I have failed at being a Reo user.. Maybe some help?

[sjgold]

So I got the Reo last week, loaded up one of my favorite juices and began the Journey to ReoLand...

Unfortunately, I crashed back to earth. I contacted Robert on some of this already but even with his answers I still struggle.
By the end of the week, I was so frustrated with the unit that I am mad at myself for spending 200$ and was looking to sell it. (Although not very hard).....

Maybe some help?
Or maybe the VV version was not the right choice.

VV Reo Grand

- A good number of my LR atty's will not fire. They fire just fine on my other protected units. Robert said it was that I was trying to push more than 15Watts but I was running 1.5 and 1.8's and either I don't understand batteries (which is possible). I think I was well under 15
- I had some SR Carto's that fired, but in my opinion (and that may be wrong) the reason to get a VV is to run LR at higher Volts (or at least that's what I thought). Plus...

- I can't seem to get the bottom feed action to work right. I get how to say it hits that feel "scratchy". I did try a new carto on it and got the same result. As I understand it the process is to take a no power hit while pushing the bottle. I looked at the Grim Green Review and followed to the letter. I still got those scratchy hits.

- A lot of the time, I did not even see the juice feed.

- The wheel voltage regulation is horrible. There is no indication of what you are at. For a 200$ device I think this is insane. Especially one where the bottom feeder does not work properly for me so I see no upside and get better results from all my other gear.

Now I am SURE this is user error. I am positive I am the problem. I know people who SWEAR by there Reo. (non VV)
This forum is full of happy people. I know I am the exception. Other than the VV Wheel issue.

I will say that I am very disappointed in the wheel so disappointed that it may push me over the edge to get rid of this unless I figure out how to get close to orgasmic results.

Please forgive my Hyperbole, I am venting, frustrated.. This is the most expensive unit i own. As a matter of fact its cost me more than the other devices I have (2 Ego Twists (One of the reasons I am frustrated at the wheel its no better than a twist and even less feedback), 1 Vamo which is a damn workhorse for all of the 35$ I paid for it., 1 K100 which again is a workhorse for the 35$ I paid, and a Sliver Bullet which is a tank.. Seriously its a PV that doubles as a self defense device...).

Now I am willing to give it another shot. (although a trade in and refund of the difference from VV to non VV would make me happier if I decide to keep it.)

-I just got an HH.357 I have not even taken it out of the baggie to blow out the primer in it.
I- got new AW 18350's instead of the efest I used. (not sure why an 18650 wont work in this if you stretch the spring but ok whatever). I really dislike stacking batteries. I feel its unsafe. Again just me.. I could be wrong. Again another reason I dislike the VV, I was not aware that it was ONLY 18350 stacked. I do know an 18650 will fire the unit but when I started having problems I went to the recommended specs.
-I cleaned out the bottle and the unit. Its currently sitting on my desk open, no battery, shiny with no liquid in it. I blew out the tube as best as I could. Can not figure out how to remove it and clean it fully.
-I have a Yummy juice that I know produces awesome taste/hits in whatever I put it in.
-I watched the Grim Green Video again.

Now.. Please impart some of the awesome knowledge onto me... The stress of this and not to mention the wife .....ing that I paid 200$ for a device I am unhappy with. Like I said other than the VV issue. I am sure it is my fault.

 

[JC Okie]

So sorry you're having trouble. I'm not sure where to start....let's start with the HH-357. I loved those when I was using them. Is it 1.5 ohm? For one thing, they don't have primer in them, so no need to blow that out. But there's a specific way to prime them.....you need to drip about 6-8 drops in...suck on it (without it being on a mod) until you hear a gurgle. If you don't hear the gurgle, drop two more drops in and continue until you do hear the gurgle. That is what the instructions are from the HH-357 camp. I'm sure you can probably circumvent that, but why take a chance?

The wheel.....turn it all the way to the left. That will be the lowest voltage. Good place to start. Once you see how it hits with the new atty, you can turn it ever so slightly to the right until you hit your sweet spot.

Fill the bottle about 3/4 full. After you get it full and before you put the atty on, squeeze the bottle and look in the drip well....make sure you can see the juice coming up and going back down. That way you'll know it's working. If you don't see juice, you may need to either screw the cap off and back on, or tighten it, or something. Just make sure you see the juice.

Now put the atty on and fire it. If the vape is too cool, then barely turn the wheel to the right until you get the vape just like you like it.

Report back here. We WILL get to the bottom of this.

Hi, I'm Jan and I'll help you all I can. I swear by my VV Grand and just hate to hear you're having trouble.

 

[Justice]

Jan has given some great advice. Definitely with a 1.5 -1.8 atty you will be turned down as low as it can go. Maybe just a hair to the right but not much. With a unit like the VV Reo you'd get much better vapor production with a 2-3 ohm atty. you can use some nail polish or the likes to mark your sweet spot on the wheel when you find it. Personally I never change mine as I use the same gear and juice all the time. I hope your able to find a solution for yourself.

 

[sjgold]

Thank you Jan!...
I did follow some of those steps the first time around. (well other than the HH.357 one)
Mine came in a little Ziploc about half way full of VG/PG that's what I am referring to as primer fluid. So I just need to open it up blow it out a bit wipe the outside off and follow the start up procedure for the Atty. My assumption is once I get the start up procedure, instead of having to re-drip I will be able to use the bottom feeder.

It is 1.5 Ohm, the other Atty's I tried where also 1.5 so I am a bit concerned that I will have the same no fire issue where I was told I was pushing past the safety cutoff.

I'm good with normal dripping operation of an HH.357 I bought this one specifically to use with the REO, it got stuck in the mail (took 4 days to get from San Antonio to Austin... Weird) So I just got it Friday. By Friday with the REO I was ready to throw it at the wall. Thats when I broke it down and decided to see if I could get some info/help/refund.

As far as Juice flow goes. When I would squeeze, I would see that the carto had juice, but not enough. Now please remember since I could not fire the atty's, I never got a chance to check it out that way so I was stuck with the carto. I contacted GrimGreen and asked him what he was using with his REO, and he said stock boge's or standard atty's where performing fine.

Now something else could be wrong other than juice flow. But the carto hardly tasted like it had enough juice. Was not dry, but scratchy. I even multiple squeezed. Now I did not check without the carto on it as you stated. Nor did I screw the cap on or off or tighten it, from looking at just the well. I will add that to my list of things to try.

 

[sjgold]

Interesting. I don't like throat hits, so I was running it all the way to the left. With the 2.0 SR carto that fired I was getting horrible production, BUT I'm pretty sure there was a feeding issue that I will follow Jan's advice on.

 

[JC Okie]

Yeah.....checking the juice flow before you put the atty on will save you some grief. Just to make sure THAT is working. Justice is right....a higher ohm carto/atty would work best on the VV because of the low resistance cut off. But it should handle a 1.5 ohm anything...mine does.

With the cartos....when I used them, I filled them (about 30 drops) first, then squonked as needed after they started to need juice. Others do it other ways....

I really liked the HH-357s. Hopefully you'll be able to get a really good vape with that. I also (like Justice) usually find my sweet spot then leave the VV where it is. I hardly ever change it. If I ever feel like changing it, I've learned that usually it's because I need to change my batteries out instead. LOL

I really hope you get this going. If not tonight, then put it aside and come back on here tomorrow. Or PM me if you want and I'll try to help all I can. And next time you put in an order somewhere, pick up a higher ohm atty or two (maybe 2.5 - 3.0).....then you can crank up the volts a little and not worry about a cut off. Or PM me with your address....I think I have a couple around here I'll send you. I'm in Oklahoma....you're just down the road.

DON'T GIVE UP. Before you get exasperated, give it a chance.

 

[nerak]

- A good number of my LR atty's will not fire. They fire just fine on my other protected units. Robert said it was that I was trying to push more than 15Watts but I was running 1.5 and 1.8's and either I don't understand batteries (which is possible). I think I was well under 15
- I had some SR Carto's that fired, but in my opinion (and that may be wrong) the reason to get a VV is to run LR at higher Volts (or at least that's what I thought).

Robert is correct. I have used a 1.8 atty on my VV Grand. BUT, the wheel had to be turned all the way left to the lowest setting to start. Then just a slight turn to the right gave me the hit I wanted. Too much to the right and it would not fire. You are severely limiting yourself with a LR atty. The VV Grand will allow you to run a standard 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, and 3.5 atty at a variety of volts to find your sweet spot. Each jump in ohms on the atty allows you to turn the wheel to the right more. I usually use a 2.5 atty because I find I can up the voltage to where I like it without turning it all the way up.

- I can't seem to get the bottom feed action to work right. I get how to say it hits that feel "scratchy". I did try a new carto on it and got the same result. As I understand it the process is to take a no power hit while pushing the bottle. I looked at the Grim Green Review and followed to the letter. I still got those scratchy hits.

With your bottle full of juice and no atty or carto, push on the bottle and make sure it is feeding up into the connector. When you first put on a bottle it takes a little time squonking to get the juice to travel all the way up. If you don't see the juice in the connector try this: Make sure your bottle cap is not on too tight. Make sure the tubing end is not suctioning against the bottom of the bottle. If the tube is too long you can cut it shorter, cut at a slant. If the juice is feeding then you know it is not the problem.

Make sure your cartos and atty's are unsealed, that they have a hole at the bottom for feeding juice.

Look into the atty after you squonk and see if there is juice. With a cartos you can squonk until you see juice come up the middle tube just to make sure it is filling.

Running your cartos or atty's at too high voltage will give you harsh hits too.

 

[ltrainer]

Don't pump the bottle whuile squonking. Steady, constant pressure on on the bottle is whats needed.

 

[super_X_drifter]

Interesting. I don't like throat hits, so I was running it all the way to the left. With the 2.0 SR carto that fired I was getting horrible production, BUT I'm pretty sure there was a feeding issue that I will follow Jan's advice on.

Sorry to hear about your troubles. As to the feeding issues, during the learning curve, I tended to flood my carto more often than not. You will definitely have to squonk it several or more good times to wet a fresh carto if you didn't prefill it. Just look down into the carto when squonking until you see juice coming up thru the airhole and wetting the filler a few times. Sometimes for me on a new REO, I had to unscrew the filled bottle, take it out then put it back on to get the feeding right. Not sure what creates this phenomenon for me, but that fixed it. Don't forget to leave some space at the top of the bottle.

Squonking and the convenience and excellent vape it provides is well worth the learning curve. It took me about a week to really get it down and not flood. Don't give up bro. Anything worthwhile in life is worth the wait / effort / learning curve Heck, even My wife didn't hook me up on the first date

As for any firing issues, I can't be of much help since every time I have pressed the buttons on all my Reos, they have done what they were designed to - provide power to a heating element.

i have sworn by and continue to swear by my VV and every REO I have ever used but never at them.

 

[beckyblue]

Hi, sjgold. I know that you've said you'll try Jan's tips and get back to us about whether or not you're having a better go of it. Let me say, you WILL love your VVG! But different folks have different learning curves with them. I know that it may feel like a step backwards, but I found that, both with my mini and my VVG, using a few mini single coil cartos just to practice squonking was just what I needed. Rob sells them for a ridiculously great price on the REOSmods website - http://www.reosmods.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=764&category_id=20&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=3. Because they are shorties, you can see the liquid come up just enough to have that right "slushy" fill that you know from using cartos. I now use Cisco spec attys and HH-357s, but I still enjoy some of those mini single coil cartos from time to time. Just keep us posted. I'm looking forward to hearing when it all clicks for you, and I know that it will!

 

[Mudflap]

- The wheel voltage regulation is horrible. There is no indication of what you are at. For a 200$ device I think this is insane. Especially one where the bottom feeder does not work properly for me so I see no upside and get better results from all my other gear.

The VV Grand was designed to be a compact, durable, VV juice feeder and the voltage wheel behind the door is an excellent implementation of that design. OLED screens and up and down buttons are more convenient and user friendly, but they also occupy more real estate. Park your Vamo with a clearo/carto-tank on top next to your VV Grand and observe the size difference. The VV Grand has more juice capacity and better battery life than your Vamo. It will also survive more drops and falls. If your Vamo needs service,where are you going to send it? I can send any of my Reos back to Rob for service and I'll have them back within a week.

How to set the voltage: You simply start at the lowest voltage, take a vape, turn the wheel to increase the voltage a bit, take a vape, and so on, until you're satisfied with the heat, flavor, and vapor. Then you're set until the batteries need to be recharged. No, you don't know the exact voltage that's being delivered to your atomizer. Who cares? You're enjoying your vape! Also, there's no annoying voltage drop, which is a terrific feature of the VV Grand.

I- got new AW 18350's instead of the efest I used. (not sure why an 18650 wont work in this if you stretch the spring but ok whatever). I really dislike stacking batteries. I feel its unsafe. Again just me.. I could be wrong. Again another reason I dislike the VV, I was not aware that it was ONLY 18350 stacked. I do know an 18650 will fire the unit but when I started having problems I went to the recommended specs.

The VV electronics don't work with a single 18650 battery because they weren't designed to. Instead, they safely and efficiently regulate the combined voltage of two 3.7 volt lithium batteries down to the setting of your preference within 3.3 to 5.5 volts. The two batteries stacked in the VV Grand are under less stress than a single battery in a Vamo that is demanding a lot of current from that single battery in order to deliver more voltage. Neither application is inherently unsafe when used in their intended application.

I recommend you get some standard resistance 510 atomizers (2.2 to 3.0 ohms) to use with your VV Grand. Genuine Joye atomizers work great and are widely available, but other brands work very well too.

If you're still struggling, I'd be happy to give you some live tech support via Skype. My VV Grand has been my daily carry PV for over a year and I know it well. I'm confident I could help you smooth out the rough patches and show you how to enjoy it as much as I enjoy mine.

 

[redeyedancer]

I want to thank everyone for helping out . I am pretty good at building mods but not always the best when it comes to helping new folks get past the learning curve so thank you all very much You folks are awesome

 

[Justice]

I want to thank everyone for helping out . I am pretty good at building mods but not always the best when it comes to helping new folks get past the learning curve so thank you all very much You folks are awesome

we all just want you to be able to focus your energies to building mods

 

[oldbroad]

It takes one to know one mister!!