy the Pulze 3.0 if the nicotine-free iSENZIA option matters, or if you want something under 60 g with a session that does not cut off on a timer.

Buy the Ploom TECH+ if 37 grams is the priority and the capsule cost per session works out where you live. Do that arithmetic before you commit.

Buy the HEATX 5 if you want a metal body, one button, no menu and two sessions from every stick. It is the device I would hand someone who has never used an HNB. The manufacturer claims a price around half that of mainstream devices, on the logic that two packs of sticks cover the cost of the device. That is a manufacturer claim and the arithmetic depends entirely on local pricing, so run it yourself before you treat it as fact.

Buy the HEATX 3 for maximum endurance and control, 3200 mAh, 30 sticks, four temperature modes and a 320 second session. Buy the HEATX 1 at 48 g for the lightest option. Buy the HEATX 2 for the flattest body at 20.6 mm and 29 puffs from one stick. Buy the HEATX 6 if you have HEETS sticks.

Buy the IQOS ILUMA if you want the app and the best induction heating in the category, and accept that the stick is not going back in.

Buy the glo Pro if you want the biggest battery and the BOOST mode, and you buy glo Neo sticks without trouble.

Full specifications and photos for every model are on chillmistvape.com, and if you are stocking a shelf rather than buying one unit, the OEM and wholesale terms are worth asking about directly.

Health, law and where to buy

Heated tobacco is not harmless. Avoiding combustion reduces exposure to a number of the toxicants in cigarette smoke, but it still delivers nicotine, and nicotine is addictive. Nothing in this article is medical advice, and nothing here claims that any device is safe.

If you do not already use tobacco or nicotine, there is no reason to start. Check the age limits and the tax rules where you live, since both differ by country and change. Buy from licensed sellers only. Figures attributed to Philip Morris, British American Tobacco, Imperial Brands, Japan Tobacco and KT&G come from those manufacturers' published specifications; the HEATX figures come from our own product documentation. Compare the numbers, then decide which device fits how you actually use a heated tobacco device.