GS Air MS... very nice starter tank or stealth vape

[Cloudmann]

Since I've been using the tank with the mod almost exclusively (being built for each other, and all of that), check out my review of the Mini istick 20w here:
Eleaf Mini iStick 20 watt | E-Cigarette Forum

 

[Cloudmann]

Oh, and that 18 watts is with the stock coils, not my vertical single coil rebuilds... those will vape 100% VG at 20 watts, no problem.

 

[Cloudmann]

Yeah... I'm still going through my stock of vertical 1.5 ohm rebuilds. Once I'm out, I'll do some more (maybe 1.2 ohms) and video and/or photo the process. Think I've got six left.

Incidentally, Eleaf is about to release organic cotton GS Air coils. They're still 1.5 ohm and still presumably dual coil, but going to organic cotton should make a huge difference in wicking and flavor. They're going to offer BDC coils in organic cotton, too. Not sure when, exactly. Sweet-Vapes has them listed on their site.

Apparantly, nickel temp control coils are on the way, too. I've only seen them for preorder from overseas sites... should be relesed before too long.

 

[Cloudmann]

Just saw that Eleaf has released the GS-Tank atomizer. It uses the GS Air coils (older 1.5 ohm ones, cotton 1.2 or 1.5 ohm coils , and the 0.15 ohm ni200 TC coils... all coils compatible with the GS Air, M, MS, and Tank atomizers) and is 22mm in diameter. It looks like a brushed stainless MS at first glance, but it's wider to sit flush on 22mm mods, has a nicer AFC ring, sits MAYBE just a bit taller the GS Air MS, and looks a bit nicer due to its all brushed finish (including the drip tip). It holds 3ml of juice and still has a tighter draw geared to mouth to lung hits. It's a fat GS Air MS on crack... with better bling.

It's made for the new iStick 40TC temp control mod (but will look and work great on any 22mm mod) and should be at online stores any time, along with all of the new GS coils and the 40TC. Expect pricing to be competitive with this tank: the 40TC retails for $35 or so, the TC coils cost a couple of bucks more than the original coils for a five pack, and the new cotton coils are less than a buck more expensive than the older ones for a five pack.

Interesting....

GS-Tank Atomizer
GS Air Pure Cotton Head & TC Head
iStick TC40W

 

[Cloudmann]

The new cotton kanthal coils have a wattage handling range up to 30 watts, now... nice... I should have zero issues pushing the MS to the full 20 watts on the Mini iStick 20 watt. Flavor should improve over stock coils, too. And the vapor temp will stay nice and cool.

The Vapor Chronicles did a video review. The juice holes look a bit bigger, too.

The TC coils have a range of 30-40 watts... interesting, very interesting.

 

[Cloudmann]

Just watched the review by The Vapor Chronicles again. I just noticed that when he displays the TC coil up close, you can see straight through it from top to bottom... vertical coils, baby! Hopefully the new 1.2 ohm organic cotton kanthal coils have the same vertical build. Explains the 30 watt handling range... though I've personally never gotten my 1.2 ohm vertical rebuilds to hit beyond 22-24 watts reliably, even with 50/50 juice. I get something like 18 to 20 watts with max VG, depending on the particular coil and how I wicked it. Maybe the organic cotton coils have the larger juice channels, too. Might have to snatch some up and keep these as my rebuild stock!

 

[Cloudmann]

So after digging around a bit, I found the following:

According to the Eleaf website, the new organic cotton heads are indeed single coil heads. I also don't see any information on the kanthal coils in 1.5 ohm... only the 1.2 ohm. The coils probably won't be offered in 1.5 ohms in the single coil, cotton configuration. Looks like one resistance selection, unless they continue on with manufacturing the older coils, which is certainly possible. Maybe it's a mistype on the Sweet Vapes page or something, listing the coils as 1.5 ohm. Already noted above, these are vertical coils and appear to have larger juice channels. They are all confirmed to work in any existing GS Air tank and in the new GS-Tank clearo... including the TC nickel coils. The GS-Tank will be priced pretty competitively in the $20 range. Looks to offer about the same air flow (irrelevant, since the bottleneck is the coil itself) and pretty much the same design, otherwise. Build quality looks a bit better and the brushed finish certainly looks nicer.

Myself, I probably won't pick one up. I'm pretty happy with the GS Air MS and the new 22mm diameter doesn't really appeal to me with the way I'll be using the tank (20 watt iStick Mini). If I feel like doing GS Air temp control, it'll work fine on the MS tank, but most TC vaping I do is on the Subtank, anyhow.

Also, Eleaf is updating their bdc coils to 1.2 ohm cotton coils, called bcc coils, now. Also a single coil solution, likely vertical as well. Nice option to have for those using the GS16 or GS16s... I'll pick up a pack or two.

 

[Cloudmann]

Sweet Vapes has the coils in stock now... the kanthal coils are 1.2 ohms, $9.50 for a pack of five. The TC coils are 0.15 ohms, $10.50 for a pack of five. Just ordered some of the 1.2 ohm cotton coils (TC isn't my thing on a tank like this... more suited to and useful on sub ohm tanks like the Subtank or Atlantis, IMO). I'll post back once I get them and give 'em a shot.

Eleaf GS Air Coils Organic Cotton - Eleaf Coils - Eleaf - Clearomizers Tanks

Eleaf GS Air TC Organic Cotton Coils (Ni-200) - Eleaf Coils - Eleaf - Clearomizers Tanks

 

[Cloudmann]

The GS16/GS16S BCC coils are in stock, too. 1.2 ohms, $8.95 for a five pack. All of these are single coil solutions, and the GS Air coils are all vertical... not sure about these, but it would make sense. Ordered a pack for my GS16S... been using it on my iJust D16 850mah. The 20 watt range of the new coils means I can push the battery all the way to 10 watts, now. Was getting dry hits for some reason with the older coils.

Eleaf iJust BCC Coils Organic Cotton - Eleaf Coils - Eleaf - Clearomizers Tanks

 

[Cloudmann]

Just surfing a bit tonight and noticed that Totally Wicked has their rebadge of the 20 watt iStick Mini available in a kit. They call it the Curve Mini 20w (the same labeling that Totally Wicked's UK subsidiary TECC uses, incidentally) and it comes with a rebadged GS Air MS called the CS Air Micro. The battery has the TECC and Curve logos and the tank has the Totally Wicked devil and CS Air logos... that's the only difference. Comes with a free 10ml juice of your choice, too along with the standard starter kit extras like a charger cable, ego to 510, etc. It costs $40 plus shipping, which is a couple of bucks higher than piecing it together yourself, but you might save on shipping, getting it all in one shot, evening the cost out... and you get the free juice. Also, TW always has discounts and YoYo sales going on. Bookmark it and check it every couple of days if you're interested. I've seen the original Curve kit go for 20-25% off from time to time. That would make this $30-32 plus shipping... not bad. Just get the cotton GS Air coils elsewhere and you're set.

The specs on their page are a bit off, incidentally. Like the iStick Mini 20 watt, it has a voltage range of 3.0-5.5 volts, not 3-5 volts as they list. Also, wattage output is 8-20 watts, not 5-20 watts, as they list. The CS Air Micro has a capacity of 2.5 ml, not 1.5 ml. They list battery capacity at 1100 mah, not 1050 mah. This may or may not be accurate... TECC lists the same specification on their site... maybe a different 18350 is used for manufucturing on that side of the lake. Like the iStick, it doesn't come with a wall mains adapter either, just FYI.

Curve Mini 20W Kit with 1 bottle of US made Patriot Range e-liquid

 

[Cloudmann]

Use discount code FOURM1 or FORUM3 for 20% off of any non discounted items. This makes the kit $31.99 plus $2.99 shipping to the US. That's $34.98 total... really, cheaper than you can piecemeal this elsewhere... and with a free 10ml bottle of juice (their RY4 is pretty good, incidentally). Not bad. Just make sure to pick up your spare coils elsewhere. They charge an arm and a leg for two coils... and they only carry the older 1.5 ohm coils, currently. I'd get one or two five packs of the new 1.2 ohm organic cotton coils elsewhere (Sweet-Vapes has them in stock) and keep the stock silica 1.5 ohm as an emergency spare.

 

[Cloudmann]

OK. I got the 1.2 ohm coils in today. Here are my thoughts...

They are TONS better than the older 1.5 ohm coils. First, as suspected, these are a single coil, vertical solution. Also, the wicking channels have been opened slightly... I suspect there's about 40-50% more surface area for pulling juice into the atomizer. Air flow is MAYBE a bit better due to the vertical orientation of the coil. That's to be expected... these coils have the same air flow bottlenecks at the base and head of the coil head. Cotton? Yep. Works. Tastes better. 1.2 ohms? Yep. The coils I installed into my MS and my M tanks both read 1.22 to 1.26 ohms, depending on how the stars align at that particular moment. As expected, these do handle wattage a ton better than the dual 3.0 ohm coils in the old atomizers.

With all of these improvements (mainly the juice channels and the single coil), these work as advertised. On my SX Mini M class in wattage mode, I had no issues achieving the advertised 30 watt limit... even with max VG. In fact, 32-34 watts is quite doable, consistently. And quite hot. 20-25 watts is a comfortable range to me, but if you so choose, rock 30 watts on these all day long and have a nice hot vape. No ideas yet as to coil life... these are literally only a few hours old.

On my stealthy little iStick Mini 20 watt, I'm pushing the full 20 watt limit of the mod, and this tank actually chucks some impressive clouds at that range. Expect juice to deplete more quickly, though. The vaping gods don't give you something for nothing. That said, the 2.5-3.0 ml capacity of the MS tank is plenty to last a while and the 4.0-4.5 ml capacity of the M tank works out really well for these coils.

Overall, I'm quite impressed with these coils... I'd be hard pressed to rebuild these any better, honestly. But, if I can rebuild them to the same quality, that's good enough for me since it'll save me some scratch.

I plan to record a combination video review of the iStick Mini 20 watt, the GS Air MS, and these new 1.2 ohm organic cotton GS Air coils some time in the next week or so. I'll post it on Youtube and post a link in this thread.

 

[Cheechako]

Looking forward to it!

 

[Cloudmann]

Yep. Real life is happening to me this week... I'm a cop in downtown Charleston, SC. The last couple of weeks have been busy, to say the least. Not a fun profession these days.

I'll get the video up once I get my Rocket Vapes Reaper Blend in the mail and things settle a bit at work. I know exactly how that stuff vapes and it makes a good review baseline. And it's a good, atty-friendly NET hybrid, to boot. And the 40% off sale this weekend was a good excuse to stock up on five 30ml bottles (to get the free shipping) and replenish my completely tapped supply. $48.00 exactly, total for 150ml. Not too shabby. Should last a few months. May as well enjoy the vape while I review the gear, too. It's not a pure NET or max VG, but gosh, I miss that juice... and it's one that I actually prefer at lower wattage with lesser air flow... like the GS Air series provides. Can't wait.

 

[Cloudmann]

OK... after tons and TONS of abuse and several epic vaping sessions that I'd care to not repeat, I killed the first coil in 48 hours. Real life expectancy should be a couple of weeks... I really put this thing through the wringer before it burned the cotton a bit... I dry burned all the epic gunk off of the coil so I could examine it. All things considered, the wick is in great shape except for the burnt spot. I used a REALLY heavy flavor ratio of a DIY NET liquid to expedite real life results... and the coil survived about 50 ml of that juice. Like I said, epic vaping in a 48 hour period.

Here it is, cleaned, gutted, and dried. You can see the huge juice channels quite well here. Looks to be .28 AWG kanthal with about 9 or 10 wraps (depending on where you start and stop counting on a vertical coil), roughly 1.5-1.6 mm inner coil diameter... I didn't get the calipers out. There's a single strip of organic cotton about six inches long wrapped around the coil, all the way out to the chassis... no separate cotton sleeve, anymore. Looks easy enough to rebuild this way. That's a later project, though.

 

[Puff2K]

OK... after tons and TONS of abuse and several epic vaping sessions that I'd care to not repeat, I killed the first coil in 48 hours. Real life expectancy should be a couple of weeks... I really put this thing through the wringer. Here it is, cleaned, gutted, and dried. You can see the huge juice channels quite well here. Looks to be .28 AWG kanthal with about 10 wraps, roughly 1.5-1.6 mm diameter... I didn't get the calipers out. There's a single strip of organic cotton about six inches long wrapped around the coil, all the way out... no separate cotton sleeve, anymore. Looks easy enough to rebuild. That's a later project, though.

View attachment 469836

The picture doesn't show up for me in Tapatalk.

 

[Cheechako]

OK... after tons and TONS of abuse and several epic vaping sessions that I'd care to not repeat, I killed the first coil in 48 hours. Real life expectancy should be a couple of weeks... I really put this thing through the wringer before it burned the cotton a bit... I dry burned all the epic gunk off of the coil so I could examine it. All things considered, the wick is in great shape except for the burnt spot. I used a REALLY heavy flavor ratio of a DIY NET liquid to expedite real life results.

Here it is, cleaned, gutted, and dried. You can see the huge juice channels quite well here. Looks to be .28 AWG kanthal with about 9 or 10 wraps (depending on where you start and stop counting on a vertical coil), roughly 1.5-1.6 mm inner coil diameter... I didn't get the calipers out. There's a single strip of organic cotton about six inches long wrapped around the coil, all the way out to the chassis... no separate cotton sleeve, anymore. Looks easy enough to rebuild this way. That's a later project, though.

View attachment 469836

It is the same size as the original coil?

 

[Cloudmann]

It is the same size as the original coil?

The diameter looks about the same as the single coil solutions I've built. It's the same as the upper hole on the chassis, roughly, but I've misplaced my calipers. Hard to tell... for the life of me, I couldn't separate the upper chassis. It might be a single piece of metal, now. That's fine, since there's no cotton sleeve anymore. Looks easy enough to build the coil and wrap it in cotton a little too tightly, then stuff it in from the base, letting the cotton expand out to the chassis walls. Looks to be .28 gage at a glance... makes sense with the rough eyeball guesstimate of the diameter and given the 9-ish wraps of coil.

If it is a unibody chassis, rebuilding will require an extra step in that you'll need to wrap the coil and install it without a wick to read resistance and dry fire it for testing hot spots. You'll be able to see it fine through those juice holes. Then, you'll need to disassemble, wick, and reassemble the thing. Pain in the neck, but more than doable. Makes tearing the coil and wick out easier, though... absolutely no cotton stuck to the chassis inner walls when I pulled the coil and wick out through the base. And the base came off freely with just my fingernails.

 

[Cheechako]

The diameter looks about the same as the single coil solutions I've built. It's the same as the upper hole on the chassis, roughly, but I've misplaced my calipers. Hard to tell... for the life of me, I couldn't separate the upper chassis. It might be a single piece of metal, now. That's fine, since there's no cotton sleeve anymore. Looks easy enough to build the coil and wrap it in cotton a little too tightly, then stuff it in from the base, letting the cotton expand out to the chassis walls. Looks to be .28 gage at a glance... makes sense with the rough eyeball guesstimate of the diameter and given the 9-ish wraps of coil.

If it is a unibody chassis, rebuilding will require an extra step in that you'll need to wrap the coil and install it without a wick to read resistance and dry fire it for testing hot spots. You'll be able to see it fine through those juice holes. Then, you'll need to disassemble, wick, and reassemble the thing. Pain in the neck, but more than doable. Makes tearing the coil and wick out easier, though... absolutely no cotton stuck to the chassis inner walls when I pulled the coil and wick out through the base. And the base came off freely with just my fingernails.

Let me loose on it, I got a big hammer!
From the picture, looks like there is an inner chamber like the regular ones...

 

[Cloudmann]

Let me loose on it, I got a big hammer!
From the picture, looks like there is an inner chamber like the regular ones...

I agree. Looks that way. Hope so... it'll make testing and wicking a little simpler. That bugger is on there, though. I'll tool with it later tonight... don't have the correct implements of wreckage on me at the moment.