Been vaping (and spending way to much money) for about 2 months. I've come to the conclusion that to avoid wasting money, wait a bit when you see the newest, latest, greatest "gadget" hit the market. A great example is the ViVi Nova - it's been out only a very short time and they're already up to V2.5 - how far behind is V3.0? In a way it reminds me of a rule I had when I was an IT manager - never, repeat never, buy version 1 of anything. If you have really deep pockets, sure pre-order every new thing that's announced. As for me, I will let the dust settle and the solid reviews come in before I shell out my coin.
This is more for folks just joining the community as it can be really tough to separate the wheat from the chaff when you're getting started. Also, I've learned that there are a few members here that give good reviews and recommendations based on real experience. When I'm considering something new, I wait and see what they say about it. I probably owe Sailorman a case of beer for all that I've learned from him...
Pretty good advice on the wait and see. Tho I personally did go ahead and get myself 2 Twist batteries within the last week. But they're small investments compared to one of the bigger VV APVs, so I don't mind as much. 2 Twist batteries costs less than a carton of cigarettes. That's also how I look at things. How much am I spending on X compared to what cigarettes cost me. As of right now, I'm about $100 in the red on my total purchases ... but my first kit was $40, used 2 weeks before upgrading to a -C kit which was $80. So that's $120 on kits. Non consumables really. Or at least slower to consume. So if you were to subtract the initial hardware investment, and just look at additional spending, I am actually in the black now by about 20 bux.
Now that I have 2 Twist batteries, I'm in no great rush for anything else. I still do kind of want a GLV-2. Such a slick looking APV. And if my initial look alike hadn't driven me to insanity, I might have already ordered one, but I needed to spend the money on the -C kit. I don't think I could have survived on the 808D-1 long enough for the GLV to arrive. The juice hunt is kind of fun. I actually have something half way decent now for evening chain vaping (HC's cherry is tolerable). So as I try out other flavors, I look for vendors that have really good prices on 6 or 10ml bottles to try. I will not order larger than 10ml of a flavor I haven't tried before ... unless there's some mega deal on it like a flavor of the week/month special pricing. Can vaping be expensive? Sure. But one also has to look at the other rewards from it that can't be measured fiscally. I sure feel better every morning when I get out of bed.
When I smoked, I almost always ended up buying by the pack, since it was hard to find stores with a full carton of my brand in stock (Camel Menthol Wide Lights), so I would only see 6 bux or so at a time go out of my funds, maybe 16 or 17 if I remembered to get the 3 pack special. Buying PV APV and juice stuff, we see a larger sum come out at once, but if you look at the amortization, it's not always as bad if your 20 bux gets you enough juice to last a week or so. That's easily half what cigarettes cost me for a week.
And for those that take on a hobby aspect of it ... well hobbies aren't free.
