Welcome kelli! You'll enjoy it here, lots of experienced vapers willing to help. It did not take me long either in deciding to make the switch to something other than the ciga-like models. After getting some advice I too am going with the Ego Twist. Ordered it TODAY in fact.
Patience is a virtue, patience is a virtue...
tomzgreat, awesome advice for noobs like us. Glad I found this thread!
Thanks for the compliment, I noticed that you joined this month. Welcome to the vaping world.
I agree, the Cig-Like models just don't cut it. By the way I'm the same as all of you guys, my first unit bought on the internet was a ciga like model. I can still remember only getting 2 hours or so out of it. And the puny vapor. It didn't take me long to find the forum either and buy a real device.
Back 4 years ago, you didn't have the selection that you have today. The Egos were a puny 650mah or less and VV didn't exist. The hardware quality was deplorable. You could go with a Prodigy at over $100.00 a pop and still have problems.
The $75.00 - $100.00 range was all garbage.
In addition the Cartomizers were less sophisticated, I found a sweet spot of 5V with an 801. This required more sophisticated harware. Now a days the Clearomizers are 2.3Ohm and the sweet spot is from 3.75 to 4.5 depending your taste and your liquid.
My first expensive and good purchase was the Golden Greek but it was mechanical, and after a year it needed maintenance. I did well because I bought it for $150.00 - $175.00 and later sold it to a guy for $50.00, he cleaned it up and was a happy camper.
The first truly fine units was/is the Provari. I have one but hardly use it. It's not right for the beginner because it's just too expensive and the form factor is much bigger. But it is worth it. My Provari lasted for over a year, but than the low res clearomizers came out and destroyed the circuit board. I had it repaired and it still works to this day.
I really am betraying my age, I'm one of the few who have vaped long enough to wear out a Provari!!
I would be a Provari user today except that I needed a backup while in the shop so I made a hobby of trying to find a inexpensive unit in the $70.00-$100.00 range.
The first unit I bought was a Lava Tube type and returned it because in the first 1/2 hour I opened my Vivi Nova and liquid spilled on it. It wasn't water tight, liquid got inside and the next thing you know it was literally smoking, quickly I unscrewed the battery.
Man I spent hours on the forums researching and just couldn't find a consensus of Provari Quality at that price point. Than I ran across an isolated post on the SmokTek Varicool, not to be confused with Smoktech, I checked it out and it had very good reviews. My Provari came back but I stuck with the Smoktek Varicool because I liked the smaller form factor
It's a box mod
Click Here which I wrote extensive review on
Click Here. I like that the Box is small and compact and it's very efficient, with the two 14500 batteries I go a day and 1/2 or so of Heavy vaping. I ordered the batteries for less than $5.00 a piece on deal Extreme and I use a Xtar WP2 Charger that I picked up for around $20.00
I didn't recommend it for a beginner, because the shape is a box and many want the Cigarette shape, also it's more complicated, you have to deal with Batteries and separate battery chargers and it's more expensive. The Logical 2nd step from the cig like mods is the Ego Twist C. When I was in a vaping shop/lounge the other day, I met a person vaping who had been using the Ego Twist since it came out and felt no need to change.
I've been using my box mod for 6 Months and it still works great, but I don't abuse my unit either, I carry it around in a vest with a loose top pocket. Since it lasted 6 month, I figure that it is going to end up more economical than the Provari.
For Step 3, check out the Provari or the Smoktek Varicool. There is a world of solutions for Step 3. I was in the store the other day and they had a box shaped unit for around $80.00 with a 3,000mah battery built in that would last forever. You can even use it to charge your Cel Phone, I was tempted but I compared the form factor and my box mod was way smaller.
I would never have tried the box mod, or Lava except my Provari was in the shop.
oh well, i will make it thru another day with this lame-o ecig. i am still gonna hang onto it in case of emergencies.
