Quality RBAs - Time To Learn!

[crg31953]

Ok Vets, I would like to purchase one or two Quality RBAs. The only experience I have is with a AGA T2 and I'm looking to purchase a forever rba.
I won't say money is no object, because it is to a point. I think if I invest in longevity and parts accessibility the investment will be worth while.


I am asking for experienced opinions, suggestions and advice. I will respect all of them, but the final decision is mine as it was yours.


I see a lot of names out there and I'm not looking for clones. If you can advise and suggest an investment it will be appreciated. Where it can be ordered would be appreciated also. I looked up the name Ithaca and I ended up in China so your help is requested.


Thanks Ahead of Time, Chuck

 

[yankeebobo]

First off congrats on your decision to make another step. And also on reading what will certainly be several replies. I wish you luck on breaking through the details to make your final choice(s).

I will word the rest as MY opinion and MY experience and how I would make recommendations to anyone.

The Ithaka: that spelling may net you some better results in your search. Made by Imeo from GG (Golden Greek). I've gone down that road before during the requirements of wire requiring bother resistance and non resistance in the coil. It contains many small pieces that require attention in the form of disassembly, cleaning, and assembly. They can contain a learning curve, as many do, but IMO more so. It has options and also has an upgrade kit that allows for assembly with the use of resistance only wire. I've been down this road before and I find personally after trying what I currently use (see below) the flavor is slightly muted. If I knew then what I know now, I'd personally bypass it.

My current recommendation. Either the GP Spheroid or the GP Heron. The Spheroid weighs in at about 17mm diameter while its counter part is 22mm. Both deliver flavor that's top rate. Both have a bell internally that channel the vapor and flavor up through it delivering the goodness to you. Fluff around the bell suspends the juice which releases it to either silica, SnC cotton/yarn, cotton, or rayon Cellucotton (my personal favorite). This release almost simulates a dripping atty flavor as it doesn't hear the juice in a typical tank (Ithaka, kayfun, etc).

You can read all the threads, a sampling of some, and ask several of us over in the vapourart forum: http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/vapourart/
There is a thread dedicated to tips and builds, a thread to each of the RBAs and their kids, and a general chit chat. Perseas releases his products regularly (August is a shut down in Greece for their holiday as it is for many greek modders).

Perseas, and the GP team's official website is at: www.vapourart.com.

Good luck in whatever direction you choose in the end. Key is always to vape and leave smoking in the rear view mirror.

 

[Xaiver]

I too used a GG device, though not the Ithaka, that one was a big bigger than I wanted on my device. Here is a bit of my experience:

The GG Penelope V1: One of the first generation of rebuildables that wasn't a Genesis. I didn't care for gennies at all...which lead me to find the Penelope. It was a fantastic device for me, in fact it's still sitting on my desk in an old repurposed ashtray. Like all GG devices, they're manufactured by one man in Greece. They're done in limited runs, so they're hard to get ahold of, and the price is about on par with everything else in the genre. Replacement parts are tough to come by, unless you get lucky and need apiece that is still in stock from the last run.

As yankee said, the non-resistance wire takes a bit of getting used to, but it does make zeroing in the ohms a bit easier...but that's not really that big of a deal.

The GG Penelope V3: I mostly bought this one because I liked the other one, and wanted a second that wasn't identical to my first...man was I in for a surprise. The V3 has the Resistance-Wire-Only upgrade built into it. While I enjoyed using it, it just wasn't what I wanted. The small profile of the tank made the working area for the coil quite tiny as well. It also seemed to gunk up faster than anything else I own.

One feature that I loved about the Penelope's was the liquid control. You could close down the atty from the tank and it wouldn't feed the coil. If you were going to, say, build it and let it sit on your desk until your other atty was ready for a rotation, then you could do that without worrying. With my current devices, it's relatively unnecessary, so that feature doesn't matter much to me right now.

Kayfun Lite + V2: Man, what a mouth full. I have one of these and a Russian 91%. For all intents and purposes, they're the same device. Most of the parts are interchangeable, and they vape almost exactly the same. (The Russian and the Kayfun have air-control screws in different places. The Kayfun is fairly easy to build and vapes like a champ. It has a chimney down the center that houses your coil and keeps the juice out, except for two little grooves that go below to feed the wick. The air channel has a little screw that lets you open it up or close it down to your liking.

The best part about the Kayfun is that it's fairly popular here abouts, and you can find replacement parts fairly easily with a google search. I broke my clear center tank and one of the end tanks...(Don't ask...long story) ...and I found parts in stock and had them within a week. In the meanwhile, I had substituted parts from my Russian to keep my Kayfun working...it looked like sin, but it worked great.

Anyhow, here are my recommendations, in no particular order:

Get verified for the ECF classifieds.
Browse them to see what looks good to you. You can get decent attys from there for a bit cheaper than retail if you keep your eyes out.
Check out the Kayfun Lite + or the Russian 91%.

Good luck, Hope this helps,
-X

 

[steved5600]

Ok you know something about building coils. I would recommend these two RBA's.
#1 RTA Fogger V4 Easy to build DUAL coils which I think are a must on Tank rebuildables. Have a lot of experience with kayfuns and other tank RBA's I find this to be the most consistent when you build on it. If not this then the Black edition kayfun light plus.
#2 A nonfasttech TOBH. Easy to build up to quad coils. I only use two. Big tray to hold wick and juice great airflow quality build.
I find that a 3mm Inside diameter coil with 6-10 wraps works best on these.

I use 28ga wire most of the time. On the tank i'd use no more than 60%vg juice and on the dripper use HIGH VG. If you need to ask me questions or need other help on your choice PM me. Can recommend safe builds for your batteries.