I got a couple of EHPro 3.1 clones.
Out of the box they were pretty, but smelled nasty! There was no way I'd vape that without one heck of a cleaning. I took it all apart and dropped all the bits into a glass of cola to soak for a few hours. Next I gave it a good scrubbing with a tooth-brush and paste...and rinsed it good (I happen to have a cheap ultra sonic cleaner...so I threw it in that as a rinse cycle for good measure...not worth buying such a cleaner just for this...but if you have one...why not?). Finally, just as a precaution to make sure my first fill didn't taste like new stainless steel...I used a q-tip to season and seal the inside of all the parts good with e-liquid (flavorless if you have it...otherwise go with what you'll use on the first fill).
I don't have a bunch of toppers to compare them with, so given that, the build quality comes across as quite good to my eyes. It goes together and comes apart easily, and it vapes and tastes great!
So far I top fill since I don't have the proper size valve needles to try. The main thing to watch for when top filling is to be careful not to lose the little O ring in the top piece that goes around the chimney (if your Kayfun style model has and needs that).
The only leak issues I've had were as follows:
1. Too much wick can sometimes lead to a siphon type effect where a Kayfun that sits a long time in a vertical position might drip down into the air hole and eventually come out of the side air hole. This is a really slow thing however...like maybe a drop or two when the unit is at rest...say, 'over-night'. In my case, I discovered that the secret to preventing this is first...go easy on the wick...it doesn't take much (at least where I like to vape...around 8 watts)...and finally, to make sure NOT to clog the liquid channels with wick...if those are open excess liquid that the wicks are not able to absorb simply goes back down into the tank after a draw.
2. Sometimes when using the 'top fill' method...a bit of liquid can come out of the mouth-piece when you do the tip upside down step and tighten it all down. It probably has to do with when I take my finger off the air hole...or maybe I get it too tight before tipping and the vacume has already shoved in some liquid...I dunno, but it's no big deal here. I just keep a bit of tissue or something in hand as a precaution.
3. If you have to make lots of drastic changes in elevation or temperature over the course of a day it can get the tank out of equilibrium in its rest state and cause flooding. This can hold true for ANY tank system though...even carto-tanks...so if you get on a plane with it...empty the tank first. If you drive in mountains a lot, drip or get a bottom feeder, as most tanks are susceptible to (in the least) not working well if the atmospheric pressure is too low...and if that pressure changes a bunch (you go up and down quickly) it can flood and clog on ya. If you 'occasionally' climb a big hill or two, or maybe your job involves taking a speed elevator to the 30th floor a few times a day...just keep something to wipe with on hand just in case. In short...get a REO for your extended snow ski trips
I've tried a variety of builds in these Kayfun clones, and for me the easiest one to do that flat out works every time with no fiddling or break in period is a microcoil using larger low resistance wire. In my case I got 28 gage AWG 28 Kanthal. With a VV/VW device I just do 14 counter clock-wise tight wraps (around 2 Ohms...or just under) on a 1/16 drill bit, mount it horizontally with very short (almost no) leg length, a few mm above the air hole, fire it one time to make sure it's working ok, then pull a sprig of cotton through the coil. All the fiddly fuss with torches and whatnot trying to make the 'perfect coil' is not necessary most of the time (builds may last longer if you have time to do all the extra steps). You really can skip a bunch of steps (firing with torches before mounting and all that) and just throw a micro-coil together if you're in a hurry and get a great vape.
If I'm going to be 'on the go' for a few days and want to avoid having to toss in a fresh wick as long as possible...I'll sometimes use a little bigger 5/64" jig and thread 3mm silica through a micro-coil. The reason for that is simply that the silica wicks can last a while. For a few flavors I'll even put a thin wrap or two of SS mesh (just enough to wrap the coil around) around a 1mm silica wick (long enough to pick up liquid from the channels)...those can go a good week or more with a clean/clear liquid/flavor (stainless gives a quite different vape texture though...needs some break-in...and brings out different flavor aspects).
Are they worth the trouble to set-up and fill?
Yes! They work so much better than any other tank I've tried. I still use my old tanks in rotation for variety...and that rotation reminds me daily how much better the KayFun style design really is....in fact...if I ever get all the cheap tanks out of rotation....I'll probably have to start cutting my liquids to weaken their flavor a bit! It's that RICH for me.
If you've vaped a while, and intend to continue vaping more than a few months...you can't go wrong picking up at least one of these...even the price of the real thing is well worth it if you know you'll still be vaping months down the road. Oh, and I doubt you'd have problems selling any of them second hand (I think they have to be the real deal to sell here on ECF in the classifieds though?).
