Mini Vivi Nova vs. Kanger T2 and CE4 Stardust: Which do you prefer?

[HighlanderNorth]

I have been using the Kanger T2 now for 11 days most of the time, and its a step up from the standard resistance Ego atomizer/tank combo I had been using before. When I switched over, I was quickly getting better hits, more vapor, etc. I didnt need to suck on it quite as long as I did the Ego atty. At first the taste seemed muted, like with my Totally Wicked 6ml dual coil tank, which still badly mutes the flavor of everything I put in it! But after a few hours of use, and after I learned to twist it around when vaping, the flavor in the Kanger T2 improved a lot.

But it has its quirks too. I doesnt like to run when its tank is 30-50% below full, and you have to tip it over a lot more because its a top coil clearo. It also some times goes through these "burnt flavor" periods for no apparent reason, even though there is more than half a tank of liquid, and I tip it sideways and spin it for every hit. Last night I tried taking it apart during one of these burnt flavor spells, and I removed all the juice and put it into its bottle, and rinsed out the tank, then removed the coil and completely rinsed it out and cleaned the wicks. Then I set it aside to dry and squirted the juice into my 6ml dual coil tank and used it for 2 hours, and it works but muted the flavor badly as always. Then after the T2 dried a few hours, I put it back on and refilled it, and gave it a few minutes to suck up the liquid, and it was back to not tasting burnt.

In the mean time, I've been reading newer reviews of the Vivi Nova mini, and the reviews I read were like "Its fantastic! Greatest clearo ever"! So I decided to try one out, and I discovered that my only reasonably local e-cig dealer sells Vivi Novas, minis, coils, etc., so I bought one that comes with 3 coils of different resistance(1.8, 2.2, 2.6 I think), and I ordered 4 extra 1.8ohm coils too. They look to be the real deal with stamped coils(with the resistance stamped on the sides), and the knurling and name, etc on the clearo.

Is it a good bit better than the Kanger T2 and the Vision Stardust, CE4 type clearo as well? I see that the Vivi Nova comes completely apart and the bottom unscrews too. The Kanger T2 does not have a removable bottom piece, which I thought would make it less leak prone since its permanently glued on. I also read that you can "roll your own" coils for the Vivi Nova and mini. That brings up the only disappointment I have so far with the Vivi Nova, which is the cost of coils for it. They are twice the price of Kanger T2 coils. I was buying 5-packs of T2 coils for $6.99, but the Vivi Nova coils are almost $3 each!

1. So, how much better is the Vivi Nova in your opinion? Why?
2. How long do the coils last compared with T2 coils?
3. Do you get good/better hits from the Vivi Nova/Mini?
4. Does it dull or mute the flavor of e-liquids?

 

[mrelwood]

This seems to be a difficult question to answer. I searched for the exact same answer, as I'm only semi-happy with my T2, and even less with the Stardust. Seems that some prefer the T2, some prefer the Vivi Nova Mini. I have the Vivi Nova Mini on the way, so I'll be able to give my opinions in a few weeks.

 

[jjcordone]

Healthcabin has the vivi nova heads for $2 each in a five pack.
I never tried the T2, but I did switch from the Stardust to the mini vivi nova.
IMHO - Big difference. I found the draw to be way too tight on the Stardust.
I've been getting a month out of the heads on the vivi too.
Good luck with them !

 

[ninjuh]

Vivi novas are great in my opinion.

Flavor is full.

Smoother hits due to better airflow compared to the tight draw of stardusts and similar ce2 tanks.

I feel like the coils on novas may not last as long as others simply because they perform better. They burn hotter so naturally the coil will get burned out quicker. To me that isn't a problem given the superior performance & the ability to replace the heads.

Overall I say novas should be the standard for which other tanks should try to match.. They really are the best of their kind & I encourage everyone to give them a try

~Vaping is a lifestyle~

 

[18SixFifty]

I love my vivi nova and prefer it over every other system I have tried. However, there are people who do seem to have problems. I think one piece of very good advice is to lay it on it's side for a good hour before using it and also "prime the pump" by dripping one drop on the coil. I tried just about everything out there and had gone back to dripping. Nothing else was giving me the flavor I wanted or if it did it leaked all over the place, or got funky tasting too quickly. I never did like cartomizers and even with the tanks they still did nothing for me.

Good luck and I hope they work out as well for you as they have for me.

 

[zuzette]

all the clearos mentioned here require some cleaning maintenance. when juice cloggs the Atty there wont be new juice flowing to the head and you will get that burnt taste. there are lots of ways to clean the heads but the simplest is to just rinse it under hit water e every few refills. unless you are using a really dark juice rinsing will maintain the head for good flavor rather well.

i use the mini vivi myself and.it can't be beat for ease of use and taste. yes i still have to tip the tank every now and then...but gee its no effort.

 

[mrelwood]

Anyone of you Vivi Nova likers tried the E1-V (from discountvapers.com)? Seems to have some fans liking it even better than the Vivi Nova, for example davsolomon@youtube.

 

[nepatitan]

" I've been getting a month out of the heads on the vivi too" I've hear this quote more than once too. Got my mini VN tuesday as well as a 2.8 ml. I love them, I haven't tried stardusts or Kangers. Then again, moving up from caromizer tanks to the VN I've found a very happy place so for me, no reason to keep buying other stuff when i'm happy with what I have now

Healthcabin has the vivi nova heads for $2 each in a five pack.
I never tried the T2, but I did switch from the Stardust to the mini vivi nova.
IMHO - Big difference. I found the draw to be way too tight on the Stardust.
I've been getting a month out of the heads on the vivi too.
Good luck with them !

PS I love the fact that I can take out the old juice, rinse it under hot tap water, throw some new juice in and i'm ready to vape in under 5 mins with a new flavor.

 

[HighlanderNorth]

" I've been getting a month out of the heads on the vivi too" I've hear this quote more than once too. Got my mini VN tuesday as well as a 2.8 ml. I love them, I haven't tried stardusts or Kangers. Then again, moving up from caromizer tanks to the VN I've found a very happy place so for me, no reason to keep buying other stuff when i'm happy with what I have now



PS I love the fact that I can take out the old juice, rinse it under hot tap water, throw some new juice in and i'm ready to vape in under 5 mins with a new flavor.

I just got done doing that with my T2. I just FINALLY got my new order for 30ml of Totally Wicked's tobacco e-liquid which was ordered 9 days ago! I also needed 30ml's of Halo's Freedom Juice for my blend, and I intentionally ordered it later than I ordered the TW juice, because I expected to have to steep the TW juice first. So I ordered the Halo juice on Monday, 5 days after the TW order, yet I got the Halo juice Wednesday, just 2 days later(first), and the TW juice today! Fortunately the TW tobacco juice doesnt seem to need steeping quite as badly as it did last time, and its already good.

So I removed the juice in my Kanger T2 and rinsed it out.

 

[Rivaman]

But it has its quirks too. I doesnt like to run when its tank is 30-50% below full, and you have to tip it over a lot more because its a top coil clearo. It also some times goes through these "burnt flavor" periods for no apparent reason, even though there is more than half a tank of liquid, and I tip it sideways and spin it for every hit. Last night I tried taking it apart during one of these burnt flavor spells, and I removed all the juice and put it into its bottle, and rinsed out the tank, then removed the coil and completely rinsed it out and cleaned the wicks. Then I set it aside to dry and squirted the juice into my 6ml dual coil tank and used it for 2 hours, and it works but muted the flavor badly as always. Then after the T2 dried a few hours, I put it back on and refilled it, and gave it a few minutes to suck up the liquid, and it was back to not tasting burnt.

I actually use the T2 most of the time less than 50% full (I like switching flavours a lot). I don't get dry hits if I tip it up around every 10 draws or so. Does yours have a plastic cup near the heating coil? This holds a small amount of juice for the wick,but I believe the newer
versions don't use it which seems like a move backwards.

 

[HighlanderNorth]

I actually use the T2 most of the time less than 50% full (I like switching flavours a lot). I don't get dry hits if I tip it up around every 10 draws or so. Does yours have a plastic cup near the heating coil? This holds a small amount of juice for the wick,but I believe the newer
versions don't use it which seems like a move backwards.

Nope. I had hoped that was what I was getting, because the ad said they were the old ones, but I got the long wick ones with no cup. The cup idea makes sense to me....

 

[Rivaman]

Nope. I had hoped that was what I was getting, because the ad said they were the old ones, but I got the long wick ones with no cup. The cup idea makes sense to me....

Maybe they stopped doing them because it makes refilling harder, but I just unscrew the head every time I fill, not that hard.
I got mine from liberty-flights in the UK, don't know if they're still doing the cup type though.

 

[James416]

T2 Kanger has been my first and only set up and I'm almost at 30 straight days with no analogs!! I got the ego c starter kit but quickly gave up the attys and batts it came with due to leaks...I'm using the twists now with them, bought some wick and wire to rebuild the coils, just ordered a crap load of DIY gear, my next toy will be right to a Reo woodvil... But I would recommend a T2 to anybody, so far my wife and mom has quit smoking due to an Ego C and T2 setup as well. They do operate better when full though, and do get a burnt taste every so often but to fix that just clean every 3 fills or 3 days.. Cheers

 

[axolotly]

Waiting on my Vivi Nova Mini, and I have at least 8 different types/brands of clearos in my rotation testing out. My favorite so far that keeps going and going while giving me great warm vapor is the Thor (I got the kit):

Thor Clearomizer

I keep going back to it over and over again, haven't had to or wanted to replace the 1.8 ohm atomizer that it has screwed in by default. I think it also accepts Vivi Nova Mini heads?

 

[Johny Ringo]

Have both the thor and the vivi nova and a mini vivi. Of the three I prefer the vivi nova the best the mini doesnt seem to draw quite as well for me as the full sized one. Having said that the mini works well too I just seem to get a tad better results with the full sized ones. The thor isn't bad but I find the draw to be much tighter than the novas and the flavor seems much less consistent.

Of course I just started dripping and in comparison the flavor on all of them is definitely muted, So now I am looking into bottom feeders.

 

[nepatitan]

Ive noticed the mini needs a tiny bit more pull as well over the full size.

Have both the thor and the vivi nova and a mini vivi. Of the three I prefer the vivi nova the best the mini doesnt seem to draw quite as well for me as the full sized one. Having said that the mini works well too I just seem to get a tad better results with the full sized ones. The thor isn't bad but I find the draw to be much tighter than the novas and the flavor seems much less consistent.

Of course I just started dripping and in comparison the flavor on all of them is definitely muted, So now I am looking into bottom feeders.

 

[Bronze]

1. So, how much better is the Vivi Nova in your opinion? Why?
2. How long do the coils last compared with T2 coils?
3. Do you get good/better hits from the Vivi Nova/Mini?
4. Does it dull or mute the flavor of e-liquids?

1) I like the Mini Vivi Nova a little more than the Kanger T2 because it is more consistent. Less dry hits, coils last longer, can clean it better cuz it fully disassembles, don't have to worry as much about screwing the coil tight after every time you take the tip off, tip doesn't crack. But, the T2 costs aproximately 2/3rds what the Mini Nova costs. So there's some equalization there.
2) Noticeably longer in the Nova (and I measure my resisitance with a multimeter).
3) About the same
4) Everything mutes flavor. Don't see a dramatic difference between the T2 and Nova

 

[ZooKansas]

I have both the mini and regular vivi-novas...version 2.5(long wick). ^The heads between the mini and regular are interchangeable. I've never been a fan of clearo's of any sort before., including the DC tanks. I think I tried almost all of them over the past year. Most ordered from gotvapes. I really liked the stardusts (or ego clearomizers, or CE4's, etc.), and thought that I had a near perfect setup, UNTIL... I got the vivi-nova. Much better draw and flavor than those. It's simply a very low hassle device. Flavor and vapor production are great, and I can finally stop buying and refilling finicky carto's. I don't care what carto I compare the flavor to, the vivi-nova gives me better flavor all around. I also love Boba's, and high VG juices in general, and it vapes as good as any atty or carto I've tried. If that weren't good enough, then the rebuild-ability aspect of them is amazing. I am no engineer nor good at making things in general. But I just put together a new wick and coil in about ten minutes for my mini vivi. This means that I'll never have to order replacement heads for either of them ever again. The wick and coils I got cost about $10 shipped, and I estimate they are good for making at least 5-7 more replacements. Moreover, it was fun to do.

I prefer the mini over the regular because the mini feels less bulky on my devices and I like the bigger endcaps. I really tried to NOT like these. I put in some strong cinnamon juice with the second tankful just to see what would happen with the tube. Nothing. It vaped great, and I kept refilling with that flavor for about a week. I chain vaped it and it got a little hot, and the flavor a bit muted, but not much else. It's not a "perfect" product, but nothing in vaping is. Some cons (if I can even call them cons) about the vivi-nova. 1. It's still a plastic tube. Albeit, a strong plastic. But I know I have to be careful not to drop it or bang it hard against anything, etc. Edit: you can now buy metal tubes for both that will probably eliminate this "con" altogether. 2. When juice is low in it...(under the 1ml mark)...it does need to be tipped a bit for maximum vapor. It definitely vapes better when at least halfway full (no tipping, fuller vapor and TH) 3. It's still prone to user error. The first head I had in it was a 2.4ohm. I decided to hit it at 6V one day to see how it would feel, and it definitely burned the coil, which resulted in more burnt hits and forced me to take out the juice (a syringe works miracles for this) and replace the head entirely. I also found that vaping any of the heads was more pleasant under 4.5v, regardless of the ohm ratings. 4. I feel that it helps having a favorite juice or two to dedicate to it as this decreases cleaning time and coil replacing,etc., so it might not be for people who don't have an "all day vape" yet. 5. If you do decide to make your own replacement coils, it helps to have a device like the provari (or know how to test ohms with a multimeter) to test the ohm rating before you fill it up and start to vape. For example, the first coil I built metered about 1.3ohms; which means that it will definitely drain my egos fast and it will give me an error code when going above 3.3v on the provari. Moreover, I've found that I like to replace the coils and wick every week for maximum flavor and vapor (this equates to maybe 4 tank fill-ups) 6. I haven't had any leaking issues...but I'm being picky here. After a while, condensation will build up in the drip-tip and it will combine with a bit of the juice in the tank somehow, and you might end up with some juice in your mouth. This has only happened once; when I left it sitting in my hot car for a day and pulled on it. Easily solved by swabbing the mouthpiece before vaping on it. Speaking of the mouthpiece...I really like the stock one. I find no need to put my own drip-tip on it, but I understand some might want to due to amping up the look of it. 7. Not the most pocket-friendly thing (another reason I prefer the mini). It's not obtrusive, but if you're wearing jeans, you'll know it's there. 8. I tend to be extra-careful when taking it off, placing it down, or putting it on my device for fear of one of the endcaps jarring loose or breaking the tank (yet to happen). 9. I'm not big on throat-hit. It gives me a fine TH, but I don't think it will wow any TH people out there.

I think I've listed most of it...if anyone can come up with any other "cons" or "pros" or "tips" then let's hear it. I'm just a month into these things and there's a bunch of people that know much more about this whom I wish to thank for posting reviews and youtube vids, etc. Otherwise, it's the best vaping investment I've made. Conspiracy-theory alert: perhaps suppliers will find a way to tweak it so it isn't as desirable, or make it harder to mod? Because right now I can barely understand why people (especially experienced vapers) would not like it. My 2cents, feel free to PM me if there's anything I can help you with

 

[axolotly]

@ZooKansas - thank you for such a detailed review! Mine should be here tomorrow. Regarding TH, have you tried a LR replacement attie? I need serious TH, and I wanted to make sure it just isn't a flaw in the overall package.

 

[Bronze]

I have both the mini and regular vivi-novas...version 2.5(long wick). ^The heads between the mini and regular are interchangeable. I've never been a fan of clearo's of any sort before., including the DC tanks. I think I tried almost all of them over the past year. Most ordered from gotvapes. I really liked the stardusts (or ego clearomizers, or CE4's, etc.), and thought that I had a near perfect setup, UNTIL... I got the vivi-nova. Much better draw and flavor than those. It's simply a very low hassle device. Flavor and vapor production are great, and I can finally stop buying and refilling finicky carto's. I don't care what carto I compare the flavor to, the vivi-nova gives me better flavor all around. I also love Boba's, and high VG juices in general, and it vapes as good as any atty or carto I've tried. If that weren't good enough, then the rebuild-ability aspect of them is amazing. I am no engineer nor good at making things in general. But I just put together a new wick and coil in about ten minutes for my mini vivi. This means that I'll never have to order replacement heads for either of them ever again. The wick and coils I got cost about $10 shipped, and I estimate they are good for making at least 5-7 more replacements. Moreover, it was fun to do.

I prefer the mini over the regular because the mini feels less bulky on my devices and I like the bigger endcaps. I really tried to NOT like these. I put in some strong cinnamon juice with the second tankful just to see what would happen with the tube. Nothing. It vaped great, and I kept refilling with that flavor for about a week. I chain vaped it and it got a little hot, and the flavor a bit muted, but not much else. It's not a "perfect" product, but nothing in vaping is. Some cons (if I can even call them cons) about the vivi-nova. 1. It's still a plastic tube. Albeit, a strong plastic. But I know I have to be careful not to drop it or bang it hard against anything, etc. Edit: you can now buy metal tubes for both that will probably eliminate this "con" altogether. 2. When juice is low in it...(under the 1ml mark)...it does need to be tipped a bit for maximum vapor. It definitely vapes better when at least halfway full (no tipping, fuller vapor and TH) 3. It's still prone to user error. The first head I had in it was a 2.4ohm. I decided to hit it at 6V one day to see how it would feel, and it definitely burned the coil, which resulted in more burnt hits and forced me to take out the juice (a syringe works miracles for this) and replace the head entirely. I also found that vaping any of the heads was more pleasant under 4.5v, regardless of the ohm ratings. 4. I feel that it helps having a favorite juice or two to dedicate to it as this decreases cleaning time and coil replacing,etc., so it might not be for people who don't have an "all day vape" yet. 5. If you do decide to make your own replacement coils, it helps to have a device like the provari (or know how to test ohms with a multimeter) to test the ohm rating before you fill it up and start to vape. For example, the first coil I built metered about 1.3ohms; which means that it will definitely drain my egos fast and it will give me an error code when going above 3.3v on the provari. Moreover, I've found that I like to replace the coils and wick every week for maximum flavor and vapor (this equates to maybe 4 tank fill-ups) 6. I haven't had any leaking issues...but I'm being picky here. After a while, condensation will build up in the drip-tip and it will combine with a bit of the juice in the tank somehow, and you might end up with some juice in your mouth. This has only happened once; when I left it sitting in my hot car for a day and pulled on it. Easily solved by swabbing the mouthpiece before vaping on it. Speaking of the mouthpiece...I really like the stock one. I find no need to put my own drip-tip on it, but I understand some might want to due to amping up the look of it. 7. Not the most pocket-friendly thing (another reason I prefer the mini). It's not obtrusive, but if you're wearing jeans, you'll know it's there. 8. I tend to be extra-careful when taking it off, placing it down, or putting it on my device for fear of one of the endcaps jarring loose or breaking the tank (yet to happen). 9. I'm not big on throat-hit. It gives me a fine TH, but I don't think it will wow any TH people out there.

I think I've listed most of it...if anyone can come up with any other "cons" or "pros" or "tips" then let's hear it. I'm just a month into these things and there's a bunch of people that know much more about this whom I wish to thank for posting reviews and youtube vids, etc. Otherwise, it's the best vaping investment I've made. Conspiracy-theory alert: perhaps suppliers will find a way to tweak it so it isn't as desirable, or make it harder to mod? Because right now I can barely understand why people (especially experienced vapers) would not like it. My 2cents, feel free to PM me if there's anything I can help you with

Where'd you get your wick and coil Zoo? I'm using nichrome but it gives me way too much resistance...even at three wraps.