I've had cartos before but really didn't like them. I found that they gave too tight of a draw, and that I often got a burnt taste. I also didn't like the heat that was produced by the coil. That's what led me to the protank - but it seems to have it's own problems, of course.
Anyone else always having problems?
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I had a few problems the first few weeks I was vaping. It turns out most of them were operator errors. Once I figured out not to treat an e-cig like an analog most of the problems went away. It's just like anything else, there is a learning curve.
No you're not the only one. I quit smoking the first day I started vaping but this has always been an ongoing problem for me. This is one of the reasons I got into RBAs as soon as I could.
I haven't had any major issues. My clearo gets flooded on occasion, but that's about it.
My husband has more problems than I do, but that's mostly because he's not really interested in learning how the PVs work. He can build a computer, wire a house and do other such things...but can't remember to put the coil on the clearo before he attaches it to the battery. It leaks when you do that BTW.
He normally just whines and gives it to me to figure out. I'm the airhead in the family, it's not my job to figure out how things work, but I've been doing it. LOL
As far as not quitting I have, but my husband is still in the "buy me a carton of cigs while you're out, and then I'm going to start transitioning to the e-cigs." He's been transitioning for about 4 cartons now.
My husband has more problems than I do, but that's mostly because he's not really interested in learning how the PVs work. He can build a computer, wire a house and do other such things...but can't remember to put the coil on the clearo before he attaches it to the battery. It leaks when you do that BTW.
He normally just whines and gives it to me to figure out. I'm the airhead in the family, it's not my job to figure out how things work, but I've been doing it. LOL
As far as not quitting I have, but my husband is still in the "buy me a carton of cigs while you're out, and then I'm going to start transitioning to the e-cigs." He's been transitioning for about 4 cartons now.
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Hmmmm maybe just set up a routine to do the maintenance on his gear at a set time and just do all of it at once. That way he just grabs it and goes. Another option find larger capacity devices so the maintenance doesn't happen so often.
With the cigs everyone transitions in their own time. Some it is instant and some it takes months or longer to fully transition. It is not uncommon.
It is also possible he hasn't found the right device for him yet. That can contribute to both the unwillingness to learn to use it and the unwillingness to give up the cigs.
I ahve not tried the Protank, so I can't comment on it. I do agree with the people who said cartomizers in a tank are very easy to setup and use. There is no maintenance involved which is nice. When one looses too much performance you simply replace it. I buy Boge cartos for about $1 each so even if I replace one every couple of days it's not expensive. How long they last is mostly dependant on the juice you use and how much it clogs the coil. I've had juices that clog in 10 ml and some that regularly last 50ml or a bit more.
The important thing with these is to prime them properly. Also, if you use thick juice you should have more or bigger holes in them. Baditude has some great information on them in his blogs here. Just look for the posts ones on cartos, cartotanks, etc. I think there are 4 there.
People keep saying cartos is a consistent vape; but if you change the atomiser head in a clearo every 10 ml eliquid, it amounts to the same thing.
People buy cartos because they've made the decision to just toss the atomiser (carto) frequently and replace.
People buy clearos because they hope to economise by cleaning, rewicking, or recoiling the atomisers.
Once people find ways to clean and resurrect a cartomiser, it will just become another bcc, and the cartotanks will overtake the clearotanks.
If money is tight when starting out vaping it can be very frustrating. I spent the lionshare of money when first starting out and trying juice to find something I liked or even loved. Also not a fan of the protank (have 2 protank 1's), they rarely get used and find them problematic. They get used for tank cracking juice mostly if ever.
An ego c twist battery is a great place to start for most vapors. Many people seem to like the EVOD clearmizers and they don't cost that much (sorry never have tried them, always meant to though).
It would be great to start some kind of mentoring program and have people who live closeby actually meet in a safe public place and get hands on help by someone who is much more experienced.
Youtube videos are also a great resource.
An ego c twist battery is a great place to start for most vapors. Many people seem to like the EVOD clearmizers and they don't cost that much (sorry never have tried them, always meant to though).
It would be great to start some kind of mentoring program and have people who live closeby actually meet in a safe public place and get hands on help by someone who is much more experienced.
Youtube videos are also a great resource.
Even some of my most reliable setups have hiccups. It's technology. It's good to have a pretty basic, standard backup for when our devices hiccup. I had a series of taking too strong of hits and getting e-liquid in my mouth every other hit. Talk about negative association! I invested in a quality setup and even then there are issues. It's technology. It's awesome, but it also doesn't always work. We've got to have backups, and even backups to our backups for some!
Honestly, before diving into the world of rebuildable atomizers, I'd work on getting things straight with your current setup. The Protanks can be fiddly, and if you have only one there's always the chance that it's defective.
Maybe try an Evod clearomizer -- it uses the same atomizer heads as your mini Protank. The iClear 16 and iClear 30 are pretty popular too; I've had good results with my two iClear 16's that came with my iTaste MVP 2.0. Cartomizers and/or cartotanks are also good options. All of these are inexpensive and widely available.
Keep trying! Remember what works for you may not work for other and vice versa. Others may put you on a track but you just have to see what works for you.
Something had to lead me to this thead...
The one thing I will say about how I like to review products is that I believe I test my products in a very controlled manner for what "newbies" can do. Every time I get a new device, I test multiple heads, using multiple juices, using multiple voltages, using multiple draw techniques, using multiple air-flow settings, using a couple different batteries, filling at a couple different levels, washing the tanks and heads with distilled water multiple times, and so on. What I don't do is rebuild coils and I've been very open about that, as I stated in my first post here that I do reviews for "newbie" vapers who won't know how to rebuild nor will keep to vaping long enough to dedicate themselves to that road. Just so happens that I've never rebuilt a coil, so I'm sure that plays in there somewhere.
And that's why I do my "reviews". I want newer users to know that even in the most controlled of environments, I have gotten major problems (mostly burned or dry tasting hits) across a span of interchangeable head devices. I'm the person who wants to sit there and say that, chances are, either you're doing something wrong that you'll probably figure out in a couple days, or that really, you had the bad luck of getting a bunch of bad heads that, in the same situation, I absolutely could not improve, with the absolute curse of having this happen on as many as 10 heads in a row. For those who want to insult me for that experience, sure, it sounds unrealistic, but so does bad grammar, and you don't see me attacking this entire forum for that.
My advice? Right now, I have none. After already being a member for months, and trolling years longer than that, I still don't have one solid technique to tell people that actually makes a real difference. The best I can say, and hey, this goes against me too, is don't ever listen to a review unless there's not one bad one. If there's a review or post where a person came across a bunk head, even just 1 out of 100, then in my opinion, there's a good chance you'll end up getting a set of the factory's rejects just by luck of the draw. This applies because I haven't seen one bad word about Cisco's brand and so far, it's been the only atomizer to work properly for me. That sort of seems to be more than a coincidence, and that's all I can advise.
When it comes down to it, the areas I don't have experience in are carto-tanks and RBA's. To me, both types are sort of beyond an entry level vape, with carto-tanks being sort of the midline. To me, these are the levels of vaping that a person really needs a good vaping buddy or a very knowledgeable, patient vendor employee to help them get the best out of the experience. I don't have that in my town, so that's where my experience level in that has fallen flat. Yet, of coarse, the thing that makes me look bad is that I couldn't recommend one replaceable-head device, I really do hate them. I was never the person who thought I'd end up going through devices like packs of cigarettes - whenever I'd vape on a vendor's CE4-style juice sampler, it always tasted clean, and good enough for me.
Coming home with my own version of the device has been an entirely different story. I've been very quick to say that sometimes I even believe vendors use the actual brand name CE4's for sample testing, and sell clones that are meant to look identical to the samplers, all in an effort to snag customers yet save money.
That's how badly the same products work when I buy them, and use them the same way the vendor did. Didn't help that virtually every customer that came in at the various times I was at the shop was complaining about the same issue (or else was saying, "Omg, I love my vaping device, I've been using the same head for 3 months and it still tastes great, haven't washed it once or anything!" - No, they just have a tongue that couldn't taste a pile of hot feces.)
Chances are, it was probably just down to the fact that the specific CE4's were largely faulty and that the vendor themselves had the ability to sit down and go through 5 heads at a time until one of them worked well enough for the customer sample, but either way, when spending $3-$5 on a head for even the cheapest of clearomizers, it doesn't make me too happy. Has been the exact same way with the Protank II, the Aspire, the iClear 30, the Aro Tank, list goes on. I received a truly working vape with my recent Cisco atomizer, and I'm using that as my personal reference point to advise which products really work and which ones taste like a scam. I'd rather a juice taste like Spam than a device where the coil is wrapped in a way that prevents wicking.
The one thing I will say about how I like to review products is that I believe I test my products in a very controlled manner for what "newbies" can do. Every time I get a new device, I test multiple heads, using multiple juices, using multiple voltages, using multiple draw techniques, using multiple air-flow settings, using a couple different batteries, filling at a couple different levels, washing the tanks and heads with distilled water multiple times, and so on. What I don't do is rebuild coils and I've been very open about that, as I stated in my first post here that I do reviews for "newbie" vapers who won't know how to rebuild nor will keep to vaping long enough to dedicate themselves to that road. Just so happens that I've never rebuilt a coil, so I'm sure that plays in there somewhere.
And that's why I do my "reviews". I want newer users to know that even in the most controlled of environments, I have gotten major problems (mostly burned or dry tasting hits) across a span of interchangeable head devices. I'm the person who wants to sit there and say that, chances are, either you're doing something wrong that you'll probably figure out in a couple days, or that really, you had the bad luck of getting a bunch of bad heads that, in the same situation, I absolutely could not improve, with the absolute curse of having this happen on as many as 10 heads in a row. For those who want to insult me for that experience, sure, it sounds unrealistic, but so does bad grammar, and you don't see me attacking this entire forum for that.
My advice? Right now, I have none. After already being a member for months, and trolling years longer than that, I still don't have one solid technique to tell people that actually makes a real difference. The best I can say, and hey, this goes against me too, is don't ever listen to a review unless there's not one bad one. If there's a review or post where a person came across a bunk head, even just 1 out of 100, then in my opinion, there's a good chance you'll end up getting a set of the factory's rejects just by luck of the draw. This applies because I haven't seen one bad word about Cisco's brand and so far, it's been the only atomizer to work properly for me. That sort of seems to be more than a coincidence, and that's all I can advise.
When it comes down to it, the areas I don't have experience in are carto-tanks and RBA's. To me, both types are sort of beyond an entry level vape, with carto-tanks being sort of the midline. To me, these are the levels of vaping that a person really needs a good vaping buddy or a very knowledgeable, patient vendor employee to help them get the best out of the experience. I don't have that in my town, so that's where my experience level in that has fallen flat. Yet, of coarse, the thing that makes me look bad is that I couldn't recommend one replaceable-head device, I really do hate them. I was never the person who thought I'd end up going through devices like packs of cigarettes - whenever I'd vape on a vendor's CE4-style juice sampler, it always tasted clean, and good enough for me.
Coming home with my own version of the device has been an entirely different story. I've been very quick to say that sometimes I even believe vendors use the actual brand name CE4's for sample testing, and sell clones that are meant to look identical to the samplers, all in an effort to snag customers yet save money.
That's how badly the same products work when I buy them, and use them the same way the vendor did. Didn't help that virtually every customer that came in at the various times I was at the shop was complaining about the same issue (or else was saying, "Omg, I love my vaping device, I've been using the same head for 3 months and it still tastes great, haven't washed it once or anything!" - No, they just have a tongue that couldn't taste a pile of hot feces.)
Chances are, it was probably just down to the fact that the specific CE4's were largely faulty and that the vendor themselves had the ability to sit down and go through 5 heads at a time until one of them worked well enough for the customer sample, but either way, when spending $3-$5 on a head for even the cheapest of clearomizers, it doesn't make me too happy. Has been the exact same way with the Protank II, the Aspire, the iClear 30, the Aro Tank, list goes on. I received a truly working vape with my recent Cisco atomizer, and I'm using that as my personal reference point to advise which products really work and which ones taste like a scam. I'd rather a juice taste like Spam than a device where the coil is wrapped in a way that prevents wicking.
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GoodNews! Oh, man, ol' buddy ol' pal, you never cease to bring a smile to my face.
please tell me that you're going through and reading all his posts as well...
Everyone starts out this way. Everyone. No one has jumped into this with 100% success with gear/juice/etc. It's all trial and error, man. Learn as you go. Try as much as you can, and find what works best for you. And yes, 90% of equipment failure is typically due to user error. I do not mean that to belittle you, we've ALL been there. Like I said, we learn through trial and error.
There are many factors that can cause faulty equipment. And each component has its own little quirks. Clearos, cartos, batteries themselves. However, the majority of the time, the battery has nothing to do with it, and the delivery device (what you put your juice into, the part that contains the atomizer) is at fault. Sometimes people crank their tanks on to their battery super tight thinking it will prevent leaking, when in fact it can do the exact opposite. A lot of people vape their BCC clearos down to the bottom (even iClear types) and all of a sudden it starts gurgling, leaking, or spitting juice into their mouth. Keeping it as full as possible at all times seems to help prevent that. Proper atomizer maintenance, keeping the tank as full as possible at all times, the PG/VG ratio of your juice, the flavorings involved (heavy on the citrus or cinnamon?), the voltage/wattage you keep your battery at, etc, all of these contribute to device performance. And all of these things can sound confusing, but give it time. It will all make sense.
Eventually you'll find a set-up that works for you. Just keep at it, man, there are a ton of satisfied and no-longer-frustrated vapers on this board. They had to get there the same way you are doing; just don't give up, they didn't, and see how happy they are now!
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I am, and I love them. This dude is freakin' awesomely hilarious. I kid you not.
Over the past few weeks there has been a new fraternity of "GoodNews" followers. Some of us come on here each day just to see what new posts GN has made. Me personally, I don't come here for vaping any longer, I come here to get my GN education for the day.
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