The Wetbox: A One Week Review
What started out as a "where have you been all my life" relationship turned quickly into a "listen, we have to talk" situation. It's not that I don't like what the Wetbox has to offer, which is a convenient way to vape on the go. It's not that bad a product. But for all it's good qualities, it's just not the reliable go-to PV I hoped it would be.
First, the good. It's relatively inexpensive. I bought mine from Nhaler, and with two high drain 14500 batteries, a charger, two 3ml juice bottles, and an extra box of five regular 510 cartomizers, the total shipped price was under $90 (including a 10% discount code found on this forum.) Not a bad price at all for someone who initially was looking at the $135 Ali'i and Journeyman box mods from R&R Manufacturing. And to sweeten the deal, Nhaler threw in a sample bottle of juice. Nice (although the sample's 10MG nicotine content is a little light for my needs.)
Also good: The Wetbox uses a bottom fed system to keep the cartomizer wet and vapable. The onboard bottle holds an adequate supply of juice for a day's worth of vaping, and the 14500 batteries last longer than the batteries that come with a more traditional-looking e-cig, like an RN4081. In theory, one could fill up the Wetbox, slap in a charged battery, and vape all day, with no need for extra cartos, batteries, or juice taking up precious pocket space.
In fact, one of the reasons I went with the Wetbox, aside from the price, was the fact that many of the other reviews and forum comments I read about it touted the long battery life, in some cases, up to 12 hours. Well, I guess that just shows that one shouldn't believe everything one reads. Which brings me to the bad.
The Wetbox has better battery life than many older models of e-cigs, maybe, but providing an average time of 3-5 hours of moderate vaping, the Wetbox falls way short of the 12 hour claims posted by many fans. And the belief that the Wetbox is all you need for a day of vaping is also a bit of a fallacy. The device uses 510 cartomizers which, in my experience, just plain stink. Fresh from the package, they rock the vapor and kick the throat for all of 20 minutes, and then vapor and throat hit dramatically drop off until they end up either clogging up or just plain dying. One lasted me a coupld of hours, most lasted about two days. One made it to three days, but with little to no throat hit for most of the third day.
I get it that these cartomizers are intended to be disposable, but then again, so are atomizers. And my experience with atomizers has been much, much better. Most last at least a month, and during their lifespan, vapor production and throat hit remain pretty consistent. But I don't want this to turn into a review of cartos vs. attys. Suffice to say that any juice box mod designed around cartomizers is starting off with a pretty big strike against it. Even if the problems with the Wetbox can be fully attributed to its reliance on these inferior parts, the fact that they are required makes it the Wetbox's main flaw.
Some people claim success using LR 510 cartomizers with the Wetbox, which should give it better vapor and a stronger throat hit, but even while approving them for use with the device, the Wetbox's creator, someone named Missy, cautions buyers to "use at their own risk". And although many users have posted on the forums that regular 510 atomizers work with it as well, others claim that the juice feeding tube is either too short or too long, and that the atomizers, with their lack of absorbent filler material, leak. And those leaks have resulted in numerous claims of failed power switches, rendering the Wetbox useless and in need of repair.
These switch issues are among the most common complaints of users of the Wetbox. Scour this, and other, forums, and you'll see lots of posts by people who have experienced failed switches due to burning out (usually with LR cartos) or shorting out (usually due to leaking juice.) And with no warranty to speak of, the only solution is to ship the dead Wetbox back to Missy, with $15 to cover the cost of repair. A few dead switches, and the price advantage of this device could soon evaporate.
So with its inconsistent vapor production and throat hit, disappointing battery life, potential for switch failure, and lack of options for use with both atomizers and cartomizers, the Wetbox has left me feeling flat. It's a nice-looking mod, and mine was assembled well enough, but I need a PV that will fire up reliably and provide a consistent vaping experience with a minimum of fuss.
As far as I'm concerned, the Wetbox has failed to deliver what I had hoped for. So on a scale of 1-10, I give the Wetbox a 5. I'll continue to use it for now, but I'll still keep my trusty old RN4081 on deck as a backup.
What started out as a "where have you been all my life" relationship turned quickly into a "listen, we have to talk" situation. It's not that I don't like what the Wetbox has to offer, which is a convenient way to vape on the go. It's not that bad a product. But for all it's good qualities, it's just not the reliable go-to PV I hoped it would be.
First, the good. It's relatively inexpensive. I bought mine from Nhaler, and with two high drain 14500 batteries, a charger, two 3ml juice bottles, and an extra box of five regular 510 cartomizers, the total shipped price was under $90 (including a 10% discount code found on this forum.) Not a bad price at all for someone who initially was looking at the $135 Ali'i and Journeyman box mods from R&R Manufacturing. And to sweeten the deal, Nhaler threw in a sample bottle of juice. Nice (although the sample's 10MG nicotine content is a little light for my needs.)
Also good: The Wetbox uses a bottom fed system to keep the cartomizer wet and vapable. The onboard bottle holds an adequate supply of juice for a day's worth of vaping, and the 14500 batteries last longer than the batteries that come with a more traditional-looking e-cig, like an RN4081. In theory, one could fill up the Wetbox, slap in a charged battery, and vape all day, with no need for extra cartos, batteries, or juice taking up precious pocket space.
In fact, one of the reasons I went with the Wetbox, aside from the price, was the fact that many of the other reviews and forum comments I read about it touted the long battery life, in some cases, up to 12 hours. Well, I guess that just shows that one shouldn't believe everything one reads. Which brings me to the bad.
The Wetbox has better battery life than many older models of e-cigs, maybe, but providing an average time of 3-5 hours of moderate vaping, the Wetbox falls way short of the 12 hour claims posted by many fans. And the belief that the Wetbox is all you need for a day of vaping is also a bit of a fallacy. The device uses 510 cartomizers which, in my experience, just plain stink. Fresh from the package, they rock the vapor and kick the throat for all of 20 minutes, and then vapor and throat hit dramatically drop off until they end up either clogging up or just plain dying. One lasted me a coupld of hours, most lasted about two days. One made it to three days, but with little to no throat hit for most of the third day.
I get it that these cartomizers are intended to be disposable, but then again, so are atomizers. And my experience with atomizers has been much, much better. Most last at least a month, and during their lifespan, vapor production and throat hit remain pretty consistent. But I don't want this to turn into a review of cartos vs. attys. Suffice to say that any juice box mod designed around cartomizers is starting off with a pretty big strike against it. Even if the problems with the Wetbox can be fully attributed to its reliance on these inferior parts, the fact that they are required makes it the Wetbox's main flaw.
Some people claim success using LR 510 cartomizers with the Wetbox, which should give it better vapor and a stronger throat hit, but even while approving them for use with the device, the Wetbox's creator, someone named Missy, cautions buyers to "use at their own risk". And although many users have posted on the forums that regular 510 atomizers work with it as well, others claim that the juice feeding tube is either too short or too long, and that the atomizers, with their lack of absorbent filler material, leak. And those leaks have resulted in numerous claims of failed power switches, rendering the Wetbox useless and in need of repair.
These switch issues are among the most common complaints of users of the Wetbox. Scour this, and other, forums, and you'll see lots of posts by people who have experienced failed switches due to burning out (usually with LR cartos) or shorting out (usually due to leaking juice.) And with no warranty to speak of, the only solution is to ship the dead Wetbox back to Missy, with $15 to cover the cost of repair. A few dead switches, and the price advantage of this device could soon evaporate.
So with its inconsistent vapor production and throat hit, disappointing battery life, potential for switch failure, and lack of options for use with both atomizers and cartomizers, the Wetbox has left me feeling flat. It's a nice-looking mod, and mine was assembled well enough, but I need a PV that will fire up reliably and provide a consistent vaping experience with a minimum of fuss.
As far as I'm concerned, the Wetbox has failed to deliver what I had hoped for. So on a scale of 1-10, I give the Wetbox a 5. I'll continue to use it for now, but I'll still keep my trusty old RN4081 on deck as a backup.
