Comparison of a few popular tanks

[Mad Scientist]

I'm writing this basically to just have a way to remember some thoughts as of July, 2015 and also to share same and solicit what everyone else is thinking. What follows are some random thoughts about the tanks sitting on my workbench which are all reasonably popular, mass marketed devices. The list is in order of how often I actually use each tank, which is surprisingly a bit different from how much I thought I liked each one. Here we go . . .

Billow v2: great capacity, great performance, easy to build, easy to fill, looks terrible. Despite not liking the looks much, still the tank I end up grabbing most often on the way out because it works, it holds a lot of juice, it's easy to fill.

Goliath v1: great performance, easy to build, not hard to fill, I like the looks except for the stupid cooling fins on top, also potential of disturbing the wick tails when taking the deck off to fill.

Kanger STM w/ RBA installed: good capacity, good performance, stone simple to build, easy to fill, looks are ok (I hate exposed o-rings), needs the juice channels enlarged to be useful but it's really easy to enlarge them. As the "Volkswagen" of tanks, everyone should have at least one of these (IMHO). Once the juice channels are enlarged, it just works with no fussing or fanfare.

Cthulhu: great performance, easy to build, great looks, have to disassemble to tweak the build, small capacity, pita to fill. In my mind, this is my favorite but by frequency of use, it's just not. The smaller capacity and lack of fill convenience result in this one being left home most of the time. I know it's supposed to have top fill but without juice control, it's top fill as long as you have a paper towel or napkin handy just in case lol.

Kayfun v4 tobeco clone (w/ S-kit installed): the supermodel of tanks in the looks dept., more recent ideas of what good airflow is makes this one a beautiful antique. I still use it but not as much as the other tanks.

Lemo 2: just never got jazzed by this one and for me it's a pita to fill due to the small size of the fill hole. I actually enlarged the fill hole a bit, but most of my standard plastic dripper bottles coupled with the thick juice I mix, still make filling it a frustrating mess most of the time. The @&!?# juice just won't go in that little hole.

Orchid v2 clone: great performance, easy build, tiny tiny capacity, pita to fill. This one just sits for the most part. Juice capacity is too low and filling too inconvenient to make it anything more than an "oh yeah, I forgot I even have one of those" lol.

Ithaca clone: another beauty queen for the bone yard. Airflow is super tight and it's impossible to modify to improve by any material amount. I still use it very infrequently just for nostalgia.

Big Buddha: interesting idea and I hope more tanks grow to increase the size of the deck but the execution of the concept on this tank requires a lot of modifications. The interior air holes are easy to drill out, and increasing the size of the existing juice channels along with adding two more isn't all that hard but the point is that all has to be done before this tank is usable. I know a 29.5 orchid is available but I already have 2 of these so they are slowly going under the knife (or under the carbide actually lol) to make them useful.

Anyone who has gotten this far, thanks for reading. Your thoughts on these tanks and any others are welcomed.

 

[VaPreis]

I enlarged the air holes on my Big Buddha to 5/64". That seemed to be towards the upper limit considering the space. Even after drilling it out, lung hits are not it's strong suit, but otherwise a great tank flavor-wise.

There is a nice thread on this tank with some different ideas on coil placement and wicking. I subscribe to the diagonally mounted coil method, and tucking the wick tails into there respective "corners" leaving the liquid channels exposed. I believe that allows liquid to run over to the adjacent corner that does not have a liquid channel. It seems to work.

 

[Mad Scientist]

I enlarged the air holes on my Big Buddha to 5/64". That seemed to be towards the upper limit considering the space. Even after drilling it out, lung hits are not it's strong suit, but otherwise a great tank flavor-wise.

There is a nice thread on this tank with some different ideas on coil placement and wicking. I subscribe to the diagonally mounted coil method, and tucking the wick tails into there respective "corners" leaving the liquid channels exposed. I believe that allows liquid to run over to the adjacent corner that does not have a liquid channel. It seems to work.

View attachment 472918

By coincidence I attacked one of them today. I drilled out the air holes to 2.5 mm each and used a Dremel end mill in a drill press to enlarge the existing juice channels and add 2 new ones. The draw is better than a kfun4 but not as good as just about any other tank I have. I might drill the base air inlets and the air holes both to 3mm -- I have 2 of these beasts so if I wreck one, no biggie (9 bucks each at i think it was vaperranger).

For the second one, I'm thinking about just drilling 4 holes in the chimney just at the level of the deck instead of milling the juice channels (a drill press makes a crappy mill). Also will drill the airholes of course.

I will check out the thread you mentioned, thanks! I've only been using the first modded Big Buddha since this morning but so far I really like it. I especially like the room to make monster coils and wicks.

 

[Azarias]

Billow v2: great capacity, great performance, easy to build, easy to fill, looks terrible. Despite not liking the looks much, still the tank I end up grabbing most often on the way out because it works, it holds a lot of juice, it's easy to fill.

[...]

Cthulhu: great performance, easy to build, great looks, have to disassemble to tweak the build, small capacity, pita to fill. In my mind, this is my favorite but by frequency of use, it's just not. The smaller capacity and lack of fill convenience result in this one being left home most of the time. I know it's supposed to have top fill but without juice control, it's top fill as long as you have a paper towel or napkin handy just in case lol.

Billow v2: ^^^^ exactly this.

Cthulhu: More like an all over PITA to disassamble and not just for refilling. It's a great tank with a great performance and great looks. But either it's not the best machining or the o-rings are slightly too big. I lubed every single one and I never overtighten. But still I often need pliers to get all the .... off when I want to rebuild or just refill it.

Goblin v2: Easy to build, great performance, nice looks. I like the solution with the 2 chimneys and tanks. But the worst tank to refill I ever had. The refillhole has a good size but there is nearly no room between chimney and tank for the juice. The only thing I can fit in there are needletop bottles. But even 50/50 moves so slowly that it takes forever for the 4.2ml to fill up. And then right on the inside of the fillhole is a juice channel so filling without flooding the whole build is nearly impossible.

 

[Mad Scientist]

Billow v2: ^^^^ exactly this.

Cthulhu: More like an all over PITA to disassamble and not just for refilling. It's a great tank with a great performance and great looks. But either it's not the best machining or the o-rings are slightly too big. I lubed every single one and I never overtighten. But still I often need pliers to get all the .... off when I want to rebuild or just refill it.

Goblin v2: Easy to build, great performance, nice looks. I like the solution with the 2 chimneys and tanks. But the worst tank to refill I ever had. The refillhole has a good size but there is nearly no room between chimney and tank for the juice. The only thing I can fit in there are needletop bottles. But even 50/50 moves so slowly that it takes forever for the 4.2ml to fill up. And then right on the inside of the fillhole is a juice channel so filling without flooding the whole build is nearly impossible.

I never tried a goblin because the juice capacity issue along with bottom screw hole fill made it a no go for me. You definitely confirmed I don't want one lol.

For the Cthulhu, to get it apart it I just hold one part with a paper towel and unscrew the other. Keep going (and going) until it's all apart. To disassemble the chimney it helps to loosen the top section and loosen it off the deck before completely removing either. That helps prevent the lower chimney from "squeezing" out of round as you hold it which does make it really hard if not impossible to remove. The threads were never great so maybe I was lucky to get one that will all come apart without tools or curse words lol.

I just ordered 3 more big Buddhas and a Aqua v2. The big Buddhas are so easy to mod and work so well once done that I had to get more of them at the current price. In addition to performance, juice capacity is the kicker. I can fill it once and go all day. I hate the exposed o-rings but otherwise the flawless machining and the big glass tank make it look much more expensive than it is.

 

[sanguinesolitude]

I never tried a goblin because the juice capacity issue along with bottom screw hole fill made it a no go for me. You definitely confirmed I don't want one lol.

For the Cthulhu, to get it apart it I just hold one part with a paper towel and unscrew the other. Keep going (and going) until it's all apart. To disassemble the chimney it helps to loosen the top section and loosen it off the deck before completely removing either. That helps prevent the lower chimney from "squeezing" out of round as you hold it which does make it really hard if not impossible to remove. The threads were never great so maybe I was lucky to get one that will all come apart without tools or curse words lol.

I just ordered 3 more big Buddhas and a Aqua v2. The big Buddhas are so easy to mod and work so well once done that I had to get more of them at the current price. In addition to performance, juice capacity is the kicker. I can fill it once and go all day. I hate the exposed o-rings but otherwise the flawless machining and the big glass tank make it look much more expensive than it is.

how does the billow compare airflow-wise to the STM? love those little buggers, but would like a bit closer to an rda draw on an rta. I'm a lung hitter.

 

[Mad Scientist]

how does the billow compare airflow-wise to the STM? love those little buggers, but would like a bit closer to an rda draw on an rta. I'm a lung hitter.

In side by side comparison, billow v2 has more airflow than STM with RBA section. It's not a whole lot more but it's enough more that you can definitely tell. I don't know if the STM OCC heads have different airflow from the STM RBA section. The stock heads that came with my STM will likely stay in the box it came in forever lol.

I often "carve" or "slip stream" and both tanks will wick no problems even with doing that. It does seem to increase vapor a good bit. I'm thinking about trying to find a cheap source of a few drip tips with the little airflow controller in them for when I feel like a real lung hit off a tank. If you know of anybody that has them at a reasonable price, post them up!