HV (High-Voltage) 510 Premium Cartomizers Beta Testing in progress

[Switched]

I received a package today from IkenVape containing 2 Premium 510 cartos one stainless and one black, for testing and review purposes.

Unlike the KR8s, I am not forgetting to title this post "first impressions", so I can add as time goes by. I will be testing these with the same liquid and devices as the KR8s.

First Impressions

• the cartos metered at 3.2Ohm, they are designed for 3.4 - 5V (Isaac);
• thee have the soft tip;
• are the same size as the other IkenVape 510 cartos;
• unlike the other 510s, these would only take 35 drops (compared to 44, 40 preferred);
• I have been told that these are designed similar to the KR8s with the atty running up the length of the carto vice sitting on top. This may be why they take less liquid; and
• unlike the KR8s, these do not have that KR8 taste, no its not subjective. I do not know what it is, but all the KR8s I have tried have a little "je ne sais quoi" that I am not fond of.

As a vaper I am critical wrt equipment. I believe when we receive our package from the postman, whatever we receive should be ready to go without having to fuss with it, whether it be a device, atomisers or cartos. No fussing with these cartos:

• I filled the silver with RY4 and the black with Blackberry Menthol;
• gave them a quick whirl on my P18 @ 3.7V. As expected they were a little airy for me;
• the fine bouquet of the RY4 came through in all its subtleness, after 2 primer puffs;
• vapour production was awesome for a 20% VG liquid;
• TH was decent but mild and to be expected at 12mg; and
• it passed the stress test (5 x 5 sec hits) consecutively without loosing wicking, flavour, vapour and the atty was barely warm on the sides.

Vapour 5/5
Flavour 4/5
Throat hit 3/5

• next in line was the Blackberry Menthol;
• once again on the P18 @ 3.7V, and as with the RY4 a little airy;
• the subtle flavour of Blackberry shined through with a strong menthol on the exhale;
• as with the RY4 vapour production was awesome, once again with 20% VG;
• TH was reckless as Grimm would say (18mg Menthol); and
• it passed the stress test (5 x 5 sec hits) consecutively without loosing wicking, flavour, vapour and the atty was barely warm on the sides.

Vapour 5/5
Flavour 4/5
Throat Hit 5/5

I gave them a quick whirl on my regulated 5V box mod (4.6V loaded). They require seasoning for me anyway. I had a feeling it was premature to try them within a couple of hours, but wanted to mimic as close to possible what I normally do.

Next device in line was my trusty eGo. Num, Num. Similar results as the P18 but a much smoother, warmer vape. Those who love their eGos, will know what I am talking about here. I vaped the rest of the day on my eGos, alternating flavours and topping off every hour or so.

We have a winner here for the time being. This will be an ongoing review so I will add as circumstances dictate. OTOH the KR8 is still going strong and no sign of letting up, but the batting is starting to get greasy.

 

[thelook]

Nice write up switch, can not wait to get mine

 

[5cardstud]

Nice write up switch, can not wait to get mine

I'm still hiding around the corner of the house with my eye on the gate. Had to explain to the mailman today that I was just practicing to be a right tackle for tha Seahawks.

 

[thelook]

I think my mail lady thinks I have a crush on her...lol

 

[atavanhalen]

Hey switched, do you plan on running these through the paces at 6 to 8 volts? I know that, that exceeds the recommendations but still curious. I have only found one other supplier with cartos that I care for at hv so I am hoping that these will do the trick.

 

[Switched]

Yes I will. AAMOF I plan on giving them a whirl today at 5V and then go from there. I am in the process of building myself a VV eGo, now that is going to add a whole new dimension to my vaping arsenal. I should have it completed today.

As mentioned in the KR8 carto thread, once you bring an atty or a carto up to higher voltages you cannot bring it back down. Today being day 3 with these puppies and they are seasoning in just nice, it is time to bring them up to 5V.

WRT bringing them up to 8V, I'll go there but already know the results, it is going to be too harsh. Some folks like reckless, I don't care for it. On a fresh set of 3.7V batts at 8.4V unloaded these will produce 21.7Watts, way above the sweet spot of 6-12W. Even at 7V they will be producing 16.3W, that is one hell of allot of heat, when the real sweet spot is found around 6-8W, nine being the upper end. Most folks that are using VVs are tuning in at around 4.5-5V, that says allot. My box mod produces 4.67V under load whilst I am getting 5.5V out of my 6V device, and at times even this is a little harsh 9W.

Isaac's entire atomiser/cartomiser line as been carefully developed to meet certain conditions and they perform extremely well within the confines of their recommended limits. FWIW, for my vaping style, I use 5.2Ohm at 6V and 3.5Ohm at 5V. Why? Because it puts me right on or very close to 6 watts and where I like to vape. Many hardcore HV vapers have tuned down their vaping style once they started to understand what is happening at the atty.

All that being said, it largely depends on the liquid you vape as well, and its nic content, some cannot stand the heat of HV vaping, RY4 is one of them. YMMV

 

[atavanhalen]

Cool can't wait to see how they do. I have actually started toning things down myself, I do not really run the stacked 3.7batts anymore, for the last couple weeks I have been using the two aw lipo4s that are 3.2 volts each. Iam hoping to be satisfied with less than that voltage eventually as well. Would you mind telling me if I am using those batts on my p18 with a 3.2 ohm carto roughly what wattage I am running at?

 

[Vaporologist]

The simplest formula for calculating wattage is: voltage x voltage : ohm = wattage

So, when vaping at 6V, 6x6:3.2=11.25. In reality the watts are actually lower since the voltage-under-load is around 5.5V bringing the wattage to 9.45

 

[mini_art]

Darn vapor, I actually understand that !!! Thank you ! gonna have to copy that LOL
Being electrical stupid is challenging

 

[Vaporologist]

I'm with you mini, I like things to be simple

 

[5cardstud]

This passthrough I have goes from 1.2 volts to 11.9 volts but I find 6 volts tastes burnt on other cartos. I should get mine today.

 

[Switched]

The following two observations were copied from the KR8 thread, originally posted by MWA102464.

Posted Oct6/10
I received my Iken Beta test carto present today in the mail (thanks Issac). As soon as I had the chance I loaded up both cartos, one with waffle and a little maple syrup/ one with my daily vape ( caramel kicker ) and let them soak for an hour or so. I hooked up a darn good PT, MY GGT which is an awesome PT, As Issac says I tell it like it is so I hope that doesn't bother you Issac. I started vaping through one carto then the next at a true 5V. These cartos are DA Bomb and worked very well producing gobs of vapor with great taste the room was filled with plumes of vapor, I opened the window, laughed, went downstairs opened the front door and looked up at my bedroom window as the clouds rolled out of it looking awful strange, my daughter comes to the door, sees all the clouds rolling out of the window, says daddy I think your nuts, I said no daughter, I am just an Iken Beta, she looked at me puzzled and walked away as I rolled on the floor laughing in vaping heaven once again thanks to Issac.! I opened both up after they where close to being depleted, neither had any burn marks in them at all. Tomorrow I am taking them to the next level "6V" and will report back, I expect them to be just as good if not better but we will see tomorrow if I'm an Iken Beta once again and how these perform, bye the way how do the other 4 feel being called an Iken Beta, because that what you are, you Iken Beta's

OK more testing today, Oct 8/10
I'm not sure whether to post here or on the thread Switched started, so I'm going to stay here for now until otherwise told to move it over. Switched does such a good overall job on his post, I tip my hat to you on those Switched your reviews are very well done.

Now back to my testing. I refilled both cartos a while ago and started off on my Ego units, I should say I also received 1-Black carto and 1- chrome carto. Both work well, however I am noticing an increased vapor on the black carto on my ego unit over the Chrome Carto and maybe a tad more taste as well. Both have a nice vape to them on Ego units at the 3.2v lets say. I then moved to a Mod with an AW IMR 18650 Batt in it. both cartos vaped well under this set up too but again I liked the black one a bit better

Next I went to 6V using two AW 3.0 Batts that I just got from Ikenvape.com last week so there nice fresh Batts. I put on the Chrome carto and took a few pokes from it, I notice it gets very hot very fast and the resistance seems to be to low for a good 6V Vape, Max 5v for this Chrome Carto in my book. The taste was diminishing at 6V also, just to hot of a vape at the 6V for me and I'm a 6V Guy so no more 6v for Mr Chrome

Next was the black Carto = Same 2 x 3.0 AW's at 6V = The black Carto wins this test over the chrome, didn't get as hot and had more flavor and an all around better vape with plumes of vapor and great taste @ 6V

As a Beta tester I don't know what the difference is between these 2 cartos if any. My personal findings have to be leaning towards the Black carto for an all around grade. I am surprised at how well they vape at both voltages, not sure if its a thicker wire inside or what but being able to throw them on something like an Ego and switch it up to 5v & 6v on a passthrough & Mod and get a great vape either way is convienant to say the least. There is also no burnmarks on either carto after using them from 3v-6v which is a great sign.

Lastly I'm gonna touch on a few minor things that I dislike on both of these. First is the draw, it is a bit to airy for me, I personally like a tighter draw and feel like I'm sucking to much air with both of these cartos, not sure if its the amount of filler in them and it needs to be packed a little more or it's just the center hole is bigger but would like to see a tighter draw one way or another. Second thing is on the build of these carto's is the bottom connector, it has that little white silicone O Ring under the center pin, I dislike this set up because depending on what unit you use them on or especially using adapters they are unfriendly at times and this little white O Ring gets lose and if the center pin pushes in then you can lose connection power wise and the little silicone washer gets lose and the center pin gets weak. I don't know what company maybe Bloog but I have cartos that the center pin is more sturdy and has what looks like a screw driver slot on the bottom of them, this bottom pin seems more friendly to different 510 connections and I would like to see that one used rather then the one that is being used on these.

That's about all for today on testing with these Carto's, so I'm still an Iken Beta and I like being an Iken Beta, hope all you other Iken Beta's speak up and tell us your findings today too.

MWA's observations were moved so we can keep the all the observations in one place, for future reference.

 

[Switched]

Interesting observations. I am not sure if there is a difference between the two cartos that I received. they seem to vape the same at both 3.2 and 3.7V, but the RY4 carto tastes burnt at 5V. Notwithstanding I believe it has more to do with the liquid than the quality of the carto. RY4 is delicate and will bring up any burnt nuances from the vape in comparison with other liquids. Considering that I experience the same with the KR8s, I can surmise the culprit is the juice and not the carto in my case, but then again...

 

[Switched]

The simplest formula for calculating wattage is: voltage x voltage : ohm = wattage

So, when vaping at 6V, 6x6:3.2=11.25. In reality the watts are actually lower since the voltage-under-load is around 5.5V bringing the wattage to 9.45

Oh boy! Now that was simple. I have copied that to my notebook Thanks

 

[thelook]

Hello fellow Iken Testers.....
I recieved mine today...woohoo!! love the steel ones, thank you Iken, you really listen!

I opened up the black one to fill up and noticed that the filler/batting is wrapped different than any other carto I have ever used, it is kind of spiral wrapped and seems to be a LOT of it.

Cartos on multi meter read 3.20

I dripped 32 drops into a syringe and injected the batting, looked pretty wet so I popped the inner ring back in and the top back on (white tops this time) put a low profile adapter on one of my 5V's and started vaping.
The first couple of puffs were little vapor then it took off....NICE CLOUDS of vapor insued...

This was good for about 10-20 min, then flavor dropped off I opened it back up and sure enough it needed more juice, so I dropped a little more on the top (next cart I will fill and let sit, I think they hold more then I first thought) popped everything back in place and continued on my way.

Within 30 min I started getting a burn harsh taste, so I opened it back up there is no burning in the carto but the top was dry again, I topped off and this time decided to leave the inner ring off and just put the white top back on, I have no idea why but that seemed to work, I have been vaping this way for about an hour and it tastes really good, though the carto seems to get really hot fast.

Anyone know why the inner ring might make a difference? Or was it just a fluke?
I will report in later this evening

EDIT: I am getting the burned juice taste again, I will fill the other carto with a different juice (high octane juice and see if that helps) but from what I can see without pulling the carto apart the carto itself is NOT burning it is just the juice.

EDIT AGAIN: I put the carto on my eGo and vaped for awhile and no burn taste, so I know that means the filler is not burning, then I put the carto on my PT (which is 5V) and I am not having any burn taste at all

When hubs gets home (he has multi meter), I will see what is up with the Voltage on my 5V stompbox that I used at first with these.
Sorry for the scattered test reviews, I am just trying to be as honest and thorough as I can....wish I was more like switched in doing these

I'm an Iken, your an Iken.....lol

 

[atavanhalen]

Thanks vaporologist for the simple formula. I am really looking forward to getting some of these, I have a 5v glv on the way and also a 2 14500 variable voltage box mod coming from big blue so I can tweak my voltage to perfection with these cartos. I like it when Isaac comes out with new products that I will use because I would rather support ikenvape than some of the other vendors that carry stuff I use. It sounds like these are gonna be great! Good job Isaac.

 

[Switched]

On day three here. I tried the silver (RY4) on my 5V box mod and I am getting a burnt taste. The BB Menthol on the other hand is performing well at 5V (no detectable burnt taste). As reported elsewhere, I believe it is the liquid I am using (RY4) and not the carto itself although "the look" is experiencing the same issue with her silver one. I don't know? I may change up my liquids for future reviews if the situation arises.

What needs to be said here is that although these were developed for HV vaping, they perform extremely well on the eGo and at 3.7V. Therefore, because of their design folks may not need to go HV with them to find HV satisfaction, but can indeed remain at lower voltages because they do render a 5V vape at lower voltages without the heat associated with HV voltage. In my experience anyway.

The silver carto performs like a champ although I still cannot use it over 3.7V. It is seasoning very well and has tightened up just a wee bit (read I mean a wee bit). TH has diminished to 2 to 2.5 however with seasoning. Flavour has not changed neither has vapour production.

The black with the BB menthol is performing well at 5V and the numbers have not changed perse but the vapour produced is warmer and to be expected.

It is my recommendation that these cartos be acclimatised to vaping at 3.7V for a day or two before graduating to 5V or higher. IMHO the dividends far outweigh the harshness of a fresh carto.

 

[thelook]

Day 2/using BLACK carto

First off let me say I think it really WAS the juice, I have switched juices and am having a much nicer result.

With new juice:
on a scale of 1-5
Vapor 5
taste 4
TH 3-4
burned taste 0 (of course when it needs to be topped off you get that slight harsh taste)

I kept thinking last night, wow I sure am topping these off more often, every 1.5-2 hours, then It occured to me that I am used to using the huge Mega 808's from Ikens last test...lol SO that is about right.

I have to agree with switched, that even though these were developed for HV they still work very well on my 3.7 devices.

Also with my experience so far anything over 5v is giving me a burned taste.
I will report more later today.

 

[AngusATAT]

Still waiting for mine to show up. Just so's ya know. I think the USPS hates me, as they've been giving me a lot of trouble lately.

 

[mwa102464]

Switched,

I see you moved my post, like I said I wasn't sure where Ikem wanted them so thank you for moving it to the proper place