what to hope for? siren vs nautilus

[iamreallynotarobot]

hi everyone.
i am quite new to the whole rta build your own coil & wick it properly world, so i realize there is plenty of room for error. but i have a general question i hope someone may be able to answer.
this past year i have been quite happily vaping on a nautilus 2. i am looking for mtl only, as close a proximation to cigarettes as possible, and have been almost exclusively using the black note liquids, which are pricy but without real competition in terms of flavor imo (from what i have tried up to this point at least). so this was a setup i really liked, except for the fact that the bvc coils were only really useable for a couple of days (4 max), and this was both pricy and annoying. so i decided to try out building my own coils & invested in a siren v2 after some brief research. and now, in terms of taste, i am a bit underwhelmed. flavor seems good to ok for maybe the first 40 drags or so, but then quickly dissipates and becomes very muted. again, i realize that the correct building is a very important element of all this and i am probably not quite there yet. i have researched this of course and will continue to do so. right now i am using stainless steel wire & cotton bacon, have tried coils in the 0.8 - 1.4 range, both spaced & contact. while i would appreciate someones advice what kind of coil / wick combo seems to work the best for them in a siren, the question i am finally getting to is this:
provided i find the right build, can i expect to have as good a flavor experience in a siren 2 as i did in my nautilus? can this last longer than the 1st 40 pulls? or is taste the tradeoff for the saved costs & "fun" of creating your own coils?
thanks a lot in advance!

 

[diagrammatiks]

You should rewick. An rta coils won’t really last longer. They are just cheaper to maintain.

 

[Hotwire]

Cleito tanks with .4 ohm coils are wonderful. Lots of vape, verty strong and clean flavour. Best Sub ohm tanks I've ever used. Coils last forever also, literally weeks to a month for me when I was using them

 

[Janusz]

the question i am finally getting to is this:
provided i find the right build, can i expect to have as good a flavor experience in a siren 2 as i did in my nautilus? can this last longer than the 1st 40 pulls? or is taste the tradeoff for the saved costs & "fun" of creating your own coils?
thanks a lot in advance!

The only doubles in my collection of 12 tanks are Nautilus2 and Siren v2....

I do not know about tobacco flavors but with frutti and desert flavors Siren can beat Nautilus2 in regard to flavor delivery... assuming you find the right build... and...do not vape with very tight draw... I am vaping my Siren with 4 or even 5 AF holes open... if you vape with 1 or 2 holes open there is not enough air hitting a coil and e- liquid is boiled instead of being vaporized... I get the best flavor with coils range 0.7-0.9ohm range.. vaped at 15-20 watts...depending on flavor... most of the time I use Rayon for wicking and in my opinion Rayon provides cleaner and longer lasting flavor.

Your problem can also be that you use too much cotton... over-stuffing coil or bays with wicking material is not only leading to dry hits but much more often is leading to very poor flavor... poor flavor is indication that your coil is gunked and do not provide enough juice to deliver the flavor...

 

[iamreallynotarobot]

if you vape with 1 or 2 holes open there is not enough air hitting a coil and e- liquid is boiled instead of being vaporized...

huh. this is interesting - i have never heard or even thought of something like that. also a bit disheartening, as i do like a tight draw. but, wouldnt the nautilus or any other tank with a tight restriction on airflow have the same problem?
anyways, thanks a lot for your reply guys.

 

[Hotwire]

Nautilus is for tighter MTL type draw even on biggest airhole. Try the Aspire PockeX, they are sub ohm but vape like a hybrid MTL / Lung hit device. My sister has one and I was surprised at how well it vaped... Is sub ohm but halfway between MTL / DL hit. Nicely made too, never go wrong with Aspire...

 

[DaveP]

@iamreallynotarobot

I vape MTLl and I'm vaping a Siren 2 right now. I'm also a faithful Kayfun 2 fan. You can adjust the airflow in the Siren 2 two ways. There's a slot in the rotating air flow ring that allows you to select any number of the 5 air holes and there's also a round hole in the air adjustment ring that you can place over a single hole.

If you uncover all the holes using the slot it's almost DTL. With the largest hole selected using the single hole in the air control it's about like a Kayfun. On the smallest hole it's too restricted for me.

The Siren 2 gives you everything from almost DTL to very tight MTL. It you light MTL the Siren will deliver.

 

[oudakontrol]

I'm curious what type/viscosity of liquid your using (50/50, 80/20, etc...) and what wattage your vaping at? I was running Juice Roll Ups which is a 70/30 (vg/pg) and from some investigation, a "coil killer" (very sweet juice that tends to leave more than usual residue leading to reduced flavor). I was vaping this around 30w with a 1.0ohm coil to get the right flavor but my coil was only lasting a day. More than 40 drags probably but not by much. Still not sure if it was the liquid, the extreme wattage I "needed" for flavor, or a combination thereof so I'm certainly interested in hearing more about your situation.

 

[Fredman1]

I only use 1.0ohm coils at 13W. 50/50. I have on occation pushed the power up, but max would be about 17. Beyond that it becomes way to hot for me...

 

[iamreallynotarobot]

yes i have 50/50 juice as well, some of them are quite dark & probably not coil friendly. right now i have 0.8 ohm, using 12-15 watts mostly. this coil (or wick?) turned out worse than the one before, flavor is there, but has definitely been better.

 

[stols001]

With wick killers (I have one of my own creation that is SO SWEET) might want to consider rayon. It withstands more heat, higher temps, just generally lives on and etc. I mean even my juice killer that I'm using, I need to change my wick like very soon (no refills for me) but I'm sure I've gotten at least 25 mls through it, and honestly, it is dark, sweetener added, etc. and I'm PG sensitive so I use sort o 50 VG 10 PG (flavors) and 40 PEG400 a PG alternative, but it's viscosity is higher than PG, so I haven't so much noted ratios making a HUGE difference to my coils generally, but rayon makes a HUGE difference in general and in particular, my coil killers. Etc.

Anna

 

[Gordon Shumway]

This is bad news for me.
I am on the verge of jumping in the wicking-game because I also vape blacknote exclusively in my EnduraT18.

Draw is perfect but coils only last 1-2 days with these NET.

Was looking to buy a Siren2 cuz I read the draw is stiff and tight like a cig.
Now I read here that one wick only can go 40 draws ?
this wont get me through my morning routine

 

[AngeNZ]

Keep playing with your wicking until you get a density that gives you the flavour you want AND lasts. Watch as many tutorial videos as you can on wicking the siren, and use those as guidelines.

I've found with coil building it is all about trial and error. Plus it's all about finding the right build for how you like to vape.

I don't have the siren, but there's plenty of people who love it - try posting a pic of your build in the siren RTA thread here - someone there should be able to help you

 

[iamreallynotarobot]

This is bad news for me.
I am on the verge of jumping in the wicking-game because I also vape blacknote exclusively in my EnduraT18.

Draw is perfect but coils only last 1-2 days with these NET.

Was looking to buy a Siren2 cuz I read the draw is stiff and tight like a cig.
Now I read here that one wick only can go 40 draws ?
this wont get me through my morning routine

i ended up also buying a berserker mini - which i ended up liking much more than the siren. & mileage is not better, but also not worse than the nautilus coils - ca. 1000 draws when lucky, but at least half that with very good flavor

 

[Manuel72]

What bubble glass is this one?

 

[stols001]

IDK about the 40 draws thing with cotton (I use rayon) but I get INFINITELY more than 40 draws before rewicking. That would drive me insanely batty. I sort of have the feeling that whoever said that (if I am reading your post right) is doing something wrong.

Wicking is an art and you get better at it as you go. But with rayon (and its a low wattage tank, for me anyway)I get several days, sometimes more out of a wick.. Granted I rotate, but it's more than 40 draws.

Unless you are using insanely sweet or dark or gunky or NET juice... I really don't think that will be an issue. Getting a wick that is just right may be a task (overwivck you get dry hits underwick you get leakage) may be an issue at first. I have found my sirens particularly unforgiving when it comes to overwicking. No flavor and the occasional dry hit? You have ovewicked. Etc.

I don't use the N2 anymore but I do use the coils in other tanks. I like both sorts of tank (drop in and RTA) for different reasons and to me every tank is sacred every tank is good, to draw from Monty Python. I really do like all sorts of different tanks.

Anna

 

[Janusz]

What bubble glass is this one?

This bubble glass come from Vapefly Galaxies RTA. I never use Vapefly Galaxies because draw is too tight even when AF is fully open... to be able to use it on Siren I had to add one more o- ring on top.

 

[Manuel72]

Ah, OK, it is a 22 mm Siren. I own two Sirens, both are 24 mm. Thank you.

 

[AngeNZ]

This bubble glass come from Vapefly Galaxies RTA. I never use Vapefly Galaxies because draw is too tight even when AF is fully open... to be able to use it on Siren I had to add one more o- ring on top.

Good to know about the bubble glass. Haven't got a siren yet - but I do have a galaxies sitting in the 'too tight draw' drawer

 

[ShaneR42]

...
Now I read here that one wick only can go 40 draws ?
this wont get me through my morning routine

I can safely, and confidently, say that you don't need to worry about that. I vaped Black Note exclusively for a quite a while and I switched to RTAs for exactly the same reason: My Nautilus Mini coils just didn't last with the liquid.

When I was still using Black Note, I believe I was rewicking every second or 3rd day. I now use a tobacco juice that is even harder on the wicks...I now rewick every day. Rewicking every day (or every other) may seem like a pain, but it's really not. Once you're accustomed to a particular tank, it takes a few short minutes.

And...the cost. For the price of 2 or 3 coils, you can buy enough cotton to keep you in fresh wicks for a year or more.

I have no comment on the Siren 2 as I passed on that one.