High end RTAs

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TheotherSteveS

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Agree completely, this is the main reason I think so many high end modders fail and why their sales have dropped so considerably. been vaping about 7 years and seen a million of them come and go, while the ones that were able to stick around I can count on one hand.

High end gear in general had become a lot less popular, but that's an easy one obviously the Chinese stuff has gotten much better, but I also think it's mostly bc a lot of the desirable ones can't be arsed with setting up a website, and they don't realize 90% of most people aren't going to want to join a Facebook group, or forum and stalk it constantly.

Then there's the qc issues, qc has always been off here & there on high end devices, but I've seen qc go waaaay downhill in high end mods over the last few years... and getting the modders to deal with their mistakes, on a 200+ dollar atty or a 400+ dollar mod is a damn nightmare, and when they finally do after months of poking and prodding they act like they are doing you a favor. It's gotten to the point where it just gets silly, and people done want to deal with it any more, make someone go through that once or twice they're going to be done with it for good. That migh've worked in the past, someone waits excitedly 6 months to a year for an item they're more likely to overlook a few issues, but that stuff doesn't fly anymore when there are much cheaper options w/ perfect CS. I don't want to see high end modders fail, but these days they need to step their game up if they want to survive imo.
Absolutely agree. The FB thing is a mystery to me. It is cost-free (for the moment) but so is setting up a web-store pretty much. There are umpteen devices I would have bought over the last year or two if they available in a proper manner. Frankly I just will not return to FB for buying vape gear. As for QC, agreed also. There are exceptions such as VapourArt, ESG, MB (although he can be a bit flaky and CS isnt that great), SM, dicodes etc etc but relatively few and far between. The rise of the chinese industry really has put a downer on the HE market. There are some pretty decent chinese atties around these days with pretty good machining, some innovation (but no customer service of course - zero, none, nil, nada, zip) etc and at a fraction of the price of modder's offerings. As you say, it's getting near the time they need to put up and embrace a more inclusive business model or shut TF down...There will always be the hard core who can't resist 'designer' gear (cough..me...cough) but any amount of hype/secrecy/hard-to-get'ness won't, in the long run, beat the hard reality of economics!
 

soulseek

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It is their own fault that they haven't evolved, yet the market is still so small that they're doing pretty well. Their future is ominous though.

Chinese products have become so much better that I'm at a point that I've left my expensive GG, Rose etc. atomisers on the side. I'm currently using the Digiflavor Siren GTA and Merlin Mini on a regular basis. They just perform flawlessly and they're so much easier to build, use, fill, clean. And the machining is spot on. Ten years on and Imeos parts are still sharp as hell; how many cuts I've had to endure while using his products.

When it comes to QC I think Chinese products are way more reliable nowadays, since they're pushing so many numbers. Also, when you get a faulty product that cost you 30 instead of 230, you'll still expect it to be solved but it won't bother you that much.

One advantage that high end modders have is the service and relationship with their customers. You may have a problem with your item and you'll get help pretty much immediately and sometimes free of charge, even if you have made an error. From experience, Imeo offers pretty good customer service. Good luck contacting a Chinese manufacturer with a faulty atomiser.
However, resellers are so eager to please their customers that they often solve the problem for you. I've had various fixes or replacements from UK stores, free of charge and with very fast response times!
 

TheotherSteveS

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So is there any big differences between the byka and skyline? It sure is a pretty tank

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Tough question but 'yes there are' is a simple answer. For me, the by-ka gives a pretty throaty vape, regardless of how I build it. It's not harsh, it just provides a very robust TH. The skyline is much smoother. Kind of like a Bentley vs a Dodge Viper lol. The build quality on the by-ka is good but not up to the Skyline standards (but then i'm not sure anything is built that well). I guess, in the end, you are asking is it worth buying a skyline when i have a by-ka? I would unreservedly say that it is. I have a lot of atties here but these two, along with the hussar, ataman 3, calix, Taifun GT3 and KF5 are the ones I will keep for a long time...the other dozen, who knows lol!!
 
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TheotherSteveS

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On the chinese atty tack, and in the light of the ridiculous list of gear I have on my shelf and my well-documented predilection for all things temp control, my day-to-day out-and-about beater setup is..............an iStick30 with a Nautilus X running the excellent 1.8Ω coil heads at 12.5W. Really decent vape, absolutely leak-free, easy to fill...I have had the iStick ever since it came out around 2 years ago, i use it every day and it still keeps a decent charge. Must have been charged well over 500 times...Say no more!
 

vapdivrr

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Tough question but 'yes there are' is a simple answer. For me, the by-ka gives a pretty throaty vape, regardless of how I build it. It's not harsh, it just provides a very robust TH. The skyline is much smoother. Kind of like a Bentley vs a Dodge Viper lol. The build quality on the by-ka is good but not up to the Skyline standards (but then i'm not sure anything is built that well). I guess, in the end, you are asking is it worth buying a skyline when i have a by-ka? I would unreservedly say that it is. I have a lot of atties here but these two, along with the hussar, ataman 3, calix, Taifun GT3 and KF5 are the ones I will keep for a long time...the other dozen, who knows lol!!
Just watched a few vids on the sky and I really like the looks. I'm actually really big on TH, if it comes down to flavor, vapor, or TH, TH wins. I vape 24mg and even if I come down to 18, it feels way to weak. I often wonder why a certain tank feels less throaty then others and kind of felt that skinnier, more narrow chimneys provide more, or my type of TH. When I try fatter or no chimney types (like drippers) and doing mtl, I feel it's too smooth. I recently spent months down the HE squonking road and had to sell off everything. Tried about 10 different HE bf tanks and just couldn't get that intense TH I get with my rtas. I got heat, but it was different. I never was into dripping, so I don't know if traditional drippers are similiar. Also just sold a pico rta and didn't like that because of TH, it just seemed to not have that bit and that had hardly a chimney. Anyways from the pics I seen, the sky does seem to have a thin, narrow chimney , so maybe it's not that at all. I also own reapers, km3's, tilemos, and erlkonigin, have you vaped them? And would you say the sky is even more "less throaty" then them?

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kiba

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+1 on imeo's threads, but they've actually improved if you can believe that. I have an actual scar from the original i-atty that goes down my thumb, now, at least your not in danger of bleeding out.

The skyline, I don't have one but my cousin, who is also my roommate, does. If there was any throat hit I didn't notice it. I thought it was very comparable to the taifun gt3 with the steam tuners kit.
 
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TheotherSteveS

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+1 on imeo's threads, but they've actually improved if you can believe that. I have an actual scar from the original i-atty that goes down my thumb, now, at least your not in danger of bleeding out.

The skyline, I don't have one but my cousin, who is also my roommate, does. If there was any throat hit I didn't notice it. I thought it was very comparable to the taifun gt3 with the steam tuners kit.
i would agree that the gt3/ST and Skyline are pretty similar for TH but I wouldn't say there is none. It is less than the by-ka though!

@vapdivrr I found the tilemahos very throaty as far as i remember - almost harsh! As for the KFm3, the picio and the erl, the skyline certainly a bit more TH than those although I get a good hit from the KFm3. To be honest its a difficult thing to assess as there are so many variables here. Coil type, coil position over the air hole, juice, nic level, TC or VW settings etc etc so what I am saying is to be taken with a big pinch of salt!
 

TheotherSteveS

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Ok, found a bit of time to plug in the new skyline deck :)
Obviously it is very similar to the old one. The wick well around the coil is a bit roomier and the juice channels are now v-shaped so you have a bit more JF at fully open for example - good for bigger builds. I slapped in the 1x1.5mm adaptor thingy and thta is what will remain there. It is pretty much a perfect draw for me now. I put in a 8/7 27g NiFe48 build around 2.5mm microcoil, around 0.3Ω and wicked her up. The vapour production has improved a lot, partly due to better juice flow and partly dude to the fact that my last build must have been a bit off lol! Overall really good and has taken it up half a notch further for me so happy i went for it. Whether it is worth it for most people I'm not sure really but it is an improvement for sure! The little ledge of PEEK poking out front in the second image is what the removal tool grabs onto!!


ps. if @Mark Todd is going to review all 10 inserts he will have his work cut out. No way of removing with coil in place lol!

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vapdivrr

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i would agree that the gt3/ST and Skyline are pretty similar for TH but I wouldn't say there is none. It is less than the by-ka though!

@vapdivrr I found the tilemahos very throaty as far as i remember - almost harsh! As for the KFm3, the picio and the erl, the skyline certainly a bit more TH than those although I get a good hit from the KFm3. To be honest its a difficult thing to assess as there are so many variables here. Coil type, coil position over the air hole, juice, nic level, TC or VW settings etc etc so what I am saying is to be taken with a big pinch of salt!
Agreed. . Just looking at the design of it I'm sure it's no slouch and Luke you said very build dependant.

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TheotherSteveS

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One more question on the sky, I'm a mtl 95 percent but from time to time like a restricted lung inhale. So I suppose the mtl deck is best? Is it comparable to the km3 in that regards ?

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the standard m2l deck is a good bit tighter than the kf3 although i dont have the screw all the way in on my KF3.
I am wondering if the new deck will be an option on the next batch of skylines. If so, its a no-brainer as you can dial in any draw you want from tight to cloudzbro and everything in between!
 

vapdivrr

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the standard m2l deck is a good bit tighter than the kf3 although i dont have the screw all the way in on my KF3.
I am wondering if the new deck will be an option on the next batch of skylines. If so, its a no-brainer as you can dial in any draw you want from tight to cloudzbro and everything in between!
So one does have the option of either?

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vapdivrr

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TheotherSteveS

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Gotcha.... just went to modtrader to see if any have come up. Just one recently and they were asking 500 which came with both decks. Crazy!

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Lot of flipping going on. Ridiculous really. There will another batch soon!
 

vapdivrr

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@theo, when looking at the air discs on their site, I thought the 1.5 x 1 would be my range, then seen your post above in which that's the one you have. So a fairly tight draw but possible to also do restrictive lung inhales? I believe the tightest tank I have is the byka , which I bought the smaller chimney and I believe the tightest deck option. I keep the AF all the way open and it's ok for me, but perhaps the tightest tank I vape. Do you also have that configuration on the byka? Just curious how the sky with your disc compares

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TheotherSteveS

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Enjoying reading your comments on the new Skyline deck, my mail arrived today but not had a chance to open it yet.

I understand the reasoning behind the discs but in your opinion is it really that much better than just closing the airflow right down?
Hi Mark,

I had it running with the af ring closed down to a hair's breath (ok I exaggerate but very closed). Now running it with the 1x1.5 and af full open and it is just better. I think maybe 10 different options is a bit of overkill, but matching the af at the coil to the type of vape you like is much better, imho, than just opening or closing the AF in most cases. I do like the flat head screws that come with it rather than the hex on my original biut he supplies those anyway. The possibility of increased JF can only be a good thing for the airier stuff/bigger builds and the extra wick space is also nice although not game changing. As I said, its a nice addition. I dont regret getting it but doubt it will be a 'must have' for most people. I'll be interested to see what you make of it!

cheers

steve
 
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