GG AFS for GGTS prototype initial impressions

[clyde2801]

Or, I might just be an idiot.

Was getting ready to disassemble the grande with the 3.7v 901 regular atty when I decided to clean the switch and connections on its ggts. Voila! (and Doh!)

Loaded it up with grape (love the flavor, but it stains about as badly as real grape juice) and some 3v trustfire cr123's.

Great taste on the vape, but not quite the TH as it's HV brother at 7.4v. Want to see how long it will last at 6v, and what kind of leakage/seepage it exhibits. If it holds up to some usage at this voltage without popping, it just may be the winning combination (barring a combination of a LR 901 and a IMR 18650 battery).

 

[clyde2801]

Looks like the battery charger I swapped with Sterno takes forever to charge. So...since the tenergy lifepo4's I've got are just about junk, it looks like no 6v vaping for the time being. Or at least, until I can swap chargers back.

Ordered a couple of LR 901's from ikenvape. Turns out its a pretty popular choice on the AM and AVS. We'll see how they vape, and how they last with a high drain 18650. It may help me achieve my dream of an all day, HVish vape...hopefully I'll be able to get two weeks or more out of them.

 

[clyde2801]

Damn it, my allergies are acting up and I'm THIS close to getting a sinus headache.

It's a phenomenon that happens a lot less often, and with less severity, since I swapped vaping for smoking.

Looks like it's time to empty juice and load up on the peppermint and cinnamon today to help with that. My external thanks to Whataclumsygirl for her suggestion on that.

For maximum vape and reliability, it looks like #61 will come to work on me at 7.4v on the HV non iAtty 901. Can't afford to put up with the intermittent batty and atty problems with the 3.7v since my Grande will be delivering allergy/sinus headache relief as well as nicotine.

I wonder how long it will take the LR901's to get here from Ikenvape. If they do turn out to be 'all that and a bag of chips', there may be a lot of damp 901 and iattys sitting in baggies in my desk drawer waiting for something to do.

 

[clyde2801]

Fighting off a writhing sinus headache most of the day yesterday, still trying to get completely over it this morning.

Think I accidentally put on the All Mods cap onto the grande. Cap kept popping off under pressure, hv 901 may be blown. 3.7v non iatty 901 on the grande still leaking like a sieve.

Imeo is sending me a proper AVS to replace the Grande. I suspect the only difference is the improved collection tank. If it vapes like the Grande without leaking or seepage, the Grande will become a 'conversation piece' very soon.

In the meanwhile, I've put a 3.7v iatty in the grande with a 18650 after shocking it for a puff or two at 6v. We'll see if the foam disc helps with leaking more on the iatty than it did with the regular 3.7 version.

So far, so good on the leaking (But truthfully, how many times have I said that only to find that my breast pocket in my suit was drenched later in the day?) and the i3 at 3.7 with foam disc is putting out nice vape and taste. A lessened throat hit is the only clue I'm not vaping at HV. With the blue foamed collection tank, the occasional gurgle when inhaling is replaced with a long muffled slurping sound.

The LR's have started their trek yesterday from a post office in PA. We'll see how they perform with a 18650, and if they leak. I'm starting to think this issue is very atty specific, and is hit or miss at best.

 

[clyde2801]

Managed to visit with my friend Sterno this morning for a bit. Sterno is the guy who started vaping with my clyde2801 box from redeyedancer (a precursor to the Reo), and he has come a LONG way in a short time. It's disconcerting when a newb comes to far surpass me in many important aspects of vaping knowledge like ohms on atomizers, battery characteristics and the like. He's the Anakin Skywalker to my Obi Wan Kenobi. (And it's not just me, I'm told Redeyedancer calls him the Vaping Ninja). Sterno's all excited because he's getting to try his own prototype from RED. Mark my words, Sterno's going to be a major player in the vaping community over time. He's made up his own RY4 blend that is just dee-lish.

Any hou, I swapped Sterno my HV901 for his LR version. I liked the vape and TH on the HV, but it leaked like a sieve on my Grande, and the LR wasn't his favorite atty, either. Though we both have supplies inbound, neither one of us have exactly cornered the market on patience, so a swap seemed logical.

I've finally got a low res 901 coupled with a high drain 18650 on the Grande, the combo that a lot of the real AVS guys and gals have raved about.

It's really HVish. Nice amount of vape, decent taste, and a tickle or two of TH to boot. And it's hard to say what makes it an 'ish. It could be that the vape isn't quite as thick or warm as 6v or higher. Nonetheless, 'taint bad at all.

I really like the draw on it as well, it seems to come pretty close to how I smoked analogs. (I saw on a video from igetcha69 that he thought people preferred attys and voltages that most replicated their former smoking styles, and I thought that was a brilliant observation.) It can be finicky, though. I actually have to fine tune the draw on the control ring to get the right amount of juice without flooding or receiving a burnt taste. I haven't messed with the 901 inlet hole yet, the dremel is staying in the drawer for now.

It's been about an hour and a half, and the LR seems to have helped quite a bit with juice problems on the grande. It has slight seepage rather than leakage. I can see a thin film of juice around the air inlet holes on the control ring, and a drop or two of juice will occasionally gather on the outside of the mod after heavy usage. No nicotine rivulets down the outside of the mod or moistness in the battery compartment. Not perfect, but manageable.

Besides leakage and seepage, the only remaining issues are going to be how long the battery lasts with this atty, and how long the atty will go before popping after extended usage.

If this combo does prove to be the holy grail of almost HV vaping all day, I suspect it will go on the incoming AVS as my 'out and about' vape. The Grande will get relegated to armchair status with a 6v iatty or carto-just so I an make sure that a napkin or paper towel will always be nearby.

 

[clyde2801]

Tried the lr901 with the grande today. Nice vape, good TH, great battery life...

...but the damn thing STILL leaks.

Honestly, I'm about to lose my mind with the juice leaks on the Grande. Love every other aspect possible about this mod, but I can't use it without having a hanky, napkin or paper towel nearby.

May try disassembling it again, and use blue foam on the collector tank and around the atty inlet hole, but my experience tells me that this probably won't work, either. There is the possibility from watching an AVS video made by a user that unscrewing the top may unscrew the atty if the very top cap (the thin piece right under the plastic mouthpiece) is tightened too much. That could explain why the damned leaks only seem to start happening when I refill or check the fluid levels. But it can't be THAT simple, can it? And if it is, wouldn't a smaller top o ring fix that?

When Imeo withdrew Lisa's status as a GG supplier after their tiff, Lisa took down the GG website that contained a wealth of knowledge and help about the AFS variants and other GG products. Vapnaway seemed to resign as the resident AFS guru as well. Unless and until Imeo, Rob, Hopefulll or somebody else reinstates the website with its officially sanctioned hints this is a major blow to the entire GG community, IMHO. And while the same info might be in the GG forum, it'll doubtlessly be scattered around different threads, buried in them. Back when I first reviewed the GGTS, one of the only negative things I could say about it was the lack of concise, easy to find written documentation about it. The website solved that concern...until it was taken down.

Good thing the AVS is slowly making its way to me, or I'd probably strip off the Grandes and throw the ggts'es in a drawer as a trusty 2nd gen backup.

I fervently hope the AVS doesn't have this very annoying problem. I don't think that's the case, or at least some people would be screaming bloody murder by now.

There's just so many things to love about the Grande: variety of attys and voltages, self juicing, great taste, and the potential for an all day juice supply, that makes this one drawback so annoying. It's like the Mona Lisa with a hairy mole, or Scarlett Johansen with a hairlip.

At first light, I'll dump juice, completely re-assemble the Grande, and try the loose top cap. If that's the problem, I'll also try to make sure that I take the top cap's two pieces on and off separately. Normally, I disliked the extra effort and time involved in doing that, but if it solves the leak problem it would be a Godsend.

 

[clyde2801]

AVS in NYC as of 8/4/10. Hmmm....depending on customs, I wonder if I might be receiving it this week.

 

[clyde2801]

Still messing with the lr901 on the afs with a high drain 18650, blue foam in the collector tank stem.

What can I say, this puppy's not house broken yet. It just don't behave right. Its either leaving little puddles lying around and giving me inconsistent vapes. Not wanting to vape at all, or tasting harsh and burnt.

This is the biggest sin for an AFS according to me; inconsistent vaping. I'm willing to put up with a lot of odd quirks and minor mishaps if a mod will give me a good vape when I hit the button four times out of five. It's the reason why I keep playing with these messy Grandes when I've got a carlos juice box, reo, mr puffer and Kaji/jouneyman lying around; wiping up a trickle of juice is less of a PITA than having to adjust microsqueezes of a bottle every three or five vapes.

Right now, I'm puffing on a i3 iatty with a 18650 on the other Grande. It's not quite as intense as the LR 901, but it will give a consistent vape with a minimum of wiping.

I'll also have to take the 901 to the office today. Come to think of it, the AVS did get into NYC wednesday night, and it's essentially a few pieces of aluminum with no juice; I'm hoping that it will sail through customs like the grandes did. Maybe, just maybe, it'll come to my office in the next couple of days.

Again, if and when that magical day arrives, I think I'll try the lr 901 with the AVS for an all day out and about vape and keep a grande at home by the recliner for some good old fashioned 6v carto action (with a trusty hanky nearby).

 

[clyde2801]

AVS and additional LR 901 attys due in the mail today! Huzzah! Guess I won't be going anywhere until my postman stops by this morning...

 

[clyde2801]

Well, my Grande's have been upgraded (or downsized) to proper AVS'es. Imeo, God bless him, took pity upon me from the heights of vaping olympus and sent me two AVS collector tanks; guess the Grande uses the same juice tank as its smaller brother.

Definitely a size difference between the two.

And the AVS tanks so far HAVE fixed the leakage/seepage issues. Not only is there no juice on my hands or on the outside of the mod, the inside of the collector tanks appear to be dry as well.

There's a bit of a tighter draw as well. Unlike the Grande, the AVS proper doesn't appear to make a big difference when using the control ring; turning it a fraction of a turn on the Grande made a night and day difference, the AVS is much more forgiving. It seems that the Grande's CR felt more solid and harder to turn, the AVS's seems almost loose by comparison.

So far, my favorite on the AVS seems to be the i3 iatty at 6v. I know, I know. I keep expecting it to pop, but it's working great, knock on wood.

I'm having flooding issues with the lr901 with the 18650. Not feeling the love. Will have to come back to this later; I'll have to take the punch and perforate a carto to use at 6v tomorrow morning.

Guess it'll be time to start a new review on the AVS tomorrow morning.

 

[clyde2801]

I have spent the five weeks with the Grande.

My overall impression about this mod is that it's 'the Mona Lisa with a hairy mole' or 'Scarlett Johansson with a hairlip'; i.e., it is almost perfect with one very noticeable flaw.

Doubtlessly you've figured out that the one flaw is leakage or seepage of juice from the collection tank. It's a serious enough problem to detract from the its other stellar characteristics such as adjustable draw, self juicing action from inhalation, and the use of different cartos, attys and battys. It either constantly had drops of juice on the outside of the mod or outright leaked like a sieve. The tricks I used successfully on the AM weren't effective on these units.

Maybe the helpful and resourceful GG community would have figured out a simple and effective solution to this problem. But I suspect there would be howls of protest if this was released to the public. Thankfully, this did not happen.

But again, thanks to Imeo I've received two AVS collection tanks, so my Grandes have been upgraded to proper AVSes. My Grande collection tanks can now be cleaned and used as conversation pieces. It hasn't been all bad, and I've learned a lot in the process. I've also got some more sympathy for designers and modders: one or two seemingly minor tweaks or changes can result in major differences in a mod.

And now, onward to the AVS!