I’m often asked what has a better vape a carto or a Vivi Nova, a Vivi Nova or a T3, a T3, or a carto, etc, etc, etc. To be honest with you, I enjoy them all, although I’m finding the T3 increasingly inconsistent.
Last night I decided to do some serious side by side vaping from “The Chair”. Huh?
“The Chair” is the spot where most of the serious review work takes place. It’s a recliner I have in the man cave where I sit at the end of every busy, crazy day, watch some television or a movie, play some Xbox, and vape!
This is when every little nuance of the device, juice, etc is magnified, intensified, and comes to light because the only thing my mind is working on is what I’m seeing on the screen and what I’m holding in my hand (I’m talking about my PV of course… dirty mind!!).
This is when I find out everything I like and dislike about a product.
So last night I set myself up to do some serious side by side vaping between the T3, the iClear, the Vivi Nova, and a carto tank with an old Boge LR.
All of the clearos/cartos were brand new.
They were all loaded with RAWR’s Green Peach Tea.
All were on VW devices set to 7 watts.
They were all given 30 minutes to soak.
- The T3 (unmodified out of the box received from LJ E-Smokes) on an AnyVape
- The iClear on a Sigelei Z-Max
- The Boge on a Smoktech Z-Max
- The Vivi Nova on an eVic
- The T3 produced a very “plasticy” taste which began to subside slightly as the night progressed. No where near as good as the one used in the shootout. No where near as bad as the one from the rant video. Vapor was good. TH was hit and miss towards the beginning and began to get more consistent and enjoyable. It produced the coolest vape out of the 4. It does not need to be tilted.
- With the iClear, I had to turn the wattage down to 6.5 Watts. It only took a few drags before it was producing a clean consistent flavor. It produced a very warm and intense vape. TH was outstanding and vapor production was good. What I did notice was a lack of flavor when compared with the Vivi Nova and carto. It does need to be tilted.
- The Vivi Nova performed as expected, excellent after a few drags on the new head. I was using the 1.8 Ohm head. I have noticed that the heads with the 4 little wicks do seem to work better than the higher resistance heads with the single wick. It produced excellent vapor, a solid consistent TH, and a very clean flavor. It does have to be tilted when vaping. I’m always sure that the e-liquid is touching to the top cap to get the best performance from it.
- The carto tank… when a carto is properly primed, punched, in a tank with some of your favorite liquid and working well, is there anything like it? Great from the first vape to when I went to bed. The flavor was outstanding if not slightly colored by the filler material. The vapor was excellent. The TH was solid, reliable, and consistent. No tilting, no aligning, no thinking required. Just pick it up and vape.
Night one summary
The carto tank is still one of my favorite vapes with the Vivi Nova coming in a close second. I was trying to think of how best to describe the flavor difference between the two and here’s what I came up with. The Vivi Nova is a CD and the carto is a vinyl record (BTW – for you younger folk, that’s one of those round flat black things with grooves in it that you need to spin on a turn table and put a needle on it to hear. Could be worse, I could have said 8-Track). The Nova produces a very clean, pure flavor, but lacks some of the depth and fullness in flavor produced by the carto. Yes, I can taste the filler on the carto, but it’s very slight and overshadowed by the fully saturated, richer, fuller vape. I’ve often wondered if the filler also acts as a filter that pre-perfumes the air which is then flavored as the liquid is vaporized by the coil.
The Nova still gets the nod for ease of use which is another reason I like them. I can quickly tear them apart, clean them, load them up with a new juice, and enjoy them. With that ease of use comes a slight lack in depth of flavor and the need to tilt. Vaping is a game of trade-offs!
For night 2, they’ll have a full day to soak. Also, I’m going to do something I’m not too thrilled about. I’m going to add another T3 to the mix. First, I’m going to try it out of the box to make sure it’s similar in performance to the one used above. If it is, I’m going to remove the top wick and flip the silicon cap to see how it stacks up after being modded.
You will all have your own opinions on what is posted here, and that’s just fine. These are my opinions based on my likes, dislikes, and taste. You’re also going to make many suggestions as to what I should add to this mix, the biggest being a genesis style atty. Give me some time, this was only night 1! 🙂