Vivi Nova v2.5 - EXTREMELY disappointed

[Insomaniac10]

**SOLVED** - but i am leaving the OP pretty much intact, so people can see the trail of events. skip to post #24 to see the beginning of the solution

First off I'll say that I came to this forum section and see prodominantly vivi nova threads, which doesn't surprise me at all. I'm starting my own thread because I am beside myself.

I will start by saying that I understand that the world of vaping is, for the most part, a lot of trial and error and experimenting. However, when it comes to such a "popular" and "highly-reviewed" piece of hardware, when I order it I normally like to think I have a general idea of what I have coming to me.

I ordered the Vivi Nova v2.5 because of the great reviews. I've only had it for an hour and I am thoroughly disgusted. I don't know if I should blame GotVapes, and everyone else who raves about this thing...but for now I'm just going to blame all.

I unboxed the tank and immediately filled it up and let it sit for about 5 minutes so the wicks could soak up. I tipped it and twirled and made the thing dance to ensure the wicks/coil would be nice and wet. I've got nothing but muted/burnt hits since firing this thing up.

I put on an adapter to loosen the draw, I've tried different heads, I tried long AND snipped wicks, I even tried removing the little paper donut thing that is around the coil as suggested in another thread. I'm using my Provari so I've obviously played around with different voltages. There is absolutely nothing I can do with this thing to get the flavor that I expect.

My question is, how does this thing go so highly praised? People like PBsuardo and Grimmgreen who most certainly know what vaping is supposed to be like. I'm not accusing these people of giving influenced reviews, but I refuse to believe that their vaping standards are lower than mine. It could be possible that GotVapes gave me a knockoff, but when I take apart the tank it looks up to par to me. I'm coming off using GotVape's Phoenix CE3 bottom coil, and the flavor with those is unprecidented (sp?) in my book. I barely find any reviews for those. Are they just the best kept secret in vaping, or is the reviewing community just going to stick to over-advertised, inferior products that are going to make these companies a few extra bucks?

This thread is going to come off as extremely irrational to some, but I'm sure you've all felt let-down at some point or another. I've been vaping since January, and this is by far my worst experience.

Flame me, agree/disagree with me, mentor me...i welcome all responses. I just had to get this off my chest.

 

[junkman]

Can't help you, but am sorry to hear that. Was thinking about trying them myself so hate to see the disappointed you.

 

[nepatitan]

Take photo of the box it came in and the head of the vivi nova
Will be easy to tell if its knock off.
I have 6 vivi novas, minis and full size and only get a burnt harsh taste when not cleaning the tank after thick heavy juices.

 

[Insomaniac10]

Believe me, my hopes were so high for this. if you have the money to burn, theres no sense in not trying it...im cleaning the two heads i tried and i plan on dry burning them, which is the only thing i havnt tried yet. it's obviously a wick issue. i dont think the juice is having any trouble wicking to the coils, because when i take it apart the thing is soaked. it doesnt make any sense because everything LOOKS like it should perform just fine.

the theory that im going on is that it is what the wicks are made of. i cant really think of anything else. i already went back to my phoenix ce3s. man what a relief, i almost forgot what my jucie was SUPPOSED to taste like.

i dont want to give off the wrong impression. i am an experienced, avid vaper. i am not a newb by any means. i cant outline how disappointed i am in this product, and i can only hope that if you try one that you do not have the same experience as me.

its one of those things that looks so great, and is a perfect concept...everything about it comes off as great, except for when it comes time for it to perform the job it was made to do.

 

[nepatitan]

How long ago did you receive it in the mail? I know most places have been out of stock the last few weeks. Wonder if they ordered from another supplier that didn't have the tanks up to par with what was being sold in the beginning.

 

[GIMike]

Might just be a faulty unit. Have you tried contacting the seller? I would always suggest to try that first if possible.

 

[Insomaniac10]

another thing i noticed is that the head i last used was 1.8ohms. which is considered VERY low resistance. however when i set my device to 3.7v (which should be more than adequate for 1.8ohms) i barely get anything out of it. i only got a noticeable amount of "performance" when i jacked it up to 4.5v+. those numbers dont seem right to me, so maybe theres a power issue here as well.

 

[Zurrix]

I haven't been able to figure it out either. I have 2 of them and get muted, burnt taste, and stiff draw out of both of them. At least they don't cost much. I have 2 penelopes that I'm disappointed in too! I've stopped reading/watching reviews because of this and now just use atomizers cause they're reliable. I can deal with the hassle of carrying around a bottle with me, I can't deal with finicky crap.

Make sure it works out of the box or don't sell it. This industry has been around long enough that we shouldn't have to put up with this anymore.

 

[Boden]

Photos would help. macro if you can.

 

[Insomaniac10]

i dont know...i set it aside for the time being. i need enjoy my vape for a little while before i return to fiddling around with it, because its just putting me in a bad mood and my wife is beginning to think im out of my midn haha. im going to dry burn, and look more into the connection a little later on tonight.

 

[Insomaniac10]

ill take a photo of the box and heads in a little bit...starting to think about dinner now...thanks everyone for responding and tolerating my .....ing.

 

[nepatitan]

Oh jeez I didn't even see you guys were in Boston, you doin ok with the weather?
We made dinner early, wasn't sure when and if the power is going to go out.

ill take a photo of the box and heads in a little bit...starting to think about dinner now...thanks everyone for responding and tolerating my .....ing.

 

[Boden]

Here's some pics of the ones I got a month ago. they are good to go right out of the box. There was one of those rubber protectors on the drip tip but I removed it just before I took the pic.

 

[nepatitan]

See those look genuine, Iv'e seen other pics of the boxes where the writing was different and didn't have the vapor on the back.

Here's some pics of the ones I got a month ago. they are good to go right out of the box. There was one of those rubber protectors on the drip tip but I removed it just before I took the pic.

 

[Insomaniac10]

Oh jeez I didn't even see you guys were in Boston, you doin ok with the weather?
We made dinner early, wasn't sure when and if the power is going to go out.

Weather is rough but so far we still have power! ::knock knock:: ....had the day off work and was so excited to find out that the post office was still delivering today so i could try my new Vivi Nova!!! but we know how that turned out :\

Here's some pics of the ones I got a month ago. they are good to go right out of the box. There was one of those rubber protectors on the drip tip but I removed it just before I took the pic.

mine look identical to all of these photos. does the ohm/volts combo i was talking about before sound odd to anyone else?

 

[Boden]

1.8ohms at 4.5V is 11.25W... hot.

I did not even try the 1.8ohm coils. pulled them apart and rewicked them with cotton at 3.2 ohms.

Do you have an Ohm meter? Is the coil head screwed down all the way. I have problems when they work loose because of unscrewing the top.

 

[Insomaniac10]

1.8ohms at 4.5V is 11.25W... hot.

I did not even try the 1.8ohm coils. pulled them apart and rewicked them with cotton at 3.2 ohms.

Do you have an Ohm meter? Is the coil head screwed down all the way. I have problems when they work loose because of unscrewing the top.

Yah exactly. my Provari is a meter...never thought to test the ohmage though. There's no way it can be that far off. Like i said, i plan on checking the connection at some point tonight.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

 

[Boden]

Now that I think about it the only time I have a problem is when the coil head has come unscrewed a bit. I'll be blasting it with voltage and getting almost nothing. Every time this happens the coil head is loose.

 

[Black Strat]

Wow. People rave about them because they just plain work well.

You definitely have some kind of issue but hard to diagnose without seeing it.

I have 4 of them in use between my wife and I (and Mini's). Here is a picture of one I rescued from my wife to refill. She was still vaping on it.

I use either the 1.8 ohm head at 3.4-3.8 volts or the 2.4 ohm head at 4.1 volts.

No leaks, no burned hits. I put a drop of juice on the coil and wait a couple minutes and vape away.

I have noticed it takes about 0.5 ml to "break in" for best flavor/vapor.

 

[Insomaniac10]

Yah i just tried a new atomizer head. I got a couple good hits, then it was right back to tasting like junk. One thing i notice is that it feels like it's taking the coil abnormally long to heat up. Not to mention it doesn't seem like the center post is lined up center with the head screw-on cap.

There was a air gap between the coils silicone cover and head cap that took me 20 minutes of fidgeting to finally seal. Still tasting like crap though.

would these things indicate a center post that is offcenter?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus