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Every week I will be testing and reviewing a new electronic cigarette or e liquid and documenting my travels and trials in vaping. Subscribe to our weekly mailing list, or like us on Facebook. Stay tuned for more from Vapor Chaser or Contact us @ blogvaporchaser@gmail.com

Saturday, March 30, 2013

The AMP Tank from Avidvaper Review


The AMP Tank from Avidvaper.com  I usually include the description of the product from the vendor but in this case it is pretty lengthy and we have a lot to cover so for sake of time and space I will just include the link to it http://www.avidvaper.com/amp-tank/
It covers the basic concept and function of the device and a few tips and explanations of use. If you haven't read much about this tank, please take a look as it covers a lot I will not be covering, besides who can describe it better than those who build it

 I personally love the art of dripping but have the tedious act of dripping. I have used several bottom feeders with varying degrees of success. I mostly burn through 5-6 cartomizers a day and occasionally carto tanks, but I change the cartomizer daily to keep it fresh. This is a god sent for me, dripping taste, bottom feeder capacity, and the ability to use almost all 510 mods. I will admit I have only put this down when I accidentally broke an atomizer. I love it, this is what I have been hoping for every time I bought a new tank or feeder. This is it for me. But it isnt with out problems and kinks, its not for everyone, and it does take a good deal of "tinkering" to get it to work as advertised.

Reception in the community has been varied so far (to avoid my rant please scroll down to the REVIEW) I have heard a lot of bashing of this product online and know of two people that gave up and sold theirs. It goes to show an old marketing truth, have a good experience 1-2 people will hear about it, have a bad experience and 12-14 people will hear about it. This rule was written long before social media, so I imagine it has multiplied infinitesimally. I have heard a couple bad reviews and have read plenty of rants on the forum but most seem to have stuck with it and learned how to master the tank (or gave up on the "auto feed" and went manual) All I want people to understand is that nothing is ever perfect in vaping, we modify things, we tinker with things and we make them work to suit our needs. Anyone that can watch tens of videos and read hundreds of posts learning how to build a perfect coil for an RBA, buy different size wick, cable, mesh, atomizers, and spend hours after hours to perfect their perfect vape, can spend two weeks priming, flooding, and pressurizing this tank. I have never vaped anything that had the pure "taste" and throat hit of dripping untill now.

REVIEW
Features
First lets cover a few basics, below is a pic of the base of the tank. Notice the four air ridges in the top connection. These will be important to line up the air holes in the atomizer later. At the bottom on the base is the carb hole. This will be used to cut off external air to create vacuum or pressure in the tank, both are ways to "feed" liquid through those vents and into the bottom of the atomizer. You can also see the clear rubber O-ring that loosely holds the tank in place












Next is the bottom of the tank base. It is a standard 510 connection, but the post and air holes are filled or covered. Each unit is serialized as well
 



 Next is the top cap to the tank, you can see another O-ring and inside the atomizer hole is another O-ring that helps to hold the atomizer and keep a seal for air and liquid both

Pictured below is the standard bridgeless atomizer that comes with the tank. There are two holes on the sides that allow liquid into the attomizer and a center hole on the bottom that allows air in the mixture

My first 5 minutes with the tank were sheer joy met with sheer agony. My tank glass......cracked. There was a small knick and it split. I sent Avidvaper an email, they asked for a pic, new glass shipped that day. The tank is quartz glass, this is a problem for me as I am rough on things, glass isnt for me.When the tank is fully assembled the top cap and atomizer are the only stability, the o-rings on the tank only really function as a seal. If you were to unscrew the atomizer the glass will just slide off when pushed or pulled even a little. But again you shouldn't unscrew the atomizer very far unless you are filling anyway

Below you can see the feed hole aligned with one of the notches in the base of the tank. This is how the juice feeds into the atomizer. This is how it looks when is is all the way open, again you never want it all the way open
 
Below you can see it completely closed, when you start to open it you will only be able to see the top of the holes in the atomizer
Dripping v.s. Bottom feeders v.s. AMP Tank
Once I got the tank up and running I loaded an 80pg/20vg liquid mix. I got in on the second batch so there wasnt a lot of information. If you havent used an atomizer before do your self a favor and spend at least a day trying to drip with just atty. Drip a few drops so you can get used to the atty going dry and over fill it a few times so you know when the atty is flooded. You can hear, taste, and feel a difference in the amount of liquid in the atomizer. This will help you immensely later. If your an avid dripper (excuse the pun) you know how atomizers act and you know the signs, but just like non tank bottom feeders, feeding is an art. In a bottom feeder you squeeze a bottle and push juice in to the atomizer, and most of the excess is sucked down into the bottle or out of the side holes. In the tank some excess goes back into the tank, being pulled in by vacuum in the tank, but once the vacuum pressure is equaled the rest will leak slowly out of the carb hole.

Physics
Excuse the crude drawings, but when you understand HOW things work it makes it a lot easier to make them work. In the first figure you can see how drawing air through the mouth piece with the carb open pulls on the holes in the atomizer. In the second figure, after you stop inhaling the tank draws in air to compensate for the liquid that left. After the vacuum is filled in the tank, the surface tension of the liquid holds it in the tank. In the third figure, when you cover the carb and blow into the tank equal amounts of liquid will push out. Not illustrated, but if the carb fills with liquid and there is no air, there is nothing to hold surface tension on the holes in the atomizer leaving the liquid in the tank to flow out the carb.

Using The AMP Tank
1.Its all about the air to liquid mix. That is the key to a good vape in anything is the basic principal in the AMP. When you pull out liquid it pushes in air, and bubbles. When you push in air, liquid pushes out. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, sound familiar?
 2.On the AMP Tank page on Avidvaper they recommend turning the atty 1/4 of a turn for most PG heavy juices. Opening it any more than that actually creates more surface tension and makes it harder to pull into the liquid in, and when the surface tension breaks it lets more juice out and floods
3.Minor adjustments make the most difference, some times if I catch it going dry I can take a few hard pulls with the carb open and pull liquid into the atty, a hard pull or two then fire it to see how effective it was. 
4.Covering the carb hole and blowing into it or pulling liquid into the atty are the quickest way to feed the atty, but also the easiest ways to flood it
5.When it floods, close the atty holes and vape off the excess, as it equals out, reopen it and try again. If it floods out the carb, close it and blow it out or if may allow the entire tank to flow out
6. When that tank gets low it requires more attention, the liquid is most likely tilted and feeding air into the atty.
7.  You should feel/hear some feedback from the atty, juice being pulled into the air way. You can feel it as an interruption in the draw and hear it like popping in the draw. Gurgle is bad but a little bit of feedback is GREAT

NOW, once you get it right!
Its just like dripping for me, I get unmatched flavor and great throat hit even on an ego at standard voltage. I noticed a few juices have notes I have never tasted in a carto or carto tank. Most flavors are better, some are worse but its amazing for me. I get warm thick vaper for all my liquids, and tweeking with VV is even better. It sounds like a lot, but I compare it to driving a car. At first you have to learn the pressure to apply to the gas and break, then after a while its second nature. You dont even think about it you just do it. I have to hard draw or carb pull about 3 times per 3 mil tank. When I start, in the middle and when its low and isnt getting liquid.

Overall
It take a lot of learning for some people depending on different experience, and patience. But when it works its AMAZING and really makes it worth all the trial and error for me. I have been saying all along if they called it "feed assist" or "semi-auto" people would be happy with the performance and freaking out when they learned how to get it to auto feed. I understand some people prefer cartos, or carto tanks, or RBAs but if nothing compares to dripping to you, but you hate the tediousness of dripping I present, The AMP Tank. As always thanks for reading. Any questions/comments/complaints feel free to email/facebook/pm me.







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