Should I go for an upgrade?

[cfherd]

Hi, first I want to say this is a great forum with excellent resources and I have spent a while browsing through it but as is the way, it is often difficult to find an exact answer for a question that is specific to me and my circumstances.

For a bit of background, I packed in the fags about 7 weeks ago and have since been on the e-cigs using SKYCIG 18mg menthols and to an extent enjoying them.

Only problem is despite the fact I was not a heavy smoker, I think I am tearing through catridges and batteries. I tend to see away a cart in under a day (15 - 16 hour day) with the battery only lasting around 6 hours before it needs a charge. I just wonder if I am either over using or it's just the quality of nicotine hit I get from the SKYCIG.

How I use it tends to be a few puffs every half hour or so and a fairly long and slow draw. When i was on the cigs I would smoke less often (about every two hours) but obviously take more draws.

Would I be better off moving away from the 'big brands' and moving to something like a Ego with the e-liquid? It seems the cost if sort of comparable - I recon I am spending approx £50 a month on carts etc. Money isn't really a massive issue though. I did after all spend near enough three times that when on the fags!

Any help or advise would be much appreciated.

 

[Midnight]

That's a lot of money to be spending on cartos a week. Have a look at this and see what you think.
http://myepack.co.uk/kits/mini-protank-kit.html

It's what I have right now and is a good deal being just £20. Get yourself a few juices and away you go. I smoked about 5-8 rollies a day so I never spent much on smoking. I am vaping around 1.5 ml of juice a day. Charging batteries once a day maybe every 36 hours. Battery life is good. I did try cig-a-likes about 3 years ago, but like you, I was getting through so many cartridges and it was costing a fortune. Plus I seemed to be constantly charging the little batteries. I gave up and went back to rollies. I don't think I will ever look back now I have found something much better.

 

[cfherd]

Thanks Midnight, I should probably add that I recon I want something that is VV/VW with a display and ideally some sort of indicator of battery life. At the end of the day I really want to be able to customise my vaping experience!

 

[Purplefowler]

You certainly aren't over using it. Many of us are chain vapers so you are doing well definately something like the above kit would be good. Being refillable also means that you can choose what liquid you use so you have much more freedom. I would say though to try and get a couple of batteries so you have a charged one ready to go when you need to. One of the laws of vaping is to always make sure you have a backup as you never quite know if something is going to let you down

 

[MadTz]

Hi fella

There are loads of different devices out there and it's down to personal preference on what you like colour, shape, size, weight & texture..

I personally went for a stainless steel V2 vamo after much looking around and seen reviews and read opinions and the capability of the device to accept ego and 510 threads without any issues

I went from cigalike to a ego after 2 days and from a ego to a VV/VW in about 4 weeks afterwards due to battery life and working long shifts

The best thing to do is go to the discount pages above and check out the vendors websites and you will see the choice that are available on the market at the moment and if you need any advice just ask questions or have a browse through the new user question you will probably find ppl asked the same thing. most members are very helpful and most use the same devices

Gerry

 

[Fleabag]

Like you, I started on cig-a-likes (though you've stuck it out longer than I did) - went back to the fags and got an ego/CE4 set in April. Though I'm still smoking, I cut back from 17-20 a day to 4-5 without trying on the ego.

I am considering upgrading from Ego to something chunkier, but to be honest it's more the fact that it provides an all in one that will test the resistance of coils when I start rebuilding. I still really like the Ego, and the Twist model is more versatile for all the new tanks I keep buying.

I think the one thing I would change about the initial battery/tank kit it would have been to have started on an Evod, protank or protank mini, rather than CE4 (some CE4s have been OK, others very disappointing). When the standard CE4 coil goes, you need a new tank (up to £5 on the high street - cheaper online), but the other tanks I mentioned are rebuildable and you can just replace the head (which are also available at different resistance). Then you can get into building your own coils and it's practically free!

Egos don't give a battery indicator, but even my 650mah lasts well for its size. I have 5, including 1 twist, plus loads of tanks and I carry the lot around with me, so when one battery dies, I just pop another one on.

Most of what I spend is luxury, not essential. I've probably spent around £150 on hardware since april and the only battery I lost was the original one because I sat on it & tore out the wiring. I have enough batteries and tanks to keep me going for some time, I mix my own juice and use about 1ml per day, which costs around 70p per week at the most (I spent up front for a lot of DIY supplies).

I've saved about £770 on fags - so I take the view all the vaping gear is free and I'm still about £500 up on the deal!

 

[cfherd]

Thanks again for the advise.

At the moment the device that is swaying me is Vape Escape's version of the Ego with their Vision 1000 kit as I like the device and how they have it packaged in a case etc. It also looks quite portable as I want to use it at home and outdoors. Then again I do also like the Ego V2 Vamo but the prices seem to vary dramatically. Are the two compatable?

 

[VaperCaper]

The battery in your avergae cig-alike will last about 6 hours or so - 1 cartridge will last about a day for an average vaper, so what you've experienced so far is prefectly normal.

It's possible to refill cartirdges with e-liquid - use a little screwdriver to lever off the white plastic end cap and drip e-liquid into the cartridge and you're good for another day.

Prefilled cartridges are *hideously* expensive compared to filling your own cartomisers with e-liquid or using a clearomiser.

Lots of people find that they like the vape from a cartomiser and Boge cartos are around the best around, though SmokTech are also pretty decent, provided you don't run it dry and burn the insides a carto can last a week or 3 before needing replacing, though topping it up often can be a pain. Hence CartoTanks were born. Which are larger diameter plastict tanks that a cartomiser fits into. you punch a coulple of holes in said cartomiser fill it and put it into a tank then fill tank with e-liquid an the liquid in the tank seeps into the carto and keeps it nicely topped up for a day or more.

The most popular things to use over here are clearomisers - the main 3 types are CE4 type (avoid these if you can) EVODs and Vivi novas. An Evod is a bottom coil design and gives a cooler temperature vape. A vivi nova is a top coil design and gives a warmer vape. Evods are designed to fit neatly onto eGo style batteries. If you are looking at vivi novas make sure to get Vision branded ones as they are generally much better than all of the knock off vivi novas.

Next up from those are ProTanks. There are version 1 ProTanks and also version 2 ProTanks. V2's are more 'takeapartable' but they are essentially the same design, similar to an evod but more robust.

for batteries there are eGo style batteries. Make sure to get either a Joyetech/SmokTech/Vision branded one rather than a cheap knock off as they are made better and last longer as well as using safer higher grade internal batteries. I can't recomend a VV (variable voltage) version highly enough they are a lot better than the standard fixed voltage counterparts and more than worth the extra. they come in 650mah 900mah 1100mah 1300mah sizes and the bigger the number the larger the nattery and the longer it lasts between charges. Whether you end up getting a larger mod eventually or not eGo batteries makes pretty great backup batteries as well as being small and portable for the times when you don't want a larger device.

Next step up from there is an SVD a Vamo a SID or a ZMax - all of which are virtually identical function wise, they vary a little in the looks/cost department but they are more or less the same size and do pretty much the same thing. Which of those you like the most depends on personal preference mostly. There are also 'box mods' like the itaste MVP which take the same batteries as the tube mods do but are a 'box' shape - usually around the same size as a fag packet.

If you really want to get the best quality device then you're probably looking at a ProVari which will run you a lot more than the devices listed already. Though it might be wise to wait on some of the DNA20 devices that are just coming onto the market from the US to be more widely available here.

Finally the other path to choose is a mechanical mod. All te devices I've mentioned so far are regulated. They use electronics to regulate the power that gets to the coil. Mechanical or mech mods don't. Personally I'd recommend a regulated mod to get going with then when you find the settings you prefer to vape with look at mechs afterwards. Everyone has different taste and it's much easier to experiment with higher and lower power settings on a regulated mod than it is to do the same on a mechanical one.

Welcome to the planet and congrats on switching away from the tobacco.

 

[VaperCaper]

Thanks again for the advise.

At the moment the device that is swaying me is Vape Escape's version of the Ego with their Vision 1000 kit as I like the device and how they have it packaged in a case etc. It also looks quite portable as I want to use it at home and outdoors. Then again I do also like the Ego V2 Vamo but the prices seem to vary dramatically. Are the two compatable?

Just about everything you screw into a battery now uses a '510' connection or an 'eGo' connection 510 being much more common. You can screw almost anything onto a vamo, and you can screw almost anything onto an eGo battery.

 

[cfherd]

Just about everything you screw into a battery now uses a '510' connection or an 'eGo' connection 510 being much more common. You can screw almost anything onto a vamo, and you can screw almost anything onto an eGo battery.

Nice one - it's now starting to make sense!