New guy jumping into the deep end :)

[PeeBody]

I just started vaping one week ago.

Got hooked after trying a smoking buddy's lava tube and haven't looked back. I spent some time researching on what I wanted that weekend and ended up ordering a Vamo from zainy.net...... not impressed btw

Before it came I went ahead and ordered a Ego C Twist ultimate kit from myfreedomsmokes and I am very impressed with that. I ordered te 1000 stainless battery version with the vivi nova tank 3.5ml. Love it. I cannot see it getting much better from a size/ battery life/ergonomics standpoint.

The Vamo mod itself is a fairly descent mod but every other part of the kit and the 3 extra vivi tanks I ordered are complete junk. They are nowhere close to what I got spoiled with when I bought the eco c twist. Am I missing something? The tanks look like they are a Chinese knockoff but that was expected when I realized it shipped from China. What really gets me is the janky way the tanks fill. Through the wick hole? So I am supposed to take the wick out every time I want to add liquid? I do not have a needle nozzle so its basically impossible to do without unscrewing the wire connections inside the tank. Flat out kills the whole vaping experience IMHO.

If I am missing something, please shed some light. I have ordered 5 different flavors from mt baker vaper and have been experimenting so I'm good on that but the crap tanks in the Vamo kit (2 in the kit are junk knockoffs of the vivi novas I believe, the other 3 are just junk o ring style tanks that say vivi nova on them too) just kill it for me.

Thanks for the insight

 

[crackerjack540]

There are a lot of tutorials on YouTube for filling tanks. As for the type of tank I have had the ones with interchangeable wicks. I despise them. They wear out far to quickly. I purchased a Liquinator not to long ago, and so far so good.

 

[Richard75]

If they came in a kit, I doubt they genuine Vivi Novas (although I think even the genuine Novas come from China...)

If you're worried about changing flavors, just buy extra coils and designate them a flavor. The tank itself is easy enough to clean, and I'm sure that would be ma bit cheaper.

The last three you mentioned, with the o-rings, sound like basic cartomizer tanks.

 

[RichoVonBlack]

Try Boge carto's in a 3ml tank, beats the mini nova's hands down

 

[JazzyTech]

I'm a fan of the Ego's as well, (joyetech 900 mah passthoughs), but once the battery goes bad I'll have to buy a new unit. For this reason I bought a better unit so when the batts go bad, I replace and keep on vapin'

 

[PeeBody]

Thanks guys, I'm not so much worried about the cost up front for good stuff (within reason of course) because this is something I've decided to make a hobby and is in the long run cheaper than cigs the way I see it.

I'm going to look into the Boge tanks. I've read about them and seem pretty solid. Unfamiliar with the Liquidater. The one I got with the twist kit is a real nova because they put the kit together in house.

Once I dial in what works for me the best, I can see this being a very enjoyable experience but getting the equipment setup the way I want is going to take some growing pains it looks like. Gotta pay to play as I always say (or at least how I want to play)

 

[the grassninja]

I personally can't stand the Vivi Novas. I felt they muted the flavor of the juice too severely and are a bit too fiddly once you start changing juices. I still use Stardust-style clearos on my eGo twists here and there, but I've become a huge fan of cartomizer tanks over the past few months (Boge XXL LR and Vaporfexion Delrin Cartomators currently).
I made the plunge and bought a Silver Bullet from AltSmoke a couple months back and it's been my go to device since, especially with a Kick. The Vamo is the first device I've bought since and it's nonfunctional right now. It came in the mail today and loved it for about the first hour, but have since been getting the "LoV" low voltage error that several others on the forums seem to have as well. Too bad, because I really enjoyed the vapor it put out in VW/RMS @8.0W.
Finding the hardware set-up you like is, in my experience, easily the largest barrier to entry with vaping- especially if you're on a budget. I started with a ProSmoke kit which at 350mah for the battery wasn't cutting it. Moved up to the Johnson Creek Vea but couldn't stand the proprietary cartomizers since they always seemed to burn the juices and constantly refilling them was becoming a pain. Grabbed the Ovale (eGo) eCab after that, but the batteries were weak yet again. The eGo Twists and Silver Bullet came next and I've been happy ever since. If I had known right out of the gate what I was looking for I could have saved a ton of money, but I wouldn't have learned nearly as much in the process.

 

[kiwivap]

Hi PeeBody,
If you have a genuine Vision vivi nova that you use with the ego twist you can also use it with the Vamo. I use genuine 3.5ml vivi novas a lot, including with a Vamo, and don't find they mute my flavors. I clean and dryburn them regularly.
I expect the vivis in your kit are knock offs - but you aren't limited to using the kit stuff with the Vamo.
Have you set the Vamo to No2, which is the accurate mode? Also, in variable watts mode it will give you more power than an ego twist does, and varying the watts will bring out your juice flavors even more.

Refilling a vivi nova is easy - just unscrew the top cap, drip juice down the side of the tank - screw the top cap back on. Give it a twirl to re-wet the wicks and vape.

I've used a lot of cartomizers and can't say I've found them any superior to a genuine vivi nova.

 

[tartanraven]

if it's mass produced, it's from China

 

[kiwivap]

I'll post Phil Busardo's video on cleaning and dry burning vivi novas here for you and anyone else who needs it. He uses them a lot too. The second half of the video is on rebuilding - don't worry about that right now. With regular cleaning and dry burning the vivi heads last a long time. I have some going on 6 weeks now. Works out very cheap for a good vape.

 

[tartanraven]

my two cents. V-Core Splitfires are much better than Vivi Nova's.....rebuilding a vivi nova is like putting ground effects on a Smart Car....if you want to rebuild something, get a proper RBA.....Boge cartos are rubbish, much prefer the IKV Mega Platinum with a Phiniac tank.

 

[lisancentraltx]

Welcome PeeBody, I am in for a week as well. Loving my eGo! I bought other items, but it is the eGo I keep using. I am testing a CE4 clearo now and I am liking it;s slimmer lines! It is a smoke color, so I really have to keep an eye on it to keep those wicks wet! I already fried a Kanger T2 CC carto!

 

[ShogaNinja]

There is no atomizer in this world that will not either require maintenance or money to keep going, or both.

All atomizers are disposable. By atomizer I mean: drip atomizers, cartomizers, clearomizers, fluxomizers, RBA (rebuildable atomizers). The coils just don't last that long. With washing and dry burning you can get some to last for months, but they are never the same again. Cartomizers can be cleaned but, same thing; never the same as a new one.

The cheapest way to rebuild is in fact with the Vivi Nova Mini using cotton wick. The only problem with that is you won't be able to dry burn because cotton is flammable. The silica wicks that usually come out of the factory CAN be burned through eventually, but you can get many dry burns out of them before the wick gets fried to the point of uselessness. Many will point you to RBAs such as the DiD and the Zenesis, the Odysseus, etc... but they have problems all their own as well. Predominant among them is the incredibly steep learning curve to getting the wicking process down 100% to where you can enjoy it. Worse still, many of these RBAs don't even give you the first wick free so you have to sink or swim to use it.

As for what you are talking about, I am pretty sure those are Stardust knockoffs. All you need to do is tilt the tank to fill it. I know the gap looks small but just go slow.

The choice is yours. If you'd like to see some reviews about various products, as well as some good tips (such as how to really clean a cartomizer and reuse them for months, rebuild a vivi nova or stardusts, etc...) I invite you to visit my blog. The link to it is in my signature.

 

[JazzyTech]

I second kiwivap's link to PBusardo's instructional on rebuilding vivis. That's the tutorial that got me started. You learn some good tips on building your own coils and that experience helped me a lot rebuilding RBAs later on.

Cotton wicking works great when you get it right. I use kanthal a-1 32awg wire and 100% cotton candle wick square-braid #1/0. Fits perfectly in all vivis. no leaking, no mess. I like the short wicks but that's personal preference. If you don't see "Vision" then it's not a reall Vivi.. well, not a real good Vivi imo (some swear by the knockoffs!) lol

 

[DiNet]

Zainy sent you rebuildable Vivi Tank. That one got bad review from Pbusardo, it is on his channel so you can look it up. AFAIK that is not the one that anyone recommends.
You fill it with syringe btw, there's small hole near the wicks. That is as much as I remember from Pbusardo's video.

A PBusardo Review - Smoktech Vivi Rebuildable Tank - YouTube

 

[kiwivap]

The one that is recommended, and the one P Busardo used in his latest video review of the Vamo, is the Vision vivi nova. It can be rebuilt.
Let's keep in mind Peebody has been vaping for one week - may be a bit soon for rebuilding. However he can use his genuine vivi nova with the Vamo and it will be fine.

 

[DiNet]

The one that is recommended, and the one P Busardo used in his latest video review of the Vamo, is the Vision vivi nova. It can be rebuilt.
Let's keep in mind Peebody has been vaping for one week - may be a bit soon for rebuilding. However he can use his genuine vivi nova with the Vamo and it will be fine.

This is really not the best advice or "thinking" in general. I'm actually dissapointed that I didn't find about vivi nova sooner and its rebuild capabilites. I'd save some $ if I knew about it before.

 

[PeeBody]

Thanks for the advice guys. I'm not going to get into rebuilding anything just yet. I don't want my new hobby to turn out like my rc car hobby did. More time messing with it and fixing things than time spent enjoying it. That's my biggest fear. I just want to find out what will work the best for me and go from there. No sense in rebuilding something that I do not enjoy or makes my daily life an inconvenience. Like I said though, I'm not afraid to spend a little money because this is a new toy I expected to spend money on. Say I spent 150/mo on cigs, $150 a month experimenting on new toys and actually have something to show for it seems to make more sense. That will only be until I find out what fits me, but it still will be entertaining.

The biggest things I will be looking for as far as tanks are the ease of filling, ease of replacing consumables, flavor and vapor production, gotta look good but I will take function over being pretty any day. This is with me all day everyday and I will not have a piece of junk to carry arou with me. Anybody have a particular reason why they would prefer one over another other than they can be rebuilt or the initial cost was too much. I'm all about convenience, hassle free and work above all else. Like I said, I'm not turning vaping into a part time job.

 

[kiwivap]

This is really not the best advice or "thinking" in general. I'm actually dissapointed that I didn't find about vivi nova sooner and its rebuild capabilites. I'd save some $ if I knew about it before.

Erm... have to disagree there. Did mention it can be rebuilt and posted a vid, and was keeping in mind one week into vaping may be a bit soon. Nothing wrong with that thinking - the info is there for later.

 

[tulianjan]

I think a boge carto and tank is the way to go.. although i've great success with kanger t3's lately