UGH!!! Sick of wasting money on crappy products!

[dch]

I am so frustrated! I started buying vaping products in Nov. 09. vaping has definitely helped me to cut down on reg. cigs from 2 packs a day to 6 cigs a day. Which is great! Don't get me wrong about that.

However, in the first 2 months, after looking at this website, talking to vendors, I ended up buying Greencig G220 (only one battery worked, returned the other one and got a new one, that one didn't work either, so gave up. Although the first one is still going strong...so far!) 4 510's, KR808D-1's (1 passthrough auto, now dead after only a few weeks of use, and 1 PT manual which came DOA and 1 manual battery), DSE 905 (same as the screw driver) it was like sucking peanut butter through a straw! so returned it.) 3 801 attys which work on the KR808D-1 and the Greencig G220's batteries with an adaptor which works pretty good! 1 901 atty, great vapor, zero throat hit and very little taste. 1 extra low bridge 510 atty. Lots of juices which I only really like one and I add a little bit of menthol crystals to it and it's awesome.

Carto's for the Greencig's and KR's. Carto's DO NOT WORK WELL AT ALL! Very little vapor and taste. Once they are empty, I have refilled them and what a bunch of work to keep them vaping! Some of the prefilled only worked once. Others didn't work at all. The ones that did work started zapping ( ) my lip when they got half way down in juice!
Bought a Joye (Janty) Stick, Loved it! Thought it was perfect, did everything I wanted! It worked for about 2 1/2 weeks, then while I was vaping with it and charging it connected to my computer, suddenly got a metallic smell, the bottom of it got hot, took it apart, put in the other battery it was fine till I tried to recharge that one But now it won't charge. Just great! NOT! It's a POS!

What is one to do when one doesn't have tons of money to throw out the window???? I'm a disable Veteran, so live on a very tight budget. What REALLY works and keeps working??? I'm still waiting for this to be cheaper than reg. cigs. So far it's cost me more than twice as much, per month, and still have yet to find that one thing that will actually work with all that I'm looking for.

Why are there only video's when the stuff is brand new, showing everyone how wonderful the products are, and not having reviews when this stuff breaks, falls apart or just quits working for no reason??

Only now have I figured out on my own, through trial and error of what atty will fit on what battery with what adaptor. Amazing what you find out!

Like the 901 atty fits directly on the Greencig G220 AND the KR808's! Wish the 901 atty would produce throat hit and have more flavor, but at least there is vapor and lots of it! The 801 atty's work thee best! Only have to fill up those big carts twice a day and vape away. Lots of vapor! Decent taste and throat hit. Oh, btw, the carto's they sell for the KR808's DO work just fine on the Greencig G220's without an adaptor! They work equally crappy. Although the Greencig G220 brand Carto's Don't work on the KR808's, until you drill a tiny hole in the side of it! Used to be able to refil those, but now they make them so you can't. Plus the new ones are really crappy! Grrrrr!!!!

Then there are the vendors.....Some actually email you back, fewer yet, will actually call you. They are your best friend, till something goes wrong....then it's bye bye! And you've wasted your time and money.........

I'm sick of just keeping it to myself and what do I tell my friends and family that have friends that want to quite smoking and are waiting for me to tell them what to buy?? I'm NOT going to have them throw their money away like I did, cuz I don't want to be blamed win their stuff craps out on them!!!

So what can I buy that will actually work? I would really like a 5V that will work with my 801 attys and that will last at least 6 months!! Plus would like to see a review of products that are short and to the point. Review of just opened box then a review of the exact same product 6 months later!

Is this to much to ask for??? I'm really afraid to buy anything else! Sorry this is so long...........

 

[ejoker]

i feel your frustration dch. you'll get lots of responses on what the 'best' mod may be. unfortunately, if you get the one that takes a bad turn, it doesn't matter that everyone else's is still working.

i'll throw this suggestion your way. take a look at through the modders sub-forum and the how-to on madvapes.com. spend maybe $25 on parts, and build your own 5v box. if you build it yourself, and it stops working, you can easily fix it.

 

[Blaze]

Plus would like to see a review of products that are short and to the point. Review of just opened box then a review of the exact same product 6 months later!

This is exactly what I intend to do when I FINALLY make the jump into the world of reviewers (just waiting on my Provape review kit, somehow I got lucky ). I was actually wondering if it was just me, or if others out there would like these lengths of followups. I really like GrimmGreen's style of review (the initial thoughts and then a follow up), but his followups are a bit too short for my likings (about 2-3 weeks I think, correct me if I'm wrong). I want to see bare minimum one month after use, and then thoughts and performance of said device, and continual updates

 

[wv2win]

From reading this forum and my own experience, I've found that the cheaper and many of the smaller analog size devices just don't hold up that long. I use the BE112 (801) atty on a Prodigy and never had an equipment failure with the V1 and the one issue I had with the V2 was corrected by puresmoker. I know there are many other well built larger devices such as the Silver Bullet and the GG that you would find hold up quite well according to many users. You might have to pay a little more up front but they should last for years other than the atomizers. Plus the batteries only cost $2.50 each and can be recharged 1000's of times unlike the small batteries so there is a savings on the batteries as well.

Good Luck

 

[OaklandCA]

Hey just as you were posting i was adding up my first months damages--fired batteries, non-compatible attys & charger etc. I am actually on a joye tech fogger right now and its been working 3-4 weeks but I'm on my 4th atty.

So i'm wondering do you have an idea of how much all that shopping has cost you?

 

[wv2win]

Since I started in February of 09, I have saved several thousand dollars compared to smoking. Vaping costs me approximately 25 cents a day compared to $8 plus a day for smoking.

 

[DerekPGH]

THAG BUILT: A Wolf in Sheeps Clothing! - get a chuck. uses 18650 rechargable lithium ions(fairly cheap.) and you can customize it to use any attomizer you'd like. i would get it made for the 510 and get the adapter kit. jeff stands by his products and will fix it if yours happens to break.

 

[Kent C]

So what can I buy that will actually work?

Bartleby

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/video-reviews/43943-bartleby-pv-review.html

Buy it with the 510 connector (you should have some 510 attys and carts leftover). Try it for a month and if you don't like it PM me and I'll buy it from you as long as it's still in working order, for $50 - you pay shipping.

 

[dch]

When I figured out what I spent in the first 2 months I was horrified! A tad more than $1,000.!!!!!!! And now looking to spend, what? Another $100 on something that I don't know will work or not?

Yeah, wv2win, I agree that the cheaper ones usually aren't the way to go. But it seems that the more I spent the worse the products got!
thought about making my own mod... but am a little worried about working with anything electrical! Been zapped a few times, so got a little fear there! 8-o Your right EJoker about the advantages of doing my own.... I did buy a DSE 905, (copy of the screw driver), it was like sucking a thick shake through a straw. Ok vapor, no throat hit no taste so exchanged it for the Stick. I really did like that, till it broke a couple weeks later. Now the vendor won't email or call me back!

I think I've watched everyones reviews. Liked some of GrimmGreens, but they are soooooooo loooooooooooong! I've stayed up all night watching all the video reviews for a few weeks at a time, night and day. They just don't need to be that long! Blaze, I totally agree with you! Keep the reviews coming at longer intervals. How else will anyone know what is good to buy??

I've been waiting to see if the VT PT would really be good. I liked all the reviews on it. But haven't seen anything new about it. I would really like to know how this unit works, especially now that it's been out awhile.

Thank you so much you guys for responding! I really appreciate it.

 

[ejoker]

there's no zap working with batteries, you're talking a max of 7.4v.
i'm not good with electricity either, but they're super easy to make. i just made a simple 3.7v for member yesterday, took me about 20 minutes.

 

[Thyestean]

Honestly sorry about your bad luck with this stuff. Not trying to be a jerk but....

As to the issues with every single thing you bought. Obviously many of us are still using these things and while some have issues it's rare to find someone who gets a bad unit every time they order so there has to be some margin of user error here if you haven't gotten a single good piece of equipment yet that works as advertised.

Only now have I figured out on my own, through trial and error of what atty will fit on what battery with what adaptor. Amazing what you find out!

If you only just now figured that out "on your own", after being a member here for as long as you have, then obviously you weren't doing the research on here that you could/should have been. I see numerous threads started every week that end up getting multiple replies from many members stating what is compatible with what.

Then there are the vendors.....Some actually email you back, fewer yet, will actually call you. They are your best friend, till something goes wrong....then it's bye bye! And you've wasted your time and money.........

I would say you may need to look into different vendors then because I have seen some on here who appear to bend over backwards when people have issues. I know that personally I have always gotten responses to my emails and PMs from all but one of the vendors I have used on here and that includes messages that weren't "issues".

I'm sick of just keeping it to myself and what do I tell my friends and family that have friends that want to quite smoking and are waiting for me to tell them what to buy?? I'm NOT going to have them throw their money away like I did, cuz I don't want to be blamed win their stuff craps out on them!!!

Point your friends/family/friends of family and friends to ECF and other sites you know of to do their own research as that will be the best help you can give them and will allow them to make their own choice of what to try and leaves you with no fault in their choice.

Plus would like to see a review of products that are short and to the point. Review of just opened box then a review of the exact same product 6 months later!

Is this to much to ask for??? I'm really afraid to buy anything else! Sorry this is so long...........

That would be a tough one to fulfill in most cases as most of the reviewers are always trying out new products. Between that and the fact that many people are always buying the "next great thing" it would be hard to get an honest review of something that has actually been someones all day everyday use unit for 6 straight months.

I really do hope your experiences/luck turn around for the better.

 

[dch]

Most of my issues with the stuff that I bought were they didn't work like I read here or on other websites, or on the reviews that I watched.
I do admit I'm not on this site or other sites everyday or every week for that matter. Lots of my time is spent in VA hospitals. So I'm not even home that much. When I am home, I did and still do, as much reading as possible.

Is it user error when you plug something in and it doesn't work at all? It's totally dead. I even tried 2 different computers and all usb ports, different extension cords, different usb adaptors. I doubt I or anyone else could get that wrong. I've read plenty of posts here with others with the same issues with all the same things that I've got. I know it's not just me, but ya know, sometimes it feels like it is!

My 510's are still working. Got them in the middle of Nov. of 09. I've only had one atty that died the second day I used it. Just hate having to drip all the time, and constantly charging and rotating batteries. Getting juice in my mouth if I'm not careful, having to keep papertowels handy for wiping off where the atty's leak. Plus very little to no throat hit and very little to no taste. Tried all the cart mods to try to get these to wick better with no success. So tried to find ecigs that worked better for me.

When talking with vendors from this website, they told me this won't work with that, etc... I was being lied to. Then found a vendor that said you can get these with these adaptors to work with this. When I asked if the adaptors worked with other stuff I had they said no, and I would have to get different ones........ etc.......

After I'd been home for a week I pulled out all the ecigs and atty's that I have and started putting pieces together and found out that this did work with that! And that I didn't need more stuff that a few of the vendors were telling me that I had to buy. Yep, a real revelation to my little mind!

Then I found another website that is short and to the point and pointed out all the stuff that I finally had the time to figure out. The light dawned on marblehead! This is a great website, but to go through years worth of threads is very time consuming and lots of people on here, including me, get overloaded and confused! So forgive me for not going through every little thing to figure all this stuff out. I really should take notes and write everything down!

Please tell me the vendors that you would recommend! Please! It would be great if I could go to one vendor that would help me out.

I have told friends and family to come to this website. They told me there was so much to read and they didn't have the time. "Information overload", I was told by all! So my buds are waiting to see what I end up with that really works. Some have tried my different ecigs, and thought the same things that I did.

The winner so far: Greencig G220 with the 801 atty. Only problem with this is that it's longer than every Pen we own! LOL!!! We would all like something smaller that will easily fit into a pocket. That's where I was really hoping that the Janty Stick would have worked. That thing was great while it did work. I was going to tell everyone about it in another 2 weeks, as I wanted to have it for at least a month to be sure that it would have lasted. Oh well!

Yeah, EJoker, I think it's time to experiment! I'll be looking up more websites on all that, all night tomorrow night...or is that tonight? It's almost 4 am now.......

 

[portguy]

Yes..i found out just on the second day of vaping that the atomizers from my crappy super mini 084 fit on my 510 tornado...im glad i tried that because it's the only thing worth anything in that super mini...here size matters!

 

[wv2win]

Please tell me the vendors that you would recommend! Please! It would be great if I could go to one vendor that would help me out. .......

For probably the best pass thourgh made as well as one of the better mods, I would recommend www.puresmoker.com. For e-liquid I would recommend E-Liquid - Rocky Mountain Vapor you have reached the mountain top of electronic cigarettes! OR 30ml Dekang E-juice with 53 flavors(PG) - E-juice - Wholesale & Retail Best E-smoking Supplier=

I would strongly recommend you get a good, sturdy mod and I think most of your troubles will be gone, other than having to replace atty's. Here's a pretty good list:

http://www.e-savuke.com/ecig_mods.htm

Good Luck

 

[Kimmy]

Two places I would like to recommend.

Vapor4Life:: Because it's your life :: Electronic Cigarettes & Alternatives to Smoking It's quick, easy, and a lot of flavors to choose from. They have a great warrantee, if something is wrong with your stuff they send you a new one no questions asked. It's a two piece unit, very easy to use, no room for any frustration. Freebees with each order. Coupon codes. A lot of us swear by them. I have been vaping for 5+ months and have had maybe 2 bad batteries out of 25!

thagbuilt.com They have great mods, completely customizable. Only prob is the wait is about a month because he makes them by scratch.

I do recommend using manual batteries, there is much less room for errors and they don't break as easily

Keep in mind this is a fairly new technology. The kinks are not completely worked out yet.

 

[Thyestean]

...reply #12 snipped so as not to take up too much space.......

Yes I wasn't saying it was all user error. Obviously you probably got some faulty products. And having a vendor lie to you about what is compatible with what does suck.

As for vendors that I can personally vouch for having good customer service, in my experience, I would only be able to name the ones in my signature banner. I have seen others on here that, publicly at least, seem to do a decent job of it too.

However, it is hard to recommend any one vendor to get you what you need since you have tried so many various things and none seem to be quite right for you.

I would suggest a KR8 for ease of use but you already tried the cartomizers and had issues with those.

I would recommend the Janty eGo, since you had luck with the 510s lasting as have I, for it's long battery life, decent size, nice looks, and the warranty but the only of your issues with the 510 that it would solve is the leaking one, the cone traps any leaked liquid inside, but wouldn't solve the dripping or wicking issues.

If the 801 works for you I would suggest checking out the SP2(Sparkplug), that you can find at LiteCigUSA (and I think a couple other vendors), which uses a BE112 atty which is compatible with the DSE-801 and looks to be a nice little mod at a decent price. However to be honest I don't know how long it is in comparison to your current 801 that you don't like the extended length of.

I could go on trying to think of other things to recommend but really I can't say if any of them will work correctly to meet all of your needs. Unfortunately none of this will ever be as easy as pulling a cig out of a pack and lighting up. But hopefully you can find the one that is close enough to it for your tastes.

 

[wv2win]

Two places I would like to recommend.

Vapor4Life:: Because it's your life :: Electronic Cigarettes & Alternatives to Smoking It's quick, easy, and a lot of flavors to choose from. They have a great warrantee, if something is wrong with your stuff they send you a new one no questions asked. It's a two piece unit, very easy to use, no room for any frustration. Freebees with each order. Coupon codes. A lot of us swear by them. I have been vaping for 5+ months and have had maybe 2 bad batteries out of 25!

thagbuilt.com They have great mods, completely customizable. Only prob is the wait is about a month because he makes them by scratch.

I do recommend using manual batteries, there is much less room for errors and they don't break as easily

Keep in mind this is a fairly new technology. The kinks are not completely worked out yet.

The only thing that bothers me about these analog type PV's is paying almost $17 for a battery. I pay $2.50 for a battery and they have a much longer recharge life (2000 times) than the analog types which on average have about a 200-250 recharge life. Plus I like the fact that I can get these batteries any where. I have read, however, that most users love these PV's, I must say.

 

[ecitek]

Read this thread: http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/modders-forum/62775-wizard-why-not.html

A $15 child's toy, looks kinda strange (like a ....), but apparently PUTS OUT the vapor. I just bought one for fun. I get the feeling I won't have to spend as much time fighting e-Cigs for a decent drag.

Not for everyone, but kinda funny how a $15 kid's toy could put $100 e-cigs to shame...

 

[hecknaw]

Bartleby

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/video-reviews/43943-bartleby-pv-review.html

Buy it with the 510 connector (you should have some 510 attys and carts leftover). Try it for a month and if you don't like it PM me and I'll buy it from you as long as it's still in working order, for $50 - you pay shipping.

YEP!! Those type uf offers don't come bye very often!! I would like to have one myself!! and I will get one down the road

 

[otter]

I think I've watched everyones reviews. Liked some of GrimmGreens, but they are soooooooo loooooooooooong! I've stayed up all night watching all the video reviews for a few weeks at a time, night and day. They just don't need to be that long!

If you stay up night and day for weeks at a time just watching video reviews, perhaps which e-cig to use isn't your biggest concern
Oh, and also, be sure to watch mine too!