I know there are plenty of threads on the general topic but I just wanted a spot to hash out my own musings -
Background - I've been using rebuildables, mechs, apvs etc etc for about a year now. Not an extreme cloud chaser, but usually use something with more ooomph than a Kayfun (though I still use one from time to time)
Like many folk here I jumped on the DNA40 train recently. VAPORSHARK's Cyber Monday sale was too much for me to resist.
The DNA40 wasn't anything I honestly felt I couldn't live with out. I've been more than happy with my IPV2 over the past 6 months. More than anything, I was curious. As an experienced and competent builder (IMHO) burning wick and dry hits weren't really a problem for me. I don't favor an overly hot vape and I rarely go beyond 30w. But again, I figured why not? Worst case scenario: I would end up with a quality mod to work into my rotation, even if I ended up not caring for temp control.
The Vaporshark RDNA40 itself -
I'm not going to go TOO into the mod itself because there are already tons of reviews out there as well as a current mega thread.
Mine is one of the updated versions with the larger screen, improved charger (best new feature IMO) and all the other silly stuff like the "you inserted the battery upside down" buzzer.
Over all it is a great mod. Very small for a 18650 based mod. It is deceivingly heavy for it's size, but in a good way. It has the kind of heft that makes you feel like this is a quality mod, unlike my IPV by comparison which looks and feels cheap, despite having a quality chip set under the hood.
My only gripe is having the screen on the bottom. Not a deal breaker (clearly, I mean I bought the thing right?) but I would prefer not having to tilt or lift my mod to monitor it. At least Vaporshark didn't do something stupid like put the USB port on the bottom of the mod.. .
The bottom facing screen may be a bit frustrating for new users/builders, as the may prefer to be able to monitor performance while using the mod. I cut my teeth with mechs, so having any info under any circumstance is a blessing to me.
Now on to the good stuff
I did a fair amount of research on the DNA40 and nickel builds prior to receiving my mod. I was prepared for the challenge, or so I thought. . .
What a colossal PITA! Winding nickel is no big deal, but installing and wicking it is!
Attempt 1:
I started with a larger (3mm) 30g coil on a Plumeveil (simply because I had one in front of me that wasn't built). Upon installation I snapped off one of the leads when tightening down a post screw.
Attempt 2:
I remembered that my Kraken (a genesis type atty for those not in the know) was not built either. I figured I might have better luck with it because it was designed to have leads placed directly under the terminal screws and temp control sounds really ideal for a genesis.
No luck here either. I built the same 30g 3mm coil and got it installed fine. There was a tiny bit of coil deformation from installation but it was easy enough to fix. However wicking it (I only use rayon) just mangled the coil beyond repair.
Attempt 3:
I decided to change my approach to coil building (good idea) AND the atty as well (arguably arguably a bad idea, but it worked out). This time I decided I would wind a coil on one of those ubiquitous blue screw drivers. I don't know what they measure too, but I figured that having a smaller inner diameter would result in a more rigid coil that would be less prone to becoming disfigured during installation and wicking. Of course I would also need to use more wraps to reach minimum resistance.
For this attempt I dusted off my trusty Kayfun lite plus. Well everything installed just fine, wicking and all. Coil metered at .16ohm. I was finally ready to rock!
I intentionally only put about 1ml of juice in my tank. I wanted to give everything an honest chance to work, but I really wanted to see what temp control would offer on a relatively dry wick.
I set power at 13w and temp to 410f.
My first impression? It taste like a Kayfun. I've heard countless people claim that now they can really taste their juice and everything taste so much better etc etc etc. Not my experience at all. I actually suspect a lot of people making claims like these probably have some deficiencies in their build or wicking techniques. (Seriously, most of you are using way too much wick, at least based on the pics and vids I have seen).
Now where I was impressed was when I finally couldn't see any juice left in the tank. Under normal circumstances a dry hit would be just around the corner, but this time it never came. I just kept vaping and vaping and vaping. So decided to take it a step further. I started firing the presumably dry wick without inhaling. The lack of juice and moving air should make temp control kick in quickly, and kick in quickly it did.
I did this for almost a minute while just watching the screen. I actually felt kind of "naughty" doing it. But finally I was ready for the moment of truth.
I was actually going to inhale this incredibly abused atty. Wow! No burning dry hit! I don't know why I was so surprised the DNA40 worked as advertised but I was honestly impressed.
It tasted somewhat dry and dusty but not burned. I could still get a hint of my juice and tiny plumes of vapor, but NO burning. And wouldn't you know it when I opened the Kayfun up the wick was fine.
Final thoughts and conclusions
While I was a little let down that nickel builds did not magically make my juice taste better I am pretty impressed with the DNA40's ability to prevent wick burning.
Again, I am an experienced user so burned wicks aren't much of an issue for me. I would think this is true for most advanced vaper as well. However, it's definitely nice knowing you don't have to worry about it anymore. It's particularly nice on drippers because it seems like it doubles your juice capacity.
I think the technology is arguably a little more beneficial for new to intermediate users (or lousy builders) but the irony being that building with nickel would probably scare away most new users. Of course there are plug and play clearomizer heads made with nickel, so anybody without the masochistic drive to master nickel builds can still join the club.
I am very happy with the mod and the technology as a whole. However I am not running out to buy a backup and switch all my attys to nickel. If money were no object, MAYBE I would do it. As it stands the Vaporshark is definitely my go to mod, and will remain so in the forseeable future (sorry IPV). If anything I will be doubling up on on a couple of my favorite attys so I can keep some set with kanthal for conventional mods, should I decide to use a mech or if my vaporshark ever conks out on me.
Questions? Comments? Complaints?
Fire away!
Background - I've been using rebuildables, mechs, apvs etc etc for about a year now. Not an extreme cloud chaser, but usually use something with more ooomph than a Kayfun (though I still use one from time to time)
Like many folk here I jumped on the DNA40 train recently. VAPORSHARK's Cyber Monday sale was too much for me to resist.
The DNA40 wasn't anything I honestly felt I couldn't live with out. I've been more than happy with my IPV2 over the past 6 months. More than anything, I was curious. As an experienced and competent builder (IMHO) burning wick and dry hits weren't really a problem for me. I don't favor an overly hot vape and I rarely go beyond 30w. But again, I figured why not? Worst case scenario: I would end up with a quality mod to work into my rotation, even if I ended up not caring for temp control.
The Vaporshark RDNA40 itself -
I'm not going to go TOO into the mod itself because there are already tons of reviews out there as well as a current mega thread.
Mine is one of the updated versions with the larger screen, improved charger (best new feature IMO) and all the other silly stuff like the "you inserted the battery upside down" buzzer.
Over all it is a great mod. Very small for a 18650 based mod. It is deceivingly heavy for it's size, but in a good way. It has the kind of heft that makes you feel like this is a quality mod, unlike my IPV by comparison which looks and feels cheap, despite having a quality chip set under the hood.
My only gripe is having the screen on the bottom. Not a deal breaker (clearly, I mean I bought the thing right?) but I would prefer not having to tilt or lift my mod to monitor it. At least Vaporshark didn't do something stupid like put the USB port on the bottom of the mod.. .
The bottom facing screen may be a bit frustrating for new users/builders, as the may prefer to be able to monitor performance while using the mod. I cut my teeth with mechs, so having any info under any circumstance is a blessing to me.
Now on to the good stuff
I did a fair amount of research on the DNA40 and nickel builds prior to receiving my mod. I was prepared for the challenge, or so I thought. . .
What a colossal PITA! Winding nickel is no big deal, but installing and wicking it is!
Attempt 1:
I started with a larger (3mm) 30g coil on a Plumeveil (simply because I had one in front of me that wasn't built). Upon installation I snapped off one of the leads when tightening down a post screw.
Attempt 2:
I remembered that my Kraken (a genesis type atty for those not in the know) was not built either. I figured I might have better luck with it because it was designed to have leads placed directly under the terminal screws and temp control sounds really ideal for a genesis.
No luck here either. I built the same 30g 3mm coil and got it installed fine. There was a tiny bit of coil deformation from installation but it was easy enough to fix. However wicking it (I only use rayon) just mangled the coil beyond repair.
Attempt 3:
I decided to change my approach to coil building (good idea) AND the atty as well (arguably arguably a bad idea, but it worked out). This time I decided I would wind a coil on one of those ubiquitous blue screw drivers. I don't know what they measure too, but I figured that having a smaller inner diameter would result in a more rigid coil that would be less prone to becoming disfigured during installation and wicking. Of course I would also need to use more wraps to reach minimum resistance.
For this attempt I dusted off my trusty Kayfun lite plus. Well everything installed just fine, wicking and all. Coil metered at .16ohm. I was finally ready to rock!
I intentionally only put about 1ml of juice in my tank. I wanted to give everything an honest chance to work, but I really wanted to see what temp control would offer on a relatively dry wick.
I set power at 13w and temp to 410f.
My first impression? It taste like a Kayfun. I've heard countless people claim that now they can really taste their juice and everything taste so much better etc etc etc. Not my experience at all. I actually suspect a lot of people making claims like these probably have some deficiencies in their build or wicking techniques. (Seriously, most of you are using way too much wick, at least based on the pics and vids I have seen).
Now where I was impressed was when I finally couldn't see any juice left in the tank. Under normal circumstances a dry hit would be just around the corner, but this time it never came. I just kept vaping and vaping and vaping. So decided to take it a step further. I started firing the presumably dry wick without inhaling. The lack of juice and moving air should make temp control kick in quickly, and kick in quickly it did.
I did this for almost a minute while just watching the screen. I actually felt kind of "naughty" doing it. But finally I was ready for the moment of truth.
I was actually going to inhale this incredibly abused atty. Wow! No burning dry hit! I don't know why I was so surprised the DNA40 worked as advertised but I was honestly impressed.
It tasted somewhat dry and dusty but not burned. I could still get a hint of my juice and tiny plumes of vapor, but NO burning. And wouldn't you know it when I opened the Kayfun up the wick was fine.
Final thoughts and conclusions
While I was a little let down that nickel builds did not magically make my juice taste better I am pretty impressed with the DNA40's ability to prevent wick burning.
Again, I am an experienced user so burned wicks aren't much of an issue for me. I would think this is true for most advanced vaper as well. However, it's definitely nice knowing you don't have to worry about it anymore. It's particularly nice on drippers because it seems like it doubles your juice capacity.
I think the technology is arguably a little more beneficial for new to intermediate users (or lousy builders) but the irony being that building with nickel would probably scare away most new users. Of course there are plug and play clearomizer heads made with nickel, so anybody without the masochistic drive to master nickel builds can still join the club.
I am very happy with the mod and the technology as a whole. However I am not running out to buy a backup and switch all my attys to nickel. If money were no object, MAYBE I would do it. As it stands the Vaporshark is definitely my go to mod, and will remain so in the forseeable future (sorry IPV). If anything I will be doubling up on on a couple of my favorite attys so I can keep some set with kanthal for conventional mods, should I decide to use a mech or if my vaporshark ever conks out on me.
Questions? Comments? Complaints?
Fire away!
