Is the Ubertoot clone any good?

[petemoss]

I'd have to say the clone is a damn good value. I bought the FT package which included the nano kit for $32 vs the original + nano that would have cost nearly $300 with shipping if you were lucky enough to grab one. The FT clone arrived about two weeks after I ordered it and I expected a half-assed copy that only looked like the original but performed poorly. To my amazement, it vaped beautifully with my first 1.2 ohm build. My second 1.0 ohm coil was even better in terms of flavor and vapor. Now I have no qualms about buying the authentic on the next uber Tuesday.

The clone did have several defects. The biggest flaw was the location of the wicking slots that passed through the center of the deck rather than through the coil that is offset slightly. This flaw meant my rayon wick would have to bend around the posts at an angle instead of straight through the coil. Still, the wick remained saturated as I chain vaped up to 25 watts. I don't know and don't really care if the bent wicks could keep up at 50 or 100 watts. 16 watts is my sweet spot. Other minor flaws were the stands were not magnetic, the drip tips were plastic not PTFE, and space between outer sleeve and inner tank wall was too narrow for my 80% VG juice. Some small bubbles often got trapped.

Not everyone is willing or able to spend nearly $300 on a rta. For $32 they can get a very decent copy of an outstanding design. In my view, Peter C. deserves and will get what he is asking for his Ubertoot; the clones will not hurt his sales.

 

[Bird Dog]

It seems like an awesome tank but I just can't understand why any RTA this day and age would come without a glass tank at least as an option. Plastic only would make 99.9% of my juice unusable and I'm not a fan at all of all stainless tanks where you can't see what's going on inside at all times.

 

[roxynoodle]

I have one as well. I was expecting a piece of garbage, but honestly I can't complain at all. I don't use more than 70vg due to asthma so can't comment on high vg juice.

I was happy it has no logos. The FT pics show a logo on either the chimney or wick ring (don't remember which), but mine doesn't have it.

For what the authentic costs, I had to try it first before making that kind of commitment. However, I like it, but I don't love it. I do want to try a stacked dual coil build next though to see how I still feel about it, but as of this moment, I'm not inclined to buy the authentic. I admit, a dry hit is probably impossible on this atty. For those who like an airy draw, it has a lot of airflow.

Its definitely worth buying if you want to take a test drive before plonking down $300. I actually had mine before anyone had an authentic (unless you were a beta tester or on one of the early lists).

 

[petemoss]

Another flaw of the clone- it whistles! I folded a small square of mesh and stuck it into the airflow slot and the whistling stopped- a quick and easy fix. Here it is on a BAP with dual 18650's. This should last all day as soon as I change to the full size tank.

 

[IanDVaypes]

I was actually going to try and but one today. Nope! Not avaliable.

 

[petemoss]

His site is closed while Pete C. attends to some family matters. Only a few dozen were sold in prior weeks, so it may be a while before I can get my hands on an original Ubertoot. In the meantime, I hope FT can source some better made ones with flaws fixed.

 

[roxynoodle]

I think the authentic whistles, too.

Its not a bad whistle. Mine sounds like a plane taking off or landing, lol! Nowhere near as annoying as that screech the SquapeRs do sometimes.

My parrots like the Erlk swooshing best. When they do it, I ask them if they are tootling

 

[Phone Guy]

I'd like to try the ubertoot, it just doesn't seem much different from a taifun gt2. I love my Taifun GT 2,absolutely one of my favorite attys.

Since roxy mentioned the Erlkonigin, that was a great example of why clone try outs are good.... I tried the erlkonigin clone, was not impressed at all. absolutely not worth the asking price of the authentic IMHO. Ymmv.

I tried the clone kayfun first, ended up buying 3 authentic and a Russian 91% (yeah still a clone but a expensive one) all from the clones!


I need to get me the UTA as a father's day gift to myself!

 

[Bird Dog]

Since roxy mentioned the Erlkonigin, that was a great example of why clone try outs are good.... I tried the erlkonigin clone, was not impressed at all. absolutely not worth the asking price of the authentic IMHO. Ymmv.

I found that judging an authentic by a clone first is not always a good idea. I bought 2 Erlk clones (Yiloong) last year and was highly disappointed with both of them. I could not get a good build out of either one of them no matter what I did and every single build leaked as well. I found an authentic on Ebay a few months back for cheap and decided to give it a try and it was like night and day. I had quite a bit of practice with the clones and built the authentic the exact same way I was building those and the first time I nailed it. Amazing flavor and zero leaks. I've done about 20 builds in it since and have never been let down. I believe the authentic is well worth what they are asking.

 

[roxynoodle]

The Yiloong Erlk is kind of a different atty. I had one until recently, when I gave it to another member. It has a much larger deck and wick channels. And the top wick channels were almost non existant so I dremeled them in. It did vape like a beast, but you had to have some pretty wide wick tails for those channels.

No problems whatsoever for me with either Erlk clone. I still have one, but didn't need two once I got the authentic.

 

[petemoss]

You are definitely taking a risk when you buy a clone. There are good clones and bad clones, but I think you have a better chance if you stick with the bigger, well established clone makers. Sometimes you can just tell when a clone will work as well as the authentic. When I looked at the construction of the Flashi or the Ubertoot, I thought "this wouldn't be hard to copy".

 

[doofy666]

petemoss:

To go by the reviews and discussions at FT, the UTA was cloned simply by looking at photos. I'm impressed by your good review - thx.

I reckon the next Uber Tuesday they will sell out in seconds.

 

[Millah]

Well, the first batch of clones were complete garbage. Unusable. I have an authentic now, as well as the first batch clone, and its very clear they cloned it from Justpoo's Youtube video. The problem with the first run clones is about as brain dead as it gets. The whole chamber and cap that screws on top was too wide, and wouldn't allow liquid to flow down to the wick openings. On top of that, the wick sleeve openings were cut too far, and the juice flow sleeve couldn't properly block off the slots.

I hear they updated it and fixed these issues. Of course after the unlucky ones got the garbage clone and did the testing for these geniuses. They obviously never even tested the first clones at all. I'm just happy to have gotten an authentic, worth every penny. Absolutely the best RTA I've ever used.

 

[snow blind]

First batch or two was garbage so i canceled my order... waiting on an actual V2 clone or a crack at the authentic.... then again the authentic V2 is now getting slammed with negative comments after he switched machinists. Who knows...

 

[doofy666]

then again the authentic V2 is now getting slammed with negative comments after he switched machinists.

Where have you seen that?

I ask cos I've just finished reading the thread on UKV and have seen no mention of changing machinists nor problems.

 

[Millah]

I haven't seen the UTA get slammed with negative comments. I will say however, that the machining didn't exactly blow me away. Its not bad by any stretch of the imagination, its just not mind blowingly impressive. If that makes any sense. Like when I first got the Squape R, my first reaction was being completely impressed and blown away by the quality of the tank and the machining. I didn't have the same reaction with the UTA. I thought it was quite good, just not on the same level as the SqR.

The performance of the tank is what impressed me about it. How well it wicks, and the flavor. Because it wicks so well and allows so much liquid flow, coils don't gunk as fast, and the flavor remains consistent for longer.

 

[doofy666]

Another thing that occurred to me: if you get an adequate clone but don't want to keep it, there might be a problem selling it on ebay. Auction wreckers were out in force for the recent auth that went for over 11000GBP, and I wonder if the same people will be out to wreck a clone auction...?

It occurred to me also that reading Pete's big thread on UKV might not be giving the most balanced of pictures

 

[roxynoodle]

I dual coiled my clone today. Much happier with it. I used two 28g 2mm coils for a total resistance of 0.64 ohm. I stacked them. I think it made it easier to wick also this way instead of having to split it. I'm likely to continue using this build.