And what do you find different with kanthal vaping when this occurs? Is it that it's the same but TC isn't solving that issue, which was your expectation? Being dense here, sorry.
With kanthal I control my vape with the wattage setting, airflow and the duration of the draw. I like an easy, open draw typically around the 4 second mark. I like a smooth, warm vape, not cool, not hot and definitely don't want spitback from overly aggressive coils and too much power. I break in a new coil and wick at 20W and increase the power until I have the warmth and flavour that I want. I'll settle at 30-45W depending on the juice. I typically build larger diameter coils, 3.0-3.5mm ID and use plenty of either Muji or Fiber Freaks wicking. I need to change those wicks when the flavour goes off, typically after 12-15mls of juice which is my average daily usage. Obviously, I build smaller diameter coils only if the atty's deck constrains this.
Tried TC first with Ni200 and Ti following all the advice and guidance I had read. I still made mistakes though. Tried microcoils first then standard coils. I tried less wicking, I tried even less wicking. I abandoned microcoils because they were gunking. I abandoned Ni200 because the coils were not robust and the vape was too cool. Standard Ti coils with less wick than kanthal but more than NI200 seemed OK but the coils and wicks didn't last longer than kanthal; wicks about the same but the coils didn't last. Next I tried NiFe30 and it was immediately better than both Ni200 and Ti. I tried microcoils and spaced coils ... again, I found that spaced coils worked best with TC. With Niffy the wicks last about the same amount of time but the spaced coils are still not as robust as kanthal and need replacing more often. I get weeks of use from a kanthal build, lucky to get a few days from Niffy.
My approach to TC is to set a low temp first at 25-30J then increase the temp until the vape is warm enough, then adjust the Joules to hit temp as soon as possible. The warmth curve is unlike kanthal, which is a steady incline. With my usual easy, open draw the TC vape doesn't deliver the same way. The difference isn't crucial, it just requires an adjustment to my previous experience. I would be happy with that if all else was the same. Vapers differ in the warmth of vape that they prefer. TC can be for some and not for others.
For me to get the same warmth of vape of kanthal, the temp settings have to be high ... higher than the point at which my juice is caramelising. Wicks therefore don't last as long and together with having to rebuild coils more often, the net effect is that TC is more work, or faff, than non-TC. This is the reverse of the goals I set out to achieve and I'm now told that apparently this is an unrealistic expectation. Before NIffy, I had considered that I had to reset my expectations for TC - it was always going to be a cooler vape. Niffy seemed to change that, it was a great step forward. But the bottom line for me is that even with Niffy, TC does not deliver longer lasting wicks and coils. Not unless I change my juice.
Another goal was to extend battery life. Form factor is important to me, I have no interest in large mods like dual 18650s, I want a mod to sit inside my hand. Single 18650 mods won't last me a day so I'm happy to carry around 2 mods, always have a back up anyway, right? Seems to me, from all the feedback on various mods, that TC modes drain batteries faster than non-TC. It seems TC is regressive in benefit delivery here. One more reason for the kanthal vaper not to make the switch.
Were my goals unrealistic from the start? Did I set out to fail deliberately? Do you want to tell me that I don't know how to set up a wick? Maybe I just don't understand TC enough to use it properly. In answer to your second question, in my experience TC is making the issue worse, I get no benefit from TC.
To be honest, I feel OK with that. I'm in a good place with my vaping and I've certainly learned something from giving TC a go. Time spent learning is not time wasted. It just might not be for everyone. Sorry that this is a long post but you probably need to understand where I'm coming from to make sense of where I was going ...
