Im new and getting an PiLOT M401

[Boomer]

Hey there guys, i have only just found out about E-Cigs due to igetcha on youtube (Cheers Igetcha!) I see that he is on this forum too

Well at the minute i smoke 30ish real fags a day and have wanted to quit but not really wanted to quit for a whilst now lol Im sure that makes sense to other smokers out there

I have decided to get the PiLOT M401 from e-cigs.co.uk and have a couple of questions first of i want to use the juice as it seems a fair bit cheaper than buying carts all the time, but do i have to buy a pack of carts that are full of there own juice first and vape them dry before i can put the totally wicked juice in them that i am thinking of getting or can i get empty carts for this model? I cant see empty carts on the same website i am ordering off.

Also would other models empty carts fit the M401 if so which models carts? I do need to have the juice in carts as my job makes it difficult to keep droping drops onto the atomoizer.

Do i also need to buy a spare atomizer or could i get away with just one for a whilst?

Basically i plan to spend £80 pounds on everything with juice aswell. I see the M401 starter kit is £40 so i have another £40 for juices etc, would i be wise to get 25xHigh Tobaco carts from PiLOT and 1 bottle of juice to fill them up when empty or just get 2 bottles of wicked juice and use that in the 5 carts that come with the M401.

I know there are a lot of questions but i dont really have money to waste and im hoping this is going to replace ALL of my real cigs so i am open to all ideas and suggestions of what to do.

Many thnx guys and its great to find a forum just about e-cigs

Cheers Lee.

P.S if it makes any difference to getting empty carts etc i am in the UK.

 

[eLiciafay]

I would spend my juice money on the TW juice vs. more carts. Also, get a syringe (sold from e-cig co's usually in the "accessories" section) to pull the excess juice out of the carts when you want to change flavors. I am using the same carts from when I started vaping 4 months ago. You really don't need a whole bunch of carts, they can be used over & over again for a long time.

Finally, I would start at a low or medium nic level, then go to high if you felt you needed the extra nic. Maybe get one bottle of medium and one bottle of high? Unless you have interest in making your own juice flavors, then get the 36mg nic unflavored and you can dilute down the nic content and add in your flavors with candy flavoring from a craft shop (or online). I find the high nic level juices scorch my throat so bad it leaves me coughing. I'm all for a little throat hit, but 36mg nic juice is really strong! You may find all you need is a low or medium strength juice to satisfy your nicotine craving.

Reusing the carts and adding juice is way cheaper than buying the carts. It is a little more work though, but for me the cost savings is worth it. Hope that helps! (And WELCOME by the way! )

 

[Idahojo]

Welcome Boomer. I agree with Elicia. I keep my filled carts in an old film cannister and it holds about 8 of the Pilot carts. If you have 10-15 carts total it will keep you going and you shouldn't need to buy more. That many works for me so you can rotate them out with the washings and filling.

 

[Boomer]

Great, i have a better idea now of what to do, i think i will get the 25 carts and then i should be able to keep filling them but would have enough so i dont need to do it every night.

Thnx again Lee.

 

[yvilla]

And you really should get a spare atomizer. You never know when one might fail!

 

[eLiciafay]

And you really should get a spare atomizer. You never know when one might fail!

YES this! Def. get a spare atomizer or two. This is really good advice, especially if your goal is to quit the stinkies. You don't want to be without a necessary part if you experience component failure. These parts will eventually need replacement; they're not designed or marketed to last forever.

 

[Boomer]

Okay guys thnx for all the advice i have ordered everything i think i need

1 x Pilot Personal Vaporiser Black Starter Pack (M401)
1 x Pilot Black Band Atomizer
1 x 25xPilot Cartridges : Black High 1.8% 18mg Regular Tobacco
1 x PVLiquid Cigar 2.4% - X High 30ml
1 x Totally Wicked 1.8% - High 30ml

Enough to get me started and hopefully last a little whilst, i can then get more atomizers and Juices as and when i need them

Cheers Lee.

 

[Boomer]

Sorry could not find the edit but the TW juice is strawberry flavour to try something a bit different

Cheers Lee.

 

[Tobay]

Ummm, is it too late to add one more battery to your list?. What if one battery in the kit go bad?, you will be waiting 3-4 hr for the one good battery left to re-charge. For a new starter, I would recommend 3 batteries and 2 atomizers total on your first order with e-cig.
See if you can ask the seller if you can add one more battery to your order, if it hasn't ship already.

 

[Boomer]

Cheers for the idea Tobay but im going to have to wait till i get paid next week for anything else, i don't dare to ask the missus to put anything else on her credit card, the £40 has already turned into nearly £100 lol.

Ill get extra batteries and Atomizers next week though for sure! Do the batteries go dead much though?

Cheers Lee.

 

[tpboles]

Been using my two pilot batteries for over a month now with no issues. I did order extra atomizers and batteries, but have not needed them. It's comforting knowing that it is there though.

As you start your vaping journey keep in mind that these really don't "taste" like a real cig. It took me a while to transition to vaping only, but I wouldn't turn back now for nothing! Oh, and real cig's will start to taste bad to. Good luck

 

[jukeboxsabotage]

Make sure to watch videos on m401 maintenance and what makes the m401 different from other e-cigs.

I reccomend spikey's videos. They are very.......complete.

 

[Boomer]

Where are those vids mate? I had a quick look now and could not find them, got to get up in less than 4 hours now so going to bed, but if you could drop me a link for tomorrow that would be great!

Cheers Lee.

 

[Lorddrek]

I posted this just a little while ago in another Pilot thread. Might be helpful for you...

My M401/402 observations
My rechargable E-Cig experience is solely with the M401/402 Pilot Hybrid. I did struggle with it at first but have learned how to use it well enough to really enjoy the product. I will list my observations here in no real order.

Light slowly flashes-This seems to mean the atomizer "Thinks" it is dry and cuts power to avoid damage. Most of the time this is the case. I find my shorter batteries do this more often for some reason. One more than the other so sensitivity must vary.

Light quickly flashes-The battery needs to be recharged. It blinks about 10 times. Charging times take 3 hours for the long and 2 1/4 hours for the short.

Power cuts off after long drag-After at least a 5 second constant drag power shuts off for 2 minutes. Another safety feature. It takes about 2 minutes for it to work again. You can avoid this by taking a couple of smaller puffs.

Cartridge is dry-I notice an unpleasant plastic taste and often the light will slowly flash. I really find the whole cartridge thing to more trouble than it's worth and drip if at all possible. My wife on the other hand thinks I look like a drug addict and prefers the convienence of the cartridge. The cartridge wick can vary in size and performance. An understuffed one wicks great and is easy to fill but will leak a lot. More wick material holds the liquid better but seems slower to get fluid to the atomizer.

E-Cigarette gurgles-Too much fluid somewhere. I remove the atomizer and blow it out a few times. A good drop or two of fluid comes out around the metal wick. I wipe this off and screw it back on. The cartridge (if using) will also need to be cleaned. I push out the cartridge and swab the outside with a Q-Tip. Cartridge mouthpiece can hold a lot of loose juice. It has an inner stem inside to keep liquid from coming out of the mouthpiece hole. I take the tip of a Q-Tip and pull at it a bit so it can reach the very bottom. You know if you got it right because it will be soaked.

Not enough vapor -I started with Johnson Creek VG at 18mg strength and vapor was marginal. No real throat hit either. Found myself sucking at it like I was working a thick milkshake. So I bought some generic PG at 36mg and got massive vapor and throat hit. Very noticable nicotine flavor. Lighter puffs gave me a satisfactory hit. Headache too. Most recently I bought Cash PG at 24mg and this has a nice balance of vapor and throat hit with a more subdued nicotine flavor. Heavy vaping brings out a bit of headache. I plan on trying some 16mg next for this reason.

Too much vapor-Is this even a problem? Actually when dripping around the 4-5th hit I will get some serious vapor and a rather unpleasant tasting hit. More puffs will do the same. My theory is that all the good stuff has been inhaled and the residual liquid from over dripping is all thats left. I find smaller drips and eventual atomizer cleaning/swapping cures this.

Atomizer loose for improved airflow-I have not noticed any change by doing this. My wife bent hers so the atomizer does not seat squarely and leaves a good gap on one side. No improvement in airflow. Looking at all the the air passages the mouthpiece is by far the smallest so I would start there if more flow is your desire. I have not tried this yet.

Priming dry atomizer-After cleaning I am amazed at how much liquid I need to drip for it to start vaporizing. It takes me at least several small drips to get wet enough to work. Then just 2-3 after that gets me a few good puffs before repeating. Bear in mind I do not use full drops because it can't soak in fast enough and gets messy. I form a small droplet and let that soak in before dabbing again.

Battery drains fast-Because the switch is so sensitive most anything can set it off. Blow on the LED tip to see. When not in use I always remove the atomizer/cartridge section to keep it from heating. Just the LED will not drain the battery because it uses so little power. Find a good case to store your stuff safely. Batteries rolling around loose could short out and ruin them. Protect this by covering them with a pen cap at the very least.

In all I am very happy with my Pilot and am amazed at how well it works. There most certainly is a learning curve but I hope what I posted helps speed you thru it. While not perfect these things are far closer than I ever would have imagined. I think most anyone can use the Pilot with exellent results and would recommend them to anyone starting out.

Lorddrek