Yeah I'd be interested to hear about the taste of the authentic as well. I can't remember who here has one? Well I know
@TheotherSteveS does, but he's on vacation a couple of weeks.
I can't see how the authentic could be so much better than the clone - the dimensions of the clones seem close enough, and what is there to affect flavour besides the dimensions of the deck/chimney etc? But maybe there's more to it than that.
Of course, anyone who paid $150 for an authentic has a hard bias to overcome; they're much more likely to say it tastes good than someone who paid $25 for a clone
I don't have any authentic Taifuns but I have one clone and am getting another couple in a few days. I will try doing a comparison using the same juice.
I definitely don't think my flavour is bad or weak. Just not quite as vivid as some of my other tanks, such as my Aqua v2 clones and Aqua SE authentic (Aquas are renowned for amazing flavour.)
My biggest annoyance with the Squape is filling. It's impossible to use the metal tanks with 70+% VG, and with 60% it only just works. I can't fill it full, only about half full. 50% is OK. And the bell cap on the Ivogo has no problem, so I'm using that now on my Ivogo - even though it looks nasty!
Anyway overall I am not sorry that I bought the two clones, but nor am I super glad. They are neither my best nor worst atomizers. What is a bit disappointing that they do not have anything special to excite me. I thought the eMetal/non-conductive deck would be excellent for coiling, and I thought changeable decks would be interesting. But so far I have found neither makes any difference at all. I am not finding it much easier to coil with non-conductive deck. And I haven't yet found a great benefit to swapping out a different deck. So their key benefit has not yet been a benefit to me. They do look good, at least with the proper tank they do.
Maybe this will change over time. For example I soon plan to try stainless steel mesh wick, and if I can swap out the deck of the Rs to enable use of mesh, then that will suddenly make it more interesting and prove the value of the changeable decks.
In the meantime I find them perfectly adequate: average flavour, average build-ability, average capacity. Worth having, but not yet exciting.
Spot on with the authentic vs clone thing. It's a hard bais to get past
Here's what I can tel you about the taifun authentic vs the clones
I couldn't find a gt2 clone that wasn't the stupid -s variant and was high quality. The -s base is a pile of rubbish.
The Hotcig parts are all but indistinguishable from the authentic parts. The actual tanks are the same Width and dimension. The one distinguishable factor is the amount of threading and the way it all fits together. The authentic fits extremely tightly. Almost too tight
the -s base fails because they split it for cleaning. In doing his they fix the positive post through a hole into the bottom. Iirc the original is one piece so it works well with temp control. The glass tank sleeves are literally identical. Same thickness everything.
For what I see comparing the clones to my authentic one could easily spend half the price on just the base and oring/tuning kit and buy the other parts from the clone makers. The base is the main difference.
Flavor is identical. I trust the original won't rust. The Hotcig clone I believe is 304.
The parts aside from the base weigh the exact same amount.
The flavor is identical as far as I can tell. But working wih the clone was a spin in the ....
So the thing is with the infinite kayfun 4 clone. Same thing. I'd have a hard time buying an authentic kayfun 4 at this juncture. I had a 1:1 clone right after the 4 came out. Then it was seemingly banned from places and it took month and months to get another one made that well. Makes me Wonder if someone liberated from the actual factory and sold as a clone
I often consider that the made in xxx countries label doesn't mean they aren't coming from a factory in China. And if that's happening it's extremely likely there are authentic a sold as clones.
Made in China assembled in Germany. Made in Germany sourced In china. Etc etc
But then you get into things like the squape. Someone doing more than machined parts. With more investment in machines to coat and research of the process / prototyping. Ematal may be a gimmick name but it is a process with slightly more to it than standard machining.
I think the kayfun 4 was cloned before it shipped when they prototyped it
Outside of tiny boutiques. High end atomizers have to be dealing with the east for some stuff.
I won't expect to see mark bugs atomizer clones in fasttech.
As to the benefits of the squape.
I'm having a hard time finding the right wicking for it. Half the time it works and the other half it never wicks properly. I've tried every recommended build and the only consistent one is the open base that's built like a kayfun. And then it tastes pretty much like a kayfun.
I also find the squape not ideal with the w deck etc for spaced coils.
If I was doing it again I would have bought an erlprinz instead of a squape clone. It is possible my weird wicking is actually bouncing resistance issues. They present similarly with temp control. I'll check my build next time it happens.
If this is even 75% of the performance of the authentic I'd have been absolutely shattered if I paid retail for the authentic with the one deck.
For the record I have the five deck ivogo from 3f
Do you feel that since you bought two maybe you should have just bought the original? I guess all in it's still 1/3 the price
-*Plese excuz any iPone-tyos
You can improve the flavor playing with your coil height though.
