Kit - the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

[Allergictoironing]

Though people have posted in various other threads, I thought it might be hice to have one place where we can say what kit we've tried, what we're using now, and what we think of them all.

Batteries, clearos, full blown mods...

I'll start off with my gear. I'm going to completely ignore cig-a-likes, as they didn't really do it for me whatever brand.

Started out with a standard 900mAh Ego type battery & CE4 clearos - battery is still going strong since November as my emergency spare .

Then moved on to my precious Rainbow Vision Spinner 1300mAh. When this sadly gave up the ghost after 8 months of hammering I've replaced it with the new Spinner 2 1650mAh. Both lovely batteries that last forever, though I slightly prefer the action on the bottom twist of the original type.

At the same time I changed to GS-H2 tanks. Pretty basic for a replaceable atomiser tank, but seems to do the job just fine. Reliable & cheap, just beware of clones as there's a lot of them about.

I was also using a couple of Ego C twists that I bought through FastTech. These didn't say "style" or "type" so I'll assume they were originals. With one of them the twist went all funny & loose, really hard to get any kind of control. But the other one is sort of working after 8 months of use - having to do the battery pully-uppy thing almost every charge, & it doesn't keep much of a charge, so only useful for in the house now. So got another mk.1 vision spinner to keep my mk.2 company.

I keep looking at more advanced gear like the MVP & the Vamo, but tbh I'm reasonably happy with my spinners at the mo. Also thinking about upgrading my tanks, but want them absolutely hassle free & can't decide which to go for!

I now use a Vamo with GS-H2s, thanks to the recommendations on here

On the clearo front I've tried the iClear 30, Kanger Aerotank and Aspire Nautilus, but tbh I got sick of dealing with leakage and gurgling and all that, which all of those clearos seem to be prone to. The GS-H2 is simple, cheap and doesn't ever gurgle and leak!

On the power front I have an MVP and a Vamo but much prefer the Vamo. The MVP is handy to have as a backup.

I started with the basic Evod kit.. soon moved onto the GS-H2's as recommended on here and bought my lovely rainbow vision spinner, which is still in perfect working order after 4 months.
I splurged and bought a lovely lilac MVP 2, i use it at home and the battery lasts forever! As for tanks, I use Kanger mini pro-tanks 3 and Naturevape mini tank. I also use a NV coil in my mini protank and i think i definitely get a better vape. I don't seem to have any gurgling etc now :) Although i go though a lot more juice now, but thats fine as i have loads! i don't mind re-wicking, but i don't think i have the patience to go to complete re-buildables!
I like the look of the new Emow kit and i would love a Naturevape Gizmo in hot pink but can't justify the cost!
Ohhh, that Vamo looks good too!

Oooh that eLeaf iStick looks nice though quite large. Make sure you do a write up if you get one!

Brilliant idea for a thread, Allergic!

Most of the time I use an MVP with a GS-H2 and my own microcoil with cotton.

Other kit (there are 3 vapers in my house so it's not all mine!):

Batteries

Various ego batteries (some twisty things off FastTech included) - I've only had 2 fail in a year (think we have about 10 altogether) - one was the 1100mAh passthrough from Apollo (£25!), I was sucked in by the lifetime guarantee but it's such a faff to claim and then they send you something else that doesn't work, I gave up in the end. The other that failed is this from FT - we might have a go at taking it to bits to see what's wrong. All other batteries we've had, some really cheap, have survived a year and are still going strong. Not too impressed with evod batteries, performance seems to drop off as they run down.

X-Fire - very very pretty variable voltage battery I got mine from FastTech It has a bit of a sticky button but otherwise works fine.

Vamo V5 - OK but the menus are a pain to get round. I don't trust the voltage reading on mine, it seems a bit hot for the numbers. Watts behaves more as expected.

Chi You 'style' mech mod - another pretty one from FT, works fine since I glued it back together

The batteries I use in the Vamo and chi you are Panasonic NCR18650PD and efest purple IMR 18350 - all work fine

Clearos

CE4's and CE5's - utter pants, don't bother.

evod original version - rather leaky.

Kanger Protank V1 - good glass clearo and you can pick these up cheap because they are old now. I didn't like the metal drip tip and you can't change it on this model.

Kanger mini protank V2 - lovely glass clearo, changeable drip tip but lots of bits to wash up.

iClear 16 - good, lots of vapour, cheap.

iClear 30 - leaked and spat everywhere. Non-changeable metal drip tip, yuk.

iClear30S - not bad at all, DS likes these. Removable drip tip. Lots of bits.

GS-H5 - bigger version of the GS-H2 - gurgles from half-way down a tank but I haven't tried with my own coil in so possibly mendable

GS-H5C - different shape base from the GS-H5 - better air flow, doesn't gurgle so much.

GDC - I've only seen these on FT here - Like a GS-H2 only glass. Lovely with your own coil or a naturevape coil in. The coil they came with looked rubbish so I binned it. Standard Kanger coils fit.

Other stuff

Naturevape coil - get one, or the cheaper unicoil from Virtual Vape. Lovely vape and last for ages. I make my own very similar now but wouldn't have had the confidence without seeing one of these 'in the flesh'.

iGo L - This is a rebuildable dripping atomiser. I had a bit of a play with it a few months ago but didn't get very far. Now I'm better at building coils I should give it another shot.

I must be one of the few people who actually like the iclear 30, I've had no issues with gurgling or leaking and I love the swivel tip. I had been using kangers before that (not sure which model) and was getting a lot of dry hits and burning, I've had no problems since switching to the iclear. My only complaint with the iclear is it seems to get through the juice quite quickly but that might be because I can't seem to put it down for any length of time.
I've recently bought a spinner 2 battery which I love, lasts for ages and it's my first variable voltage so I'm still messing around with the voltage for different juices, most of them seem best at 3.8 or 4.3v.

Where's best to buy these from? I have discovered that I like the "bottom fillers" as they don't leak.
Have been vaping since June - not wanted a tab since - well chuffed with myself and indebted to Plenty for the advice months ago !!

Klaudo on e-bay is always good value for money, & everything we've had from him has been genuine rather than a clone as far as we can tell. He doesn't seem to have GS-H2s at the mo, but he does have MT3s which are bottom coil & apparently identical to EVODs - and take the same coil as the GS-H2.

E-cigs88 is the other place (again e-bay) that seems good - only seems to do GS tanks & related accessories like the coils that fit them.

Thanks! I'll go take a look

Polter you changed your name! That iStick looks fun...

I'm so ooooooo close to ordering an istick! But don't really need a new battery /mod

I had so many issues with leaking and gurgling I basically gave up. Have ordered some more tanks and juice now and hopefully will do better again.

It did my head in because no matter what tank and juice combo I would use, there would be leakage and gurgling. Hopefuly better this go.

Batteries i've had that i dislike;

Anything by Totally wicked. It is overpriced rebranded stuff you can get cheaper elsewhere. Their ego type batteries have all bar one broke easily. I then opened them and they look horribly made inside tbh. But if it gets people off smoking i cant complain too much - i wouldn't be a vaper if i hadnt walked into that shop.

Really any bog standard ego doesn't do it for me anymore and it gives em the rage when i see vendors selling them for upwards of 50 quid. I dont have a problem with the them in general though its just that that pisses me off.

Batteries i like but some drawbacks;

Vamo v5 i like, only one issue, is it has an O ring inside which can cause issues. I removed it and never had a problem since.

itaste VV V3 - Lovely little variable wattage device:) I miss mine. may buy a v4.

Itaste 134 (OHs). Bloody huge thing. I felt nervous carrying it in public and using it incase someone thought it was a weapon to be honest. Lovely device. Expensive though.

Bec pro (again OHS but i get to play with it) - Fires up to 50watts although no idea why you would need that. Has really cool bluetooth features and an app which you can use to set really specific settings - For example, you can devide the puff up into different wattages and say have it fire at 15watts for the first 2 seconds (or how ever many you want) and then drop to say 12 for the rest. (You can do any combination thats just an example) which is a really cool setting if you have a tank/flavour that needs a bit of heat at first without constantly hammering it at higher powers.

Eleaf istick - Only issue is it being over powered. But once you get used to that its fine. I find it works best with mini nautilus or a rebuildable - kanger subtank nano would be a good one.

MVP2 - My longest lasting. My true vape love. That my TWAT of an other half went and lost on a night out. Didnt lose the orchid v4 he had on it though HMMM? I LOVE the MVP2. Long battery, practically indestructable (Technology that lasts me more than a year of daily use officially qualifies as indestructable).

Itaste CLK 1280 - pretty much an innokin version of the vision spinner i think. Nice one to have spare if youre caught short.

MVP3 - I had this bought for me and i LOVE it. It is my new love. It is bright pink so OH wont be wanting to take it out even if there were a cat in hells chance of me letting him. 3800mah battery, up to 30watts of incredibly accurate and consistent power output, and has the little chargey cable for charging you phone built in so you cant forget it now.

I have nothing bad the say about the MVP3. I love it. Buy one. Join me in worshipping the great MVP. ahem

Tanks i do rate;

Aspire bdc, aspire nautilus/mini nautilus
Kanger evod/evod2, aerotank, subtank
Itaste 16, 16b, 16D, 30, 30S.
Taifun GT clone
Orchid v4

Combinations i love;

itaste VV V3 & I clear 16.
MVP2 & itaste 30s
Eleaf istick and aspire bdc, mini nautilus or a rebuildable (orchid v4, kanger subtank mini, nano would look better on eleaf though not technically rebuildable).
Vamo v5 & itaste 30
MVP3 & mini nautilus or kangersubtank

Oh only drawback to the kanger subtank is the drip tip - its very wide. You can get smaller ones but theyre not widely available. I'm hoping to source some.

I think the taifun gts driptip may fit it but normal ones dont.