Questions From a Newbie

[Mister Hyde]

First of all, I want to say hi to everybody, and wanted to thank you in advance for any responses...I just got My Sidesho 2 weeks ago and I love it...haven’t had a smoke in 2 weeks and planning to stick to vaping.
Here is my question....
After spending a good amount of time on these forums, I can’t help to notice all of this people raving about the mods available, but I don’t see how this mods can be so much better than what I have right now, I mean, the sidesho produces very good vapor, and the TH is incredible, so what gives?
Is the grater voltage available in these mods really so much better than the 3.7? Is it because of battery life??? The overall performance??? Or the fact that you can customize the mods???
I would like to understand because I don’t think outperforming the sidesho is an easy task, but if improving my vaping experience is a possibility I am open to suggestions...I was going to try the 902 from MV, is this pretty much a long version of the sidesho or it does give a different vaping experience?

 

[snottyragsdale]

The 902 is a whole new experience, it's longer and slightly wider and feels better in my hand. It's performance and consistency are better than the sidesho aswell. As for the mods, I've only tried some of the blue foam mods and consider 'em neccesary. The fluval foam that comes in blanks never cut it for me. If ur using the fluval, try blue foam, you'll understand! Been smoke free over 4 months now!

 

[Garnoch]

I feel Blue Foam made a great difference, but I don't bother with other mods. The Sidesho is awesome and if you love it, you'll love the 902 as well as long as you're okay with it being a little bigger. The battery lasts about as long but it hold more juice and is easier to refill, where the Sidesho is easier to drip - if that's your thing.
Also... congrats! Keep it up and good luck!

 

[5cardstud]

Well I don't own a sideshow but I do have alot of mods both 3.7 and 5 volt but after finding the Buzz from notcig all my mods are sitting idle. The reason is the Buzz has adjustable voltage and when I change from one manufacturers cartomizer or atomizer I found each one has it's own level of voltage that brings it to the primo spot. I can set the Buzz to a finite setting to reach that spot. Liquid is the same way. I've never used a mod that is as awesome as the Buzz.

 

[grndzero]

I think the biggest factor is if you want it and the second is if you need it.

Some people want to be different. Some people want a customizes logo. Some people really want the thing to look like a tail pipe instead of a colored analog/cigar with an led at the end.

There is also some utility reasons for it. Definitely massive throat hit, longer battery life, etc. But they can also burn up their attys faster and burning through a lot more juice very easily too.

I have gone to a few local meetups and most people are using analog/pen style e-cigs. The ones who step up to high voltage are the tinkerers and heavy smokers (like 2-3 pack/day) that really need the massive throat hit. I'm a tinkerer. I have built a 5v USB mod and a 5v/6v box mod also, but my 902 is still my primary and goes everywhere with me.

1 warning though. I built my 5v usb passthru and it spoiled me. I wasn't getting as much satisfaction from 3.7v anymore. The only reason I built it was because I lost my job and rather than sitting at home using up battery life I could plug into the computer. The Low Resistance atomizers definitely fixed that though. I will be posting my review of them soon.

 

[Mister Hyde]

Ok thanks guys...
I think i will try the 902, even if high voltage sounds good with the " massive TH "
I think i will stick with the analog/pen style e-cigs for now, till i' ll (if ever) feel the need of those HV gizmos... ( that Buzz sounds interesting with the option of variable voltage)

On a second note, I am trying the blue foam mod...and i have to say that its working preatty good.

 

[Mister Hyde]

...Oh btw,
can i use the 902 atty with the sidesho battery?

 

[kaeo773]

Yes, the 902 atty/cart seems to work better on the sidesho batteries vs Sidesho atty/carts on a 902 battery

 

[Mister Hyde]

Sweet..... thanks Tony, I'm glad i found this forum and your website, lots of good people, great info on vaping, and good quality products at a reasonable price....

 

[cainne]

Ok a few comments...

Handmade/Custom Machined battery mods:
I found a few reasons for these, voltage, battery life, glitz, and assumptions.
The voltage issue, I don't see it. Frankly I think it's actually a negative to have higher voltage. Higher voltage = higher temp. The two things that burn out electronics the fastest are, you guessed it, running high voltage through it, and high temperatures. Hence all the blown out attys with 5v, 6v, ++. To me the goal is to atomize the fluid with a, if anything, SLIGHTLY warm feel so it mimics smoke in your mouth. Anything over that is simply overkill. You're wasting more fluid, damaging your equipment more and shortening it's life, and possibly causing yourself more harm. Higher temperatures can decompose VG, for example, into arcolein. It's a fairly nasty nerve gas, google it. Also melting fiberfill/foam filler = not good. Burning plastic doesn't release happy chemicals. A well soaked atty should never get that hot but if it dries out, like at the end of the cart and glows red, that's potentially hot enough and more volts just means hotter.
I prefer just a regular 3v. I've smoked on an Ego which has a limiter to produce only 3.1v and found it's just as satisfying.

Battery life.
Meh. A mod can go 24,48, or even 72 hours without needing recharging. My questions is, and? I don't need to vape when I sleep. Frankly I don't see an advantage to anything over 6-12 hours. Going camping? Bring a couple batteries. /shrug. I mean yeah, you COULD put a car battery in a hand tooled chest and cart it around to smoke off of but... why? Most smaller ecigs have rechargable pcc's for just that issue. I mean is unscrewing a battery and flipping it out for one in the PCC every 1-2 hours really THAT time consumptive?

Glitz.
Some custom mods can look cool, especially ones like the precise. I think that about covers that.

Assumptions.
There's this idea I've noticed on the forums that higher volts and longer battery life = better. To me it's become a bit of a runaway train with no one questioning WHY you would need/want over X voltage or Y battery life. It's just taken for granted that "more is better". I think there's also a lot of one-upmanship involved; a "mine's bigger/better than yours!" that feeds into it as well.

Cart mods:
Frankly I can't stand them. Any of them. Time/headache/hassle. I moved to carto's and am MUCH happier. Screw one on, fill it up, vape for 1/3rd to 1/2 the day then refill. Infinitely easier and less messy in my opinion.

Really to me now I'd just look for this:
Good/convenient sized battery and/or PCC w/batteries.
Few bottles of fluid I like.
Carton of 50 carto's to cover me for the next 3+ months (I use one for about 2-3 days then throw it out even if it's still working well because they do build up crap inside the material and I don't want to push it vaping that stuff as it can be less than healthy)
Pass through + USB extension cord so I can vape comfortably in my room.

That's it. At least for me, that's all you need.

 

[Mister Hyde]

You make some very good point Cainne and i agree with you on the HV...after i reserched a bit i noticed some people kind of going overbord a bit, just like that new IT/Vapezilla gizmo,
as far as the carts I think i have to go with mods like the blue foam, even if you do get Time/headache/hassle....I only own the sidesho and as far as i know MV doesnt offer cartos for it...(as of yet) and i am not sure of compatibilities with the sidesho and other models cartos...I am still new at this.

 

[cainne]

Tony is looking into getting some cartos made up.

In the meantime FYI: 510 threading works on both the sidesho and the 902