GG AVS for GGTS initial impressions

[clyde2801]

In all honesty Clyde, reading your frustrations and steeeeeeep learning curve has only reinforced my reluctance to purchase one, regardless of what some folks might say. No PV should be such a PITA, regardless of implied user "newbieness that has been voiced elsewhere.

God, I feel like an abused spouse since I do want to defend the merits of the AFS family. When it works, it is literally like nothing else I've tried; vaping nirvana. So far, most of my problems with the mod has been not realizing that my ggts'es needed cleaning.

One thing I really can't defend is the lack of concise written instructions with illustrations for a relatively complicated mod. There needs to be a written page or two of instructions that ship with the mod, or a website that contains them.

Having to jump around four or five threads to watch a handful of videos and weed through dozens of unrelated comments in the process isn't good enough. Imeo's been pretty absent from the gg board lately; I hope and pray that he's getting another website up and running. A diagnostic checklist would be a great idea as well.

 

[Switched]

One thing I really can't defend is the lack of concise written instructions with illustrations for a relatively complicated mod. There needs to be a written page or two of instructions that ship with the mod, or a website that contains them.

Having to jump around four or five threads to watch a handful of videos and weed through dozens of unrelated comments in the process isn't good enough. Imeo's been pretty absent from the gg board lately; I hope and pray that he's getting another website up and running. A diagnostic checklist would be a great idea as well.

... and IMHO the aforementioned statements do not equal customer support.

 

[clyde2801]

... and IMHO the aforementioned statements do not equal customer support.

Or, not quite adequate customer support.

 

[Wayne_]

Or just maybe the AVS isnt very good. I wish you people would stop hiding behind that fact..My money is on the Precious L and JD. I bet when its released there will be a ton of (he tried but it just isnt very good)GGTS's for sale. Sorry if this offends you GGfanbois,but be honest and tell the truth.

 

[ella]

Remember the days when we had pc probs and we'd check boards and find that "everyone" seemed to be having problems? What we learned from that experience is that the people who were having problems were the ones that were writing. The ones that didn't have any, didn't.

And that's my point with the GGTS+AVS; I've had my GGTS for 6 months and added the AVS last month. Absolutely no problems. Fill/top up in the AM; change batt (AW18650) every couple of days. Clean the unit once every week or so.

That's that. It just works the way I fully expected it to.

 

[VPDownunder]

It's overpriced a fair bit but it's a great PV, I've had no probs with any leaking, warm buttons, blown attys, juice in mouth etc etc. I run mine at 7.4v with a HV 901 atty with no issues whatsoever, it does however chew through juice but on the flip side it pumps out vapor with great flavor like no other mod I own.

 

[clyde2801]

Minor mishap yesterday with the LR901, started vaping a bit intermittently and stopped altogether. A dab of noalox to the switch tip (where it meets the brass center post) seems to have fixed the problem, but I can't recall having to do that on the ggts before so soon after a cleaning.

Minor issues with the i6, fixed after a juice dump from the CT. Seems there's a lot of nooks and crannys for juice to hide out in there. May have to take Hopefulll's suggestion of using a syringe to suck juice out of the nooks and crevices. God help me if I ever get pulled over with this setup.

And my 14 year old daughter, after getting up for her first day of school this year, walks into the kitchen just now and sees me with a syringe in the collection tank. Not the proudest moment of my life.

I'm thinking I'd rather dump juice into a container and swab out remnants with a tissue rather than carry a frakkin needle around.

I'll carry my freshly noaloxed LR with me this morning, hopefully it'll make it through the day this time. I'll also try out my attys and cartos in the "?" marked baggie tonight to see if they'll work.

I've also checked out v2 of the Precious L. I haven't seen any in depth pictures of it yet, or heard how its JD-juice dispenser?-works. It's also appears by the product description to be chock full of electronics which would normally be anathema to me; I prefer all mechanical construction. But I'm getting to the point where I'll R2-D2 if it'll get me a good consistent vape.

Ella, I'm glad your unit is working for you. I'd love to join you in the silent majority. I figured from the beginning mine was an isolated case because there would be howls of controversy if it wasn't, or maybe a lynch mob.

 

[Wayne_]

Well the good news is the 3rd Gen Precious L v2 with JD is now available to pre order.

 

[clyde2801]

Got UHV 901 from my pal Sterno this morning during a quick visit. Sterno's pretty much the uber reonaut in red dirt land.

Put in the 901 along with a couple of imr cr123a's for 7.4v. Great vape, taste and TH, but I've already had to take a couple of dumps this morning...even with my fairly thickish VG blend coconut!

At least it is consistent-ish. When the vape lets off, it's time to take a dump.

I'll try to tighten up the top caps on the AVS itself and see if that helps.

 

[Lightgeoduck]

Got UHV 901 from my pal Sterno this morning during a quick visit. Sterno's pretty much the uber reonaut in red dirt land.

Put in the 901 along with a couple of imr cr123a's for 7.4v. Great vape, taste and TH, but I've already had to take a couple of dumps this morning...even with my fairly thickish VG blend coconut!

At least it is consistent-ish. When the vape lets off, it's time to take a dump.

I'll try to tighten up the top caps on the AVS itself and see if that helps.

Yeah VG sometimes gets my IBS kicking into high gear

 

[clyde2801]

So far, I'm getting some inconsistent great vaping on both avs'es.

When they work, hoo-boy! Thick, tasty vape with either the LR501 at 3.7v or the UHV 901 at 7.4. Great taste with either pg analog or vg mix coconut.

The nirvana is constantly interrupted by having to tinker with the mod. Puff, puff, puff, oh crap, time to take a dump. Vape, vape, ah it's tasting burnt, fiddle with the control ring. Or nothing. Disassemble the AVS and see if the atty has become slightly screwed off the base when removing the top cap.

It has gotten a bit better, and the vaping to tinkering ratio has improved somewhat. But this is still a secondary or armchair vape for me: a mod to enjoy in my favorite armchair where I can devote my full time and attention to working it.

Trouble is, I don't really have anything that comes fairly close to how it vapes for a road machine. I'm running my carlos juice box at 6v and keeping it VERY wet, but even that's not quite the same as a fully functioning AVS. And running a machine at almost twice its standard voltage is just begging for trouble, especially one with a hand made atty. I'm honestly surprised it hasn't melted yet.

Ah, the irony. I initially knocked the CJB for its steep learning curve and praised the GGTS (in 2nd gen mode without auto feeding) for its rock solid simplicity and dependability. The opposite has somehow happened, and I can't quite wrap my mind around it.

Hopefully, the light will somehow turn on, and I'll get over the learning curve(?). And out of desperation, I've put myself on the preorder list for the 2nd version of the Precious L with its Juice Dispenser. For no other reason, it'll be interesting to see how our intrepid Greek competes against the upstart Roman-sorry, Romanian. May turn out to be a struggle of classical proportions.

 

[Aceyboogie]

Clyde, since I will be having both devices soon ( just purchased the new GGTS with Avs from fellow forum member Vapn and preorder #102 on the Precious-L V2 with JD) I will definitely have the best of both worlds and hopefully be in vaping heaven. I am also gonna be looking forward to your review of the new precious mod when you receive it.

 

[clyde2801]

Hopefully, you're smarter than I am, or will have better luck on the AVS than I have.

The v2 looks like it could be a good design, but I really want to see the Juice Dispenser.

 

[clyde2801]

Spent another productive with Hopefulll in the aussie vapers irc channel, where I complained about the hit or miss nature of the AVS.

Hopefulll then asked if I had applied vaseline to the threads and o rings of the ggts itself.

I HAD read that tip on the gg forum, but didn't take it seriously and didn't think it necessary. I had equated that tip with the actions of a slightly too uptight spinster aunt who covered all of her furniture with plastic slip covers.

Hopefulll then explained how the vaseline, besides protecting the o rings and ensuring that the threads of the avs didn't oxidize shut together, somehow helped to create a perfect seal that prevented the flooding, leaking and airflow issues I had been having with the mod.

I wasn't entirely sure about this claim, and wondered if this was some aussie tradition to pull a prank on newish reviewers.

SO FAR* it appears to be working on both the LR and UHV AVSes. Both are more reliable than they have ever been, and I'm getting a good vape roughly three times out of four when I hit the switch. Neither appear to have any juice in the CT despite vaping for an hour or two. Huh. Both are also vaping better than ever before, putting out a lot more vape volume while retaining the taste and TH. The plumes coming from the UHV 901 at 7.4v are incredible, and I can also see why some are really lovin' the LR at 3.7v.

IF they continue to perform this way for an extended period without acting up*, they'll be the mods I have been always looking for.


*It's only been a couple of hours, so I'm not going to publicly declare 'Mission Accomplished' and do the Snoopy dance after landing an F-18 on an aircraft carrier. If I can quietly vape them without problems for a couple of days after refilling them a few times, I'll consider it. I cannot literally count the number of times that I thought I had resolved a problem on an AVS only to have it reappear a few hours later.

 

[clyde2801]

Still looking good so far. Both AVSes are vaping well with a relatively minimum of knobdicking.

Had to take a dump only once with the LR, none with the UHV. Love the UHV, but it is a juice guzzler!

Once I'm a little more confident in these through more use, I'll have to a) go through my bag of suspect attys and cartos to see if they're dead or falsely accused due to problems with the mod, and b) try some cigar juice in one.

I also can't help but wonder if the vaseline trick would have helped when I was having trouble with the Grande and v2.

 

[clyde2801]

It looks like most of the attys I pushed with 2x the recommended current when I first got the AVS are fried.

I was able to get a malfunctioning carto that I modded to work again by realigning the interior tube with a toothpick (picked up that trick from either emonty or jbtx on the gg forums). If it fires, and doesn't vape a realignment is possible.

Vaping that now at 6v, which is recommended by the GG carto god, emonty. Lord, I almost had forgotten how much I love that configuration! Looks like the LR and UHV are going back into their baggies for now. With the carto, the avs has almost a hairtrigger where before I had to put a lot more pressure on the same rig for it to make an atty sizzle.

I may also have to try mixing some dekang marlboro with some vapor renu clove to see if I can get something like a clove cigarette. Wish me luck.

 

[Lightgeoduck]

I was able to get a malfunctioning carto that I modded to work again by realigning the interior tube with a toothpick (picked up that trick from either emonty or jbtx on the gg forums). If it fires, and doesn't vape a realignment is possible.

I usually don't usually worry about receiving credit and the members you mentioned do help and provide useful information... but felt the need to help jog your memory

(Note I am not staking claim of the idea, just pointing out it was a conversation between us--of course you might have over looked this and listened to them )

Clyde, if I am reading you correctly (please correct me if I am not) you are saying after punching a hole, to modify your carto for the AFS, you are not getting airflow.

if that is the case then one possible problem is that you have moved the "center wrap" off center...

If you look inside your carto.. you will see what looks like a "paper" tube and part of the element... if that is off center it will affect your airflow.... and can be easily fixed by using a toothpick or better yet a pin... to center it, which should align everything for a straight open path to see out the battery connection hole of the carto...

This is just a guess .. since when I normally messed with cartos, during intended usage, this occurred occasionally.

hope that helped


LGD

 

[clyde2801]

After a day or two with the greased up avs'es....

a minute or two of tweaking, but once they've fit together right, I can change batteries or juice with a minimum of knobdicking..

Think I'm going to have to take some time and take my tenergy lifepo4's to the battery store and see if they're any good. Seems like half of them will glow once they're on the charger, even if I took them off five minutes ago. These are batteries that haven't even been used five times...

And a thousand pardons to you, LGD. I'll plead hereditary Alzheimer's as my defense.

 

[clyde2801]

Spent a little time with my "?" atty/carto baggies. The attys ARE fried, but I've still got two i3's, i6's, LR's and regular 3.7's.

Able to salvage another carto. And was able to use the sharped punch (ala JBTX method) to tap a hole in a new one; I think I went one tap too far on my other attempts. So, one in the AVS, one modded spare, four naturals left in the package.

Boy, this new carto in the AVS fires up really well. Bliss. May have to refill 'er with some of my cigar juice to stink up the den nice and good.

 

[clyde2801]

Random thought: I wonder if a carto does so well on the AVS/AFS is its soft metal threads. With a carto it seems you have to really force it into the base, and can almost feel the carto's threads give way when you do it. It feels like it's really gripping the base. Half the time when I have issues with an atty on the avs/afs, I find that it's loosened from the base a bit, probably from replacing an loosening the top (mouthpiece) cap a few too many times.

Anyway, the juice drawdown continues. Consolidating similar flavors into one container, and trying to use up my less favorite mixes before I buy any more. Was going to go with a less than optimal cigar blend, but think I'll go with cinnamon this morning for its semi therapeutic effect on my sinuses (It's actually raining in Oklahoma!). Will be followed by less favorite flavors such as clove, grape and the aforementioned cigar blend and then the remnants of chocolate, coconut, etc.