Gigue Dolphin ceramic sub-ohm/semi-RTA?

[tedigram]

Doesn't look like there's a thread for this yet, anybody planning on getting one? reviews are coming in, but it looks like it's still on pre-order. Not many retailer search results yet, but this one says it's out Jan. 25th.

Here's the review I was watching of it.



It looks like the tank itself could use some V2 tweaking usability wise, the fill method seems a bit sloppy, etc.

But what I'm really interested in is the coil. As far as I can tell it looks like it has much more potential than the Altus ceramic coil. That thing's a big paddle, the ramp up and heat capacity is out of control, and I find the wicking method silly.

This one on the other hand is about the same size as a regular wire coil, AND it can be dry burned. "Safely" according to the manufacturer, who apparently explicitly recommends doing so, but assuming that turns out to be true, that's the game-changer for me.

To replace the heating element you need a new not-coil/deck, but you can rewick to your heart's content it seems, though only using the method it comes installed with, i.e. a "barrel" of cotton (or rayon, I hope) around the element.

If this performs safely and anywhere near on par with other top flavor tanks, I'm sold. The simple idea of a semi-rebuildable that removes all variables and finicky experimenting re: wicking and the coil is really appealing to me.

Thoughts? Post reviews when you get one!

 

[swayback]

I'm ready to try one!
I'm with you about the tank, I'm not really that excited about it, the top fill looks ok if it works and doesn't leak, I like the idea of not taking a cap all the way off like most top fill have, and I'm not a fan of the tfv4 style, swing open top... Personally I'd like it if the coils fit in other tanks that I'm familiar with, know and love, but they look like exclusive coils, close to Atlantis but I can't tell!
I'd certainly but a 5 pack for $20 if they'd fit my starre, triton Atlantis mega etc!

Personally I'm ok with ceramic, it's all around us, and the safety is rarely if ever questioned, it's a dangerous world...sittin in the drive thru at the Taco Bell is pretty dangerous if you ask me... Risky drive to get ther Breathing fumes while you wait... Then you stuff down God knows what when you eat it!
Lol
I really think smoking is far more unhealthy than basically anything in the vape world!
I personally don't like cotton or exposed wires, nothing I've seen has proven either of these safe, yet it's never questioned!
I have some heart trouble, a lot of it cleared right when I quit smoking and started vaping, awesome! But at one point, when I first switched to subohm from pens, I got a full on burned hit, not a dry hit, from a coil I'd been using a few days... I don't know if it was the cotton, or the juice gunk and residue, but that hit three me into an episode like I've never experienced! Full on palpitations and arrhythmia like I've never had! Last hours and felt like me heart was beating out of my chest in the rhythm of a shoe in the dryer! Never had that from cigs!
I r been using the vaporesso coils for about 3 weeks now, despite the unfounded rumors of them being dangerous. Maybe they are dangerous, like I said, it's a dangerous world!
But the flavor is unmatched with some ejuice, they last forever and switching juice isn't a big deal at all! I switch juice a lot and don't have enough tanks to just keep one full of each juice I like.
I can say that I don't put much trust in vaporesso, and in truth, the coil design isn't that great, and there's some inconsistencies in each coil, one lasts 3 weeks, another starts to fail in a week... I usually get 3 days from most coils so still not bad at all.
Just a few reviews on the dolphin and I'm sold on the design of the coil all around!
Nothing but ceramic, the wires aren't exposed, and the cotton is the wick, honestly I'm all for a pure ceramic wick but porous ceramic isn't really suitable, it wicks too much... So I think that cotton wrap around a hard ceramic coil is an ok compromise, plus it's semi rebuildable which will save a lot of money!
In Brian's vid, he dry burned it, and it sure did look clean afterwards!
Sadly, even at $40 + $20 for extra coils, I doubt I'll be getting one anytime soon...
I'm dead set on ordering a Griffin from a vendor that will be stocking the dolphin too... Maybe I can talk the boss into us ordering both! She wants a new tank, she like the triton 2, for a few bucks extra she could have a dolphin... I'd be ashamed to use it in outline with those graphics, but it'd be fine for her...and what I suck on in the privacy of my own home is my business

I'm certainly watching this one close!

 

[swayback]

Just found this!


this was posted by someone who's clearly affiliated with gigue, she has another vid showing how to tewick the coils, break down the tank, she comments on the vid of Brian's (tvc) and in the one I linked, she's showing how to dry burn the coil... And wouldn't us know it's on a vaporesso target mod!
Quite a coincidence!

 

[tedigram]

Heh. Incestuous world in ceramics, I guess. I do love that dry burn though, so clean, so easy. I really hope this thing performs reliably and puts out great flavor.

I've also got no real safety concerns about the ceramic, as long as it's as solid as it looks like. Seems to me the biggest danger you'd face there is the coil shattering into pieces that are still miles too big to go anywhere, much less up into your lungs. I would be surprised if it presents the same kind of potential dangers as other ceramics we've seen that can degrade into powder or shards or other small fragments. But still, no reason to give any manufacturers the benefit of the doubt re: safety of ceramics in my mind, they've blown that history already. So time will tell. I'm really hopin though.

I don't have much of a vape budget myself, but at $40 I might just consider picking it up soonish after it's released. I can even swallow $20ish for a pack of re-wickable coils, as long as they last the weeks (hopefully months) that I would hope for/expect based on what we can see so far.

 

[swayback]

Incestuous you say?
Now you've really piqued my interest!!! I'm from Kentucky lol

Yea I'll not be the first to buy it, but if their claims of life span are true about the coils, and the tank isn't a disaster, I'll be mighty tempted!
Have you tried ceramic?
Man I'm not kidding, with certain juices the flavor is just so out of this world! You think you know what you're favorite juice should taste like, but until I tried it on these Damn target coils I had no idea!
I thought nothing could be a well built comp coil on a flavor rda... But with certain juices, it's a plain waste to use them on other coils for me and my wife now... I'm still pretty new to vaping, lots I've not tried but a staggered fused Clapton is pretty tastey... Not compared to these!
Now to be fair, not all juice performs the same on them, but fruity citrus juice...mmmm creams too... There's only a select few that aren't night and day better on these things... I've got one going now that's had a good 300ml of the same juice put through it and she's going strong!
In an Atlantis mega on an rx200, 32w, I get a lot of mileage out of that set up, easy on juice and batts, and with such high capacity of both its just awesome!

As far as the ceramic breaking, it can only break into pieces that are too large to remain in you lung, might do some damage on the way out but still...now if it's degrading I guess you could possibly inhale tiny particles that do lodge in your lungs permanently, but I'm not sure... Still compared to the cigs I woofed down for 20 years... I'm not terribly worried about it!

 

[AtmizrOpin]

does gigue mention if there's a TC ceramic coil with this tank? i like this one better than the altus. either i'm thinking this is the year for everything ceramic clearo.........i'm in, take my money!

 

[swayback]

It comes with a nickel coil, but it's not ceramic, everyone just says its a normal cotton coil and moves on, they don't show it...
I'm thinking the tank itself it's going to be a hunk of junk!
Probably fall apart in no time but I'm pretty sure that coil is specifically made not to fit any other tanks, most companies would think that means more sales, and they might be right... I'm more inclined to buy revolutionary coils coils that fit the same thanks I have, and trust... I can't justify buying that dolphin tank really, but I buy coils either way, so I can easily justify buying them! Ever if they're more expensive, as long as they offer the benifits that these coils claim, I'd be perfectly happy...
That top looks like it's going to wear out quickly, and not be fixable.
I've also learned that it's going to be a little while longer until we can lay our hands on these, and it's probably going to cost more than expected...

 

[jacoviii]

looks good now if i could only find one

 

[swayback]

Subtanksupply.com

Great place to order!
Great service fast shipping, good prices and nice stock!
It's one of my go to vendors, Robert is just awesome!

 

[LouisLeBeau]

Oh hell no! I just saw a review of this tank, and a picture that tells me the WHOLE story of why the reviewer got a less than satisfactory vape. The review is here:
Gigue Dolphin Ceramic Coil Tank Review - Vaping360

But this picture in the review, tells me EVERYthing I need to know about this idea.

And this was my comment on the review, and folks, sorry, but troof...

Thank you for the excellent review, Vape360!!

As I started to scroll down, my mental checklist was processing. Top fill without removal of top. OK, I could like this. My fave tank, the Crown, forces me to either set it down flat and get juice on whatever I set it on, or set the cap on it's side, where it inevitably shows me that the surface it's on is even the slightest bit un-level, by taking a big circular road trip, complete with inertia..

My 2nd fave, the TFV4, solves THAT problem, but THAT solution requires a vape band to insure against accidental opening, or gambling on a pocket full of e-juice.

Scrolling further, not sure why the chimney has to SHROUD the O.D. of the whole coil. Seems pointless, and adding of unnecessary weight at the cost of juice volume but whatevs, not a biggie. Drip tip looks interesting, but I'm neither a glass nor metal tip user. Hate em both, love plastic for the softer lip feel and anti-tooth chatter when driving or walking.

Then I got to the pic of the inside of the coil. WUT?! I'm sorry. I am 98% gotta try something before I would pass judgement, but that is just a barrel full of nope. Ceramic is the rage, everyone is trying to do something new and different. I get that. The Ccoil of the target is a win for me. Despite it's being in what I consider "the narrow OCC" class, which is rife with under-performers, vs the TFV4 and Crown's fat profile, it gets it DONE. Flavor that comes VERY close to matching the fatter, multi-coil Crowns and TFV4's.

And here is why. It is a naked coil, surrounded by sintered, porous ceramic. That ceramic does TWO very important things. It wicks very well, and very uniformly. The OTHER thing it does, is shield the outside of the barrel, and thus the juice, from HEAT transfer from the coil. Why? Because ceramic is an excellent insulator! Not just electrical, but THERMAL too.

I'm an engineer, and sorry, I only need look at that coil to know it should have NEVER gotten off of the drawing board. Whose idea was it to take a resistance coil, whose job is to GENERATE heat and nothing else, and surround it in a material whose role in THIS application, is going to SHIELD that heat?!? Reading further, I noted long ramp times. DUH! Long COOL times too, I imagine.

I'm a "push the button, vape, let go" vaper. I prefer very thin gauge wires for the lightning quick heat/cool cycle. Even Claptons kinda cheese me. Press button, wait for ramp, vape, let go of button, KEEP vaping because if you don't, the thermal mass is going to burn your juice and wick if you don't keep supplying air flow to cool that mass and vape that continuing vaporizing of your juice. I don't want to think that hard when I vape.

I really like your review. It's HONEST. I'm aware of rave reviews of this, and I can tell you with 100% certainty, even never having tried it, that this design will NEVER produce a satisfactory vape for anyone with lungs smaller than the Hindenburg. I would go so far as to even question either the ability, or the integrity of anyone who would say that this can vape anywhere near as well as the coils I mentioned previously. Physics are what they are. There's no getting around them being the law.

 

[XXFa113nXX]

Is there confirmation that the Dolphin coils are compatible with other tanks like Atlantis/starr? Looks just like a Atlantis coil and I'd be interested in testing in other tanks

 

[350ZMO]

The dolphin cartridges are not threaded at the top and overall height is a little shorter so no won't work in my atlantis but you can repurpose the ceramic heating element.

My Video

The ceramic used in the Dolphin ceramic heating element is not porous ceramic. The ceramic heating element has slots in the side in between the tungsten traces that are encapsulated in nonporous ceramic. This is not like the Vaporesso/Elego cCell or Kanger/Noriyang/Smowell NTBVC which do use porous ceramic. The Dolphin is like the Krixus and is also rewickable. You can take the ceramic heating elements out and use them in other coil cartridges. The primary difference in the two approaches is the porous ceramic (also used for water filtration) can actually filter your flavorings for a "purer" taste. Some day I hope somebody increases the pore size from less than one to a few microns up to 50 to a 100. Until then if you want to taste your flavorings with ceramics, you want those that have slots in the sides like these. The other difference is performance. It all comes down to wicking. I have wicked my Krixus so that it will support 80-100W at 360F with 100VG, no flavorings and no PG and did not leak overnight. But that is way too much for me. First rewick on this thing gets me in the 40s easily which is plenty. No reason this cant go higher with loose wrapped wicking.

Rewicking tips. Be patient it may take several attempts. You want that balance between max juice flow without leaking overnight. If you get some leaking and gurgling after fill this is normal until the vacuum at the top of tank builds up. Just invert over a tissue for a minute and let it drain. If it continues to leak then you know you need more wicking. You can try Rayon as well as OC. With OC try leaving both, one or neither of the outside dense layers on. If you use very thin (High PG) eLiquid the stock wicks should suffice but you can rewick just using the outside layers of OC pads. Try to keep track of the length of strips you try and how tightly you wind them. The amount of wicking you use will be different for everyone, differences in eLiquid viscosity and determination of how "tight" the wick wraps are.

Things I like:
Top Fill - I like the slide up unlocking ring.
Ceramic Heating Element - Heats more even than the Krixus, more slots, more even layout of traces reduces hotspots.

Things I hate:
Chimney - Holes are located too low it will develop air embolism between cartridge and chimney - I modified mine on milling machine. The chimney is a two piece press fit assembly. Which I also hate. I would prefer them to be threaded. I can see where the chimney assembly could disengage from the top cap if dropped and hit just right. If someone wants instructions on how to do this with simple hand tools let me know.
Stock Wicking/Rewicks - Way too dense for my 100VG. Rewicked with my own OC with outside layers removed and shazam big difference in performance. If I used half as long a strip and didn't wind so tight would flow even more and sustain even higher power.
No JFC - On top fills I always want a JFC. However this thing can be filled from the bottom but that defeats the purpose of the ingenious locking top fill cap.
510 Center Pin - I prefer center pins that won't push out with screwing in the cartridge.
Drip Tip - You cannot use a standard 510 drip tip. I could fashion an adapter but I shouldn't need to.

All of these high power vertical coil atomizers get hot. There is a lot of inefficiency robbing heat from creating vapor into heating up the entire atomizer and eLiquid reservoir. The Dolphin is no different. If you do rewick and get this into the 80-100W range, be careful, you can burn yourself. And to protect your mod you may want to use a 510 heatsink.

HTH