PhenomenoN our New RBA only from GUS
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Here's my +6 hours review:
Service / Delivery
Service: Excellent
I ordered at 13.40 my time (15.40 in Greece) yesterday. I forgot to put the request for the Momentous Base in the order, but sent a Contact Us form about 15 minutes later. I then got a UPS shipping notification. I was a bit worried the message about the base had not been received, so I sent an email around 14.15. No response so then I phoned them at 14.30.
I was told the order had already been picked up by UPS. But that he thought he could get the UPS guy back.
Sure enough, the UPS tracking showed that the first collection was voided and a second one made one hour after the first.
I don't blame them for not picking up the Contact Us form or the email, as it is normal not to read those immediately. It was amazing that the package was picked up so fast by UPS, which ironically turned out to be bad luck. But it was further amazing that Gus were able and willing to swap out the package.
Very impressive
Delivery: Unbelievable
Picked up by UPS from Gus at 17.10 local time, 15.10 UK time on 19th August. Delivered 10.00, 20th August. It travelled through two Greek cities - Athens and Sparta - then through two German cities - Muenchen and Koln - and finally to a UK airport, where it arrived at 03.29, leaving at 05.20 to arrive at my door 4.5 hours later.
I have in the past ordered twice from Germany, paying €10 for DHL delivery, and it takes 4-7 days. When I received the UPS shipping notification saying it would take no more than 24 hours, I thought it was a mistake!
Really amazed by this. In future I am going to seek out vape vendors who use UPS
Package: Average
Well protected in a huge wrap of bubble wrap. In the bubble wrap, there was taped the Gus bag and two plastic baggies, one with the spare tank and one with the spares. The Phenomenon itself was I believe inside the Gus bag, but the rest of it was outside the bag just taped to the bubble wrap.
The Gus bag is kind of cute, but personally I would much prefer a proper box. The bag won't protect it from knocks. I don't imagine I will ever use the bag.
The Tank (with Momentous Base)
Appearance/Aesthetics: Excellent
It looks impressive, and a little unusual - like @qorax mentioned in his review, it's kind of cool that you can see juice through the top, rather than it being metal.
Looks great on my SX Mini M (box) and Dicodes 2380 (tube) mods.
Deck: Very good
Really easy to build on. I really suck at building, I always have problems, but I did not with this deck. Nice fat screws, very easy to catch the 26G wire under it. I did a 9 wrap 26G 3.25mm ID coil, and there was plenty of room inside the chimney so I had no shorting problems.
No problems with wicking.
The airhole in the middle looks very small, but it turns out to provide good airflow. I have the Momentous base so I have better airflow than the original.
Flavour: Excellent
Only done one quick build and tried one juice, but so far the flavour seems very good. This is to be expected from the small chimney. I am sure it's going to be a very good flavour tank.
Tank Section: Disappointing
I got a spare glass that has no fill holes, which I don't understand. It was good to get a spare tank, but I don't understand why it doesn't have fill holes.
The main tank is a nice solid chunk of plastic, and looks good. But the top fill holes are tiny, far too small. I have a lot of bottles with narrow spouts, which I thought could be used in any fill hole. But they are too big. I think the only things I could use to fill through these holes are a syringe, or a tiny needle bottle.
I am thinking I will try and expand the holes using a Dremel or similar - has anyone tried that?
I really wanted a top fill tank so currently I am disappointed that I don't have a (usable) one. I don't see why those holes have to be so very small - they are under a metal ring, surely they could be at least twice the size; or one of them could have been.
Airflow Control: Good
At first I had some difficulty turning the AFC (I had not lubricated it), but once it was screwed on the mod, it turned easily enough.
The airflow is plenty for me. All six holes open (three each side) is a bit more air than I usually like. Four holes (two per side) is about my sweet spot, but I have also vaped on just two holes (one per side) open and that is also OK, and I might use this setting sometimes.
Filling and dismantling: Average to Poor
I bought this thinking it was a top fill tank, but so far I cannot use top fill. If I have to fill a syringe every time I want to fill it, or empty my juice bottles into separate needle bottles then that is not going to be very convenient. (I actually do own both syringes and needle bottles already, many won't.)
I will consider if it is possible for me to enlarge the fill holes, but I don't want to ruin the tank section. And the spare glass has no holes at all.
So right now it is bottom fill only, which is a big shame. It's not the end of the world, but it's not what I expected.
What's making it worse is I am experiencing problems with bottom fill. Unscrewing it, for bottom fill, is fairly quick but also variably reliable. The top nut, the 510 drip tip holder, is knurled but also very small - I sometimes find it hard and uncomfortable to grip it to turn it.
More importantly, it is not tightly held inside the glass, because it only has a single o-ring holding it there. Therefore the glass does not have enough grip to turn the nut, and the nut doesn't have enough grip to turn the glass.
Therefore I find I have to unscrew two things - first I unscrew the tank section most of the way, then at the end I unscrew the nut, which now unscrews the glass as well. Putting it back on is similar - I screw on the glass, then tighten down the nut/chimney.
Once I accidentally pushed the nut outside of the tank, and lost half a tank of juice all over my hand. Another time I was trying to tighten the nut and it wouldn't turn, so I thought it was fully tightened. Took a couple of vapes and then got loads of juice in my mouth, because it was flooding. Given I've only had the tank 6 hours, it was disappointing to already lose so much juice - though hopefully I will learn how to do this better.
I realise that I may be doing things a bit wrong, and will learn the right techniques to avoid this. But I feel that if I have to learn a technique to avoid losing juice, then things are not ideal.
The main thing I don't like is that the nut is not securely held inside the top of the tank. If that part was better - perhaps a screw thread, or at least a much tighter o-ring grip - then all the other problems would disappear.
When I do get the tank off, it's easy to fill because there's a decent gap between chimney and tank, and the chimney can be moved slightly side to side to fit any sized nozzle. And it's great to be able to access the deck easily without emptying the tank. I have removed and placed the tank many times already, and the wick stays nicely in position each time.
Connectivity (for TC): Looks strong / low static resistance
I haven't thoroughly tested this yet, but I got a solid resistance reading on my TC build and the connectivity looks like it's good - a brass, adjustable centre pin which looks like it connects directly up into the positive post, through a minimum amount of metal.
The deck is small and therefore I believe the Static Resistance will be low, hopefully below 0.001Ω - this is very good. I will measure this properly later.
Overall: Good, worth buying.
At €99, this is currently the most expensive atomizer I have ever bought - the next most expensive being the €80 Aqua SE. It is not as good as the Aqua SE. But I realise that this is a 'boutique' atomizer - a limited quantity item from a very small company (just a couple of guys?). It's not a mass market item, and given that I think €99 with free delivery (though I paid for UPS) is a good price. I would rather have paid €109 and received a box and a second tank with top fill holes, but that's OK.
My main feedback is that there needs to be a better fit between the top nut and the top of the tank. I am not sure if it is like this to enable a separate juice control? Maybe some people want to be able to unscrew the chimney separate to the tank, to let more juice in? But I think that could still be achieved with a thread at the top of the tank - so that the nut could still be moved separate to the tank section, but by default they move together. And most importantly so the nut can't just come away from the tank.
Service / Delivery
Service: Excellent
I ordered at 13.40 my time (15.40 in Greece) yesterday. I forgot to put the request for the Momentous Base in the order, but sent a Contact Us form about 15 minutes later. I then got a UPS shipping notification. I was a bit worried the message about the base had not been received, so I sent an email around 14.15. No response so then I phoned them at 14.30.
I was told the order had already been picked up by UPS. But that he thought he could get the UPS guy back.
Sure enough, the UPS tracking showed that the first collection was voided and a second one made one hour after the first.
I don't blame them for not picking up the Contact Us form or the email, as it is normal not to read those immediately. It was amazing that the package was picked up so fast by UPS, which ironically turned out to be bad luck. But it was further amazing that Gus were able and willing to swap out the package.
Very impressive
Delivery: Unbelievable
Picked up by UPS from Gus at 17.10 local time, 15.10 UK time on 19th August. Delivered 10.00, 20th August. It travelled through two Greek cities - Athens and Sparta - then through two German cities - Muenchen and Koln - and finally to a UK airport, where it arrived at 03.29, leaving at 05.20 to arrive at my door 4.5 hours later.
I have in the past ordered twice from Germany, paying €10 for DHL delivery, and it takes 4-7 days. When I received the UPS shipping notification saying it would take no more than 24 hours, I thought it was a mistake!
Really amazed by this. In future I am going to seek out vape vendors who use UPS
Package: Average
Well protected in a huge wrap of bubble wrap. In the bubble wrap, there was taped the Gus bag and two plastic baggies, one with the spare tank and one with the spares. The Phenomenon itself was I believe inside the Gus bag, but the rest of it was outside the bag just taped to the bubble wrap.
The Gus bag is kind of cute, but personally I would much prefer a proper box. The bag won't protect it from knocks. I don't imagine I will ever use the bag.
The Tank (with Momentous Base)
Appearance/Aesthetics: Excellent
It looks impressive, and a little unusual - like @qorax mentioned in his review, it's kind of cool that you can see juice through the top, rather than it being metal.
Looks great on my SX Mini M (box) and Dicodes 2380 (tube) mods.
Deck: Very good
Really easy to build on. I really suck at building, I always have problems, but I did not with this deck. Nice fat screws, very easy to catch the 26G wire under it. I did a 9 wrap 26G 3.25mm ID coil, and there was plenty of room inside the chimney so I had no shorting problems.
No problems with wicking.
The airhole in the middle looks very small, but it turns out to provide good airflow. I have the Momentous base so I have better airflow than the original.
Flavour: Excellent
Only done one quick build and tried one juice, but so far the flavour seems very good. This is to be expected from the small chimney. I am sure it's going to be a very good flavour tank.
Tank Section: Disappointing
I got a spare glass that has no fill holes, which I don't understand. It was good to get a spare tank, but I don't understand why it doesn't have fill holes.
The main tank is a nice solid chunk of plastic, and looks good. But the top fill holes are tiny, far too small. I have a lot of bottles with narrow spouts, which I thought could be used in any fill hole. But they are too big. I think the only things I could use to fill through these holes are a syringe, or a tiny needle bottle.
I am thinking I will try and expand the holes using a Dremel or similar - has anyone tried that?
I really wanted a top fill tank so currently I am disappointed that I don't have a (usable) one. I don't see why those holes have to be so very small - they are under a metal ring, surely they could be at least twice the size; or one of them could have been.
Airflow Control: Good
At first I had some difficulty turning the AFC (I had not lubricated it), but once it was screwed on the mod, it turned easily enough.
The airflow is plenty for me. All six holes open (three each side) is a bit more air than I usually like. Four holes (two per side) is about my sweet spot, but I have also vaped on just two holes (one per side) open and that is also OK, and I might use this setting sometimes.
Filling and dismantling: Average to Poor
I bought this thinking it was a top fill tank, but so far I cannot use top fill. If I have to fill a syringe every time I want to fill it, or empty my juice bottles into separate needle bottles then that is not going to be very convenient. (I actually do own both syringes and needle bottles already, many won't.)
I will consider if it is possible for me to enlarge the fill holes, but I don't want to ruin the tank section. And the spare glass has no holes at all.
So right now it is bottom fill only, which is a big shame. It's not the end of the world, but it's not what I expected.
What's making it worse is I am experiencing problems with bottom fill. Unscrewing it, for bottom fill, is fairly quick but also variably reliable. The top nut, the 510 drip tip holder, is knurled but also very small - I sometimes find it hard and uncomfortable to grip it to turn it.
More importantly, it is not tightly held inside the glass, because it only has a single o-ring holding it there. Therefore the glass does not have enough grip to turn the nut, and the nut doesn't have enough grip to turn the glass.
Therefore I find I have to unscrew two things - first I unscrew the tank section most of the way, then at the end I unscrew the nut, which now unscrews the glass as well. Putting it back on is similar - I screw on the glass, then tighten down the nut/chimney.
Once I accidentally pushed the nut outside of the tank, and lost half a tank of juice all over my hand. Another time I was trying to tighten the nut and it wouldn't turn, so I thought it was fully tightened. Took a couple of vapes and then got loads of juice in my mouth, because it was flooding. Given I've only had the tank 6 hours, it was disappointing to already lose so much juice - though hopefully I will learn how to do this better.
I realise that I may be doing things a bit wrong, and will learn the right techniques to avoid this. But I feel that if I have to learn a technique to avoid losing juice, then things are not ideal.
The main thing I don't like is that the nut is not securely held inside the top of the tank. If that part was better - perhaps a screw thread, or at least a much tighter o-ring grip - then all the other problems would disappear.
When I do get the tank off, it's easy to fill because there's a decent gap between chimney and tank, and the chimney can be moved slightly side to side to fit any sized nozzle. And it's great to be able to access the deck easily without emptying the tank. I have removed and placed the tank many times already, and the wick stays nicely in position each time.
Connectivity (for TC): Looks strong / low static resistance
I haven't thoroughly tested this yet, but I got a solid resistance reading on my TC build and the connectivity looks like it's good - a brass, adjustable centre pin which looks like it connects directly up into the positive post, through a minimum amount of metal.
The deck is small and therefore I believe the Static Resistance will be low, hopefully below 0.001Ω - this is very good. I will measure this properly later.
Overall: Good, worth buying.
At €99, this is currently the most expensive atomizer I have ever bought - the next most expensive being the €80 Aqua SE. It is not as good as the Aqua SE. But I realise that this is a 'boutique' atomizer - a limited quantity item from a very small company (just a couple of guys?). It's not a mass market item, and given that I think €99 with free delivery (though I paid for UPS) is a good price. I would rather have paid €109 and received a box and a second tank with top fill holes, but that's OK.
My main feedback is that there needs to be a better fit between the top nut and the top of the tank. I am not sure if it is like this to enable a separate juice control? Maybe some people want to be able to unscrew the chimney separate to the tank, to let more juice in? But I think that could still be achieved with a thread at the top of the tank - so that the nut could still be moved separate to the tank section, but by default they move together. And most importantly so the nut can't just come away from the tank.
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The tanks without those two fill holes are a new creation - and both varieties are in the package to give the purchaser an option to go with whichever based on his/her requirement/s.
The Story: With the first versions many users noticed that there was condensation building up near the fill ports (under the steel ring which covers that area of the dented tank) after some use. And in some cases it got messy as well. Besides, bottom filling this atty is so easy that many thought why to go about creating additional orifices here-n-there. And thus there was a demand.
Ah I see, OK thanks for the explanation.
I will see if I can maybe drill some holes in my second tank.
I agree that bottom fill is fairly easy - just so far, I am also finding it a little unreliable. Probably I will get used to it quickly, and always turn the right bits in the right ways. But I definitely would prefer if top fill was usable the majority of the time - it's just quicker, easier, less prone to risk/spill, etc.
It might be quite easy to drill holes in the new tank and/or expand the holes in the first tank, the plastic looks quite thick and I can go gently with a Dremel.
PS. Enjoyed your YT reviews!
Thanx Tom
Btw, it is not regular plastic or acrylic. It is PMMA - which is more resilient to cracking and has a higher impact coefficient. Aircraft windshields and windows are made of this material.
Forgot to mention Connectivity (for TC) and static resistance in my review - added that now. It looks very good.
Thanx Tom
Ah yes of course, thanks!
I managed to top fill it!
I went and had a look at my needle-topped bottles, and I realised that the needle top was the right size to be screwed onto my current juice bottles.
I measured the juice holes at about 1mm, which is about the same as the needle tip - so it just fits. It's very slow to fill, in fact it would probably be quicker to remove the tank and bottom fill it
The fill holes are so small that even my syringe needles only just fit
I think I will definitely try to enlarge at least one hole to at least 2mm, I think that will make a huge difference in filling usability.
I went and had a look at my needle-topped bottles, and I realised that the needle top was the right size to be screwed onto my current juice bottles.
I measured the juice holes at about 1mm, which is about the same as the needle tip - so it just fits. It's very slow to fill, in fact it would probably be quicker to remove the tank and bottom fill it
The fill holes are so small that even my syringe needles only just fit
I think I will definitely try to enlarge at least one hole to at least 2mm, I think that will make a huge difference in filling usability.
Been meaning to do it myself but not a problem at the momentI managed to top fill it!
I went and had a look at my needle-topped bottles, and I realised that the needle top was the right size to be screwed onto my current juice bottles.
I measured the juice holes at about 1mm, which is about the same as the needle tip - so it just fits. It's very slow to fill, in fact it would probably be quicker to remove the tank and bottom fill it
The fill holes are so small that even my syringe needles only just fit
I think I will definitely try to enlarge at least one hole to at least 2mm, I think that will make a huge difference in filling usability.
To be honest, even a 12g needle with 80/20 VG is unusably slow so bottom fill all the way with the holes as they are!ps Sorry mate, I should have told you about the top fill situation!
No worries!
I mostly use 50/50 juice so spout filling usually works OK for me when the holes are big enough. I'll see what 2mm does for me.
To be honest even if it's as slow as now I'll probably continue to top fill. I'm not super keen on the bottom fill because of the aforementioned issues with the nut at the top of the tank.
It's odd, there seem to be two opposite problems. Firstly the nut is way too loose in the tank - it can come out of the tank so easily. Just a little push or pull too far and it's out and would leak. There's only one o-ring holding it in place, and then add a little condensation from the juice and it's not a tight fit at all. I would have thought there really should be two o-rings there at a minimum.
But then the second problem is the opposite - I find the nut gets jammed and won't turn. I find it easy enough to unscrew the tank - holding the tank itself and unscrewing that a bit, then turning the nut which unscrews both chimney and tank. But then when I put it back together, I am finding often that the nut will stop turning, and feel fully tightened, but in fact sometimes it's not fully down. The last times I have tried gripping the nut with a dry cloth to try turning it again, and found sometimes it will turn more. A couple of times I have even used pliers to be sure, which I hate doing because it will munge up the metal.
When I first got it I tried screwing the chimney onto the base without the tank, to check the coil/wick, and found it a little difficult because of the limited threading. I am wondering if that's what's happening sometimes when I put the tank back on - it's jamming because it's not turning cleanly against the base.
I will keep experimenting and finding the best way.
Regarding the looseness and the risk of the nut coming away from the tank, I wonder if I can replace that single o-ring with a slightly bigger/thicker one that might give a firmer fit.
I mostly use 50/50 juice so spout filling usually works OK for me when the holes are big enough. I'll see what 2mm does for me.
To be honest even if it's as slow as now I'll probably continue to top fill. I'm not super keen on the bottom fill because of the aforementioned issues with the nut at the top of the tank.
It's odd, there seem to be two opposite problems. Firstly the nut is way too loose in the tank - it can come out of the tank so easily. Just a little push or pull too far and it's out and would leak. There's only one o-ring holding it in place, and then add a little condensation from the juice and it's not a tight fit at all. I would have thought there really should be two o-rings there at a minimum.
But then the second problem is the opposite - I find the nut gets jammed and won't turn. I find it easy enough to unscrew the tank - holding the tank itself and unscrewing that a bit, then turning the nut which unscrews both chimney and tank. But then when I put it back together, I am finding often that the nut will stop turning, and feel fully tightened, but in fact sometimes it's not fully down. The last times I have tried gripping the nut with a dry cloth to try turning it again, and found sometimes it will turn more. A couple of times I have even used pliers to be sure, which I hate doing because it will munge up the metal.
When I first got it I tried screwing the chimney onto the base without the tank, to check the coil/wick, and found it a little difficult because of the limited threading. I am wondering if that's what's happening sometimes when I put the tank back on - it's jamming because it's not turning cleanly against the base.
I will keep experimenting and finding the best way.
Regarding the looseness and the risk of the nut coming away from the tank, I wonder if I can replace that single o-ring with a slightly bigger/thicker one that might give a firmer fit.
Actually i also fill it from the bottom. Once you get used to it, its pretty easy. And by that i also check my setup each time and i repair wick if needed
How is the Artemis switch? I'm thinking about buying the parts to make a Gus Frankenmech. Gusenstein? FrankenGus? Artemis switch, Jazz & War tube and the top cap with brass ring.
I love the switch. I had a custom "frankenswitch" made up by GUS. Thought I had posted some picts....
Quick update: I don't know what has changed, but I am finding bottom filling a lot easier now. The last 4-5 times I did it, I just unscrewed the tank and it took the chimney with it. I was able to then remove the tank as a single piece, fill, and then screw the tank back on and finally just tighten the chimney a little way.
I don't know why it's working so much better now, but I'm glad!
Actually I do know one change I made: I re-wicked it with a lot less cotton, to be sure the chimney was never jamming against cotton. I think that helped enable the chimney to unscrew easily with the tank.
Still disappointed that top fill is hard - and I might still try drilling out the fill holes wider - but having easy bottom fill makes it a lot better overall and is good enough for now.
I don't know why it's working so much better now, but I'm glad!
Actually I do know one change I made: I re-wicked it with a lot less cotton, to be sure the chimney was never jamming against cotton. I think that helped enable the chimney to unscrew easily with the tank.
Still disappointed that top fill is hard - and I might still try drilling out the fill holes wider - but having easy bottom fill makes it a lot better overall and is good enough for now.
I felt the same when I first tried the bottom fill. I had leaking, chimney getting stuck etc... then I ordered the top fill and had to be so careful , and small syringe size, etc. I use almost all VG so it was a pain to wait so long to fill etc.... Suddenly bottom fill became so easy and thats all I do now.
I thought about making the holes larger, but then I thought what if larger holes might leak?
Yes, the possibilities get higher. If not outrightly leak there's likely to be more condensation built up under the steel ring with larger holes.
Well I ordered the parts for my FrankenGus, I can't wait for them to arrive so I can say (cheesy though it may be) "It's alive!"
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