Okay, i just got mine, literally an hour ago, picked it up off a friend i did a slowtech order with
Got home and built it about 30 minutes ago
I vape 100% tc, currently using 316L SS, and i always build around 0.5/0.6 (about 7 wraps on 3mm) to get a stable tc experience, given 316's low TCR (0.00092 on my TreeBox or the 316L profile off SE for my Efusion DNA200). So the Merlins going up against the experience i have with my favourite tank, the Lemo 2, which is rock solid using tc.
Right now though im using the TB, because thats my baby, and what i use most of the time...
Ill go through the experience, from out of the box...
Literally everything on it is overtightened, right down to the grub screws....
I had to break it right down to coax the deck out and the top fill off - held on to the chimney and with some effort coaxed the top fill off
Removed the restricter screw, knew from sucking through it dry that it was going to not be for me, i like a restrictive DTL. I dont see how anyone can say this wont do MTL....
Lubed all the threads and orings (even the little black one, in its rightful place around the chimney under the topfill)
Wrapped 7 wraps of 316L ss on 3mm...i usually leave overly generous spacing between wraps, but not in the Merlin, lol, i had to reduce my spacing to what most people use
. Even doing this i would say the posts could be a little further apart, but thats a niggle not a con at all. No biggie. Velocity deck always welcome.
Wicking, i first cut the tails about level with the outside edge of the base, and poked them down into the cups...i felt the tails were too long and looked like they would cover the
juice holes, so i trimmed another few mm off them, poked them down again, and because i had read that some advocated the tails just sitting inside the top of the cup, poked what tail ends i could see upward via a screwdriver in the
juice holes
Closed the airflow
Closed the
juice flow (i will add here that i ....ing
loathe juice control generally (hopefully im making this clear), its just another embuggerance, and on this tank, with narrow knurled/grip surfaces its never been more annoying as theres too much on this thing that rotates, too many rings. Ive never had a tank with juice control that wasnt set wide open 100% of the time whether i was running 40vg/60pg 50/50 or 80vg/20pg. If you have an airflow control ring that seals well theres no need for juice control even for when youre refilling. Juice flow control needs to ....ing die as a thing. Its to me just another marketing bullet point. The space would better served by the airflow being moved up and a cross hatched or other form of knurled section below to assist in getting the tank off (because at the moment to get the tank off i have to grip all the rings) These points are the only cons i have.......ing juice control, i knew this tank had it, i wasnt prepared for how much it would .... me on this tank because a) i cant even turn it becuase its too stiff, so b) i just turn it on and off by twisting the glass. If i could, id leave it forever open, but if i move the glass at some point i epxect it will close at some point...
Its still not as bad as the completely immovable (without pliers) juice control of a Kaees Landmark tank that i all but hurled back at the people who sold it to me. It had other issues too, not least of which was an internal short
With the top fill orings and threads lubed, i could get the topfill off.
My number one tip for this tank to not overtighten anything on it, im barely on snug
Now that ive said that, the vape....
Filled it with 70vg/30pg unflavoured
I use unflavoured about 98% of the time, and its my go to when testing a new tank especially, because no flaw can survive an unflavoured juice test.
I dont think ive ever tasted the slight sweetness of the vg in my juice quite like this. I suspect when i whack a flavour through it in the coming days, it will be extremely positive. I did get the beginnings of a gurgle, just the very beginning of it, it did not follow through and dump my juice. and in fact in the time since, it has settled down and the gurgle has gone. I think next rewicking though i will not poke the little tail that did protrude down the cup back up with a screwdriver
Vaping it itself provided no dramas at all. Probably the smoothest vape ive ever had...smoothest airflow, and doesnt sound like it wants to eat the soul of your next door neighbours children like a Crown wide open...
At half open afc, its about the same a my Lemo 2, where i like it. Of course i initially ran it wide open, and like every other tank ive tried for the first time that is airy, i got the dreaded hiccups
But juice flow control needs to die a ....ing death, universally. Only con on this tank is that ring, thats too stiff, and hard to grab hold off because of all the rings at the bottom. Id rather be able to grab my tank to get it off the mod...
So whats the fallout, the pro's and cons, and niggles
Pros:
* Clean as a whistle on arrival
* Threads are great
* Spare glass
* Spare orings
* Spare grub screws
* Allen key
* Easy to build on deck, simple as any other velocity, one leg high, one leg low, or however you want to put the coil legs through the posts
* Easy to wick, when you get the length right, should take more than a few attempts at worst, i got mine 97% right first go. Sure, you have to eyeball and test it, not as easy as the Lemo, where you rest one blade of pair of scrissors flat on the upper deck section, fold your cotton down and cut to get the right length...
* Enough airflow choices between the restricter and without, and with the airflow control ring to suit probably most people out there. Restricter out and half open is about where im used to on my Lemo 2. Half open and i dont get the hiccups from too much air
* Stable as under tc, you can really lock the grub screws down to get great contact. some people have reported cut legs and rough ends on grub screws. YMMV, but i had none of these issues, and i crank my coil legs in.
* Probably the smoothest airflow, as in sensation of airflow, ive noticed in any tank ive had
* Arguably the best taste ive ever got out of a tank, and thats just using unflavoured. Ill get to flavours in the next day or so.
* I dont hate the driptip, its actually quite great. My Lemo 2 one just happens to make it look smarter than the odd black one, i suppose it looks alright if you have a black mod, otherwise it looks out of place.
Cons:
* Everything overtightened out of the box
* Juice Flow Control - it needs to die a horrible painful, but quick death
* With juice flow control removed you could have better tactile surface area to grab
Niggles:
* Depending on your mod, you may find the tank wont screw all the way down flush, even when ive got it down at what i consider really snug, it sits about 0.5mm off the deck, and i have to say because of this it does have a slight wobble. YMMV, but ive tried it on both my TB and Efusion DNA, which has a slightly raised 510
Could it be the best tank ever, yes...without jfc, and maybe a smidge shorter 510 (maybe the tolerances need work at the factory?). The vape is the most important part, and luckily its great so far