Merlin by Augvape and Roxy
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Okay, i just got mine, literally an hour ago, picked it up off a friend i did a slowtech order with
Got home and built it about 30 minutes ago
I vape 100% tc, currently using 316L SS, and i always build around 0.5/0.6 (about 7 wraps on 3mm) to get a stable tc experience, given 316's low TCR (0.00092 on my TreeBox or the 316L profile off SE for my Efusion DNA200). So the Merlins going up against the experience i have with my favourite tank, the Lemo 2, which is rock solid using tc.
Right now though im using the TB, because thats my baby, and what i use most of the time...
Ill go through the experience, from out of the box...
Literally everything on it is overtightened, right down to the grub screws....
I had to break it right down to coax the deck out and the top fill off - held on to the chimney and with some effort coaxed the top fill off
Removed the restricter screw, knew from sucking through it dry that it was going to not be for me, i like a restrictive DTL. I dont see how anyone can say this wont do MTL....
Lubed all the threads and orings (even the little black one, in its rightful place around the chimney under the topfill)
Wrapped 7 wraps of 316L ss on 3mm...i usually leave overly generous spacing between wraps, but not in the Merlin, lol, i had to reduce my spacing to what most people use
. Even doing this i would say the posts could be a little further apart, but thats a niggle not a con at all. No biggie. Velocity deck always welcome.
Wicking, i first cut the tails about level with the outside edge of the base, and poked them down into the cups...i felt the tails were too long and looked like they would cover the juice holes, so i trimmed another few mm off them, poked them down again, and because i had read that some advocated the tails just sitting inside the top of the cup, poked what tail ends i could see upward via a screwdriver in the juice holes
Closed the airflow
Closed the juice flow (i will add here that i ....ing loathe juice control generally (hopefully im making this clear), its just another embuggerance, and on this tank, with narrow knurled/grip surfaces its never been more annoying as theres too much on this thing that rotates, too many rings. Ive never had a tank with juice control that wasnt set wide open 100% of the time whether i was running 40vg/60pg 50/50 or 80vg/20pg. If you have an airflow control ring that seals well theres no need for juice control even for when youre refilling. Juice flow control needs to ....ing die as a thing. Its to me just another marketing bullet point. The space would better served by the airflow being moved up and a cross hatched or other form of knurled section below to assist in getting the tank off (because at the moment to get the tank off i have to grip all the rings) These points are the only cons i have.......ing juice control, i knew this tank had it, i wasnt prepared for how much it would .... me on this tank because a) i cant even turn it becuase its too stiff, so b) i just turn it on and off by twisting the glass. If i could, id leave it forever open, but if i move the glass at some point i epxect it will close at some point...
Its still not as bad as the completely immovable (without pliers) juice control of a Kaees Landmark tank that i all but hurled back at the people who sold it to me. It had other issues too, not least of which was an internal short
With the top fill orings and threads lubed, i could get the topfill off.
My number one tip for this tank to not overtighten anything on it, im barely on snug
Now that ive said that, the vape....
Filled it with 70vg/30pg unflavoured
I use unflavoured about 98% of the time, and its my go to when testing a new tank especially, because no flaw can survive an unflavoured juice test.
I dont think ive ever tasted the slight sweetness of the vg in my juice quite like this. I suspect when i whack a flavour through it in the coming days, it will be extremely positive. I did get the beginnings of a gurgle, just the very beginning of it, it did not follow through and dump my juice. and in fact in the time since, it has settled down and the gurgle has gone. I think next rewicking though i will not poke the little tail that did protrude down the cup back up with a screwdriver
Vaping it itself provided no dramas at all. Probably the smoothest vape ive ever had...smoothest airflow, and doesnt sound like it wants to eat the soul of your next door neighbours children like a Crown wide open...
At half open afc, its about the same a my Lemo 2, where i like it. Of course i initially ran it wide open, and like every other tank ive tried for the first time that is airy, i got the dreaded hiccups
But juice flow control needs to die a ....ing death, universally. Only con on this tank is that ring, thats too stiff, and hard to grab hold off because of all the rings at the bottom. Id rather be able to grab my tank to get it off the mod...
So whats the fallout, the pro's and cons, and niggles
Pros:
* Clean as a whistle on arrival
* Threads are great
* Spare glass
* Spare orings
* Spare grub screws
* Allen key
* Easy to build on deck, simple as any other velocity, one leg high, one leg low, or however you want to put the coil legs through the posts
* Easy to wick, when you get the length right, should take more than a few attempts at worst, i got mine 97% right first go. Sure, you have to eyeball and test it, not as easy as the Lemo, where you rest one blade of pair of scrissors flat on the upper deck section, fold your cotton down and cut to get the right length...
* Enough airflow choices between the restricter and without, and with the airflow control ring to suit probably most people out there. Restricter out and half open is about where im used to on my Lemo 2. Half open and i dont get the hiccups from too much air
* Stable as under tc, you can really lock the grub screws down to get great contact. some people have reported cut legs and rough ends on grub screws. YMMV, but i had none of these issues, and i crank my coil legs in.
* Probably the smoothest airflow, as in sensation of airflow, ive noticed in any tank ive had
* Arguably the best taste ive ever got out of a tank, and thats just using unflavoured. Ill get to flavours in the next day or so.
* I dont hate the driptip, its actually quite great. My Lemo 2 one just happens to make it look smarter than the odd black one, i suppose it looks alright if you have a black mod, otherwise it looks out of place.
Cons:
* Everything overtightened out of the box
* Juice Flow Control - it needs to die a horrible painful, but quick death
* With juice flow control removed you could have better tactile surface area to grab
Niggles:
* Depending on your mod, you may find the tank wont screw all the way down flush, even when ive got it down at what i consider really snug, it sits about 0.5mm off the deck, and i have to say because of this it does have a slight wobble. YMMV, but ive tried it on both my TB and Efusion DNA, which has a slightly raised 510
Could it be the best tank ever, yes...without jfc, and maybe a smidge shorter 510 (maybe the tolerances need work at the factory?). The vape is the most important part, and luckily its great so far
Got home and built it about 30 minutes ago
I vape 100% tc, currently using 316L SS, and i always build around 0.5/0.6 (about 7 wraps on 3mm) to get a stable tc experience, given 316's low TCR (0.00092 on my TreeBox or the 316L profile off SE for my Efusion DNA200). So the Merlins going up against the experience i have with my favourite tank, the Lemo 2, which is rock solid using tc.
Right now though im using the TB, because thats my baby, and what i use most of the time...
Ill go through the experience, from out of the box...
Literally everything on it is overtightened, right down to the grub screws....
I had to break it right down to coax the deck out and the top fill off - held on to the chimney and with some effort coaxed the top fill off
Removed the restricter screw, knew from sucking through it dry that it was going to not be for me, i like a restrictive DTL. I dont see how anyone can say this wont do MTL....
Lubed all the threads and orings (even the little black one, in its rightful place around the chimney under the topfill)
Wrapped 7 wraps of 316L ss on 3mm...i usually leave overly generous spacing between wraps, but not in the Merlin, lol, i had to reduce my spacing to what most people use
. Even doing this i would say the posts could be a little further apart, but thats a niggle not a con at all. No biggie. Velocity deck always welcome.Wicking, i first cut the tails about level with the outside edge of the base, and poked them down into the cups...i felt the tails were too long and looked like they would cover the juice holes, so i trimmed another few mm off them, poked them down again, and because i had read that some advocated the tails just sitting inside the top of the cup, poked what tail ends i could see upward via a screwdriver in the juice holes
Closed the airflow
Closed the juice flow (i will add here that i ....ing loathe juice control generally (hopefully im making this clear), its just another embuggerance, and on this tank, with narrow knurled/grip surfaces its never been more annoying as theres too much on this thing that rotates, too many rings. Ive never had a tank with juice control that wasnt set wide open 100% of the time whether i was running 40vg/60pg 50/50 or 80vg/20pg. If you have an airflow control ring that seals well theres no need for juice control even for when youre refilling. Juice flow control needs to ....ing die as a thing. Its to me just another marketing bullet point. The space would better served by the airflow being moved up and a cross hatched or other form of knurled section below to assist in getting the tank off (because at the moment to get the tank off i have to grip all the rings) These points are the only cons i have.......ing juice control, i knew this tank had it, i wasnt prepared for how much it would .... me on this tank because a) i cant even turn it becuase its too stiff, so b) i just turn it on and off by twisting the glass. If i could, id leave it forever open, but if i move the glass at some point i epxect it will close at some point...
Its still not as bad as the completely immovable (without pliers) juice control of a Kaees Landmark tank that i all but hurled back at the people who sold it to me. It had other issues too, not least of which was an internal short
With the top fill orings and threads lubed, i could get the topfill off.
My number one tip for this tank to not overtighten anything on it, im barely on snug
Now that ive said that, the vape....
Filled it with 70vg/30pg unflavoured
I use unflavoured about 98% of the time, and its my go to when testing a new tank especially, because no flaw can survive an unflavoured juice test.
I dont think ive ever tasted the slight sweetness of the vg in my juice quite like this. I suspect when i whack a flavour through it in the coming days, it will be extremely positive. I did get the beginnings of a gurgle, just the very beginning of it, it did not follow through and dump my juice. and in fact in the time since, it has settled down and the gurgle has gone. I think next rewicking though i will not poke the little tail that did protrude down the cup back up with a screwdriver
Vaping it itself provided no dramas at all. Probably the smoothest vape ive ever had...smoothest airflow, and doesnt sound like it wants to eat the soul of your next door neighbours children like a Crown wide open...
At half open afc, its about the same a my Lemo 2, where i like it. Of course i initially ran it wide open, and like every other tank ive tried for the first time that is airy, i got the dreaded hiccups
But juice flow control needs to die a ....ing death, universally. Only con on this tank is that ring, thats too stiff, and hard to grab hold off because of all the rings at the bottom. Id rather be able to grab my tank to get it off the mod...
So whats the fallout, the pro's and cons, and niggles
Pros:
* Clean as a whistle on arrival
* Threads are great
* Spare glass
* Spare orings
* Spare grub screws
* Allen key
* Easy to build on deck, simple as any other velocity, one leg high, one leg low, or however you want to put the coil legs through the posts
* Easy to wick, when you get the length right, should take more than a few attempts at worst, i got mine 97% right first go. Sure, you have to eyeball and test it, not as easy as the Lemo, where you rest one blade of pair of scrissors flat on the upper deck section, fold your cotton down and cut to get the right length...
* Enough airflow choices between the restricter and without, and with the airflow control ring to suit probably most people out there. Restricter out and half open is about where im used to on my Lemo 2. Half open and i dont get the hiccups from too much air
* Stable as under tc, you can really lock the grub screws down to get great contact. some people have reported cut legs and rough ends on grub screws. YMMV, but i had none of these issues, and i crank my coil legs in.
* Probably the smoothest airflow, as in sensation of airflow, ive noticed in any tank ive had
* Arguably the best taste ive ever got out of a tank, and thats just using unflavoured. Ill get to flavours in the next day or so.
* I dont hate the driptip, its actually quite great. My Lemo 2 one just happens to make it look smarter than the odd black one, i suppose it looks alright if you have a black mod, otherwise it looks out of place.
Cons:
* Everything overtightened out of the box
* Juice Flow Control - it needs to die a horrible painful, but quick death
* With juice flow control removed you could have better tactile surface area to grab
Niggles:
* Depending on your mod, you may find the tank wont screw all the way down flush, even when ive got it down at what i consider really snug, it sits about 0.5mm off the deck, and i have to say because of this it does have a slight wobble. YMMV, but ive tried it on both my TB and Efusion DNA, which has a slightly raised 510
Could it be the best tank ever, yes...without jfc, and maybe a smidge shorter 510 (maybe the tolerances need work at the factory?). The vape is the most important part, and luckily its great so far
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Maybe I'm crazy, but the first real RTA, I bought a few weeks a go was a Kayfun v5. First time I ever had any Atty with a JFC. I love it. Close the JFC, remove top cap, fill, cap, open JFC. No flooding. Then I bought the Merlin, same thing, I like JFC. Not a burden to me.
Granted, I like it more for filling, and lack of flooding, since I use high VG, I normally leave the holes wide open, but I would assume the high PG, thinner juice folks, might like the OPTION, of closing the holes a bit if needed.
And, FWIW, I have no Merlin JFC issues, like many tanks, once you learn their particular mechanics, you adapt. Just my thoughts on JFC. "To each, his own".
Granted, I like it more for filling, and lack of flooding, since I use high VG, I normally leave the holes wide open, but I would assume the high PG, thinner juice folks, might like the OPTION, of closing the holes a bit if needed.
And, FWIW, I have no Merlin JFC issues, like many tanks, once you learn their particular mechanics, you adapt. Just my thoughts on JFC. "To each, his own".
You missed the part where i pointed out id used tanks with juice control before, up to and including 80% pg - no one else ive ever heard of in my time vaping has gone as high or higher than that, using about every ratio, and never closed jfc after i opened it for the first time. Never had an issue with leaking. Like i also said, if you have a proper afc seal, theres no need for jfc when filling either. Its unnecessary. Closing jfc and then filling and putting the top fill cap back on, any pressure youre magically supposed to save from being forced through when filling...well its still going to be in the tank by putting the cap back on, and exert the same pressure when you reopen the jfc and go through the same path, it cant go anywhere else....i suppose you could take the topfill cap back off again, oh wait, one could get locked into a circular pattern here. How can this not be obvious. You cant change the laws of physics just because its a shiny atomiser and you want to beleive physics dont apply. Its a marketing bullet point. It needs to die.
Your wick is the thing that determines juice uptake anyways, messing with that by potentially starving it via jfc makes no sense. Why would you want to fight fluid dynmics, maybe someone should learn how fluid dynamics work before putting jfc and jfc rings on atomisers....the only way to get excess juice past a wick is if you havent wicked it properly (or the tank is itself badly designed), and maybe people with this problem should learn to wick things properly...
You also seem to have missed the part where i didnt bag the entire tank, and in fact love it, just not that one part.
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I didn't miss any of your points, I wrote how I felt about it, maybe you missed the part where I did NOT quote your post?
If you believe it's a feature that should die, fine, I respectfully disagree.
If you believe it's a feature that should die, fine, I respectfully disagree.
Sorry, didnt realise i had to wait for you to quote me before i could comment on your post
All good! I'll let you enjoy it as is your want
Okay, i just took one for team physics, and to prove my point.
As i stated earlier, i got the beginnings of gurgling earlier, which i put down to my overeagerness to poke the wick tails right back to the top of the juice cups. It settled down over time, but my intention was to vape off the 1/4 tank, and rewick it. But just to prove my point, i decided to fill it up and see what happens, i already knew, but heres what happened anyways..
Closed afc, closed jfc
Removed the top fill cap
Filled the tank to just 3/4
Put the top cap back on
Opened jfc, opened afc
Took one toot...several ml's over my hand
What did jfc do for me? Nothing
Liquids dont compress, try and theyre going somewhere, jfc or not....
The small amount of pressure introduced when putting the top cap still forced the juice past my less than perfect wick job....nothing to do with the juice's vg ratio, which as ive stated is 70% vg
After the juice dump, its gone back to being undramatic and non leaky, slightly les than perfect wick job aside. JFC does nothing to stop leaks, liquid is non-compressable and will still go past a bad wick job in the initial seccnds after a topfill, when you reopen the jfc and the pressure has to still go somewhere...
As i stated earlier, i got the beginnings of gurgling earlier, which i put down to my overeagerness to poke the wick tails right back to the top of the juice cups. It settled down over time, but my intention was to vape off the 1/4 tank, and rewick it. But just to prove my point, i decided to fill it up and see what happens, i already knew, but heres what happened anyways..
Closed afc, closed jfc
Removed the top fill cap
Filled the tank to just 3/4
Put the top cap back on
Opened jfc, opened afc
Took one toot...several ml's over my hand
What did jfc do for me? Nothing
Liquids dont compress, try and theyre going somewhere, jfc or not....
The small amount of pressure introduced when putting the top cap still forced the juice past my less than perfect wick job....nothing to do with the juice's vg ratio, which as ive stated is 70% vg
After the juice dump, its gone back to being undramatic and non leaky, slightly les than perfect wick job aside. JFC does nothing to stop leaks, liquid is non-compressable and will still go past a bad wick job in the initial seccnds after a topfill, when you reopen the jfc and the pressure has to still go somewhere...
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Some great responses in builds and wicking on here. It really is a top notch RTA IMHO. Just ordered 2 more myself. Efun.top has them on sale for 18.50 SS and 1.00 more for black.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
@stylemessiah, thanks for the in depth review. So other than the evil JFC, and the need to whack it around to be able to unscrew it, it sounds like you like the tank. All the pros you listed are exactly why I'm siting on pins and needles waiting for the delivery. For me, great flavor, a smooth draw, restricted airflow, and easy to build and wick, are about the best feature set I could ask for. And good with a single coil, That's another happiness feature for me. If only the mailman would get here.
Just rewicked it...left the wicks tails so theyre about halfway down the juice hole on the sides, cut the ends on a taper slightly, and vaped some Jam Dizzle (Jam Donut) ive had steeping since i got it and mixed it and left languishing for about 2.5 months....good stuff
No gurgles, no leaks
No gurgles, no leaks
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This is really strange. I do exactly the same thing but I've never had my tank leak or gurgle, not even a drop. Maybe because I use max VG but with a high percentage of flavoring so it isn't really all that thick.
+1 for the Merlin! Mine came a few days ago from STS Built it this morning with a single Ti coil, it vapes real nice I got the black one, it looks great all blacked out. The air flow is a bit restrictive, but still a nice direct lung inhale. I'm happy with this purchase
Built it this morning with a single Ti coil, it vapes real nice I got the black one, it looks great all blacked out. The air flow is a bit restrictive, but still a nice direct lung inhale. I'm happy with this purchase
I think you may have missed my point, i knew this was going to leak due to the less than perfect first wicking, i was trying to make a point that jfc control will not stop the tank from leaking after a fill if the wicks not right. Meaning jfc is effectively useless without a good wicking job. Now only if they stop putting the stupid things in atomisers.....theyre pointless and take up space better suited to tactile surfaces/air flow control
Im a bit like you, i try and remember to close afc when filling on my favourite tank of all time, the Lemo 2, but on the million and a half times ive forgotten to do it, ive never had a single drop coem out of it. Literally ive never gotten it to leak in any way, ever. Hands down the current best tank i own (i actually have 3 of them now).
Recently i went away to housesit in a different part of the state where its quite a bit colder, and foirgot tht the juice id taken with me was 70% vg. I was waking up soem mornings at temps just above 0 degrees c, the juice looked like glue viscosity wise the first morning and i thought id have drama....but no...Lemo 2, handles anything.
Thats why i hate all the uneccesary .... on tanks, every other tank manufacturer is up against the rock solid stability of a Lemo 2 when i look for a tank....it dont need no juice control for starters....
Ive sent at least 3 tanks back from whence they came this year because they couldnt function as advertised. The Bachelor was the worst tank of all of them, even worse than the Crown tank with coils that would only last 3 days tops...
That the Merlin is still sitting here on my desk, and not already back in its packaging, is at least something...i dont think it will be going back, unless the 510 length and tank wobble really annoy me in the next few days, theyre defects.....and the jfc...die, die, die
Make me a replacement version of the Merlin with no jfc and a fixed 510 pin and we're golden
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