Orion V2 roll call

[Turbo]

Good review 'rw'. Although I am very happy w/ this mod, you raise some valid points. Some of your issues for me aren't a problem but I agree on some.

I can see how the wick not lining up with the button can be a pain. Luckily, the two 2.1's I have are both aligned. I wonder why this has seemingly been left to chance.

This bothered me at first too, but I don't always need the wick pointing down. Mine is also at a 90 degree angle. I can still get good hits w/ the button on the bottom, putting the air hole on the side. Not until the tank is low might I slightly turn my hand to saturate the wick.

I also agree on the fixed 'drip' tip, I love it and for me it's the perfect size. I actually hate most drip tips because they're too long or look phallic...lol, but most people would probably disagree. I also like the stock air hole.

I do have a slight gap w/ my 18350's but it still works fine. My 18650's screw flush. I just don't over tighten the small batts.

 

[tierrataz]

Very detailed review Rick. FYI price you paid was 160€ shipped & Orion list is not closed. It is quite active on vapor wall.

I agree on the electronics versus mechanical mods. It is the reason I no longer have any V2s. When Les comes out with his next mechanical mod, I will be all over it as I feel the mechanical V1 hits harder than with electronics on board. From Pailpoes' tutorial, switch replacement looks quite straight forward. No need to send the device back, just request the switch. The down time is a negative no matter how you spin it. To my mind, the beauty of genesis is self sufficiency and electronics does not meet that goal for me.

I agree the Orion is harder to set up than most. Les addressed this last year and it fell on deaf ears. Try setting up with a twisted coil of the 0.17 kanthal he sends and see for yourself how quick you are up and running. ;-)

IMO you are spot on about flavor. I keep chasing genesis that can rival the Orion and it has been a total fail. There seems to be a magical formula in the the specs of the chamber and he nailed it. I do not agree about inlet & mouthpiece size. I hope Les returns to his original bores. They produce the most brilliant flavor. Those that wish to tune can easily do so. Trying to close those bores becomes very problematic.

 

[JollyRogers]

RW, I usually don't like your reviews... TBH, because I don't like to watch you vape... But this one was good Nothing wrong with any of your criticisms IMO. Great review!!!

1. My 18350 AW IMRs fit perfect, all 12 of them. I guess something changed between your 2.1 and mine (which was an early run 2.1). When I setup one for a friend (newer run), he had a protected 18350 that didn't fit... I insisted he go to AW IMRs and he is good now also. But I know yours are AW IMR, so not sure of the issue there...
2. I like the 90 degree offset on the switch. I am not sure why, but I think it may be because I am left handed, and use my index or middle finger to fire it and the way I have my wick placed, I roll it over to get the switch either up or to the right depending if I want the wick to the right, or down, depending on how full the tank is. Plus, I got used to it I guess.
3. My tank didn't need any sanding. It aligned perfect. My glass/pyrex tanks don't align without the o-ring though...
4. I have had a switch fail. It is easy to replace, and PailPoe sent me one for 12 Euros. It came complete with everything, which is nice. Plus, I plan on getting a couple of his new VV/VW switches.
5. I agree about the air holes in a way. I think two 1/32" holes aligned to each wick location would be better then a single 1mm for dual coils. But I don't run like that often. I would rather the 1mm hole and adjust it if you see fit. But I only took a 1mm through it to clean it out. I like it the way it is, and it vapes great for me, much more flavor then any of my Zens.

It is small in 18350 mode!!! But there is another that is just as small, and mechanical (though not nearly as expensive or tough, but makes for a great GenHybrid for camping, hiking, biking, etc )...



And finally my pair of ORIONS!!! Well just because I love my ORIONs

 

[Currynoah]

Guys, just a quick question for a friend: "If I made a twisted coil, should i go longer to get higher resistance or shorter?"

Really appreciated!!

 

[Striker911]

Has anyone enlarged the wick hole on an Orion? I can see the Neg screw might be an issue and need some grinding to do it. Would like to know if its been done first though. If so what was the results. I opened up the intake since the vapor with the cap off was so good, but then when I put the cap on it fell on its face. That ended up being a bad idea. I guess the DID has me spoiled but I agree that this thing is a constant PITA. When its good its good but now with a 5/64" hole I dont know if I will ever learn to like it with little to no resistance in air flow. I guess since its so open if I can get other things worked out the intake will be doable.

I want to ditch the spring and washers to add another nut and see if that helps with the dreaded top coil hot spot. My washers are smaller then the ones that the V2 had and they are totally black after 12 hours. They do not look easy to clean.

To make things harder on myself I like a 2/3 wrap cause I can not adjust output. That makes it real hard to get shorts out. I agree that its a great looking APV but my patience is already running thin and I turn to the DID with never a fail. I think having a setup for your own personal vape perfection is the issue I am having. I have had 2 Zens, and now two Orions that I have yet to be happy with. But the DID is rocking my world non stop.

 

[tierrataz]

Guys, just a quick question for a friend: "If I made a twisted coil, should i go longer to get higher resistance or shorter?"

Really appreciated!!

longer, you are halving the resistance.

 

[rwechsler]

Thank you for such a thorough response! And I see where you're coming from in all of the points you made, but with the button especially, I'd rather do regular maintenance to a mechanical button than to have an electronic button with a finite lifespan, though I can understand why one might feel differently. I remember reading the post you made the day after getting your 2.1 saying that the button lined up perfectly with the wick hole, and all I can say is that I'm pretty jealous (well jealous enough for that to have stuck with me for allthis time ahahhahahah).

Prefacing by saying that I'm a big fan of your reviews rwechsler and that you're an all around cool dude, personally, I'm glad I didn't see your review of the orion 2.1 before I bought it. It might have discouraged me and then I'd be missing out on a great vaping experience! If I would've bought it anyway, I would've found most of your detracting points to be non-issues at least for myself. I love the stock airhole. Love the solidity of the built in drip tip. My cap screws on completely with an 18350. Yeah the button might eventually fail but so will I! The upside of an electronic switch is that it fires 100% or not at all. I prefer this to a mechanical switch on another genesis apv that I'm always jiggling the button on trying to get it to fire 100%. Then taking it apart looking for burs to sand down.

The center post with springs I would agree is a bit unintuitive, but after realizing that screwing down the nut several threads tightens the connection, it really becomes a non-issue unless you're someone who likes to build a ton of coils. In that case, a more elegant solution might be desirable for convenience.


I can see how the wick not lining up with the button can be a pain. Luckily, the two 2.1's I have are both aligned. I wonder why this has seemingly been left to chance.

Thanks for taking the time to do the review. It got me thinking more critically about the various features of various devices and what I prefer.

 

[rwechsler]

Thank you for the feedback! My girlfriend is always giving me sht about vaping too much in my reviews, so in this one I was sure to only actually take 1 vape off of it. I agree 100% regarding the dual airhole top cap for dual coils (I actually had 2 likewise caps made for my hellfire mini), but Les has stated a couple of times that he wont replace any orion caps, so unless you want to have it machined or run the risk of damaging your current cap, our options for getting a hold of additional caps to experiment with various airholes are limited. Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed response!

RW, I usually don't like your reviews... TBH, because I don't like to watch you vape... But this one was good Nothing wrong with any of your criticisms IMO. Great review!!!

1. My 18350 AW IMRs fit perfect, all 12 of them. I guess something changed between your 2.1 and mine (which was an early run 2.1). When I setup one for a friend (newer run), he had a protected 18350 that didn't fit... I insisted he go to AW IMRs and he is good now also. But I know yours are AW IMR, so not sure of the issue there...
2. I like the 90 degree offset on the switch. I am not sure why, but I think it may be because I am left handed, and use my index or middle finger to fire it and the way I have my wick placed, I roll it over to get the switch either up or to the right depending if I want the wick to the right, or down, depending on how full the tank is. Plus, I got used to it I guess.
3. My tank didn't need any sanding. It aligned perfect. My glass/pyrex tanks don't align without the o-ring though...
4. I have had a switch fail. It is easy to replace, and PailPoe sent me one for 12 Euros. It came complete with everything, which is nice. Plus, I plan on getting a couple of his new VV/VW switches.
5. I agree about the air holes in a way. I think two 1/32" holes aligned to each wick location would be better then a single 1mm for dual coils. But I don't run like that often. I would rather the 1mm hole and adjust it if you see fit. But I only took a 1mm through it to clean it out. I like it the way it is, and it vapes great for me, much more flavor then any of my Zens.

It is small in 18350 mode!!! But there is another that is just as small, and mechanical (though not nearly as expensive or tough, but makes for a great GenHybrid for camping, hiking, biking, etc )...



And finally my pair of ORIONS!!! Well just because I love my ORIONs

 

[rwechsler]

When its good its good but now with a 5/64" hole I dont know if I will ever learn to like it with little to no resistance in air flow.

I feel you 100% here! The 1/16" airholes in my Zens even feel a little bit too restrictive for me these days!

 

[tierrataz]

@striker
some modded their wick hole to 3mm and then used nylon shoulder washers for isolation. All I heard was good results. If your wick is oxidized and not conducting, there is no need.

Cap drilling....too bad. I hear more negatives than positives. You could try JB Weld and start fresh. There is an art to setting these up. Once you nail it, you will see it doesnt need to be a wind tunnel. If you think about how little airflow embers need to spring to fire, it helps.

Top coil hot spot. Try twisted coil! Seriously, Orion was designed to use them. Easy peasy. I'm running a 1.0 ohm, .20 kanthal twisted coil....lovely. Never thought I would vape this low.

 

[JollyRogers]

If you over drill your air holes you can fill it with some PTFE tube (within reason), and cut flush to tighten it up. I run 18g PTFE tube in my Z-atty-G standard top cap. I also have PTFE 18g tube in my NGP prototype and have it run air to the center coil/wick. On the NGP with my setup, flavor is actually better then my Orion's (current setup) and vapor is on par with it.

 

[JollyRogers]

Thank you for the feedback! My girlfriend is always giving me sht about vaping too much in my reviews, so in this one I was sure to only actually take 1 vape off of it. I agree 100% regarding the dual airhole top cap for dual coils (I actually had 2 likewise caps made for my hellfire mini), but Les has stated a couple of times that he wont replace any orion caps, so unless you want to have it machined or run the risk of damaging your current cap, our options for getting a hold of additional caps to experiment with various airholes are limited. Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed response!

Good on ya RW. I am glad to see you not take that personal regarding your vape demo "style" Honestly, thought it was the most informative review you have done and that I have seen on the Orion. Though tierra's info IRT the list and avail at VW is up to date and correct (you should update your info @youtube, if you haven't already).

PS: You coulda taken another vape off it though to show switch positioning

 

[Currynoah]

longer, you are halving the resistance.

Thank you, my friend. Appreciated!!

 

[brian272465]

Has anyone enlarged the wick hole on an Orion? I can see the Neg screw might be an issue and need some grinding to do it. Would like to know if its been done first though. If so what was the results. I opened up the intake since the vapor with the cap off was so good, but then when I put the cap on it fell on its face. That ended up being a bad idea. I guess the DID has me spoiled but I agree that this thing is a constant PITA. When its good its good but now with a 5/64" hole I dont know if I will ever learn to like it with little to no resistance in air flow. I guess since its so open if I can get other things worked out the intake will be doable.

I want to ditch the spring and washers to add another nut and see if that helps with the dreaded top coil hot spot. My washers are smaller then the ones that the V2 had and they are totally black after 12 hours. They do not look easy to clean.

To make things harder on myself I like a 2/3 wrap cause I can not adjust output. That makes it real hard to get shorts out. I agree that its a great looking APV but my patience is already running thin and I turn to the DID with never a fail. I think having a setup for your own personal vape perfection is the issue I am having. I have had 2 Zens, and now two Orions that I have yet to be happy with. But the DID is rocking my world non stop.

Striker if you Insulate your wick hole I bet the top hot spot goes away . I willing to bet its shorting in the wick hole

Sent from my HTCEVODesign4G using Tapatalk 2

 

[brian272465]

Here's a couple pics of my bored out wick hole . I bored it out to 3mm to alow room for a insulator I don't get the top hot spots at all . I'm using a 3 wrap twisted coil using stock wire .

 

[brian272465]

 

[Striker911]

@striker
some modded their wick hole to 3mm and then used nylon shoulder washers for isolation. All I heard was good results. If your wick is oxidized and not conducting, there is no need.

Cap drilling....too bad. I hear more negatives than positives. You could try JB Weld and start fresh. There is an art to setting these up. Once you nail it, you will see it doesnt need to be a wind tunnel. If you think about how little airflow embers need to spring to fire, it helps.

Top coil hot spot. Try twisted coil! Seriously, Orion was designed to use them. Easy peasy. I'm running a 1.0 ohm, .20 kanthal twisted coil....lovely. Never thought I would vape this low.

Great advice Taz. I have some .20 on order from ebay. Will have to try that. As far as isolating the coil I have found that rolling paper wrapped around the wick works good too. As long as it stays wet and no wire is touching its a great insolater.

 

[Striker911]

Striker if you Insulate your wick hole I bet the top hot spot goes away . I willing to bet its shorting in the wick hole

Sent from my HTCEVODesign4G using Tapatalk 2

Thanks Brian. Good pictures and def makes me feel like doing it as well. I use rolling paper so that I can make the mesh straw as large as I can. But seeing your set up has me wondering what you used for insulation. Also with just rolling paper and a much larger wick then you are using; would it work well set up like that? That way I can set it up with the bigger wick and if its no good then I can still mimic your set up. What I am after is a straw that flows more with a 2 wrap.

Maybe I should just keep trying diff set ups till I have exhausted my smaller wick hole and then drill. The two wrap is so hot that almost instantly when I set it from 1 o'clock to 3 it gets dry. Its rains juice with the cap off. It was all over the keyboard lol.

 

[brian272465]

I use metric nylon shoulder washer I got them off amazon . I cut the shoulder off of them .

 

[Striker911]

Looks like it would work out good. Was it this one?
Metric 6/6 Nylon Screw Insulator M4 x 7mm Length (Pack of 100): Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific