Cartos vs. Stardust

[John1952]

I've purchased at least 10 Stardust clearomizers. At one point, I thought they were the greatest thing since sliced bread. Finally! (I thought). A vastly improved way to vape. Easy to fill, and you can see how much juice is left.

But, gradually, my love affair soured. They are absolutely perfect for the first fill. But after that.... so so. Or terrible. I've had bad luck cleaning them. They either die quickly, taste burnt, or produce no taste at all. So I've concluded that a $6 Stardust is good for about two days, max. After that, they belong in the trash can.

For the past three days, I've reverted to my old ways and used cartos exclusively. And they work great! I forgot how good they work. Sure, they are a bit more trouble, and occasionally you get a dud. But, in the overall scheme of things, cartos are my choice.

So, for me, the final score: Cartos 1, Stardust 0.

Many will disagree, of course. When I read posts about people using a Stardust for weeks, I just can't relate. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but I don't think so. In my experience, they just lose it after a while, and can't be resurrected.

 

[erictho]

i was pretty resistant to polyfill cartos for my first 3 months vaping. i was pretty dedicated to all sorts of clearomizers and really believed i had found the part i was looking for. then as i encountered more and more difficulty and frustration i bought an assortment of cartos and much preferred them for a variety of reasons.
try a tank. i bought one and never looked back. they're like cartos but with half the pain in the ..... they're easier and quicker to refill, only require one carto fill, easier to tell when your juice starts getting skunky in there, and you can still approximately manage the ml consumption!
/shameless plug
i know my sanity and wallet are definitely benefiting.

 

[genxblacksmith]

Ditto on the Stardust. Wonderful to trashed. I had 2 out of 8 that worked trouble free (with cleaning) for a few weeks. The rest either tasted bad, cracked, or dropped off performance within a couple of days. They burned through liquid and more often than not scorched it by the second or third refill. I'm fine getting a few days out of a carto, with less tinkering, at 1/6 the cost. A couple of ego batteries and 3 or 4 Boge LR cartos in my pocket and I'm out the door for the day. I do think the Vision manufacturers will eventually get it right. For now it is bulk orders of 50 cartos every few months. For what it's worth I'm on my last box of cartos from Vapor Kings out of Texas and I've not had a single dud.

 

[John1952]

Speaking of eGo... I also put my Provari aside for a day and went retro with my 650mAh eGo batteries. I was amazed at how well they worked. But I was even more amazed at how small they were.

I've considered getting a tank. They probably sound like more trouble than they actually are. But they all seem to be so big, and hold massive quantities of juice. One thing I like about Stardust is that you don't have dump half a bottle of juice in them. To me, 1.6 ml is just about the perfect amount.

 

[iowajosh]

I like the 3.5 ml tank. Looks not so smooth but works so good.

I had to try a stardust because they look so sleek. The first two have been disappointments. Neat idea tho.

 

[moishesmom]

I'll double ditto on the stardust. I kept thinking there was something wrong w/me. I avoided cartos because of all the burnt taste & filler complaints out there. I started with the ego-t and then the c....then I finally broke down & bought the stardust that everyone was raving about. I did rotate it w/my others so it did last longer than a few days, however, after cleaning it the first time it was like hummm, why do I think there's something burnt in here. Not the greatest, but what do I know. I even ordered a few more thinking I was doing something wrong; maybe I was.....the second & the third..same. Ordered the new V2 w/longer wicks, must say it is better but still can't get that slight burnt taste out. Finally took the plunge & ordered some cartos..I LOVE THEM!!! Thanks to everyone for confirming that I'm not nuts!

 

[Unforeseen]

Moved from General E-Smoking Discussion to Atomizer, Cartomizer, and Tank Discussion

 

[Kay1959]

Speaking of eGo... I also put my Provari aside for a day and went retro with my 650mAh eGo batteries. I was amazed at how well they worked. But I was even more amazed at how small they were.

I've considered getting a tank. They probably sound like more trouble than they actually are. But they all seem to be so big, and hold massive quantities of juice. One thing I like about Stardust is that you don't have dump half a bottle of juice in them. To me, 1.6 ml is just about the perfect amount.

Have you tried a mega cartomizer? They hold more juice, but not as much as a tank. I went from regular size cartos to mega or XL cartos to tanks...I'm a vapin Queen! lol! If you do go with tanks, start out with the regular sized ones. They hold less juice.

 

[Dant]

I use cartos for tobacco flavors, and stardusts for sweet flavors.

I like a certain "harshness" to accompany my tobacco vapes, which a cartomizer seems to provide, but a stardust cannot. Stardusts make my tobacco flavors too "soft" tasting, if that makes any sense.

On the other hand, cartos mute my sweet flavors too much, while stardusts let the sweet flavors shine through.

Also I find that if I loosen the tip on the stardust, it helps to alleviate/prevent the burnt taste problem they sometimes develop.

 

[vikksterr]

I love stardust. I have tried everything else - from boge cartos, to tanks, to what-have-you. Everything else has been frustrating, especially the tanks since filling them is a pain and you gotta pull hard to get a decent amount of vapor. I splurged so much on tanks and cartos before I discovered the stardusts.

Nothing gives me a more satisfying experience than the stardusts. I'm using the LR stardusts from gotvapes.com. I have bought 6 of them so far and only two have gone bad because of my mishandling. I am still using the first one that I purchased more than a month ago and it vapes today just like it did the first day I got it. The cleaning process is extremely simple too. I'm vaping Boba's bounty steeped for 4 weeks so its pretty thick juice. No complaints yet. Stardusts are the only things I use anymore. I'm using the ones with short wicks . Gotvapes just started selling ones with long wicks. Already have a couple coming my way. Can't wait to try them.

The only other carts that I'm kinda looking forward to try are the phoenix carts from gotvapes. Been reading good things about them and watched some encouraging videos as well. But gotvapes has been sold out of them for a while.

 

[FisherPal]

Totally agree with the ppl who haven't liked the Stardust and for all the same reasons - muted flavor, that 'soft pull' that Dant mentioned (know exactly what you mean there!) and the blasted things keep leaking from the battery end. And yes, I have tried all of the tips for stopping that and they do it anyway. Have had it with them. Been using Kanger horizontal bottom coils for quite awhile in between trying all the 'other stuff' and thought they were the be-all-end-all in cartos. But then I bought some Boge XXL cartos. Wow! These babies rock too. In fact I think they may have replaces my beloved Kangers. The only other thing that MAY tempt me is one of those Phoenix clearos but ... I don't know ... these Boge's are rockin'!

 

[notsmoking]

I myself like both... each have there own benifit

 

[N rustica]

I think it's dead wrong to suggest stardusts or any other clearo to a new vaper who hasn't tried a few of the regular cartomizers. The only thing i ever liked about the stardust is it looks cool.

An aluminum capped glass tank with a handpunched 1.7ohm single coil carto is currently my favorite vape when i can't drip. It looks cool too.

 

[BuGlen]

I think it's dead wrong to suggest stardusts or any other clearo to a new vaper who hasn't tried a few of the regular cartomizers. The only thing i ever liked about the stardust is it looks cool.

An aluminum capped glass tank with a handpunched 1.7ohm single coil carto is currently my favorite vape when i can't drip. It looks cool too.

I don't believe it's wrong to suggest anything to a new vaper because we each have different things that work for us. Personally, I just started using carto/tank systems with single coil resurrectors this week and they seem to be working great. However, I still use my LR CE4+ clearos on my eGo batteries for when I'm out of the house because they're very portable and work quite well. I also direct drip into an atty when I'm home and that is still the best TH and flavor I've been able to find, but it's not convenient when busy I'm doing other things.

Basically, each juice delivery system I've tried so far has it's benefits and disadvantages, so to me it's really just about personal choice.

 

[Sugarnspice]

Erictho
what kind of tank would you recommend-I'm sick of dealing with stardust and the EMDCC's -I need something that will work consistently without a lot of tinkering
thanks

 

[panto911]

Jtank with boges defiantly, for price and quality.

 

[zzooti]

I'm going back to cartos myself; CE4 V1-good but not great; CE4 V2-ok but not good; E1 & E3-crap; cartos may not have the benefits & glamour of the stardust type clearomizers, but they don't have the drawbacks either; they just work when you ask them to. I may try the new Kanger bottom coil clearomizers though-Kanger cartos are all I use now.

 

[Wickedvalve]

I agree. I use 2.0 boges with a 3ml j tank. Best set up I've come across yet. I hate the stardust, I've bought them from a lot of vendors and there all the same...crap. I found that I really don't like any clearo/wick type cartomizers. I spent a lot of money trying to get my vivi nova to work and never got a decent hit off it. IMO Boge carto's with a j tank is the way to go.

 

[dmj4]

Are there pre-punched Boge cartos? I have a jonboy. I stopped using because I didn't do good at punching.

I also have a smoktech tank that takes flanged pre-punched. I am on here now looking for a place to buy them reasonably.

I bought a Reactor atty tank and it leaks through the atty. I think it could be my vape style or I am just unlucky on that one.

I like Stardusts for convenience, but flavor muted and they only last me a day or two.

I drip, but I keep trying tanks because I don't like the bother of dripping but i do like the flavor. I don't taste juice very well and putting in a carto or stardust, just makes it pretty tasteless to me.

I also got on here searching CE4s to see if they are all pretty much Stardusts or if ce4 is different than Stardust.

 

[Kanlee]

I am in the same camp as the OP.I tried Stardusts and at first thought maybe,but that did not last long.Muted taste and if I turn up the heat burning dry taste.They do not give me as satisfying a vape as carto's.I do not like the filler taste I get with carto's but to me they are better.