My first thought I’d like to share - Optimus Prime! No, this isn’t any Transformers atomizer, although looking at it I am somewhat reminded of their infamous logo
I don’t know, maybe I’m seeing things that aren’t there. But we’ll get back to Prime shortly.
This review will focus primarily on the mesh build deck as @worm1 already did a good review of the dual coil version which is the same, just a different deck.
IN THE BOX
The Themis RTA with wide bore 810 drip tip installed
Extras - o-rings, multi tool, 510 drip tip adapter
Wide bore 510 drip tip
Spare Glass
2 ea strips of mesh, Kanthal, Nichrome and Stainless Steel
What wasn’t included is any spare screws.
Ok, so take a look at this build deck. As you will notice, this is a fairly straightforward clamp-style deck specifically designed for mesh. It’s not hard at all to see how this should be used. However, I personally looked at it and decided off the get go that the air flow holes were up too high, so I immediately set out to try and build a set up that would be high enough to receive direct air from those holes…
Oh yeah, and don’t be fighting over the mod it’s sitting on…the answer is NO you can’t have it!
Anyway, my adventure began by trying to build this with the mesh up high enough to catch direct airflow which I knew would be important to flavor.
The problem was the amount of wick this required is far too much for those little juice flow holes. I had to trim the cotton substantially to get them even remotely inserted
Hey, looks good to me. I put that primed build back in the Themis and took off. One puff, awesome! Two puffs, still good. Third puff, getting dry now. Fourth puff - big ol’ honkin dry hit. So I lowered the power, kept vaping and after 30 or so puffs started raising the power again. And once again, terrible dry hit.
I won’t bore you with more photos of my failures. Suffice it to say I kept trying, lowering the build height a bit at a time and running through the few pieces of mesh that were included in this kit. Till finally…
I have determined that the maximum height you can build with this is where the top of the mesh (as in the next photo) is dissecting the air holes.
Yes dear friends, this is the apex, the pinnacle, the absolute maximum length of mesh I was able to build with and still have a satisfying vape with wicks that can keep up with the build.
I cut the tails to be just long enough to go down the channels and sit flush with the bottom…
Now for the “Prime” business.
With this much cotton, getting full saturation is more important than with say even 4mm ID wire coils. You’re asking a lot of such a big piece of cotton, so it needs to be saturated down to the center, which actually takes a while. But you can get a good start by first wetting the outside surface, then pulsing while you continue to add more juice. So drop, pulse, drop, pulse, until you see the juice is just running off the sides of the mesh when pulsing. This will take you a long way toward having the cotton fully primed and ready to vape.
Even with these drop/pulse/drop/pulse efforts, it’s still not fully ready. I found when you first start vaping on it, you need to keep power low for a few ml before this thing is wicking efficiently. Speaking of that, the above build is one of the Kanthal mesh pieces and it came out to 0.13 ohms. Contrary to what I’m used to with round wire and that resistance, this can’t really be vaped at high wattage. The max watts I used was 60 (3.2v on a PWM mod), airflow about 1/3 open, and it was indeed a great vape, nice thick clouds and plenty of flavor.
Now you can always build this with a shorter piece of mesh. DJLSB has a video with build tutorial and he cuts those mesh pieces in half. It will wick more efficiently sooner, that’s for sure. But flavor also suffers. The airflow simply doesn’t hit the mesh when you do that type build, and I’m all about the flavor and figuring out where to find it. Hence wasting almost all the mesh that came with this thing.
I’d like to give this away to one of ELR’s US members. Go visit the website for Health Cabin and pick something you like, then come back and post the link. You’ll automatically be entered in my giveaway. I will run this giveaway starting now through Tuesday night. The winner will be announced Wednesday, March 28.
You mesh vape fans, and especially the ones who like tanks, this is a good one.
Let’s do the pros and cons thing
PROS
Solid, well built and well machined
Easy to build on
Does NOT leak
Great airflow
Great looks
CONS
Air flow at the deck is a bit too high
Air flow when open halfway is a bit noisy
Learning curve for wicking (for those not accustomed to mesh)
No spare screws
Thanks @HealthCabin for another fine offering.