On my regular tank I have found the one 
My tobeco gives me all the flavor I want. The only thing I want the RDA for is testing juice. I have the little MTL RDA the build deck is so small it won’t take a bigger coil, or I’m just really an idiot and not doing something right. I have a few different sized pre-made coils.
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The steam engine makes no sense to me. All I know is I don’t like a wide open airflow but I don’t really like MTL either so somewhere in between.
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I use vape tool, Michelle… found on google play.
I dont have the link and about to take off from the house… back later this afternoon.
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I assume the Tobeco thingy uses only disposable coils?
That’s why I was suggesting a few different RDA’s (saying RDA since you say you want flavor testing only. A tank wouldn’t be great for that unless you want to test an entire tankful at a time)
It’s complicated but it also isn’t. Example, Raven’s technical explanations are actually pretty simple once you ‘get it’. Thing is, no one pretty much enters the room and simply ‘gets it’ without spending time on educating and testing. Someone who’s never built a coil looks at his posts and pees a little in their britches and thinks it’s far too much to ever master. But it’s not. I know because I felt just like you once. And I don’t anymore.
I look at it the same way I look at mixing. How simple does mixing sound? Real simple. “I want a strawberry yogurt. I’ll throw strawberry and yogurt in a bottle and I’ll be golden.” You know it’s quite a lot more complicated than that but a new mixer doesn’t yet know it. But you also know since you’ve been mixing for a long time, that you can simply go grab a strawberry and a yogurt and a few other nuance vibes, and whip up something that’s probably pretty good, whereas the new mixer would likely be disappointed with their attempt. It’s because you’ve put in the time and research to understand mixing.
It’s the same with the coil building. It honestly isn’t that complicated once you start to catch on. I urge you not to give up based on your early apprehension… It is ultimately well worth the time and effort to DIY build, just like it is with mixing. You started mixing to save money, create profiles that exactly match what you want, and to avoid having to depend on someone or something else to get your vape juice fix. Same with building. It’s nice to know I can slap any build on any rebuildable knowing I don’t have to hope that VapeCompany doesn’t discontinue their coils or raise the prices, etc.
And with most, it’s a sense of pride in the independence and ability to be autonomous.
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I had a really great teacher when I started mixing in 2015 so it was much easier for me. Yeah I don’t want to vape a tank full every time I test a flavor. When it comes down to how I will vape it after I know it’s worthy, yes in my tank with a ready made coil. I honestly can keep using the small RDA for testing but I think a different setup would give me more of that flavor.
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The key takeaway from what Suomy and Phil are trying to communicate with you is this: “Don’t get locked into the frame of mind that you have to achieve a specific power rating.”
What this all means (loosely stated) is that:
- because of the way that specific metals respond…
- because of the way that mods vary in how they actually deliver power… (and how accurately said power is measured or perceived)…
- What your particular draw style is…
- how a particular atty handles/generates or even retains heat…
- and other factors…
are going to affect what you need to set your mod to (in this example, power-wise) to achieve the same perceived temperature that you are looking for, as the vapor hits your palate.
SteamEngine used to have a different style (where Heat Flux, or in simpler terms “perceived heat” was reflected) that made it easier to approach things from a different perspective.
When I was new to learning how to find my preference, I was able to basically “reverse engineer” my approach to finding my target Heat Flux. (Translation: when I ran across a build I enjoyed, I took note of the wire type, the impedance [what ohms it measured out to], and the power I had it dialed in to, and then entered all of that information into SteamEngine to see what they thought the Heat Flux would be for that setup.)
Once I had that target Heat Flux number, then I went to try and dial in that same number using various other wraps/Guages in SS until I hit on my preference.
I know you prefer the simple approach, and I appreciate that, but I went into detail for hopefully not only a better understanding of the general idea for you (but also for those reading who may also be curious).
But in simplest terms, the most important thing I can say is this. Find your preferred metal type first. Then buy a few different pre-wrapped coils, and see how they react in your particular setup. You are going to want to play with power as you go.
But bear in mind that coil mass is completely interactive/interdependent with power.
The bigger the Guage of wire, the more power it will take to heat it.
The smaller the wire Guage, the less power it will take to heat it.
So if you are wanting to stay at lower power levels… Choose coils that have been made with smaller guages. EG: SS 26/36, or 28/32, etc (this will vary by wire type)
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It look to me like both the “basic” and “advanced” versions of SE’s online calculator still report Heat Flux(?):
Ah, I see that you seem to be indicating that “Heat Flux” was once a (“targeted”, dependent) variable … 
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And then when you go to buy one to replace the one that died…THEY DISCONTINUE IT!
Just sayin’.
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Ok, I’m going to throw in my 3 cents. I run 4 atty’s regularly. I constantly play with different wires and coils. I run anywhere from 15 to 35 watts. I usually start out looking at volts. I set it at a nice “safe” level of 3.0 and then start moving the wattage around about 5 watts at a time until I find the sweet spot for the wire I’m currently abusing. There is no generic “perfect” in my opinion.
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Absolutely!!! A good example of this was a brass goon that sat on my shelf for a long time. I’m thinking, Oh boy!!! Big cloud atty! So I stuffed in some bulky low resistance coils. OooooPs! What I got was one very hot atty and very little cloud. What I had were coils with high heat capacity and low heat flux. It took a long time for the coils to heat up and they retained the heat, heating up the atty. A couple of short, medium mass coils turned that around. Heated up the juice quickly and did not transfer the heat to the atty. It no longer sits on the shelf. I finally figured out what to do with it.
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I have a few of those, but mine aren’t full of wire.
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There is no such thing as too many.
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Lol, got some of those too. Multi purpose!
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