Prolouge:
I originally started this as a comment on another thread, but went off on so many tangents (par for the course with me) that I chose to just make this a whole other thread so it wouldnt be super out of place and/or get lost in the mix where even I couldn't find it. As I start to focus more attention on ordering parts and liquids I figured I wouldn't mind seeing more direct feedback on my trials and triumphs, vs. most responders are responding to the original topic. There is still a strong change that this thread will end up on page 3 in a day or so, but if so than its my own fault for not being interesting enough
----------------------------------
If the major tobacco companies get a proper foothold in the vaping industry this will all blow over as their financial support starts paying for politicians campaigns again. Or maybe (very doubtful) if a few American hardware manufacturers really come up and can afford to take big tobacco's place in politics. What a sight that would be! For now though the Chinese pretty much run the gamut on the semi-disposable electronic market and doesn't look to be changing.
I am pretty sure all of my hardware comes straight outta china and maybe pauses just long enough for whatever company I order it from to maybe screenprint their name on it (if they even do that), but my juice I buy locally. Not so much because I am all gung-ho about supporting local businesses or anything, but because I can actually taste test the juice before I buy it. As a general rule, if I am okay with it testing it out on some uber-disposable atomizer/cartamizer tank, I at least won't be so unhappy with it when I get it home that I want to throw it away. I don't see much of a price difference there from ordering online. Plenty of local establishments run deals along the lines of buy 3 30mL bottles (at $12-15 a pop), get one free> I am sure if I looked really hard and shopped sales I might be able to find cheaper here and there, but as much as I love shopping online there are just some purchases I prefer to be able to try-on for a sec. Yeah, taste-testing juices on a crappy tank built to be immidiatley disposed of really only gives you a partial idea of what you are purchasing, but so does trying on clothes with tags hanging off of them in a tiny dressing room stall overlit with green-tinted fluorescent lighting
Hardware is much more expensive to buy locally though. I mean, I kinda get it though. Austin rent is crazy high, even ordering straight from china ya gotta mark it up a bunch just to pay the storefront rent. And then even though I don't have to pay shipping, I have state sales tax. I have also noticed that if I go in and buy something on a whim (AKA haven't researched to the point that I recognize it and it's specs by sight alone)and want to replace any parts on it, properly identifying what you have can almost be a game. A frustrating, evil game.
Case in point:
A while back my boyfriend bought what the salesgirl said was an ARO. She excitedly introduced it to us and was all about it and is friendly with us as we have been there a few times. He went back last week looking for a coil head replacement for the tank, and they were still referring to it as an ARO. They didn't have any independant replacement heads, so he just bought a new tank. He did some research on it and decided that you could only use the ARO specific coil heads on them that were built for them. I did further research and realized he didnt even have an ARO, but a Kanger eVod..... or even a generic one at that. There are the non-pyrex versions/knock-offs(?) that I spent plenty of time reading about in the forums here, but what decided it for me was that all of the pics I find of these plastic supposed AROs the mouthpiece was black, and any pic I find of the eVod has a clear mouthpiece (his is clear). Anyways....glad I didn't get the coil heads for the AVO.
Actually, I did lol. After going through and doing all of that reading about the AVO, I decided I really wanted one and got one for each of us with 8 replacement heads! I am really digging on this one online shop, Discount Vapors. So far I found them to consistantly have a very wide selection, the lowest prices, excellent descriptions (he adds his own personal comments to a lot of it), and it is kept very up to date. Its kind of a pet peave of mine to go to a site and see a bunch of stuff out of stock and then come back a month later and still see the same stuff out of stock. Like the website has been abandoned or something.
Anyways...thats my ramble for now. The AVOs were shipped yesterday and if I am super lucky it might come in tomorrow? Probably not till next week but fingers crossed!
I originally started this as a comment on another thread, but went off on so many tangents (par for the course with me) that I chose to just make this a whole other thread so it wouldnt be super out of place and/or get lost in the mix where even I couldn't find it. As I start to focus more attention on ordering parts and liquids I figured I wouldn't mind seeing more direct feedback on my trials and triumphs, vs. most responders are responding to the original topic. There is still a strong change that this thread will end up on page 3 in a day or so, but if so than its my own fault for not being interesting enough
----------------------------------
If the major tobacco companies get a proper foothold in the vaping industry this will all blow over as their financial support starts paying for politicians campaigns again. Or maybe (very doubtful) if a few American hardware manufacturers really come up and can afford to take big tobacco's place in politics. What a sight that would be! For now though the Chinese pretty much run the gamut on the semi-disposable electronic market and doesn't look to be changing.
I am pretty sure all of my hardware comes straight outta china and maybe pauses just long enough for whatever company I order it from to maybe screenprint their name on it (if they even do that), but my juice I buy locally. Not so much because I am all gung-ho about supporting local businesses or anything, but because I can actually taste test the juice before I buy it. As a general rule, if I am okay with it testing it out on some uber-disposable atomizer/cartamizer tank, I at least won't be so unhappy with it when I get it home that I want to throw it away. I don't see much of a price difference there from ordering online. Plenty of local establishments run deals along the lines of buy 3 30mL bottles (at $12-15 a pop), get one free> I am sure if I looked really hard and shopped sales I might be able to find cheaper here and there, but as much as I love shopping online there are just some purchases I prefer to be able to try-on for a sec. Yeah, taste-testing juices on a crappy tank built to be immidiatley disposed of really only gives you a partial idea of what you are purchasing, but so does trying on clothes with tags hanging off of them in a tiny dressing room stall overlit with green-tinted fluorescent lighting
Hardware is much more expensive to buy locally though. I mean, I kinda get it though. Austin rent is crazy high, even ordering straight from china ya gotta mark it up a bunch just to pay the storefront rent. And then even though I don't have to pay shipping, I have state sales tax. I have also noticed that if I go in and buy something on a whim (AKA haven't researched to the point that I recognize it and it's specs by sight alone)and want to replace any parts on it, properly identifying what you have can almost be a game. A frustrating, evil game.
Case in point:
A while back my boyfriend bought what the salesgirl said was an ARO. She excitedly introduced it to us and was all about it and is friendly with us as we have been there a few times. He went back last week looking for a coil head replacement for the tank, and they were still referring to it as an ARO. They didn't have any independant replacement heads, so he just bought a new tank. He did some research on it and decided that you could only use the ARO specific coil heads on them that were built for them. I did further research and realized he didnt even have an ARO, but a Kanger eVod..... or even a generic one at that. There are the non-pyrex versions/knock-offs(?) that I spent plenty of time reading about in the forums here, but what decided it for me was that all of the pics I find of these plastic supposed AROs the mouthpiece was black, and any pic I find of the eVod has a clear mouthpiece (his is clear). Anyways....glad I didn't get the coil heads for the AVO.
Actually, I did lol. After going through and doing all of that reading about the AVO, I decided I really wanted one and got one for each of us with 8 replacement heads! I am really digging on this one online shop, Discount Vapors. So far I found them to consistantly have a very wide selection, the lowest prices, excellent descriptions (he adds his own personal comments to a lot of it), and it is kept very up to date. Its kind of a pet peave of mine to go to a site and see a bunch of stuff out of stock and then come back a month later and still see the same stuff out of stock. Like the website has been abandoned or something.
Anyways...thats my ramble for now. The AVOs were shipped yesterday and if I am super lucky it might come in tomorrow? Probably not till next week but fingers crossed!
