Many people use carto tanks, clearos or other types of heads on their VV device, but atomizers can also be used.
There is a difference in taste between atomizers and cartomizers (a carto in a tank still works the same as a carto on its own). Some prefer the atty system's taste, some prefer the carto or clearo systems - it's just a matter of taste and since everyone is different, there is no 'rule'.
The main problem is that as yet, no one has come up with a reliable atty tank system that works well enough to go on retail sale and is cheap. There are various what you might call personal systems that involve atty tanks, they work for people who don't mind a bit of fiddling around.
Plenty of people use atties one way or another on VV though, because otherwise VV would be no good to them. They just lose out on the 4ml capacity of the tank systems, unless one of the expensive and hard-to-get rebuildable atty/tank systems is used.
Here are some options:
Straight dripper rig
It's just your preferred atty (maybe a 510, 901 or even an 801), on the VV device, with a driptip. If the top of the VV device is not sealed then you should use a solid shorty 510-to-510 adapter (or whatever fits if it's not a 510 atty), so that drips don't go down into the VV device and wreck it.
This probably works best of all possible set-ups for dedicated dripper fans, because you can quick-change the liquid and then adjust the volts for each individual liquid's characteristics - but it's too much trouble for many people.
One thing it is the acknowledged best for is new e-liquid / flavor testing. There is no better method than dripping on an atty to test a new refill: it provides the most accurate flavor of any system.
Dripshield rig
An alternative that can take more drips at once. A long 510-to-510 adapter is used, then the atty, and the long sleeve of the dripshield is slid down over the atty-adapter column. It goes half on the atty and half on the adapter. The vent holes go at the top. A driptip goes on the top end.
You either need a solid shorty adapter on the bottom end, or use a solid long adapter, if your VV device is not sealed at the top end, otherwise leakage will go down into the APV (even with a long adapter).
This is an excellent rig for 5 or 6 drip vaping and very good on VV. Add bonuts and you might get as much as 0.5 ml in there at one go - around 11 drops.
Bonut add-on
For regular atties used on a VV rig, a good mod is to add some bonuts. These are stainless pipescreens rolled into tubes, then formed into a donut shape (or more accurately a horseshoe shape), and pressed down into the atty to hold more liquid. You can get two into a 510 atty easily (see instructions elsewhere). They work well with VV because upping the voltage can dry out and damage an atty faster, and a better liquid reservoir is a good idea. They have no effect whatsoever on the taste or vapor when used with VV (as the volts can be raised by about 0.2v to 0.4v, to compensate for the cooling effect), although they will reduce the draw airiness by about 25%. As the voltage can be varied to suit the head and its effect, there is no change except the atty holds more liquid.
Works pretty good for most atty / VV set-ups. Can reduce the air draw a bit. The advantage is that less dripping/squonking is needed. They do cool the vape a fraction, but on VV that is not relevant as it can be turned up.
Dripshield + Bonut 510 rig
Probably the ideal solution for those who find a 510 atomiser is the best vape (and don't have a bottom-feeder APV): this set-up holds half a ml with no leaks, and gives the perfect dripper atty vape (very moist vape with massive flavor) for a good length of time before it needs dripping.
Bottom feeder
Bottom feeder VV boxmods can be used, these can have an atty and driptip used as the head unit, that's what they were designed for. You 'squonk' it and the liquid is fed up into the atty (squeeze the liquid reservoir bottle through the squonk hole)
When using a VV bottom feeder like this, the ideal arrangement is to get one with a cylindrical drip catcher that will re-up the over-squonked liquid. Catch cups and wider liquid bunds of that type are mainly for carto users, a close-fit cylinder dripcatcher is best for atty fans.
An excellent VV set-up.
Top feeder
There are all kinds of top feeder set-ups that will work on VV. In these, an atty and driptip are used, and a top feeding arrangement is used to drip onto/into the atty. There are all sorts of these, for example add-on bottles with a flexible tube leading to the top of the atty; add-on solid rigs for this purpose such as made by SuperT; and even built-in versions like the Buzz boxmod variant. Some of these need an additional top-drip adapter fitted between the top of the atty and the driptip; it's normally supplied with the rig.
These methods work very well, there is an argument they are the best dripper set-up of all; but they can look like a bit of a lash-up. It's a matter of visual taste - if you worry about the looks of the thing or not.
Rebuildable atomizers
There are more rebuildable atties coming out, and now supply is good. They are called RBA's (re-buildable atomisers), RTA's (rebuildable tank atomisers), or RB's (re-buildables). There are dripper, tank and bottom-feeder versions.
There are people who say this is the best possible vaping set-up although they can be expensive (to start), and buying the best models is difficult as production runs are short. Equally, there are many who can't get on with them. The key is the coil/wick used and how well it is made by the user.
The RBA has two solid advantages and two disadvantages:
- It is the ideal device for cloud-chasers as it produces by far the most vapor of any device. It's the room foggers' ideal tool.
- A good one will probably last for ever, only needing wire and wick materials to be replaced, which are cheap and easily available: kanthal or nichrome resistance wire is the only specialist material needed and is widely available.
But:
- The vape tends to be the driest of all head solutions
- It is the hardest of all systems to get good flavor from
This solution is mainly for DIYers and tinkerers. It works well for some but doesn't for others.
New atty tanks ?
Many people have tried to somehow build a reliable atty tank system that works like the carto tank system and costs the same. For atomizer users, it would be an excellent step forward. So far, none of these have worked well enough to survive retail sale. One day, someone will get it right...
There is a difference in taste between atomizers and cartomizers (a carto in a tank still works the same as a carto on its own). Some prefer the atty system's taste, some prefer the carto or clearo systems - it's just a matter of taste and since everyone is different, there is no 'rule'.
The main problem is that as yet, no one has come up with a reliable atty tank system that works well enough to go on retail sale and is cheap. There are various what you might call personal systems that involve atty tanks, they work for people who don't mind a bit of fiddling around.
Plenty of people use atties one way or another on VV though, because otherwise VV would be no good to them. They just lose out on the 4ml capacity of the tank systems, unless one of the expensive and hard-to-get rebuildable atty/tank systems is used.
Here are some options:
Straight dripper rig
It's just your preferred atty (maybe a 510, 901 or even an 801), on the VV device, with a driptip. If the top of the VV device is not sealed then you should use a solid shorty 510-to-510 adapter (or whatever fits if it's not a 510 atty), so that drips don't go down into the VV device and wreck it.
This probably works best of all possible set-ups for dedicated dripper fans, because you can quick-change the liquid and then adjust the volts for each individual liquid's characteristics - but it's too much trouble for many people.
One thing it is the acknowledged best for is new e-liquid / flavor testing. There is no better method than dripping on an atty to test a new refill: it provides the most accurate flavor of any system.
Dripshield rig
An alternative that can take more drips at once. A long 510-to-510 adapter is used, then the atty, and the long sleeve of the dripshield is slid down over the atty-adapter column. It goes half on the atty and half on the adapter. The vent holes go at the top. A driptip goes on the top end.
You either need a solid shorty adapter on the bottom end, or use a solid long adapter, if your VV device is not sealed at the top end, otherwise leakage will go down into the APV (even with a long adapter).
This is an excellent rig for 5 or 6 drip vaping and very good on VV. Add bonuts and you might get as much as 0.5 ml in there at one go - around 11 drops.
Bonut add-on
For regular atties used on a VV rig, a good mod is to add some bonuts. These are stainless pipescreens rolled into tubes, then formed into a donut shape (or more accurately a horseshoe shape), and pressed down into the atty to hold more liquid. You can get two into a 510 atty easily (see instructions elsewhere). They work well with VV because upping the voltage can dry out and damage an atty faster, and a better liquid reservoir is a good idea. They have no effect whatsoever on the taste or vapor when used with VV (as the volts can be raised by about 0.2v to 0.4v, to compensate for the cooling effect), although they will reduce the draw airiness by about 25%. As the voltage can be varied to suit the head and its effect, there is no change except the atty holds more liquid.
Works pretty good for most atty / VV set-ups. Can reduce the air draw a bit. The advantage is that less dripping/squonking is needed. They do cool the vape a fraction, but on VV that is not relevant as it can be turned up.
Dripshield + Bonut 510 rig
Probably the ideal solution for those who find a 510 atomiser is the best vape (and don't have a bottom-feeder APV): this set-up holds half a ml with no leaks, and gives the perfect dripper atty vape (very moist vape with massive flavor) for a good length of time before it needs dripping.
Bottom feeder
Bottom feeder VV boxmods can be used, these can have an atty and driptip used as the head unit, that's what they were designed for. You 'squonk' it and the liquid is fed up into the atty (squeeze the liquid reservoir bottle through the squonk hole)
When using a VV bottom feeder like this, the ideal arrangement is to get one with a cylindrical drip catcher that will re-up the over-squonked liquid. Catch cups and wider liquid bunds of that type are mainly for carto users, a close-fit cylinder dripcatcher is best for atty fans.
An excellent VV set-up.
Top feeder
There are all kinds of top feeder set-ups that will work on VV. In these, an atty and driptip are used, and a top feeding arrangement is used to drip onto/into the atty. There are all sorts of these, for example add-on bottles with a flexible tube leading to the top of the atty; add-on solid rigs for this purpose such as made by SuperT; and even built-in versions like the Buzz boxmod variant. Some of these need an additional top-drip adapter fitted between the top of the atty and the driptip; it's normally supplied with the rig.
These methods work very well, there is an argument they are the best dripper set-up of all; but they can look like a bit of a lash-up. It's a matter of visual taste - if you worry about the looks of the thing or not.
Rebuildable atomizers
There are more rebuildable atties coming out, and now supply is good. They are called RBA's (re-buildable atomisers), RTA's (rebuildable tank atomisers), or RB's (re-buildables). There are dripper, tank and bottom-feeder versions.
There are people who say this is the best possible vaping set-up although they can be expensive (to start), and buying the best models is difficult as production runs are short. Equally, there are many who can't get on with them. The key is the coil/wick used and how well it is made by the user.
The RBA has two solid advantages and two disadvantages:
- It is the ideal device for cloud-chasers as it produces by far the most vapor of any device. It's the room foggers' ideal tool.
- A good one will probably last for ever, only needing wire and wick materials to be replaced, which are cheap and easily available: kanthal or nichrome resistance wire is the only specialist material needed and is widely available.
But:
- The vape tends to be the driest of all head solutions
- It is the hardest of all systems to get good flavor from
This solution is mainly for DIYers and tinkerers. It works well for some but doesn't for others.
New atty tanks ?
Many people have tried to somehow build a reliable atty tank system that works like the carto tank system and costs the same. For atomizer users, it would be an excellent step forward. So far, none of these have worked well enough to survive retail sale. One day, someone will get it right...
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