Is there a big difference between flavour and vapour from MELO tank to RTA

[Andrew Som]

Hello,
I am wondering if it is worth the upgrade to an rta, I have heard good things about flavour because there is a lot more control opposed to the built ones in the MELO. New to vaping and have found a love for it and want to get more advanced. I have done plenty of research but I am just wondering the pros and cons to building.
Thanks!

 

[Eskie]

RTAs. Pros, cheaper, more consistent performance, choices on builds really only limited by your own abilities and imagination. Cons, build wrong and you might get dry hits from poor wicking, or leaking from poor wicking. Best way to learn are some YT videos and practice.

Factory coils. Pros, easy to pop in, no need to pulling out a little kit to rewick it. Cons, generally you can't rewick it, and therefore unlike RTAs your coils will not last nearly as long meaning frequent replacement at $2-5 a pop.

Both have advantages. One is a little more work, but hopefully better performance and major cost savings. The other is pop a coil out of a blister pack, screw it in, prime, and vape. I like factory coil tanks when I travel as I don't want to deal with that if I'm away. at home it's just about all RTAs.

 

[daviedog]

Is the Melo better than an RTA?
Better can only be judged by direct comparison.
@Eskie, Yes.

FDA, in the future.
Spotty Q/C.
Two more considerations to go RTA..

 

[Imfallen_Angel]

The Melo tanks uses cartridges vertical coils.

If you take the time to rebuild them, it becomes the same as an RTA.

As they are single coils, they aren't cloud machines, but done right, they can output quite a bit.

Cartridge coils

• Pros: switch on the run, easy(ish) to rebuild, easy to stock a few spares. Many to choose from (store selection) as these cartridges have a shared build, so you can use Aspire, Eleaf, Vaporeso, and other manufacturer's coils in it as they are cross-compatible.
  
  
• Cons: Single coil, airflow is restricted compared to some rta

RTA

• Pros: larger decks, single or dual coils, easy to build, can be cleaned and rewicked.
  
• Cons: can't be switched on the go, some RTA can be tricky to wick correctly.

I won't put leakage as I've seen both can leak depending on being closed or wicked correctly.

If rebuilding these cartridge coils interest you, I've done a guide: Vaperrasso cCell rebuilding

 

[Hawise]

There's also the question of which RTA. A whole range of RTAs is available, some excellent (provided your build is good) and some dreadful.

 

[Eskie]

There's also the question of which RTA. A whole range of RTAs is available, some excellent (provided your build is good) and some dreadful.

Absolutely true, some great RTAs out there and some real dogs. However, the same can also be said for regular tanks, too.

To the OP, I think that maybe than a theoretical comparison it would be helpful to post what you're looking for. Do you like your current setup? Are you doing this to stop smoking? Do you prefer more of a cigarette like draw on the vape or a more open airy type? Do you want to blow big clouds? That sort of stuff will make it a lot easier to make concrete recommendations.

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

Hello,
I am wondering if it is worth the upgrade to an RTA, I have heard good things about flavour because there is a lot more control opposed to the built ones in the MELO. New to vaping and have found a love for it and want to get more advanced. I have done plenty of research but I am just wondering the pros and cons to building.
Thanks!

Instead of trying to rebuild the EC coil(regular stock coil), Eleaf also has an ECR coil(the 'R' stand for rebuildable). About the same costs as the regular stock coils and so easy. They come prebuilt and it can give you an easy way to start getting into building coils and how to wick properly. Just a suggestion. There are so many RTA's on the market now, and each has their own set of pro's and con's.

 

[Imfallen_Angel]

To answer the question about difference in "flavour" and such..

Not as much as many go on about...the amount of liquid that gets vaporized in a second, how hot, and airflow are the main items about flavour.

So from coil size, type, metal used, number of wraps, it can make a difference.

And for the tank itself, it's how the airflow and wicking (liquid flow) is, some tanks can be a bit better than others, but at this point, most newer tanks are fairly built very similar to each other...

 

[RainSong]

I had the melo III as my very first tank and thought it was the bees knees... until I went to an RTA, Protank 4 to be exact. It's a duel coil tank and I figured it out pretty well, now that I've moved on to kayfun styled tanks with single coils and less airflow it's even easier and the flavor is much better. It will come down to what exactly you want out of your vape experience and how much effort you want to put into it. Factory coils are easy, so easy. Drop it in and replace as needed. Rtas take more fiddling but I like the experience much more than the couple of tanks I've had with drop in coils. The other thing to consider is that with the whole FDA thing we have no idea if coils may become unavailable. Wire and cotton will always be around.

 

[Imfallen_Angel]

I had the melo III as my very first tank and thought it was the bees knees... until I went to an RTA, Protank 4 to be exact. It's a duel coil tank and I figured it out pretty well, now that I've moved on to kayfun styled tanks with single coils and less airflow it's even easier and the flavor is much better. It will come down to what exactly you want out of your vape experience and how much effort you want to put into it. Factory coils are easy, so easy. Drop it in and replace as needed. Rtas take more fiddling but I like the experience much more than the couple of tanks I've had with drop in coils. The other thing to consider is that with the whole FDA thing we have no idea if coils may become unavailable. Wire and cotton will always be around.

Yup, I still love my Melo 2 (which I consider superior to the 3) but I've kinda put it to rest as I got more and more into my RTAs, and to prevent heading out and finding out that it's in need of cleaning (or rebuild), I have multiple kits on the go, and every now and then, I pop them open and check the coil's condition...

opps side note.. that another pro and con thing I forgot... with RTAs, you can open to check on the condition of the coil/wick.

But as stated, the Melo tanks uses cartridges that are very easy to rebuild, not really much different from rebuilding a RTA, so yeah, just stocking up on wire and cotton and you're good to go..

 

[RainSong]

to prevent heading out and finding out that it's in need of cleaning

I made a small tin, similar to an altoids tin but it actually came in a box of celestial seasonings teabags, into an on the go rewick kit. One cotton pad, folding scissors and a tiny screwdriver. I can rewick anywhere

 

[Andrew Som]

Absolutely true, some great RTAs out there and some real dogs. However, the same can also be said for regular tanks, too.

To the OP, I think that maybe than a theoretical comparison it would be helpful to post what you're looking for. Do you like your current setup? Are you doing this to stop smoking? Do you prefer more of a cigarette like draw on the vape or a more open airy type? Do you want to blow big clouds? That sort of stuff will make it a lot easier to make concrete recommendations.

I do like my current set up but I want to get into something with more clouds and flavour. I am on the 6 week of being smoke free and for sure like a airy vape as opposed to closed flow.

 

[Imfallen_Angel]

I made a small tin, similar to an altoids tin but it actually came in a box of celestial seasonings teabags, into an on the go rewick kit. One cotton pad, folding scissors and a tiny screwdriver. I can rewick anywhere

yeah, some others mentioned doing similar, but at this point, I just have spare cartridges for the Melo (and the other tanks that my wife and daughter uses that uses the same cartridges) in the car, at the office, in coat pocket..

If something came up with my mod, I'd be able to wait 'till I get home as I vape just for the heck of it and no addiction issues.

 

[Imfallen_Angel]

I do like my current set up but I want to get into something with more clouds and flavour. I am on the 6 week of being smoke free and for sure like a airy vape as opposed to closed flow.

If you like and want RTAs with lots of airflow..

OBS tanks are hard to beat, the Crius or Engine, even the Ace is fantastic for a cartridge OR RDTA(single) tank.), the Billows V3 isn't bad either.

But funny thing, while I prefer having a very large airflow, I absolutely love my Conqueror (Wofoto) even with the airflow being more restricted.

 

[Eskie]

I do like my current set up but I want to get into something with more clouds and flavour. I am on the 6 week of being smoke free and for sure like a airy vape as opposed to closed flow.

@Imfallen_Angel gave you a couple of good choices. I'd second the OBS tanks. I have both a Crius+, which is excellent, and a few Engines. I like the Engines for both flavor and cloud (subjective, but that's about all you can get when it comes to flavor and cloud) and top air, top fill, so no leaking unless you want it to (that's objective with these tanks). The deck is also large, easy to build on, and easy to wick.

Other RTAs I'd recommend, especially for more air/cloud might be the Aromamizer series (there are several), the new iJoy EXO rta has been getting some good feedback, and maybe a Boreas (lots of folks love them, I like it but it's not my favorite).

 

[Imfallen_Angel]

@Imfallen_Angel gave you a couple of good choices. I'd second the OBS tanks. I have both a Crius+, which is excellent, and a few Engines. I like the Engines for both flavor and cloud (subjective, but that's about all you can get when it comes to flavor and cloud) and top air, top fill, so no leaking unless you want it to (that's objective with these tanks). The deck is also large, easy to build on, and easy to wick.

Other RTAs I'd recommend, especially for more air/cloud might be the Aromamizer series (there are several), the new iJoy EXO rta has been getting some good feedback, and maybe a Boreas (lots of folks love them, I like it but it's not my favorite).

I have the original Crius 22mm, and I did find that it does leak, and it's a common occurrence, a tiny flaw.. some it's due that people overheat the tank and it's causing the separating seal of the post to crack, while others like for me, it just leaks under the airflow control ring and some managed to lessen this with adding an extra o-ring somewhere.... that's pretty much it's only flaw (but I do find the deck a bit small with 2.5mm being the largest that I can fit in is and even then, I have to be careful to not get it touching the bell)

Best deck ever, (and best refill system) if only the airflow was better (it's way too darn tight) it would be close to being the most perfect tank I have: the Bachelor II.
Heck, I can fit 4mm coils in that thing with no problems (ok, it's cheating because it's a postless deck) at all and probably one of the easiest RTA to wick.

 

[Eskie]

I've been lucky on the Crius+. No problems with leaking, but I also don't let it tumble around in my pocket or pack like I will an Engine. Maybe if I close the jfc.

And yeah, big coils on a postless is sorta cheating.

 

[Imfallen_Angel]

I've been lucky on the Crius+. No problems with leaking, but I also don't let it tumble around in my pocket or pack like I will an Engine. Maybe if I close the jfc.

And yeah, big coils on a postless is sorta cheating.

I don't think the leaking issues are on the "plus", I think it's one of the things they fixed...
I even waited for quite a bit to get a Crius, waiting for a V2, but it never came.(at least not yet).

And the Conqueror is also postless that I can put in a couple of 4mm, but the wicking is a bit tricky, not for a beginner I'd say, but still a tank that's worth considering for down the road... I enjoy mine a LOT more than I expected when I got it. (because I was curious about it's deck)

 

[SteveS45]

I have a Melo RT 22 and a Melo III Mini and both are great tanks for flavor but what do I know? Just my opinion!