Build Your Own Starter Kit, Part 2: The Atomizer

In this installment of our multi-part series on starter vaping hardware, we’ll be taking a look at atomizers, the part of your e-cigarette which will vaporize your juice, and create those big fluffy clouds.

Picking Up Where We Left Off

If you’re just getting started and haven’t looked at Part 1: The Power Source yet, you may want to start there, since that’s where you decide how big a PV you want, based on how much power output and battery life you want. Based on the size you chose on Part 1 (the small, medium or large option), we’ll give you a choice of atomizers chosen to give you a good combination of performance, quality and ease of use.

Your Second Decision: The Atomizer

Much of the decision of which atomizer is right for you will be based on the power source you chose in Part 1. You’re probably not going to want to use a tiny atomizer on a large PV, for example, and vice versa.  As in Part 1, we’ll start with the medium option, since we think it’s got the best balance of the things we recommend looking for in a starter kit: low price, high performance, and ease of use.

The Medium Option | The Small Option | The Large Option

The Medium Option

While there are a huge number of options for a medium-sized power source (defined in Part 1 as an eGo Twist or Vision Spinner), it’s hard to beat the ease-of-use of a clearomizer.  while they may not be the best-performing atomizer you can get, they make up for it to a very large degree be being generally the simplest to set up, fill and use.

Which clearomizer is the right one for you may take some experimenting.  New entries come into the market at a rapid rate.  However, they are relatively inexpensive, so we highly recommend switching things up once in a while and trying something new. You may also want to try other atomizer types, such as cartomizers and/or cartomizer tanks once you’ve got a setup that’s comfortable for you.

As a starting point, we’d recommend going with one of these:

Kanger EVOD

First Choice: The Kanger EVOD

The EVOD is a small clearomizer, very similar in appearance to Kanger’s MT3. While it may not hold a lot of juice, we’ve been very impressed with its performance. We’ve also found it not to be as prone to a lot of the problems we’ve experienced with other clearomizers, such as leaking and dry hits (a rather unpleasant-tasting experience caused by the wick not pulling enough juice from the tank to stay wet).

Filling the EVOD is as simple as turning it upside-down, screwing off the bottom cap, and dripping in some juice.  A window in the side allows you to see how full it is, and when it needs refilling.  It screws right onto the native threads of the eGo Twist and Vision Spinner without any special adapters.

When the coil burns out, as coils inevitably do, replacement coils are inexpensive and easy to find.

Price: Approximately $12 (2 clearomizers)

Kanger T3

Second Choice: Kanger T3/MT3

The Kanger T3 and it’s metal-sheathed cousin, the MT3, are very similar to the EVOD, but with a higher juice capacity: the T3 and MT3 can hold about twice the amount of  juice of the EVOD.  They also  feature a similar inexpensive, easy-to-replace coil, like the EVOD.

However, we have not found them to be quite as leak-proof as the EVOD. Leaks can be extremely irritating, making the T3 and MT3 a distant second-place option to the EVOD, despite the convenience of the increased capacity.

Price: Approximately $14 (2 clearomizers)

The Medium Option | The Small Option | The Large Option

The Small Option

The small option (defined in Part 1 as an eRoll or the somewhat larger Volt) really does not give many options as far as which atomizer to use. Only one style of atomizer is supported by the eRoll, while the Volt is typically used with a cartomizer.  While it’s possible to use other types of atomizers with the Volt, you do lose the cigarette-like look  by not using a cartomizer.  We recommend starting with one, and if you feel like trying something else later, and don’t particularly care what it looks like, we highly recommend experimenting to see what works best for you.

Joyetech eRoll Atomizer

First Choice (eRoll): eGo-C/eCab/eRoll Atomizer Head, Type A

These little atomizers typically come in packs of five, which should keep you going for a little while.  You’ll also need some tank cartridges for your juice, and a “cone,” which is a small tube used to cover the tank and atomizer when the eRoll is in use.

It should be noted that the eRoll tank is not particularly fill-friendly. Juice needs to be injected into a very small hole, so you’re probably going to want some type of syringe or needle-tipped bottle for filling the cartridge, especially since it’s something you’ll need to do quite often, as the tanks don’t hold much liquid.

Price: Approximately $33 (5 atomizers. 5 cartridges, and cone)

Boge 510 SR Cartomizer

Second Choice (Volt): Boge SR 510 Cartomizer

One big upside to the Volt is its use of a 510 connection, allowing the use of any standard-resistance cartomizer with 510 threading.  While there are a lot of conflicting opinions on which is best, we’ve found Boge cartomizers to work very well for us, and they’re relatively inexpensive. The downside to cartomizers would mainly be that they can be tedious to fill and keep filled, and somewhat prone to nasty-tasting dry hits when their filling dries out.

To keep a small cigarette-like look, you should probably avoid “XL” sized cartomizers.  Although they are longer and have more capacity, the standard, non-XL length cartomizers are closer in length to a traditional cigarette filter.

It should also probably be noted that while it is possible to get pre-filled cartomizers, it’s not something we generally recommend.  Not only is it rather expensive, the juice is often not particularly good. Buying your own juice and filling them yourself may take a bit more work, but it opens up a huge variety of juices to you, making it much more likely you’ll find one you really like.

Price: Approximately $10 (5 cartomizers)

The Medium Option | The Small Option | The Large Option

The Large Option

This is where things get a little harder to pin down. Not only are both “medium” options also viable with a large power supply (though you’ll most likely need a 510-t0-eGo adapter for those), and you can even use the cartomizers from one of the small options, having a big PV with a 510 connector opens up a ton of options for atomizers.

That said, for someone just starting out, there are a lot of complicated options we woudn’t recommend.  The ones we’ve chosen below are easy to use, easy to fill, and while they may not be the highest-performance options, they’re also probably the least likely to go horribly wrong on you.

This is probably the most difficult category to try to boil down to two choices.  There are so many options for large 510-based devices that practically everyone will have a different opinion.  That said, here’s what we recommend:

Innokin iClear 30

First Choice: Innokin iClear 30

We’ve found the iClear 30 to be one of the simplest, most hassle-free tanks out there. It wicks well, meaning fewer dry hits and better flavor than many other atomizers we’ve tried.  It’s also got a 510 connector and is relatively large, so not only will it look right at home on a large PV, but it’ll hold enough juice to keep you going all day — or longer.

The iClear 30 isn’t particularly pretty, but it’s easy to fill and works well, both of which are important for someone just starting out.

Price: Approximately $16 (tank and two replacement heads)

Vivi Nova

Second Choice: Vision Vivi Nova

The Vivi Nova is very similar in configuration to the iClear 30, featuring a similar head configuration and juice capacity. These are very popular atomizers that have been around a long time, and a lot of people swear by them.  The flavor may not be the best, but they are easy to use, reliable, and cheap, making them great for starting out.

We do want to stress that, when buying a Vivi Nova, you should look for ones described as genuine Vision products — there are a lot of cheap knockoffs out there, and a lot of them don’t work very well.

Price: Approximately $19 (tank and 2 replacement heads)

What? We’re not done yet?

Congratulations!  Now that you’ve chosen your power source and atomizer, all you need is some juice, and you’re good to go.

Check back in soon for the third part of our series, where we’ll be covering how you can buy juice without paying too much, and more importantly, without getting juice that taste like something died in it.

Part One: The Power Source

Build Your Own Starter Kit, Part 2: The Atomizer