In the spirit of full disclosure, the kit reviewed below was received free of charge for the purpose of a review. Ben at Vapornine offered up some kits, and I took him up on it. The review is still fair and honest, however. I'm not a big fan of the supermini due to the short battery life, but in all other aspects, this kit was enjoyable to vape.
The V9 Nebula
Overview
The VaporNine Nebula is a KR808D-1 compatible electronic cigarette that comes with 67mm batteries, putting it in the "supermini" class of ecigs that are hardly larger than an actual cigarette. It's a two-piece ecig, meaning that the kit ships with batteries and cartomizers rather than atomizers and cartridges found on three-piece models. More detail on that still to come, but suffice it to say that the two piece design is probably the simplest way to get started with an ecig.
The marketing
VaporNine appears to know their audience well. Not only is the device simple to get started with, but the web site makes it simple to order as well. Once the Nebula product line is selected, drop down boxes allow a choice of battery and LED color combinations and strength and flavor of prefilled cartomizers. A carrying case and car charger can be added for an extra cost. Hit the Add To Cart Button and that's it. It's an easy process that should present a minimum of confusion for the new user.
The kit arrives tastefully packaged in a flip-top box. The components inside are clearly labeled and there is a well designed holder for the manual. This manual is one of the best I've seen. It's clearly written in a large enough format to be easily read and documents all of the basics needed to get started. Two batteries, a pack of five cartomizers and a USB/wall charger are included in the kit.
Using the Nebula
Getting started with the Nebula is about as easy as it gets. Simply pull the caps off of a cartomizer and screw it onto one of the batteries. The beauty of the two-piece design is that there is little drama involved in the process. Right out of the box, the Nebula is quite a satisfying little electronic cigarette that should give many people a great first impression of the allure of the personal vaporizer. The size makes it quite comfortable to hold like a regular cigarette and the automatic batteries mean that it can even be puffed on hands-free.
Great tasting Turbo cartomizers
These prefilled Turbo cartomizers are some of the best that I've tried. They deliver excellent flavor from start to finish with little or none of the undertaste found in some cartos. They would be an excellent first introduction to the electronic cigarette. As with other KR808 models, the flavor production is excellent and these cartomizers offer fantastic vapor production and a very easy draw as well. I ordered Carolina cartomizers with the kit and added an extra pack of RY4 to go with it. Both are very pleasant tobacco flavors that give a hint of cigarette smoke smell on the exhale, with the RY4 being just a little sweeter. Throat hit is relatively mild, but I was actually quite satisfied with it considering the fact that it was coming from such a small package. .I was a little disappointed in receiving tan colored cartomizers - black are what is shown on the site and would look much better with the black batteries.
Cartomizers were originally conceived to be disposable and many people still use them that way. It is far more economical to refill them, however and VaporNine makes no secret of the fact that they can be refilled. They sell the liquid for the purpose and I found the Carolina and RY4 liquid to be nearly identical to that found in the prefilled cartridges. Cartomizers can be easily refilled by dripping into the battery end, with the cap fill method or by dripping directly on the filler. Dripping on the filler requires that the plastic mouthpiece plug and soft inner ring is removed. Each pack of cartomizers comes with five replacement soft tips to replace the originals with to make the process easier. Be sure to remove the cartomizer from the battery before filling - liquid in an automatic battery is a sure way to kill them.
The batteries
One thing that is certain with a small ecig such as this is that battery life must suffer in favor of size. These batteries are no exception to the rule, although getting a few hours out of a 67mm battery isn't too bad. The recharge time is also a couple of hours, so its pretty important to be ready to charge one while vaping the other. The USB charger is easy to carry in a pocket for use whenever a USB port is handy. The batteries are at their best when fully charged, but vapor production doesn't drop off noticeably until they are nearly dead. The automatic switch is activated with a very slight inhale and doesn't fire due to noise, making this a very pocket-friendly ecig.
Conclusion
All in all, the Nebula Starter Kit from VaporNine performs well and would make an excellent first electronic cigarette or nice slim second device. .And the Turbo cartomizers are worth a try for anyone looking for KR808 cartos. . The kit offers a great experience right from the start and VaporNine has a reputation for good customer service should anything go wrong. .At $69.95 it falls somewhere in the middle of the pack of starter kits in terms of price. It won't make the bargain list, but at the same time there are many pricier kits that deliver far less value.
I buy them.
