I like my ViVi Novas a lot. I have 1 regular sized one and 2 minis.
The big one I got from The Plume Room for $10 I think, and it's a GS V-Core so I guess that makes it a "generic" one, but it came in really nice packaging: its own box and like black foam/velvet support packaging with specific indents for the various parts. It came with 1 whole unit and then 2 extra heads (so, 3 heads, each of varying ohms). Andrea at the Plume Room also offered to modify the unit for me since I was new to this whole thing; what she did was cut a slit on opposite sides of the rubber cap that goes on top of the wick unit. The little notches she cut align with the wick placement and allow for some more breathing room for the wicks to soak up more juice.
The minis I got from GotVapes on sale for $9 each and they just came in plastic baggies with no extra heads.
Neither of mine have any "ViVi Nova" labeling on the actual units, but they do both have the black measurement writings.
The replaceable heads for the mini and the regular I have are different, and while they maybe aren't supposed to be interchangeable I think I may have mixed up all the parts in my cleaning and refilling processes. I should have done a better job of keeping things organized and straight, and of photographing things early on so I could go back to reference how they went back together (and then also so I could make writeups/reviews later too!)
Perhaps my lackluster cleaning attempts and mixing up parts explains my current frustration in vaping quality of these units. They started out fabulous. Then, as time went on, rewarding vapes dwindled. So I thought it was time to clean and/or change heads. Changing heads definitely helped, made them like brand new, though also I think trying out the higher ohms also yielded more positive results.
I've been using them on mainly 510/ego type 3.7 v batteries, but I like exploring the vape differences at various voltages in these things. I've been using higher VG juices. There's a chocolate mint juice that I was using exclusively in one but that made the juice get so dark as I vaped and made vapor production decrease as time went on.
I hate cleaning them. The coils get all gunked up and the wicks get discolored or even burnt at the coil location. Since they've been so fun to vape I don't want to stop to empty and clean them out, but I guess that's been killing them faster?
I got the clear tube stuck to the bottom of the large ViVi, so that makes cleaning difficult. I've tried many times to remove it, using hot water, cold water, whatever, to try and possibly loosen it up, but it seems stuck that way and I don't want to break the tube trying harder. What happened was one time I was unscrewing the unit from a battery I think and I ended up only unscrewing the top portion from the bottom so that juice then started to flow, so I quickly twirled it back up, but then was getting some wick stuck so had to fiddle some more and got it all back together.
I find the tubes to the minis do easily unscrew, so I have to be careful to not do the same thing with just unscrewing the top portion of the tank when taking it off of the battery lest I want juice all over my hands. The minis at least do have an extra wide sturdy metal portion on top and bottom of the tube to allow for proper gripping when unscrewing the desired component.
So, now I need help. I don't like devoting like half an hour to cleaning a tank (since I need to get paper towels, set up a drying area, get the water hot which takes forever here, and I have hard water with very low water pressure, and yada yada it seems overwhelming). I have a Hoover SteamShot or something like that, it's a steam cleaner, that I went to town cleaning out all my tanks and cartos and whatnot, and that really helped some of them big time! But again, extra effort, and I do not like those 2 words combined, especially when the word "cleaning" is involved.
I'm finding the wicks can shred a bit. Perhaps I should twist them to try and squeeze out excess water, or try and and not tug at them to get at the discolored area of the wick obscured by the coils.
My ViVis are now producing lackluster vapes. They aren't as plumey and they're more dry and airy. Help? I guess this is good news for the unattended CE4 Vision Clearomizers I got. I do like them a whole lot, I just don't like having to make sure to tilt and swirl the juice as it gets lower so that the wicks stay soaked. I do not understand why the wicks are placed at the top. I thought the long wicks were best so then they'd be soaking up stuff even when the juice gets lower, but then I suppose that could degrade taste since it has to travel through the fiber wick longer? I can't remember if I've cleaned any of my clearomizers...
And while I'm really rambling, what tank device should I use to load up on say 80%VG chocolate mint juice? It also happens to have high caffeine and Kal Stevia sweetener with 18mg nic.
Those are my disorganized thoughts on the ViVis and whatnot for right now.
