Best RTA for beginner builder

[Tarener0421]

what type of RTA would you recommend for a novice builder? I have never built before, and have recently considered it. Still not certain and want to find out as much info as possible before I commit to building Currently using a uwell crown, which is ok imo. Personally don't get the hype. I have had a lot of issues with coils burning really fast like 1-2 days. Think it is because one of my new fav juices is possibly sweeter and thicker than a lot of other juices I have previously gotten. Primary mod is a fuchai 200w tc device. Also have the eleaf 100w I vape a lot during the day at work. My car is pretty much my office. So I would like it to hold a good amount of juice as it is difficult for me to stop and refill throughout the day. Also more of a flavor chaser than a cloud chaser. So what do you like or dislike about building? What is the best place for a beginner to start? How long does it take to build? Supplies? Easiest/quickest type of build, for a busy full time working mom? tank suggestions? Any info I couldnget before I decide make the switch would be appreciated

 

[Shawn Hoefer]

On the cheap, you can get the RBA head for the Crown. It's OK. Slap a 6 wrap, 24 gauge coil in there, wick it, and you're back in business.

It's not the easiest, though.

For easy, look to the new glut of tanks with Velocity style decks. I am a big fan of the Crius V2 (I think). Dual coil only, but very easy to build, and there's juice flow control, and a great top fill mechanism, too. Not a cloud chaser, but decent clouds with good flavor.

I ONLY build. If a tank does not have an available RBA section (or is not an RTA), I don't get it.

 

[sawlight]

Easiest? Probably the Avacado, lots of room, hard to screw up the wick, but it's a smallish tank and it doesn't like being laid on its side.
Flavor and mtl vaping, if you can find a Kayfun lite the flavor is incredible! It's not hard to build, but not the easiest, once you learn the tricks you'll laugh at yourself for making it so difficult!

 

[J.d. Roberts]

IMO for rebuildables..
If you're vaping MTL "mouth to lung" then KayFun or Russian.
If you're vaping "open lung" then KayFun 5 or Serpent Mini.
As you mentioned for novice builders, those are all very easy to build.
They also give you some of the best flavor you can out of juice.
It's important to ask yourself @Tarener0421, do I want cigarette-like MTL throat hits or direct lung inhale hits?
Night and day differences there.

 

[Tarener0421]

It's important to ask yourself @Tarener0421, do I want cigarette-like MTL throat hits or direct lung inhale hits?
Night and day differences there.

I typically prefer MTL type hits

How does it take to complete a build?

 

[J.d. Roberts]

I typically prefer MTL type hits

How does it take to complete a build?

Awesome. Yeah, I think majority of us started out MTL vaping, I couldn't imagine a cig smoker "lung hitting" a Marlboro..

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In said situation and knowing what type of drag you like to take now, I would start out with any single coil RTA to start out with. Then maybe later down the line, as you advance into building, better understanding of battery safety and ohm's law, knowing your wires gauges, wraps, and builds; possibly get into building dual coils later on. And that a learning curve somewhat, harder to build (except for Velocity style decks), ohm's in duals are split in half, etc; don't want to get into that here. But all the ones people suggest up above are fine, the Avocado is great flavor too, but it's dual coil, or single with that plug "cotton geni-style" I'd just stick with getting regular tank (IMO) to try different builds on first, low ohm and high ohm coils. My first teacher into building, YT. The more I watched people, heard why they do what they do, messed up; the more I learned what not to do. If that make sense. Also watch YT to hear people's opinions about products too. For example,

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[J.d. Roberts]

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This is an actual rebuilding process, how easy it is for a single coil for KF's.

 

[cheech226]

kanger subtank mini has a very easy to build rba head included. the wotofo conquerors are on DEEP sale right now. it's a postless deck and a breeze to build and wick. it supports single coil or dual builds with no modification

 

[whiteowl84]

I started with the crown coil head, then the Wotofo Serpent, Aromamizer and The Griffin 25. Have a Cthulhu v3 on the way.
I never had a problem with any of them but I will say that once I switched to Cellucotton Rayon last month I rewicked every tank I had. I had a much easier time getting the Aromamizer to not gurgle or leak on it's side, the Wotofo Serpent didn't leak when you take the cap off and the Griffin never had any of those problems.

I'd start with rayon if I could. Much longer lasting, faster wicking, more forgiving, harder to burn, better tasting and less weepy.

You'll have to learn every tanks ins and outs. The Crius Plus looks very user friendly. So does the Herakles 2 and mini.
And the mini Griffin 25. And the Limitless Plus.
If you've never even built a coil before, start with a dripper. It would be frustrating to learn how to wrap a coil, straighten it out after you tighten the screws and pulse the hotspots out and not be able to enjoy your first perfect coils because your tank keeps leaking.

I can't go back to pre-made coils. Or juice.
The DIY world is much better. Jump in.

 

[Tarener0421]

How often to you have to redo the coil portion of the build? I know this probably variety depending on how you vape and I know you need to change out The cotton more frequently. But just looking to see if I can figure out an average. Also do you feel like you save money by building rather than using premade coils ?

 

[whiteowl84]

I vape at around 80w on fused clapton. I build as long or wide or tall as a tank will allow.
I only rewick 1-2 times a week and NEED to rebuild coils within a month.
I only rewick the coils when there is too much carbon on the coils...rayon doesn't go nasty like cotton.
The 24/34g 316l clapton wire is good stuff all around. Easy to work with, lasts a long time, hard to fudge once in place and tons of surface area.
I started with the worst one...ni200.

I've never used a prewrapped coil. Wrapping wire around a jig is as easy as it sounds.
Lightning Vapes has great wire really cheap.
I've been using the same spool of fused 26g Kanthal wire for about 6 months. $12 worth of wire lasted that long so you can do the math. LV15 gets 15% off.

 

[Tarener0421]

In said situation and knowing what type of drag you like to take now, I would start out with any single coil RTA to start out with. Then maybe later down the line, as you advance into building, better understanding of battery safety and ohm's law, knowing your wires gauges, wraps, and builds; possibly get into building dual coils later on. And that a learning curve somewhat, harder to build (except for Velocity style decks), ohm's in duals are split in half, etc; don't want to get into that here. But all the ones people suggest up above are fine, the Avocado is great flavor too, but it's dual coil, or single with that plug "cotton geni-style" I'd just stick with getting regular tank (IMO) to try different builds on first, low ohm and high ohm coils. My first teacher into building, YT. The more I watched people, heard why they do what they do, messed up; the more I learned what not to do. If that make sense. Also watch YT to hear people's opinions about products too. For example,

​

YT has been my best friend through this whole process! I watch a ton of videos! I still have a lot of friends and my husband are still smoke cigarettes a good bit and consistently. So most of what I have learned I have taught myself and also a couple of Local shops to have very helpful staff. My biggest downfall at this point is I'm deciding to make the switch after August 8 and I also live in Harrisburg Pennsylvania...with the new 40% vape tax coming into effect very soon! So I figure it is better to make the switch now before it happens so I can stock up on which ever I like best, but can't rely on my B&M shops to help me, show me, and teach me

 

[Tarener0421]

Easiest? Probably the Avacado, lots of room, hard to screw up the wick, but it's a smallish tank and it doesn't like being laid on its side.
Flavor and mtl vaping, if you can find a Kayfun lite the flavor is incredible! It's not hard to build, but not the easiest, once you learn the tricks you'll laugh at yourself for making it so difficult!

Oh and id like something that can handle being on its side/tilted a bit with minimal to no leaking. Since it has been a hot summer and I'm in my car (Constantly) the only way to protect my devices at times is putting them in the center console to minimize heat exposure

 

[whiteowl84]

I stand in front of a fire (wood grill) in the 95 degree heat with my Griffin laying how ever on the front of the grill or in my pocket. It doesn't leak if I fill up in the heat either.
I can wick any tank and get the same result. It just takes practice and the right materials.

 

[J.d. Roberts]

YT has been my best friend through this whole process! I watch a ton of videos! I still have a lot of friends and my husband are still smoke cigarettes a good bit and consistently. So most of what I have learned I have taught myself and also a couple of Local shops to have very helpful staff. My biggest downfall at this point is I'm deciding to make the switch after August 8 and I also live in Harrisburg Pennsylvania...with the new 40% vape tax coming into effect very soon! So I figure it is better to make the switch now before it happens so I can stock up on which ever I like best, but can't rely on my B&M shops to help me, show me, and teach me

Yeah, I heard about that 40% added taxation to vapor products in PA, a good online friend is from there, he went to a vaping event VCCPA, That's kinda' a f-ed up tax and totally shows how hard their trying to kill vaping in your area, make vaping harder for you guys, they should make buying CIGARETTES HARDER! -.- He said buying juice, B&M stores selling devices, etc. is much harder now. Hope that cancer doesn't spread down here to Austin like most laws and other regulations from other states. It's why advocacy all over there is as important to us all, it may spread. If we can stop it there, it won't come here. But anyways..

As for how long coils you build will last, say for instance, you just wrapped a Serpent Mini or Kayfun. Both are atomizers using single coil micro coil (generally). If you take care of it, clean it, wick it, and don't go crazy high voltage/wattage and always check for hotspots wicking each and every time, I had some that lasted a month to month a half. Way way way WAY longer than prebuilt. But then again, prebuilts are lasting long too now. But you pay for prebuilts. You don't pay a dime doing your own but once when u get your supplies. Right now, you can go to Amazon.com and get 100ft 28 gauge Kanthol wire for less than $7 bucks. Prewrapped coils are much much more expensive. Personally, I re-wrapped every 2 weeks, but I didn't have to, lots of times they would last longer (maybe a month or even longer maybe), and sometimes I'd be much too lazy or forget how long I had that same build in there I'd re-wrap anyways. Some will say, once a month. Some will say, otherwise. You can tell always tell when you need a fresh coil build by simply; the color of the coil when you clean it (dry burn, or fire up coil and let go, run it through under water to get the gunk off quickly), or sometimes muted taste you get from it, among many many other things. I re-wick every 2 to 3 tank fills, re-wicking is so easy.

Vaping was a fun thing to learn (IMO), like experimenting. You learn as you go. You'll learn what you like and not like. Videos are a great tool to use for know hows, but in reality, you'll always be the decision maker of what's best. Take it as a grain of salt, sometimes you'll understand why something other's will like is so great also.

 

[Monotremata]

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This is an actual rebuilding process, how easy it is for a single coil for KF's.

Ill second this one.. The Kayfun Lite+ V2 was my first RTA 2 years ago after moving on from the Kanger Evod I started with. After rebuilding those tiny Kanger heads, the KFL was probably the easiest thing in the world to build on. They're so simple, its really hard to screw one up, even for someone who's never done it before. If you're a MTL guy (and Im assuming that also means low wattage), they are still great tanks. The Kayfun 4 was almost just as easy but they got a little carried away with the complicated build deck/juice flow system on it..

 

[J.d. Roberts]

Ill second this one.. The Kayfun Lite+ V2 was my first RTA 2 years ago after moving on from the Kanger Evod I started with. After rebuilding those tiny Kanger heads, the KFL was probably the easiest thing in the world to build on. They're so simple, its really hard to screw one up, even for someone who's never done it before. If you're a MTL guy (and Im assuming that also means low wattage), they are still great tanks. The Kayfun 4 was almost just as easy but they got a little carried away with the complicated build deck/juice flow system on it..

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Totally! The KF4 was overly engineered to the point it was unnecessary at what it's known for, simplicity and great flavor. I LOVE MY KF5 though, they went back to simplicity on this one. Next to my Petri RDA, I can't put it down, vaping it as I type, taking puff breaks. There are tons of atomizers out now that are still available to get that are easy to build on like the Kayfuns. I took the R91% path, still have and use it to this day. And I post this already on another thread, but I took these photos today in the afternoon. This is a 3 years later use and wear up close look of my Russian today..

.. smooth threads, works perfectly. In general, as most things in life, you get what you pay for, as with vaping products.

 

[Monotremata]

Yeah the Kayfun 5 is next on my list. Almost bought one last week but bought a Cthulhu instead and now I wish I would've stuck with my original plan. Whats the difference between the R91 and the KFL? I thought they were basically the same thing?? Never used an R91 personally, but I know they were pretty similar.

 

[J.d. Roberts]

Yeah the Kayfun 5 is next on my list. Almost bought one last week but bought a Cthulhu instead and now I wish I would've stuck with my original plan. Whats the difference between the R91 and the KFL? I thought they were basically the same thing?? Never used an R91 personally, but I know they were pretty similar.

Adjustable airflow.

 

[smokin95]

I recently got my first RBA few weeks ago. Went with the ehpro kayfun lite plus v2. Only $10.

Quality is great, only knock would have to be the adjustable airflow screw is a bit loose and need to readjust every so often. Probably the result of a cheap clone but one I can live with.

Building on it was way easier than I anticipated. Wicking is pretty easy. No leaking or flooding yet.