So this is where I am and coming from:
Got my first subohm tank last Dec. The Kanger Subtank like many others. Since then I've bought several hundred dollars worth of new tanks as they hit and another several hundred in replacement heads. There's a ton of threads out there touting how great subohm tanks are but few listing the drawbacks per tank that start to stand out after really embracing this style of vaping and having it be your "all day vape" for 6 months. Before anyone gets upset you should understand I like these devices but still want more. I'm a heavy vaper so many who read this will never encounter my problems.
1st issue: WICKING!
Every single tank/head combination I've used starts relatively great. You're getting RDA level flavor and vapor without having to drip. This is amazing if you've been dripping for a year! That's a huge inconvenience in your life that's simply gone. Then 5-7 days in the wicking issues start up where I have to plug the airholes with my fingers and blow air into the tank to relieve the vacuum then suck to pull juice into the head. I've yet to have a head last the claimed "month" without 3 weeks of that month being me getting dry hits if I forget to prime the head every few puffs. I don't even push the heads to their limits as I don't like a hot or even very warm vape.
Solution? Change heads often or change your habits to "priming" instead of dripping to stretch out that head's life. This leads me to...
2nd issue: Replacement coil availability
With how fast these new tanks have flooded the market then revised over and again the manufacturers only seem to focus on the tanks themselves and not making the freaking heads available for a decent price or quantity. This is where the "wait and see" mentality people are winning big. I may always be the first in my circle to have the latest hardware but that also means I have a TON of retired hardware that I spent good money on and only a handful of coils on hand for that new hotness. This is where an RBA deck should be in your tank purchase.
Solution? If you're going to release the latest and greatest hardware make sure ALL of it is available. The razorblade style profit margins don't work when you don't have razorblades available. You're going to be undercut by whatever the new hotness is if your coils can't beat it to market. Make a competant RBA available.
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Now to the extended view of the tanks I've put through their paces, leaving out ones I've (obviously) never used or the ones I wouldn't recommend. Any of these give a solid vape experience but all require some level of fiddling. In order I'd recommend:
Kanger Subtank Nano, Mini, Mini V2, Plus
We all have one. Heads are everywhere and cheap. I place this at the top since the new vertical coil brought this tank back to life for me and the new RBA head put it as my No. 1 all day vape. The new Subox kits I got look sexy as hell, are compact, powerful, and the easiest battery change of my many mods. The only big issue I had before was vapor production vs higher end tanks but now the new vertical coils come much closer at near half the price. I loved my Plus's capacity and the Nano's svelt size but they don't look as sleek as the Vader Subox or the wife's Stormtrooper. You can get higher performing tanks than these but price and availability of those heads knock them off the top spot. Average head life without priming: 1 week but 1st horizontal coils can be rewicked easily. RBA deck!
Freemax Starre, Vapeston Maganus, High Voltage
These are the performers. Simply the best vapor production to date. You're NOT going to hit that 100-150 watt claim though so don't even attempt. (Mine produced the worst coughing fit I've experienced in my life) The Starre is the star here (sorry
) as the Mag is pointless as it's a twin to the Starre with heads costing more and harder to find and the HV is even more rare. The Starre is rapidly gaining popularity but even at the lowest prices I've found online you're going to pony up an extra $5/box vs Kanger heads, even wider margins if you count cloned Kanger heads. Heads have a mean break in though so don't get down on it when it tastes like burnt rubber! Ramp up the wattage when you're breaking them in. I frown especially on the Maganus heads as they shouldn't claim 150 watts when it's not even remotely possible to maintain 100 watts. False advertising? Classic shame. These all can maintain 70 watts for several days but shine around 45-55 watts. Average head life without priming: 1 week+ but the shape of the air holes make it a pita to prime with my plug-blow-suck method where the Subtanks and Arctic I can do without looking. Biggest con: No RBA deck so you're buying every overpriced coil.
Horizon Arctic
This one kinda changed the game when it came out of nowhere. I've a love/hate relationship with this tank. It was the first widely available high performance tank but slightly short of the Starre. My biggest problem is design. The tank glass is recessed in it's SS casing so I've cut my fingers many times now trying to open the damn thing cause it tends to seize up when it gets hot. You're going to be opening it a LOT as it's capacity is comically small and filling is a pita with the tiny slots you get. You can't grip it by the air ring as it just spins. To avoid cuts slide a mini screwdriver into the airholes to stabilize the base or simply get a better designed tank. Performance is great but shoddy design and build quality put this in a distant 3rd to the other classes of tanks. On the plus there's little to no break in on the heads. They perform great within minutes. Heads have good availability and price. This tank badly needs a V2 with increased capacity, flush tank, and locking AFC ring. This would easily put this tank in the top spot! There's an extend capacity clone "V2" on FastTech I've been eyeing that would solve the capacity at least. The authentic V2 Arctic just has the pointless silly airholes in the tip ala Atlantis V2. Why go for Aspire's marketing gimmick without actually improving capacity that EVERYONE has complained about? Average head life without priming: 1 week but that AFC ring is stupid easy to spin to prime to extend that to 2 weeks. (too easy? It's going to spin in your pocket all the time) No RBA deck here either.
Aspire Atlantis
Was never impressed. Lost (barely) to the Subtank in the first war for flavor while it gave better airflow. Looks silly in the current gen with air holes in the tip. Hey Aspire, I'm fully capable of parting my lips slightly to bring extra airflow around the tip and then I'd be fully capable of changing the drip tip to something I want aside from your proprietary one that's comically huge. Vapers aren't stupid enough to think that huge tip=huge airflow when your coils are still narrow. Honestly I haven't purchased the V2 as I saw zero improvement over the first's design aside from a lower resistance head's availability. Experienced vapers in general are rather educated and don't fall for marketing gimmicks like OMGAIRHOLESINTHETIP!1! This feels aimed at newbie vapers that think airflow is king not understanding that more air is completely useless when it doesn't pass THROUGH the coil and actually hurts flavor production badly. Now that that rant is over with, the Atlantis V1 is a solid tank. If you already have one you're not SOL as it doesn't fall THAT far behind the others in performance and flavor. I just wouldn't recommend them as a new purchase. Heads are widely available for good prices. Still no RBA though. Average head life without priming: 1 week+ but I haven't gone through as many Atlantis heads as the others as I've ended up using this the least.
Next up for me is the Sigelei Elite tank. It can be had for Smok VCT prices and seems to have Kanger level build quality. I've got it sitting as I've only purchased Ni200 coils to go in my new Sigelei75 when it shows up so sorry for lack of information on that yet. Honorable mention to the VCT. It's build quality is what's expected of what it is, and that's a Subtank clone. Performance is akin to the first gen Subtank but you can't ignore the price. I just don't look at prices on the tanks as closely as coil prices as obviously that's going to be your long run investment. We've had one bouncing around and it's decent but nothing ahead of all the me too tanks you see popping up everywhere.
My quest? Performance of the Starre, Kanger build quality, $2 heads that actually last 10 days and can be found relatively easily. Am I asking too much? Then drop the Starre head prices by half so I'm not inclined to try and make them last as long as possible when they're $4 a pop. At least Kanger and Joye give you the cheapskate option to rebuild with RBA decks. (Subtank's included, Joye's is extra) Right now the Subtank V2 is the closest to that perfect tank so it's my recommended buy.
Got my first subohm tank last Dec. The Kanger Subtank like many others. Since then I've bought several hundred dollars worth of new tanks as they hit and another several hundred in replacement heads. There's a ton of threads out there touting how great subohm tanks are but few listing the drawbacks per tank that start to stand out after really embracing this style of vaping and having it be your "all day vape" for 6 months. Before anyone gets upset you should understand I like these devices but still want more. I'm a heavy vaper so many who read this will never encounter my problems.
1st issue: WICKING!
Every single tank/head combination I've used starts relatively great. You're getting RDA level flavor and vapor without having to drip. This is amazing if you've been dripping for a year! That's a huge inconvenience in your life that's simply gone. Then 5-7 days in the wicking issues start up where I have to plug the airholes with my fingers and blow air into the tank to relieve the vacuum then suck to pull juice into the head. I've yet to have a head last the claimed "month" without 3 weeks of that month being me getting dry hits if I forget to prime the head every few puffs. I don't even push the heads to their limits as I don't like a hot or even very warm vape.
Solution? Change heads often or change your habits to "priming" instead of dripping to stretch out that head's life. This leads me to...
2nd issue: Replacement coil availability
With how fast these new tanks have flooded the market then revised over and again the manufacturers only seem to focus on the tanks themselves and not making the freaking heads available for a decent price or quantity. This is where the "wait and see" mentality people are winning big. I may always be the first in my circle to have the latest hardware but that also means I have a TON of retired hardware that I spent good money on and only a handful of coils on hand for that new hotness. This is where an RBA deck should be in your tank purchase.
Solution? If you're going to release the latest and greatest hardware make sure ALL of it is available. The razorblade style profit margins don't work when you don't have razorblades available. You're going to be undercut by whatever the new hotness is if your coils can't beat it to market. Make a competant RBA available.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now to the extended view of the tanks I've put through their paces, leaving out ones I've (obviously) never used or the ones I wouldn't recommend. Any of these give a solid vape experience but all require some level of fiddling. In order I'd recommend:
Kanger Subtank Nano, Mini, Mini V2, Plus
We all have one. Heads are everywhere and cheap. I place this at the top since the new vertical coil brought this tank back to life for me and the new RBA head put it as my No. 1 all day vape. The new Subox kits I got look sexy as hell, are compact, powerful, and the easiest battery change of my many mods. The only big issue I had before was vapor production vs higher end tanks but now the new vertical coils come much closer at near half the price. I loved my Plus's capacity and the Nano's svelt size but they don't look as sleek as the Vader Subox or the wife's Stormtrooper. You can get higher performing tanks than these but price and availability of those heads knock them off the top spot. Average head life without priming: 1 week but 1st horizontal coils can be rewicked easily. RBA deck!
Freemax Starre, Vapeston Maganus, High Voltage
These are the performers. Simply the best vapor production to date. You're NOT going to hit that 100-150 watt claim though so don't even attempt. (Mine produced the worst coughing fit I've experienced in my life) The Starre is the star here (sorry
) as the Mag is pointless as it's a twin to the Starre with heads costing more and harder to find and the HV is even more rare. The Starre is rapidly gaining popularity but even at the lowest prices I've found online you're going to pony up an extra $5/box vs Kanger heads, even wider margins if you count cloned Kanger heads. Heads have a mean break in though so don't get down on it when it tastes like burnt rubber! Ramp up the wattage when you're breaking them in. I frown especially on the Maganus heads as they shouldn't claim 150 watts when it's not even remotely possible to maintain 100 watts. False advertising? Classic shame. These all can maintain 70 watts for several days but shine around 45-55 watts. Average head life without priming: 1 week+ but the shape of the air holes make it a pita to prime with my plug-blow-suck method where the Subtanks and Arctic I can do without looking. Biggest con: No RBA deck so you're buying every overpriced coil.Horizon Arctic
This one kinda changed the game when it came out of nowhere. I've a love/hate relationship with this tank. It was the first widely available high performance tank but slightly short of the Starre. My biggest problem is design. The tank glass is recessed in it's SS casing so I've cut my fingers many times now trying to open the damn thing cause it tends to seize up when it gets hot. You're going to be opening it a LOT as it's capacity is comically small and filling is a pita with the tiny slots you get. You can't grip it by the air ring as it just spins. To avoid cuts slide a mini screwdriver into the airholes to stabilize the base or simply get a better designed tank. Performance is great but shoddy design and build quality put this in a distant 3rd to the other classes of tanks. On the plus there's little to no break in on the heads. They perform great within minutes. Heads have good availability and price. This tank badly needs a V2 with increased capacity, flush tank, and locking AFC ring. This would easily put this tank in the top spot! There's an extend capacity clone "V2" on FastTech I've been eyeing that would solve the capacity at least. The authentic V2 Arctic just has the pointless silly airholes in the tip ala Atlantis V2. Why go for Aspire's marketing gimmick without actually improving capacity that EVERYONE has complained about? Average head life without priming: 1 week but that AFC ring is stupid easy to spin to prime to extend that to 2 weeks. (too easy? It's going to spin in your pocket all the time) No RBA deck here either.
Aspire Atlantis
Was never impressed. Lost (barely) to the Subtank in the first war for flavor while it gave better airflow. Looks silly in the current gen with air holes in the tip. Hey Aspire, I'm fully capable of parting my lips slightly to bring extra airflow around the tip and then I'd be fully capable of changing the drip tip to something I want aside from your proprietary one that's comically huge. Vapers aren't stupid enough to think that huge tip=huge airflow when your coils are still narrow. Honestly I haven't purchased the V2 as I saw zero improvement over the first's design aside from a lower resistance head's availability. Experienced vapers in general are rather educated and don't fall for marketing gimmicks like OMGAIRHOLESINTHETIP!1! This feels aimed at newbie vapers that think airflow is king not understanding that more air is completely useless when it doesn't pass THROUGH the coil and actually hurts flavor production badly. Now that that rant is over with, the Atlantis V1 is a solid tank. If you already have one you're not SOL as it doesn't fall THAT far behind the others in performance and flavor. I just wouldn't recommend them as a new purchase. Heads are widely available for good prices. Still no RBA though. Average head life without priming: 1 week+ but I haven't gone through as many Atlantis heads as the others as I've ended up using this the least.
Next up for me is the Sigelei Elite tank. It can be had for Smok VCT prices and seems to have Kanger level build quality. I've got it sitting as I've only purchased Ni200 coils to go in my new Sigelei75 when it shows up so sorry for lack of information on that yet. Honorable mention to the VCT. It's build quality is what's expected of what it is, and that's a Subtank clone. Performance is akin to the first gen Subtank but you can't ignore the price. I just don't look at prices on the tanks as closely as coil prices as obviously that's going to be your long run investment. We've had one bouncing around and it's decent but nothing ahead of all the me too tanks you see popping up everywhere.
My quest? Performance of the Starre, Kanger build quality, $2 heads that actually last 10 days and can be found relatively easily. Am I asking too much? Then drop the Starre head prices by half so I'm not inclined to try and make them last as long as possible when they're $4 a pop. At least Kanger and Joye give you the cheapskate option to rebuild with RBA decks. (Subtank's included, Joye's is extra) Right now the Subtank V2 is the closest to that perfect tank so it's my recommended buy.
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