Max reliability / least hassle APV setup?

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AttyPops

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Again, thanks a lot for all the input, very helpful, keep it coming pls.

Pretty much sold on the Provari (rather than the cheaper Lavatube), on the strength of its reviews. Also, likely to go with cart/clearo top, as Attypops suggested, at least for the start.

Cool, but if you don't like syringes to fill them you may not like carto/clearos. So IDK. To me, they are "easy", but they cost a bit since they are disposible use-and-toss things. You should get many days out of each one though (but have to refill). The shorter ones hold less juice.

The good news is that A) you can try several types and see what you like and B) you can fill several at once and have it all "set" for a day or several days.

Eventually you will move into trying other things. Most people start with cartos/clearos and then move into other stuff. However, even with my tanks and RBA's I still have some cartos or atomizers around to vape with. They are good "backup/emergency" devices too.

Good luck!
 

Jumpin' In...

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Just as a practical matter, you might consider where you will keep the PV when you don't have it in your hands. If you're in an office or at home, for example, a glass clearomizer on a large PV might not be a problem. On the other hand, if you're more active a glass tank might not be ideal because they can break if they are dropped or hit.
 

Thepinfamily

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My 2¢

Get a 35mm boge carto, a carto tank and your PV of choice. The provari is a great choice. If you sit at a desk and on the couch all day any carto tank will do. If your working construction, biking, hiking, rock climbing,etc every day get a locking or highend carto tank to hold up and keep up with your busy life. Great vape and almost no fiddling. I fill my tank once a day and replace the carto once a week. No other work is needed.
 

texasguy4

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Provari is a great battery holder, but they are only as good as the topper you put on it. Most clearos leak, or the coils won't last very long, getting a consistently good carto is a crap shoot at best. After several months and several hundred dollars of try to get a good Provari set-up, I tried a Reo with the RM2 atty and IMO found the ideal set-up. Reo's take a little getting used to, but once you do they are darn near the perfect vape, and very easy to use and care for.
 

Makahowin

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I can't pull the trigger on the ProVari. I am sure they are really nice units, but $$$$$$? And why do they not have variable wattage units yet??? I started with the BlueCigs, went to the Volcano Inferno, then the Vamo, and now the iTase SVD. BlueCigs were terrible and I almost went back to analogs. The Inferno was a great unit and I still use it for concealed carry :2cool: with the tube tank. I purchased the Vamo as my first VV/VW unit and it worked great, until it fell on the floor and was rendered unusable. I would steer clear of the Vamo due to the lack of reliability. My new iTaste SVD is working well. No reliability issues so far, and i have tested it :facepalm:. The cool thing about the SVD is that it will adjust to any sized battery with the twist of the bottom cap.
Liquid delivery systems I have used so far: Cartomizers, Clearomizers, Tank systems, Bottom feed, top feed....My last new purchase was the ProTank. The ProTank works well through the first tank for me and then I have to start messing with it to get it to work right. After the first tank it seems to vapor lock on me and I have to burp it all the time. I have removed wick from it and played games with the silicone seal only to get a mouthful of juice and constant gurgling. I know there are people who just love the ProTank, but mine sets on my dresser. The top feed tanks all seem to burn and they are a hassle as well. I have tried many and all seem to be the same. I always find myself going back to the original set up. Good old reliable cartomizers and or tanks with cartomizers inside. These things just work! You can crank up the wattage on them and not have to worry about dry hits or gurgling. I use my cartos for about a week and then just throw them away. For less than $2 why mess with cleaning the cartos. Just my two cents. If anyone has come across a bottom/top feed tank that is reliable, let me know. Unitil then I will stick to cartos!
 

Thepinfamily

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I can't pull the trigger on the ProVari. I am sure they are really nice units, but $$$$$$? And why do they not have variable wattage units yet??? I started with the BlueCigs, went to the Volcano Inferno, then the Vamo, and now the iTase SVD. BlueCigs were terrible and I almost went back to analogs. The Inferno was a great unit and I still use it for concealed carry :2cool: with the tube tank. I purchased the Vamo as my first VV/VW unit and it worked great, until it fell on the floor and was rendered unusable. I would steer clear of the Vamo due to the lack of reliability. My new iTaste SVD is working well. No reliability issues so far, and i have tested it :facepalm:. The cool thing about the SVD is that it will adjust to any sized battery with the twist of the bottom cap.
Liquid delivery systems I have used so far: Cartomizers, Clearomizers, Tank systems, Bottom feed, top feed....My last new purchase was the ProTank. The ProTank works well through the first tank for me and then I have to start messing with it to get it to work right. After the first tank it seems to vapor lock on me and I have to burp it all the time. I have removed wick from it and played games with the silicone seal only to get a mouthful of juice and constant gurgling. I know there are people who just love the ProTank, but mine sets on my dresser. The top feed tanks all seem to burn and they are a hassle as well. I have tried many and all seem to be the same. I always find myself going back to the original set up. Good old reliable cartomizers and or tanks with cartomizers inside. These things just work! You can crank up the wattage on them and not have to worry about dry hits or gurgling. I use my cartos for about a week and then just throw them away. For less than $2 why mess with cleaning the cartos. Just my two cents. If anyone has come across a bottom/top feed tank that is reliable, let me know. Unitil then I will stick to cartos!

Agree completely. I don't understand why lot of people say getting a good carto is difficult? Or why people get so many duds. I've been using cartos exclusively for 6 months. Every kind of carto I can get my hands on. I've had one dud ever. One dud in 6 months. It worked but the ohms jumped around so it made for a funny vape. I tossed it. Other than that every carto has been great. I've probably had 2-3 that were a tighter draw than the rest or the draw got tight after just 1-2 days. They were still very usable. All in all cartos have been a life saver for me. They let me switch over to vaping without any hassle at all. I went from fighting ce4's and T3's to set it up and forget it. I get curious about new clearos like the Aspire but I'm not going to mess with a good thing. As far as the provari, well I agree with you there also. I have been using the sigelei V3 telescopic flat top for 6 months now and I love it. I have no doubt the provari is a great device and will out last my sigelei. I don't really think I need something to out last my sigelei. Either I will want something new in the next couple years or ill quit vaping. I'm not going to spend 3.5x the money for something to last me 20 years when I have no plans to be using it in 5 years. Surely the provari will be a thing of the past in 5 years. Probably more like 2-3 years. Most of them will probably still be working in 5 or 10 years. Unfortunately they would be sitting a drawer next to all my working but out dated cell phones by that time. I will most likely be using a device with a 5 day battery life and a display that let's me adjust my vape by temperature. Or something cool like that. I have found my favorite way to vape over the last month. Now I'm using a nemesis with a kick 2. Topped with a boge carto in a tank. So far that is my absolute favorite vape. It's not a cheap vape but its a great vape. You don't need all the extra bells and whistles when vaping a boge carto in a tank. I don't care about ohms or rms or voltage or puff counts. I just set my wattage and vape. It's truly a simple vape.
 

Tony Spectacular

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I have to agree with the assessment that a Reo is what you're after. You can use them with cartos and they just work. No settings, no fiddly bits aside from light maintenance, and you can swap batteries so that you always have a fresh one available. A touch spendy, but as most people will tell you, you're better off just spending that initial investment money now, because you're likely going to spend it later anyway.
 

tj99959

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  • Aug 13, 2011
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    I can't pull the trigger on the ProVari. I am sure they are really nice units, but $$$$$$? And why do they not have variable wattage units yet??? I started with the BlueCigs, went to the Volcano Inferno, then the Vamo, and now the iTase SVD. BlueCigs were terrible and I almost went back to analogs. The Inferno was a great unit and I still use it for concealed carry :2cool: with the tube tank. I purchased the Vamo as my first VV/VW unit and it worked great, until it fell on the floor and was rendered unusable. I would steer clear of the Vamo due to the lack of reliability. My new iTaste SVD is working well. No reliability issues so far, and i have tested it :facepalm:. The cool thing about the SVD is that it will adjust to any sized battery with the twist of the bottom cap.
    Liquid delivery systems I have used so far: Cartomizers, Clearomizers, Tank systems, Bottom feed, top feed....My last new purchase was the ProTank. The ProTank works well through the first tank for me and then I have to start messing with it to get it to work right. After the first tank it seems to vapor lock on me and I have to burp it all the time. I have removed wick from it and played games with the silicone seal only to get a mouthful of juice and constant gurgling. I know there are people who just love the ProTank, but mine sets on my dresser. The top feed tanks all seem to burn and they are a hassle as well. I have tried many and all seem to be the same. I always find myself going back to the original set up. Good old reliable cartomizers and or tanks with cartomizers inside. These things just work! You can crank up the wattage on them and not have to worry about dry hits or gurgling. I use my cartos for about a week and then just throw them away. For less than $2 why mess with cleaning the cartos. Just my two cents. If anyone has come across a bottom/top feed tank that is reliable, let me know. Unitil then I will stick to cartos!

    Yup the Provari is expensive (about the same as 3 cartons of cigarettes where I live). I smoked about a carton a week, so three weeks worth of cigarettes buys a Provari. Yup ......... very expensive.

    The real expense of vaping is in the e-liquid we use, not the device we use it in. So if you want to save money, buy a good PV and make your own e-liquid. Buying a cheap PV, and then buying expensive juice costs more.
     

    skex

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    Provari w/ Kanger pro tank 2 should be pretty easy and very reliable to meet your needs.
    ^^This^^
    Is what I use, Evod is pretty nice too but the Pro-tank 2 fits nicely and holds substantially more juice.
    Beats the tar out of the I-clears and other top coils I've tried. Personally would suggest some sort of back up device. The Provari is solid but even it can break (mine did) the best thing about the Provari is even if you abuse it enough to cause failure (ak drop it just wrong) they'll fix it up. The problem being that it will take a few days to ship it too them get it repaired and for it to ship back.

    That said I really missed my Provari while it was gone and was very happy to get it back.

    Personally I've got the Provari V2.5 as my primary PV and a Intaste MPV that I'd picked up while my Provari was in the shop, but honestly my suggestion would be to get the Provari and some sort of Mechanical for a back up. Mechanicals have the wonderful virtue of being practically failure proof.

    I definitely recommend going with one of the Kanger bottom feeds, The Evod about blew my mind when I tried it. It was so much better than carto's clean and easy draw with no waiting for the batting to get moist no burnt taste from using it with insufficient liquid saturation. No leakage like I've seen from the I-Clear much better draw than the Viva-Nova's.

    I honestly don't know what AttyPops is talking about with this idea that dripping involves less knowledge/fiddle factor than a tank solution, Dripping means carrying a small plastic or glass bottle around with you then having to pay close and constant attention to how much liquid you're dripping in, too little and you get burnt taste and no vapor too much and you get a mouth full of juice.


    Ideal setup IMO, Provari 2.5 with the extension cap ($159), 2 chargers one for home one for the office, assuming you work away from home ($40) 4 AW IMR 18650($40). Evod or Pro-tank 2 or both :) ($25-40) 5 pack or replacement coils ($15), some 18650 using mechanical as a backup (50), assorted juices to figure out your preferred flavor ($50).

    Roughly $400, which is admittedly a rather daunting start-up cost, however I wish I had this knowledge when I started vaping, I spent over a grand on junk that fell apart before I finally sucked it up and bought a decent mod, If I knew then what I know now I'd have just picked up a screw driver right off the bat and used that until the Provari came out.


    Actually scratch that just get
    http://www.provape.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=PROVARISTARTER

    Everything you need to get started, you can always get the extension cap and 18650s later if you want.
     
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    Evi|grin

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    The main feature i wanted when i started was LONG battery life and lots of vapor/flavor.

    Based on that criteria, i got a Innokin MPV/iClear30 kit and it did just fine. Later i added a Pro Tank-II which was fine at first. Then i had a few issues but those have since been resolved and im quite happy with it also. I recently bought a a MVP/iClear30 V2 kit with variable watts and ohm checker. It also has a readout for actual battery volts so i can see if its getting low. Neither the version 1 or version 2 seem to ever get low on power. I can vape for several days on a charge.

    I could not be happier.
     

    NicoHolic

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    Standard cartos and/or an atomizer to drip in...On the zen-end...keep it dirt simple...there's mechs.

    I'm with ya.

    Max reliability, least hassle - just add 1.5-1.8Ω
    disposable atty or LR (1.7-2.0Ω) cartomizer, and
    AW IMR battery:

    For a box mod, there's the American made, 6 ml
    18650 REO Grand or the 3 ml 18490 REO Mini 2.1
    milled from a single block of aluminum. $144

    REOS Mods

    001-1.jpg



    For a tube mod, American made of stainless steel
    Mil Spec-P-45209 palladium plated brass contacts
    Lifetime warranty

    18650 size - 98 mm (3.9") x 20 mm (0.8") $135
    18500 size - 81 mm (3.2") x 20 mm (0.8") $125
    18350 size - 66 mm (2.6") x 20 mm (0.8") $120

    Super-T Manufacturing, Precise Simplicity

    ttt4.jpg
     

    SmoKnoMoCigZ

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    Again, thanks a lot for all the input, very helpful, keep it coming pls.

    Pretty much sold on the Provari (rather than the cheaper Lavatube), on the strength of its reviews. Also, likely to go with cart/clearo top, as Attypops suggested, at least for the start.

    get a protank 2 along with what you already decided. very hassle-free with no leaks or fiddling. try the cartos and clearos and the protank and see which you like best.
     

    madqatter

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    On the zen-end...keep it dirt simple...there's mechs. Mechs basically are an atomizer connector with a button and a battery. So you are basically powering the coil directly from the battery. As if you took a battery and some wires and fired up the carto. Simple as it gets. Almost no fail with standard configs. You have to use safe batteries (like IMR). The main down side is that they don't regulate voltage so the voltage changes as the battery is used up. They don't monitor battery voltage for automatic cut off at low battery or short condition either. They are, however, very reliable.
    This is what won me over... why my first APV will be a mech.
     
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