New member/rta seeker!

[MrSlowly]

Hello everyone!

As the title would suggest, I'm New here but not entirely new to vaping! It's been a very happy year since I started vaping and completely quit smoking!

Right now, after a surprisingly successful batch of my DIY juice, I'm looking for a rta tank, mainly to cut down further on costs and also because I do like tinkering!

Now for a little history. I started with the humble AIO, moved on to a pico 75 paired with the nautilus 2 and very shortly after that, switched to my beloved baby beast, which I still use today.

Now the baby beast is pretty much the only tank that completely did it for me. Granted, I haven't tested all of them but enough to say I'm a little picky!
I only do DTL, pretty much from the start, since I've been using the alien for the eleven out of the twelve months that I vape, mainly using the 0.4 coils.

If you can suggest any comparable RTA I'd very much appreciate it! I honestly don't know much about single/double, velocity and all that jazz except for a few vague theory lessons in the form of forum posts so I hope my taste so far can give you a good idea about what I'm looking for.

And by the way, I'm neither a Cloud chaser nor a flavor friend, I just like that chest (not throat, really) hit the alien gives me.

Many thanks in advance, hope my long winded post wasn't too tiresome!

 

[dom qp]

A good RTA will make your baby beast feel like the AiO.

Personally I'm a fan of the Kindbright Reload RTA from fasttech for $12.

Also the Wake RTA. Flavour and vapour is on par with my RDAs.

They both have the same wicking, just different approaches to airflow.

I'd get both since one is only domestic and the other costs next to nothing but will take time to arrive.

Single coil I find the flavour and airflow to have more parity, so it's really about the other aspects.

Serpent SMM, Obs Nano, Pharoa Mini are all popular.

 

[MrSlowly]

Thanks dom!

I'm in Greece so I'm shopping from gearbest to avoid any extra custom surcharges from outside the EU and I can't find the Kindbright and Wake over there. The rest, however are available. The Serpent was my first thought since it seems to be well liked and it's also the cheapest!
My main concern is sufficient airflow, I vape the baby beast wide open, albeit at the low end of the coil's wattage, even lower than suggested, at times.

I'm mainly looking for that unique hit. I may be picky with that aspect but not particularly so in general, if that makes sense!
I'm guessing most of these are comparable to each other so the other aspects are pretty much ease of use- like top fill up, ease of deck, etc. Although, working with instrument and vehicle electronics, I doubt "wiring" a RTA would be much of a hassle!

edit: and by the way, it has to be something that fits on the pico, as well!

 

[Letitia]

Welcome to ECF.
I'm quite partial to the Engine Nano, top af, 5ml, single coil, easy to build and wick. I only use single coil rtas and also like the Zeus and Crius 2.

 

[dom qp]

Thanks dom!

I'm in Greece so I'm shopping from gearbest to avoid any extra custom surcharges from outside the EU and I can't find the Kindbright and Wake over there. The rest, however are available. The Serpent was my first thought since it seems to be well liked and it's also the cheapest!
My main concern is sufficient airflow, I vape the baby beast wide open, albeit at the low end of the coil's wattage, even lower than suggested, at times.

I'm mainly looking for that unique hit. I may be picky with that aspect but not particularly so in general, if that makes sense!
I'm guessing most of these are comparable to each other so the other aspects are pretty much ease of use- like top fill up, ease of deck, etc. Although, working with instrument and vehicle electronics, I doubt "wiring" a RTA would be much of a hassle!

edit: and by the way, it has to be something that fits on the pico, as well!

SMM is the current single coil RTA I have. I've literally put litres of juice through it.

Some people have a muted or bad experience with it: I think it's because the chamber is relatively large and you need a big coil to fill it up (and remove some of the air volume).

It really lends itself well to vaping a tri-core clapton or a really thick wire. Downside is if you go the later route, you need the power to match that.

I have some pretty big coils I normally use, but for the SMM the ramp up time is way too long on them. The thinner gauge coils allow for too much air. So pretty much the coils that come with it are the ideal style:

They're flat and wide, so it takes up a lot of the space without using up a lot of metal.


Something like this is more traditional. But because it's thin you end up adding a lot of wraps and there's too much mass. If you don't add enough wraps, the air to vape ratio is too high and it's muted.

 

[Letitia]

SMM is the current single coil RTA I have. I've literally put litres of juice through it.

Some people have a muted or bad experience with it: I think it's because the chamber is relatively large and you need a big coil to fill it up (and remove some of the air volume).

It really lends itself well to vaping a tri-core clapton or a really thick wire. Downside is if you go the later route, you need the power to match that.

I have some pretty big coils I normally use, but for the SMM the ramp up time is way too long on them. The thinner gauge coils allow for too much air. So pretty much the coils that come with it are the ideal style:

They're flat and wide, so it takes up a lot of the space without using up a lot of metal.


Something like this is thicker, reads lower resistance. But because it's thin you end up adding a lot of wraps and there's too much mass. If you don't add enough wraps, the air to vape ratio is too high and it's muted.

Nice build.

 

[MJCSD]

Hello and welcome to ecf

 

[dom qp]

Nice build.

Not mine!

Don't judge me! Some are due for a burn and rewick.

I'm using these right now:

 

[MrSlowly]

Thank you all!

After watching some videos, I'm leaning towards the Engine RTA. Seems to be very well received with very few -if any- cons. Plus, I can fit it on the pico with a heatsink.
I don't understand the difference between single and multi coil RTA's in practice but I'm guessing a single coil will be fine.

 

[dom qp]

Thank you all!

After watching some videos, I'm leaning towards the Engine RTA. Seems to be very well received with very few -if any- cons. Plus, I can fit it on the pico with a heatsink.
I don't understand the difference between single and multi coil RTA's in practice but I'm guessing a single coil will be fine.

Honestly, there's a lot that goes into it, but here's the thing that always puts me in an awkward spot:

Dual coil means each of your coils works out to being 1/2 of what they are. So if you have 2 x 0.2 coils, it works out to 0.1.

If you use NI80 & big fused claptons and what not, this can be a real pain in the .... I have to add a lot of wraps to keep it in my ideal spot: 0.3 to 0.2. This means it gets REALLY cramped in my build decks.

If you're using plain round wire, you don't have that problem.

So as a beginner I would suggest this:

Plain round wire: dual coil
Fancy coils: single coil

But ultimately i'd get one of each so you can test and play with them.

 

[MrSlowly]

Thanks again dom. What I meant was, I understand the differences in theory but I don't really get how they translate in the whole vaping experience since I've only tried a few RTA's and drippers but I can't really remember what kind they were.

 

[Letitia]

Thank you all!

After watching some videos, I'm leaning towards the Engine RTA. Seems to be very well received with very few -if any- cons. Plus, I can fit it on the pico with a heatsink.
I don't understand the difference between single and multi coil RTA's in practice but I'm guessing a single coil will be fine.

There are 3 Engine rtas. Engine RTA, dual coil only, 5ml - Engine Nano, single coil only, 5ml - Engine Mini, dual coil only, probably 2.5-3ml. For a Pico I would recommend the Nano ONLY IF you have the Pico 25 or Pico 21700. Nano is 25mm diameter rta.

 

[stols001]

Welcome to ECF. I vape MTL so I'm no help to you, but you're getting some good suggestions.

I would suggest starting with a single coil RTA though and playing around with it some. It's just less work to test out builds and wicks at first. You can always delve into the world of dual coil RTAs later....

Although I will say, my first build was "the Russian" 100, I think it was. A miniscule, dual coil build deck. I did end up vaping it and in some ways I'm glad it was my first RTA because I think I made every mistake possible and also learned.... I like larger build decks and single coil RTAs.

Anna

 

[suprtrkr]

Hi and welcome. I have to vote for the Serpent SMM as well. It's my go-to single coil tank.

 

[Letitia]

@MrSlowly Completely missed you mentioned a heat sink. My vote will always be for the Engine Nano. I'm a junkie and have a few.

 

[BrotherBob]

Right now, after a surprisingly successful batch of my DIY juice, I'm looking for a rta tank, mainly to cut down further on costs and also because I do like tinkering!

Welcome and glad you joined.
To cut down costs, you might want to try deep well RDA's.
Might like to read:
Drip Vaping: Your Guide to Dripping e-Juice | Vape-Resource.com
http://spinfuel.com/art-drip-guide-vaping/
https://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/blog-entry/7-information-resources-for-your-first-rba.4454/
https://quitsmokingcommunity.org/electronic-cigarettes/what-is-an-atomizer-definition/
Rebuildable Tanks Explained: RBAs vs RDAs vs RTAs vs RDTAs
https://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/threads/wrapping-building-coils-101-for-beginners.745045/
http://www.geekayvapes.com/squonking-101/
https://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/threads/i-love-my-rda.805461/#post-19616327

 

[MrSlowly]

Hey guys, sorry for taking so long, I guess life got in the way!

Well, I finally got something and the Avocado 24 took the cake! It seemed affordable and the recommendation for an RDTA hit home, I guess! Also, it seems to work fine with my pico 75, although I did have to sand off part of the battery cap.
So far, I'm impressed! I'm now down to 6mg nic and hoping to get even lower, and I believe the Avo will help greatly with that! And the flavor! Damn! I thought the baby beast was good but this is awesome! The nic delivery is much better as well!

Also, I don't really get what all the fuss is about, about the Avo being a b..ch to wick. It really couldn't be any easier, at least the singe coil build that I did. I basically just got 24ga SS wire, wrapped it 'round an allen key a bunch of times (didn't even count), ripped a piece of cotton and just stuffed it in there, just enough to have some air and bingo! It reads 0.66, which is a little more than I'd like but I can experiment with that later.

All in all, I'm a happy camper!

Many thanks again to everyone!

 

[MrSlowly]

Oh and here's the obligatory pic!

 

[rollersk4te]

Hi, and welcome to the forum! I have yet to use an RTA that satisfied me more than my BB and BBB tanks... so I will have to check out the Avocado, too!