iClear 30 Review - Second Experiment

[GoodNews!]

Here's a (surprising) review for the iClear 30!

I recently bought the MVP2 (as shown - and I actually love it so far) and came with it, the iClear 30!

As many people on this forum know, my first iClear 30 experience was haywire - the iClear 30, with the wicks soaking in juice overnight, gave me an extremely harsh, acidic, wicky vape. It was just like what Phil describes the Cisco atomizers vape like when dry!

How does this new test compare?

Well let me tell you: it's a totally different experience.

In this tank, I'm using an RY4-ish blend, though without the coffee and caramel - its a "Smooth Tobacco" type juice that blends "golden" flavors like slight wheat-like blends, hints of butterscotch, and just an overall vapeable blend. I have some tongue oddities at the moment, so that effects my review of the juice, but I know the juice by heart none the less.

And guess what? This tank head is PERFORMING.

I started my vape around 3.8V's to ensure no gunking, and felt like the vapor and thickness could improve, so I bumped up my power, this time to 10 watts. At this level, the vapor was thick, the throat hit was full, and the flavor, though to my currently problematic tongue, was clean and natural. It was a very comparable, in a wheat-like way, vape to a light, organic cigarette!

And guess what? I've now vaped a whole tank full of juice! The iClear 30 is a JUICE HOG and that's a good thing, as the taste is rarely ever dry (as in, dry sock), though that taste appears if you aren't careful with your vaping style with this tank.

Here's the cons that will affect some users with a properly working iClear 30 head:

- This device needs constant airflow while vaping. If you press the button while not inhaling, the juice will fry on the wick, causing a tendency for the tank to taste dry and wicky. I noticed this trait the second that mistake happened, and not before. After this mistake, I had to bump down my vape to 7.5W instead of 10W's to rid the head of this taste, which made me feel dissapointed, as I was liking the 10W vape.

- On my second iClear 30, as well as the first, juice would leak out between the bottom base and plastic. With my testing, and according to multiple vendors, this can happen with some of the iClear 30's unless you tighten the base to the plastic with so much security that the base could absolutely not tighten more, even by one atom, so tight that you almost feel it'll strip or break. This is actually required with some of them, as Innokin has released a recall on some of these months ago.

- On this particular iClear 30, juice also leaks from the "cracks" under the base where the whole 510 connection column is "pushed" into the base, rather than the whole piece being uniform.

With this issue, the juice will leak out of this gap like CRAZY, and will flood onto your battery or counter or whatever. The only way to solve this is to simply clean it up and vape it, and the negative pressure will prevent this from happening as you vape. Once you vape, it stops. However, if you don't vape it for a couple hours, it POURS out.

This is another manufacturing defect, and will be something my local vendor contacts Innokin themselves to address, and the vendor is going to give me a new one to try.

So far, with these cons and pros in mind, I have gotten an extremely standard vape from this device, and after vaping a whole tank, the only real issue "to me" is that the dry/gunked taste is getting progressively to be at a higher rate. This did not happen though, before my inhalation/firing mistake, and could have been avoided completely.

At this point, I'd call this tank one of the best devices on the market, but as I know, not all heads and tank models in the same line perform the same - you may have taste issues with yours, and I haven't tried another juice on it yet to be sure. I just know that the juice I'm using right now is working very, very well.

If you do have problems with your iClear 30, simply demand a refund or exchange, and tell them that a reviewer agreed with you (me, though you don't have to say my reviewer name, for sure.) There are many unfixable issues I've come across with this device (4 total), and I believe these can happen to various extents throughout the line. However, this particular one, is quite frankly, a good vape.

3/5.

That's some Good News!

 

[TXSundevil]

Glad your having an okay experience for a change GN. And as a side note, glad your enjoying the MVP 2.0. I noticed in your pick your not using the beauty ring that came with the MVP. Throw it on, it does not constrict airflow on the iClear 30, and if anything gives you a little more stability, I always worry looking at a device with the 510 stem showing like that. I think you mentioned this the last time you tried the iClear 30, but wanted to drop it on you again just in case. Those heads in my experience do get a little better the next day, like they have a little break in period, I'm sure others have mentioned as well. Hope the tolerable vape continues for you. And congratulations again on the MVP!

 

[GoodNews!]

I believe that's true - last night, on the same tank, and same juice, the flavor was quite bitter and I was tasting some slight underlining tastes of soap.

I syringed that juice out, put it back in the bottle (where it mixed with another half of juice) and I put it back in this morning, and the taste was gone. I almost believe it was dust from the MVP2's package, as it tasted just like that foam smelled.

The only point I make in that is that it's a good idea to clean your tank if it comes in that foam. The first iClear 30 I tried was FILLED with this foam dust (I saw a million black specles of dust on the inside of the tank, I tried getting them out with a q-tip before vaping but wasn't that successful) and it tasted horrible upon vaping.

However, today, even with my "orange juice test", the vapor is totally clean with the exception of a few hits every now and then. Some pretty good standards going on. I'm placing a lot of trust in this device today, and so far, to prove I'm getting a good experience, my MVP says I've taken over 380 puffs! Lol.

The first tank though, I let it sit overnight, tried it for the couple next days, and it just was hell. I've almost never experienced a vape as bad as that first head was. Something was wrong with beyond any sort of conclusion or preference, it was just bad. I even used it with a juice I already loved, and it was just, blegh, I couldn't begin to explain it.

With the MVP2, yeah, I have to say, I really like it. The power button is very hard to press (I have some weakness with my finger strength because of my slight twitching) and sometimes I accidentally let go of the button while vaping because of that, so that's my one issue with the battery so far, but everything else about it, I'm in love.

I love being able to check my ohms right then and there, I love being able to dial in exact voltages and know for sure by what exact number causes a better or worse taste, I love the 510 connection (extremely smooth), and I thought the MVP2 would be bigger, but it's 10x smaller than one would think by seeing pictures - it's barely bigger than a cigarette box.

Oh, one question - if the coil is dual coil, should the ohms read double what the ohms are, or what? The iClear I have only says about 2.2, and the ohms are 2.0 I believe, but dual coil. Little confused about that. It'd be sad to find out that only one of these coils are working, when it's working so well...

 

[TXSundevil]

Yeah so in theory on your ohm question there, If one of those coils suddenly disappeared, you'd be left with 1 4.0ohm coil. Another example to drive that home, When I build my .7 ohm duals for my dripper, I build two 1.4 ohm micros. So the reading your are getting is correct. As for the power button mine seems to have settled a bit with time, that being said, mine is still the stiffer pushes of all my mod's after 4 months. Then again, I never actually put a tester on it, maybe my thumb just got stronger? haha.

Those iClear head shafts are so small, it doesnt take much for a wick to pull a coil to one side or another, I know I had one bad one right out of the box, as a habit now I tend to pop the silicon cap off the top and verify that the coils are not touching each other or the walls before I slap a new one on. Sorry I just sort of randomly threw that out there, just thought of your first experience with them and a similar problem I had had with one particular coil, and that turned out to be the fix. Anyway....once again, glad you are vaping something with some promise!

 

[PLANofMAN]

I think you should take that head and put it on your twist, let's nail down once and for all if your battery or your head's were making everything taste bad.

 

[GoodNews!]

Well, I'll put it on the Twist when the tank starts tasting a little too funky to vape - right now, I'm having a pretty good vape with it and I don't wanna take any chances! But even then, if the battery is the issue, it should go to a little funky to just severe when I put it on the Twist, so hopefully, I'll figure it out.

And yeah, the first head, I took the cap off, and the coils legs were all twisted up and touching sidewalls and all sorts of weird mess. Messy coil build. One of the non-res, coated leads was sitting right on the bottom coil and I'm sure that didn't taste too great. I couldn't get in there to poke around, just too enclosed.

I guess another question - on this iClear, about once every 7 puffs, I'm getting that "wicky" taste I so often go on and on about, the same taste I tasted in my Flux with the Blueberry juice. On the iClear, it's always randomly there about every 7 puffs (I twist and swirl it around constantly just to make sure, seems to work pretty well). I'm still trying to figure out why this happens. I twirl this tank so much that I don't think wicking is the issue, I vape at a steady pace.

Maybe its just some gunk that builds up slowly over 7 puffs, and the gunk gets a little too built up, and then vapes off for the nasty puff? With the iClear 30, I gotta say, it's vaping so steadily that I'm "putting up" with tasting this taste every now and then, and with tasting this taste and studying it, it's possible that it's not so much of a "silica" taste, but more of a synthetic "gunk" taste, possibly from non-organic flavorings or PG/VG. But I'm just not sure. It's an odd taste, one that's been severe and persistent across like $600 worth of other tanks, heads, and devices. I still to this day dunno exactly what causes it. It always seems to get worse and or more rapid with higher power or inhaling mistakes, that's for sure.

Like the "pipe puff" type inhale, that type of inhale instantly causes this horrid taste for me.

So far, this iClear 30 head is only presenting that at random, and only for 1 or 2 puffs when it happens, then it goes away. So it's been generally an experience I've been picking up all day, it's kept me vaping, I've only smoked a couple cigarettes today. Overall, it's a positive. It's a performance I'd more expect from a disposable e-cig lol, but what I'm sort of learning in vaping, is that with disposable devices, if it even works halfway, then well, that means it works lol.

Also, I've realized with these types of heads, having a "Boba's Bounty" type juice indeed helps with the bad flavors, like I speculated so long ago (I said that it may be why Phil was tasting good things with the Aspire). These grahm, wheaty, smooth tobacco, RY4 type vapes really do seem to cover up a lot of the nastiness for me. I have a feeling that if I was vaping this tank right now with some rum flavors or fruit flavors, it may not present as tasty of a vape. Eager to try though. Especially with an organic Berry from VCV, I think my buds might be right at home with that.

 

[GoodNews!]

I just want to add to that post and say I'm pretty darn happy with this vape so far. It's not perfect, the tank had it's flaws, the flavor can sometimes bring up a bad flaw, but I feel accomplished in the fact that, even if complex, I've found "workarounds" for the severe tank defects, and concerning the flavor, that it is tremendously better than any other device, and much more tolerable for the rarer moments it's not.

If I'd have gotten this result on a Protank from the beginning, I maybe would have bought a couple other devices just to "see", but I feel like if a couple devices gave me this same result, I'd have been satisfied with the "level" of the vape, not put down so, so much money, and simply would have been eager to get into RDA's much earlier from the "positive" encouragement of having no tanks taste that bad. I'd have never have to been "me" on this forum, I'd have just had a lot better time with it.

 

[GoodNews!]

*duplicate post*

 

[PLANofMAN]

It sounds as though you are getting occasional dry hits, and no amount of swirling or twirling is going to cure that. What you got to do is every three or four hits, take a hit without hitting the power button. Alternatively, learn to keep sucking for a moment or two either before you press the power button or after letting off of the power button when you vape. The suction will help keep the coil wet. This is something most vapers learn instinctively.

Edit: I personally do it for about two seconds after I stop pushing the power button, every time I take a puff.

 

[TXSundevil]

I get the same thing on my 30's as well GN. Every now and again, and I think in the 7-10 hit range I will get a not so tasty or a scratchy hit, I too swirl the heck out of em, and I have noticed that after about half a tank that becomes more obvious as the wicks fight gravity more and more. I agree with what you have said time and time again, it really would be nice if we wouldn't have to fight with these little things, but I think the majority of us write it off to what it is, and use the device with its limitations. I love Plans suggestion above, I do this with Pro tanks and I clear 30's a like, an extra second after the button is up and I have way less of the phenomenon.

You know, most of us search for a satisfying vape beyond these devices, and funny enough, most of us settle in different groups when we get closer to that "Sweet" spot. I think you'll get there eventually, the fact that you seem to be finding some satisfaction.....of any kind, finally is a hopeful sign. There is a personality out there that I have grown fond of watching, and I think he states it best, to paraphrase, it is a journey, there are alot of stops along the way, sometimes its a long stay, sometimes a short visit, then you get back on the road to try the next thing, or move on somewhere else to share your experiences with others in their journey. I really hope things are turning around for you and you get to start enjoying the scenery again on your journey, and when you drive by Kayfun town, wave at the Sundevil, I'll be hanging out here for a while with my tasty warm saturated 4ml tank of goodness cooking around 10.5-12 watts on a 1.3 ohm micro, my sweet spot, and a great rest stop for me in my journey. I'm sorry this is so far a departure from your review, just really happy to see you making some progress. With any luck will have your supertasting .... off the analogs sooner than later.

 

[GoodNews!]

Thank you guys for the encouragement!

With me on this forum, the thing I'll admit is that every detail of everything I ever say may not make perfect scientific sense - I'm only human. It's just that when various members take what I say, and don't consider the real experience behind it, and just want to be pretty darn cruel toward me just trying to prove my "science" wrong, then things go back and forth, it can escalate to name calling, and with everything going on, I have at times even insulted members because I was accidentally reading their post as someone else's user name or something, or just typing something wrong, heated arguements are never a good thing.

I rarely ever just post a thread trying to critisize someone's mindframe, or anything like that, but it always seems like people do that to me, and then with turning around and defending myself or whatever opinion I have, it just gets worse from there, wether out of confusion on who's saying what, or how they're saying it, or what the facts are, whatever, it's never a good thing. I just wish people would see more of the "real experience" behind what I'm talking about and just know that what I say is indeed true for me, and that the unique things I do to pinpoint the problems tend to be pretty true for me. It's all I ever try to explain

With the iClear 30, it's good to hear that someone else has had a bad head (no one wanted to say that at the time I reviewed it - it has been such a good-reputation device) and it'd probably take a rare person to say that the vape is dry every now and then. Hearing that feedback helps me feel like I'm not crazy and that this stuff, to some extent, can be sensed by someone else out there too. It makes me feel normal, it makes me feel less desperate to ask for advice or figure out the problem, and just accept it as a normal thing. Then again though, this iClear 30 is giving me positive feedback, it's giving me a lot of "yes'es" and just a few "No's". It's a standard that really comforts me and simply allows me to vape a bit more.

And yeah, doing the primer puffs with the iClear 30 definately helps, I try to do it a lot, but meh... I'm the guy who kinda keeps trailing off from that trick. It's a trick that really can work, just, I'm a bit lazy at it lol. I kinda don't do it until I get the bad hit. But either way, this iClear 30 head is performing pretty well, and the dry hit on this device surprisingly isn't as strong as on other devices... it could be the strong juice though, sort of helping it. I'd actually say the biggest problem with the 30 that I'm unsatisfied with is that the vapor is not too large amount (way under Aspire territory) which makes it almost too thick and thin at the same time. The vapor is thin, as in not much vapor, but the texture is almost too rich and too thick. The flavor is also just plain muted quite a bit - on the Evod I tried the same juice on, the flavor was much more accessible, a lot sweeter of a vape.

I'm definately a fan of this "7 decent puffs, 1 bad puff" pattern, and I like it much better than a vape where I taste a lot more flavor, but a constant layer of this dry hit. The two have been so "blended" throughout my vapor on other devices that it's not vapable. I like a result where I get a lot of good, and only have to put up with a little funk every now and then. It's like a cigarette - once you get near that filter, it can get a little nasty, but that should be the worst of the issue. Low-end vaping should at least be like that imo. Good with a little bit of bad every now and then.

I'm so happy I'm finally getting a standard vape. It's just driving my confidence that I can get a good old normal coil in an RDA to at least give me a good result for awhile, and hopefully, I can order Cisco's pre-wrapped coils to put in my RDA. It's as easy to insert as pie, and the upkeep with a good RDA with a pre-made coil could really be just as easy as maintaining a tank, if not easier. It's making me really appreciate the alternatives out there, and I'm kinda like "Okay, wow, if this iClear 30 is giving me this good of a result, surely the result will be 5x better on an RDA." I like that sort of encouragement, and just as a last thing, for anyone who's thinking of an iClear 30, I do have to say that the vape seems "weird" in a way, but I'm liking it. Could be a positive sign for anyone looking to try it.

 

[KenD]

GoodNews! Read my last post in your orange juice thread (post #55, was #59 before the deletion of posts), reflect upon it, and respond. There are good reasons to why you get the responses you get and you would do well to take a look inside yourself.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

 

[Diogenes]

Here's the cons that will affect some users with a properly working iClear 30 head:

- On my second iClear 30, as well as the first, juice would leak out between the bottom base and plastic. With my testing, and according to multiple vendors, this can happen with some of the iClear 30's unless you tighten the base to the plastic with so much security that the base could absolutely not tighten more, even by one atom, so tight that you almost feel it'll strip or break. This is actually required with some of them, as Innokin has released a recall on some of these months ago.

- On this particular iClear 30, juice also leaks from the "cracks" under the base where the whole 510 connection column is "pushed" into the base, rather than the whole piece being uniform.

With this issue, the juice will leak out of this gap like CRAZY, and will flood onto your battery or counter or whatever. The only way to solve this is to simply clean it up and vape it, and the negative pressure will prevent this from happening as you vape. Once you vape, it stops. However, if you don't vape it for a couple hours, it POURS out.

First, you need to be careful about over tightening your clearo. Sometimes when you over tighten, you will dislodge the o-ring that's there, causing it to leak more. Not saying what you're doing is wrong, all I'm saying is watch out for cranking it down too much, as that could make the leak worse. When I first got the majority of my plastic tanked clearos, I cranked them down because I didn't want them to leak. Guess what happened......they leaked. Now, I just go until the tank meets the base, and we're golden.

Secondly, this you will definitely have to watch out for with the MVP. It seems that the collar on the MVP is slightly higher, or the center contact plate is slightly lower, or a combo of both, and that center pin on your various tanks may need to be pulled out just a hair to make contact. The easiest way to check if you have contact is attach your tank, and try to get an ohm reading. If it reads "NON" you don't have contact, and it will not vape. I have to pull the pin out on almost every tank I own when switching from my eVic back to the MVP.

P.S. I'm glad to see you're passing along the negative pressure vacuum tidbit I posted in another thread.

Edit - KenD, I think you mean post #55.

 

[KenD]

Diogenes, I did mean my last post, which is #59 (though several other posters have expressed the same thing, better than me). I'm on tapatalk, perhaps it shows the post numbers wrong, need to check on the computer.

EDIT: yeah, my post was #59, it's now #55 (which was a GN post ), except on tapatalk where it's still #59.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

 

[MissKitty47]

If he re ~ tries an aspire now and likes it.....I'll....I'll...dunno was gonna say eat my hat, but they have that fiddly pin issue. Really really curious because now that he has an mvp2, he'll find everything working so much better and tasting better.

Sent by my cat through pure magic

 

[Diogenes]

Well, I'll put it on the Twist when the tank starts tasting a little too funky to vape - right now, I'm having a pretty good vape with it and I don't wanna take any chances! But even then, if the battery is the issue, it should go to a little funky to just severe when I put it on the Twist, so hopefully, I'll figure it out.

Ok, I saw this earlier, and was on the fence about responding to it. But the more I thought about it, I just had to respond. If you wait until the tank gets a funky monkey taste before you try putting it on the twist, how would you know where the funky monkey taste was coming from? I ran the numbers, and if you are currently vaping at 10 watts, if you put the tank of the twist right now at 4.8v, and your tank is 2.4 ohms, you'll only be at 9.6 watts. 2 ohms would be 11.52 watts. So depending on where your tank falls on the resistance scale, all you would really need to do is bump down the voltage just a little on the twist to be safe, as you would be testing the tank at a lower wattage.

 

[GoodNews!]

That's insane how high of power I was vaping on the iClear 30 for awhile though - anything I've vaped on my Twist, I've never been able to go above 3.8 (only 4.1V's on the 3.5ohm Cisco, anything above that was a little too tasteless, slightly hot).

Yet with the iClear, I was vaping at 10 watts! It could have been just that the iClear was dual-coil and required it, but it was working stellar. Vaping that high can seem to induce some problems if you aren't careful though - the second I didn't vape perfectly at 10 watts (letting the coil burn without inhaling for just a second!) the taste instantly went bad and I had to dial down to low voltage to even fix the vape.

I know I ask this a lot, but if the taste instantly was bad when I accidentally let the coil burn on its own without inhaling just for a second (at 10 watts), what caused the sort of synthetic, sort of maybe ashy but more like a hashy cotton type taste? The more I study it, it more I think I could see where it's sort of "chemical gunk" type taste (rather than how NET or VG gunk doesn't really seem to effect me). Maybe all it really is, is just a bit of PG/flavoring gunk that burned a clogged a little on the coil? This time, when tasting it, it made me sneeze like crazy, each and every time.

Oh, and with the iClear 30 leaks, it's weird, there's two totally different spots it leaks from - inbetween the plastic and base, and from the "manufacturing slits" under the base where the 510 column is inserted (not the 510 air holes, but from the "circle" that only the iClear 30 has for some odd reason.) If I fix one problem, the other starts, but thank goodness they all stop when vaping.

And with the Aspire, the problem with the Aspire was solely that, instead of the "7 good puffs, 1 bad puff" pattern of the iClear, the Aspire heads each gave a "all bad puffs" result. Each puff had a stronger flavor and velvetier texture vapor (but an absolute RDA-like ton of it), and that's the direction I like, but each puff had a strong layer of the "1 bad puff" taste I'm getting only at sparse times from the iClear 30. If this taste is from a "random dry hit", then it means the Aspire had wicking problems, and with my opinion being that it was from the Aspire's top wick (which isn't as exposed to juice as it is on the iClear 30 - my opinion is that a seperate set of holes should be there for the top wicks on the Aspire heads), I just think that the Aspire heads will never be for me.

The Nautilus heads actually have 4 holes though, like the original Aspire heads, so who knows, I may give them a try! Some people reported a lot of flooding with the 4-hole, but I never had that issue with the 2-hole really at all, so maybe those 4 holes would really draw that juice in there.

RIP hated the original Aspire and loved the Nautilus, so who knows.... I just know I'm sensitive to that wicky taste, just can't stand it, just can't vape with it.

 

[GoodNews!]

Oh, one finding too - I left my iClear sitting on it's side overnight to prevent leaking out the bottom plate, so of coarse, the head was soaking up extra juice. I went to vape it today, and the first hit, I could feel the resistance of a lot of juice on the coil, and the puff had a ton of flavor - I was like "Wow, I can really taste this juice today!"

Then, after that, the flavor has went pretty thin and sort of dry, and hasn't recovered since. I'm getting a lot more dry hits today too. I think it's really that this particular juice "covers up" the wicky taste most of the time with this device, as the flavor seems pretty thin, and the two sort of seem to equal out, the wheaty, grahm cracker juice balancing out that drier taste I believe. So all in all, maybe this is a wicking issue.

In this case, what in the world could help it? Should I unscrew that the top mouth piece a tad, let a little more air in? I've noticed that my tank tends to "have vapor inside" after I take a puff, and this would seem to point to not a lot of air getting in anywhere else... or hey, maybe too much air. Primer puffs don't seem to have the positive or physical effect as they did yesterday (yesterday, I could hear the juice sucking in when I did primer puffs). I've been refilling my tank, so who knows, maybe slight differences in pressure are effecting it for the better or worse each time....

 

[TheJakeBailey]

Tanks
A forum for general discussion of carto tanks.


Clearomizers
A forum for general discussion of clearos (clearomizers).


Just helpin out.

 

[PLANofMAN]

iClears are garbage, pretty much. Enjoy them for the few hours they last, recover what juice you can, and cut your losses.

It's time to move on to an RBA or RDA, Good News! (Then the only thing we'll hear you gripe about is the size of the air holes ).