Ok, Tiggs. This is going to be a long one and it is just my opinion. The best way to go for a good, flavorful, consistent vape is with a Kayfun (real) or a Kebo Russian 91% (do not get the one with the spring loaded pin - the pin does not work right. Most vendors have upgraded R91 without the spring loaded pin, but you have to specifically ask). The clone Kayfuns are generally good, but do have more problems. EhPro is supposed to be a good clone of the Kayfun Lite+. I have 4 r91 and one EhPro Kayfun. I like my r91 better.
Mt. Baker Vapor has the Kebo R91 for $45, not a bad price. I have seen them a lot cheaper during holiday sales and the end of last year. They do show up used once in a while.
On prebuilt coils. I have never used them. One of the things I find with building coils is that if you do not have a drill bit inside the coil when you mount it, it is very easy to deform the coil. The coil has to have the 2 legs wrapped around tiny screws and once you get one secured the drillbit through the coil helps to keep the shape for when you attach the second leg to the other screw. If the coil gets deformed you will not get a good vape and will need to just throw the little coil out. When you make your own they cost a couple of pennies each. 28ga wire is sturdy but takes a little longer to heat up. 29ga seems to be the current favorite. 30ga is thinner and a bit harder for me to work with. Since I have a whole spool of 28ga that is what I use, I like it better than 30ga. The lower the gauge the thicker the wire and the longer it will take to heat up.
I build my coils on the Artistic Wire Gizmo coil winding tool. You can pick one up for around $10 at Hobby Lobby (check online for a large discount coupon). You can also order it online from them. Ebay and Amazon have them for $10 to $15 and look to see if you can find a model that has 2mm and 2.5mm rods. Those sizes are ideal for building coils. There are several different types. The one I got had 5 rods but only one I am able to use and it is 1.55mm, which is still quite small. I had to find a 2mm rod (at Hobby Lobby) to make a coil with a bigger inside diameter so I could get the KohGenDoh cotton through it. With the Gizmo I can wind a couple of coils in a couple of minutes, leave the rod through the middle and then mount it on the deck of the r91. The mounting is hardest part. The winding is super quick and easy. The Gizmo also lets you apply some tension to the wire so it is a good, tight coil. Makes for a great vape.
SteamEngine.org has a program that I use on my laptop to tell me how many wraps I need to do to get to a specific ohms. You need to know the size of the wire (28ga, 30ga) and the ohms you want (1.5, 2.0) and it will tell you how many wraps to do to get there. I use 28ga wire and aim for between 1.5 and 1.8 ohms. I do not like a hot vape and going lower for me gives too much heat. I use 70pg/30vg eliquid. Anything thicker than 50/50 is going to gunk up your coils too fast in the Kayfun and r91 which means more frequent changing of cotton and dry burning and rewicking. I am lazy. I have found lighter eliquids so I only have to change cotton and dry burn about every 6 days. Some people with darker, sweeter eliquids have to change it out daily. Also, high vg eliquids do not seem to work as well in the Kayfun-Russian. Hard to keep the wick wet, does not flow as well. This is in my opinion since I have only tried 70/30 and 50/50 in my r91s. 70/30 is perfect for me.
I hope this helps you out. PM me if you have more ??? Or post them here. I try to read this thread every day or so. I, too, am dealing with medical stuff and neck (done) and back surgery (something to look forward to soon
).
Everyone here has given very good information on this topic. I am just throwing my hat in the ring, adding my 2 cents. By the way, I tried to wrap the wire around a drill bit by hand in the beginning. I could not do it. My hands would not cooperate. Once I got the Gizmo I have only wrapped a couple of coils I could not vape. And that was me mangling them during trying to get the stupid little legs to stay put under the tiny screw. Oh, the tales I could tell.... Once I did a few it got much easier and almost no throw-aways now. I have been building coils for my kf and r91 since March of 2014 and only from what I learned here. Now you can go to a vape shop or vape meet and watch/have them build coils in many of them. Some charge, some do not.
Another note. Get a plyers that will cut up against an edge. I got mine online but Hobby Lobby and Lowes, etc. will have them. Better than twisting wire legs off after mounting. I lost a couple of coils with the twist method and nail clippers did not work great for me.
