Rose vs. Taifun GT II
I had been interested in the Taifun, an old and venerable RTA, for a while, so when the second iteration came out I decided to get one. I liked 26 gauge in the Rose, but thought the Taifun would be a good candidate for a 24 gauge build since it has a similar coil and wick setup, but in a larger chamber with increased airflow. When it arrived, I began to break it down and noticed something I really did not like: the base is press-fit together and cannot be disassembled. Like I said before, I don't want to vape an RTA until I have cleaned it to my own personal satisfaction, so this was disappointing. In addition, I know from experience that e-liquid tends to work its way down into the base of any atomizer and pool up in the various cavities or cake up on the positive post assembly, so why the user should be prevented from opening up the base is difficult to understand. This makes me appreciate the Rose, which is supplied with tools both to disassemble the base and also to reassemble it in such a way (tightly) that it won't come apart when refilling or rebuilding.
Nevertheless, I cleaned it as best I could and set it up with a 24 gauge build using a KGD wick. It must be said that the Taifun is the easiest RTA I've ever built; building the Rose can be difficult since you have to work on it from above, but the Taifun allows total access from the side, which I appreciated. However, one notices that the juice flow is controlled by means of the cap that screws onto the chamber ring, so it's not accessible from the outside. This wasn't a big deal for me since I don't really adjust my juice control much, but for others it might be. The airflow is controlled via a ring on the bottom of the atomizer similar to that of the Rose, except that it isn't trapped in place but can be slid right off the base...more on that later. The tank is glass, and I think it is implemented much better on the Taifun than on the Kayfun v4: it's a long cylinder that slides into an outer steel shell rather than a stumpy cylinder squished between two steel rings.
Anyway, I ran the specified build at around 25 watts with the airflow about half open. It was a good vape: the flavor was just underneath the Rose in quality but the vapor production was quite a bit greater. I don't care much for blowing large clouds since I don't have anyone to compete with, but it made me feel cool when buying juice at the vape shop. So, in terms of performance, I was pleased.
I was less pleased with some other design aspects, however, in addition to the press-fit base. Like I said, the airflow ring isn't really locked in place as it is on the Rose, but weakly held in place by a mere o-ring. As a result, several times when I went to unscrew the base from the tank I ended up pulling it off instead. Next, it isn't really a true bottom-coil design in which the juice-level can never drop below the wick: there's a significant gap between the wick and the bottom of the tank, which leads to my last and greatest irritation. If you look at the base of the Rose, you'll notice that it has two o-rings: the one right below the build deck is the bottom of the tank, the second one is only there to block any juice that should ooze past the first one. On the Taifun there is only one, large o-ring at the very bottom with which juice is in constant and full contact. As a result, every time I screwed the base back onto the tank, a significant amount of liquid would get squeezed out from around that o-ring onto the exterior, which I would then have to take time to wipe off. E-liquid would also tend to seep out of there when carrying the tank around with me to vape, such that I didn't ever want to put it in my pocket. As a result of these issues, and for the better flavor, I quickly decided to stay with the Rose.
End Part 3.
