Advantages and disadvantages of cartos

[sincerelysasquatch]

Can someone sum up the advantages and disadvantages of cartos vs. clearos? I have always used clearos.

 

[Baditude]

This is a matter of personal opinion, as there are advocates for both types of delivery devices:

I always preferred cartomizers (in cartotanks) over clearomizers. I can sum up the rationale as follows. A clearomizer has only a tiny wick of silica string. The surface area is rather small compared to the polyfill of a cartomizer, which can lead to dry/burnt hits. Also, silica has never been known to be a good flavor carrier.

The cartomizer's wick is the polyfill, which the entire inside of the carto is filled. That's a significantly larger surface area, so not as likely to get dry/burnt hits while vaping.

Clearos are designed to be easy & fast to fill and use, but there's the muted flavor issue that is the gamechanger for me. A carto takes a little longer to fill (drip, drip, drip), but to me its worth the time and trouble. If used in a cartotank, the carto only needs to be filled during initial setup. You don't have to add more liquid to the carto when refilling the cartotank. So after the initial setup for a cartotank, the time requirements and ease of use are similar for both clearos and cartotanks.

Now, the exception to this rule of thumb are the new vertical coil replacement heads that recently came out for the Aspire Mini nautilus (and others). These use a new wick of porous ceramic material; which sort of makes these clearotanks a hybrid between a clearo and a cartotank. A sort of "best of both worlds".

 

[javarivanhans]

This is a matter of personal opinion, as there are advocates for both types of delivery devices:

I always preferred cartomizers (in cartotanks) over clearomizers. I can sum up the rationale as follows. A clearomizer has only a tiny wick of silica string. The surface area is rather small compared to the polyfill of a cartomizer, which can lead to dry/burnt hits. Also, silica has never been known to be a good flavor carrier.

The cartomizer's wick is the polyfill, which the entire inside of the carto is filled. That's a significantly larger surface area, so not as likely to get dry/burnt hits while vaping.

Clearos are designed to be easy & fast to fill and use, but there's the muted flavor issue that is the gamechanger for me. A carto takes a little longer to fill (drip, drip, drip), but to me its worth the time and trouble. If used in a cartotank, the carto only needs to be filled during initial setup. You don't have to add more liquid to the carto when refilling the cartotank. So after the initial setup for a cartotank, the time requirements and ease of use are similar for both clearos and cartotanks.

Now, the exception to this rule of thumb are the new vertical coil replacement heads that recently came out for the Aspire Mini Nautilus (and others). These use a new wick of porous ceramic material; which sort of makes these clearotanks a hybrid between a clearo and a cartotank. A sort of "best of both worlds".

Great post. I started with Nautilus's and went to subtanks. Now I can't go backwards without feeling dissatisfied.

 

[Rickajho]

The biggest differential for most people is: flavor output. The majority of folks claim they get more flavor out of a carto compared to BCC clearos. But for every rule there are exceptions and a minority claim the exact opposite.

 

[BackDoc]

Left cartos a few years ago looking for the latest and greatest ...... went thru every conceivable clearo/ tank type system , got to the innokin i30s and thought I arrived. Then the kanger quest began. Pt1,2,3, Beni and finally mega aero., never got a consistent decent vape , maybe it was me but recently picked up some smok dct cartos and tanks on sale , looked up proper priming technique and for weeks now I'm enjoying vaping minus the frustration , wow ,it's like coming home

 

[Shadav]

that and well carts are metal so no worries over tank cracking juices whereas most clearo's are plastic

i've tried just about everything.....and carts were just too much of a hassle.....vivi novas a PITA....bcc tanks nice but tend to leak with pressure changes (i live in indiana, we have all 4 seasons in the same day, sometimes within the same hour) i liked the cartotanks but I have a bad habit of picking my mod up by the driptip or tank so dang thing would slide off all the time
so I used my eternity drippers and was finally in love (aside from the fact that it's a dripper so can't lay it down or put it in pocket)
all that said.....as bad (BTW HI BAD {{hugs}} stated the game changer.....i'm absolutely in love (at the moment anyways) with my protank mini with air flow control and these new vertical coils....it's like a freaking cartotank with the flavor almost on par with my dripper but no worries about laying it down or dripping every few minutes or the tank slipping off the top of the cart

 

[Robert Cromwell]

I use both cartos and clearos. I have some bottom coil Kanger cartos with polyfill that impact the juice taste. I found that if I pull out the polyfill which comes easily since it is a bottom coil. I then fill it with thin strips of Japanese cotton which i spiral around the middle tube pressing in with a blunt needle. Flavor is fantastic and has better vapor longer. Takes about 5 minutes per carto but worth it. I like cartos for their convenience. I can throw them in my pocket and go for all day. A clearo might spill or break in my pocket.

 

[N2rock]

Another thing that has not been mentioned- carto's are a stiffer draw, clearo's are a airy draw.

I personally can't stand that airy draw of clearo's, I have to have that stiff draw. Probably due to the fact that I began vaping back in the early days when you had only 2 options- drip on the atomizer, or use a carto. So I vaped for so long with the stiffer draw, that now anytime I hit anything that doesn't provide that stiff feedback, I dislike it.