Malhaku we are close. I am from Buffalo. What was your take on the two setups? Pros and cons of the two. Thanks a ton.
Cool! A fellow wNYer!
When it comes to the analog equivalents, I used SafeCig. Keep in mind any analysis is based on them, but from what I've seen other ones fall into a similar situation.
The biggest difference between what I did before and what I'm doing now comes down to: Simplicity vs. Freedom
SafeCig was simple. Everything I needed was on the one site. I had done some research to land there, but once I chose everything came from one spot. In my initial research, I avoided going in too deep with other sites like this one because I thought it would all be too complex. I saw ohms and VV and intricate mods and got scared.
Now SafeCig has some good flavors; a fresh cartridge on their system tasted great.
The problem is that everything is from one place. I couldn't buy cartridges from other sites because they weren't compatible. Hence, no competition. No competition = low innovation as well higher pricing. There's also only one option of delivery and that's the company cartridges (which are essentially pre-filled cartomizers.) As well as limited options in juice. For example, the variant flavors are only available in 18mg.
Now, in the expanding vaping universe there is competition and variance, but compatibility. So I can get an ego battery for much less money than a safecig battery and the ego last longer per charge (also, based on what I've read it will have a longer lifetime. A SC battery that I didn't have that long dying pretty quickly is what pushed me to expand.) Not only that, with the Twist I can vary the voltage and thus vary the strength of the hit. I've had fun experimenting with that.
So that's a step up in the power supply department. What about liquid and delivery? Well, with my ego I can try different methods of delivery as well as have a HUGE menu of juices to choose from (lots of stuff out there.) And... it's significantly cheaper.
Other delivery types are in the mail to me currently, but the Vivi. I definitely get a larger volume of vape and it's very smooth. It doesn't have a big punch like I want sometimes, but that could be more that I picked up 12 instead of 18mg liquid to try and cut down. It's also delivery as most reviews say that the clearomizer system is a smoother draw.
Basically, if you're looking for complete simplicity without much thought, the pre-packaged analog equivalent systems can work just fine. However, as I've discovered in the last week, if you're willing to do a little legwork, you can do so much more and be much more flexible by going off that route.
Btw, some great beginner information is at TasteYourJuice.com. It's run by reviewer Pbusardo (who I was pleasantly surprised to discover lives in Rochester as well.) Top of the left menu bar has some great beginner and general info.
I also notice you asked about passthroughs. I picked up a pure passthrough (not a battery with a passthrough hookup.) It works great, but it's for when I'm tethered to a desk at work or home. I'm personally already in love with variable voltage for flexibility so I'm glad the passthrough I got is VV.
As for size of a battery going out. I've had my eGo at a gaming store, at a friend's apartment, etc. It's not too bulky in any way. If you're having trouble visualizing... a normal cigarette is like carrying around a half of a number 2 pencil. The 900 ego twist and a vivi nova tank is like carrying around a Hi-Liter pen. Yes, it's significantly bigger... no, it's not an imposition (at least in my opinion.)
Hopefully my ramblings have helped.
Edit: Opening a window to respond... leaving to do stuff... coming back and writing a novel... never good for timing. There's always a bunch of posts that go up first... heh.
