Table of Contents
Halo Triton Report Card
A little more than two months ago Spinfuel received the Halo Triton Starter Kits for review purposes. The original review of these Starter Kits was published on March 30th, 2013. I thought it would be a good idea to bring you up to speed on what it’s like to be a Triton user several weeks out. This is sort of a progress report, or perhaps a “report card” for Halo Cigs, a confirmation or condemnation on the product they believed was worthy of the Halo Cigs name. If you’ve been sitting on the fence about whether or not to join tens of thousands of Triton users this piece may play an important role in determining, once and for all, if the Triton will be a part in your vaping experience.
It’s one thing to read an initial review of a product, but to come back to that product after a couple of months of heavy use can be just as important, and I wish we could do that with every product we review. Sure, the Halo Triton Kits were in use here at Spinfuel for two weeks before they were made available to the public and our initial review was based on a fair amount of time by a number of staffers who used the Triton every day. But what about several weeks out, does the Halo Triton remain a vital part of the Vaper’s arsenal or has it been tossed aside in favor of something newer? How much of an impact did the Triton make? I’m about to tell you.
John’s Halo Triton (Yellow Jacket – 650mah and 900mah)
My personal Halo Triton starter kit is the yellow 650-mah version with 2x 650-mah batteries, the new modern wall adapter, a USB charger and a black cone ($64.99). The same day the Halo Triton was available to the public I purchased the Yellow Jacket 900-mah battery along with 4 extra clearomizers. In addition, prior to becoming available on the Halo website I was sent a pack of replacement heads for the clearomizers to test. This is the setup I use today.
I am waiting for the Triton Twist to be made available and when it is I’ll pick one up…there is a good reason for that which I’ll get to shortly. As far as the upcoming pass-thru Triton, I’ll probably pass if only because I can’t afford to buy new hardware all the time. But the Triton Twist promises to be an excellent addition to my Halo collection.
Halo Triton and my personal vaping preferences
Despite owning several PV’s and APV’s I’ve been using the Triton about 90% of the time. In fact, the only time I use anything else, including my gorgeous purple ProVari, or my Joyetech eVic I received as a gift from SmokenJoey (he even engraved it with “Spinfuel eMagazine” running down the side), was during the review stages for various RBA’s, carto-tanks, clearomizers and so on. But, it’s fair to say that 100% of my personal vaping since mid-March has been with the Tritons.
I’ve thought about why it is I’m always picking up the Triton over the myriad of other batteries lying around and honestly, the best reason is the Triton vapes so well and it’s the perfect size for my hands that I’ve no reason to use anything else. I’ve yet to say to myself, “this isn’t working today, I think I’ll use X”. It just hasn’t happened yet.
I’m not going to tell you my time with the Tritons have been perfect, there has been a few issues popping up here and there but they are minor when compared to other issues that pop up when using anything. I’ll go over some of the issues later on.
The Triton Battery After Two Months
Over the past two months I’ve not seen any degradation in the battery life. I’m still getting several hours of enjoyment from each charge. The 900-mah battery last substantially longer than the 650-mah batteries that shipped with my kit, somewhere in the neighborhood of 3+ hours longer, and that’s to be expected and it’s the primary reason I bought it.
I’ve also noticed that the batteries charge much faster when using the wall adapter versus my computer and the USB charger alone. I know that might sound obvious, but in the past I’ve had ego-style batteries take about the same time to recharge no matter what method I used, and they were much longer than the fast-charging Tritons. In the past 10 days or so I’ve completely given up charging from my computer and have placed a couple of wall chargers in an outlet strip within easy reach.
Triton Tanks
The Triton tanks, on the other hand, have caused some issues since the last review. There have been some leaking and some burnt tasting e-liquid ‘annoyances’. Some were caused by my own actions and others have to be attributed to the tanks themselves.
Leaking – All clearomizers leak to one degree or another, and the Triton tanks are no exception. There is a tendency of the long-wick coil heads to loosen after a fill refills, and that’s something I didn’t notice in the first two weeks. Once the coil heads become loose e-liquid has a funny way of seeping through and into the center post. Not a lot of ejuice leaks through, but enough to cause some gurgling and some dry hits and a severe lack of vapor. Like I said, it’s an annoyance. The solution, however, is quick and easy; tighten the coil head and blow out the e-liquid that seeped into the post. I’ve made it a habit to test the tension of the coil head whenever I refill now and the leaking has, for the most part, stopped. The coil heads loosen a bit because they reach up past the tank and into the drip tip so when you screw on the drip tip it can ‘sometimes’ turn the head a bit. Having said that, I would rather take a moment to tighten the coil heads then to have Halo redesign the clearomizer so that the coil heads no longer stick out above the tank.
If you’re experiencing any leaking don’t forget to dry out the bottom of the tank, the area that connects to the battery, as well as the battery connector itself. Blow through the drip tip first to make sure that any remaining e-liquid has been eliminated and then dry those areas with a dry, lint-free cloth.
Burnt taste – This happens once and a while when I switch out a drained battery for a fully charged battery with a clearomizer that is near empty. Because I seem to be in hurry from the moment I wake up to the moment I go back to sleep some 18 hours later I had a habit of refilling the tank when it was close to being completely empty. Most of the burnt taste issues can be avoided by topping off the e-liquid when it gets to the halfway point. Like nearly every battery on the market the Triton is an unregulated battery, which means that when fully charged it’s outputting 3.7v and as it drains that voltage decreases, so when you pop on a new fully charged battery and your clearomizer has little e-liquid left in it then you’re going to get that burnt taste once in a while. Not often mind you, but sometimes.
Another cause for experiencing a burnt taste seems to be the coil heads themselves. I recommend the higher resistance replacement heads for anyone experiencing the burnt taste. In my opinion a fully charged Triton battery, outputting at least 3.7v does not do well with a low resistance coil head.
For newbies: A low resistance coil is going to burn hotter than a standard or high resistance coil. This means that some e-liquids can burn too hot and give off a burnt taste. For this reason I recommend new Vapers to avoid the low resistance replacement heads until they know the characteristics of the e-liquids they use. Some e-liquids do great with low resistance coils, others do not.
If you want to avoid the burnt taste I recommend using the 2.2-2.4-ohm coil heads from Halo. Julia suggested I trim the long wicks by about 15-20% for a better vape experience and it turns out she is correct. I’m getting a fuller hit with a bit more vapor and a little better throat hit. I can’t recommend that to new Vapers though. It’s best to not experiment when you’re first starting out. As a new Vaper you want to develop a base line understanding or everything you use, from batteries, clearomizers, replacement heads, and e-liquids. Only when you have an understanding of what the characteristics are for everything you use is it safe to start experimenting.
The Triton tank is supposedly a modified Kanger T2 clearomizer, which Kanger seems to be phasing out or vendors are just choosing not to carry them any longer. You can use the T2 replacement heads in lei of the Halo replacement heads in a pinch. TheDigitalCig stocks the replacement heads for the T2 and I’m expecting my first order to be delivered today. I’ll update this piece once I’ve had some time to vape with a Halo Triton Clearomizer and the Kanger T2 replacement heads.
Halo Triton Twist – I plan to purchase, and review, the Triton Twist just as soon as I can. I believe the Triton Twist will play an important part in the overall Triton line.
Variable Voltage Triton – Being able to adjust the voltage will help considerably with eliminating any occurrences of a burnt flavor as well as making adjustments for the particular e-liquid you happen to be vaping. The majority of the time the combination of a 3.7v battery with a 2.4-ohm clearomizer is just fine, but sometimes you want to be able to make adjustments and the Triton Twist will provide that. I suspect that the huge success of the Triton (and it has been huge) will be repeated with the launch of the variable voltage Triton battery. I hope Halo is prepared for the onslaught of orders that will most certainly happen when they appear on the Halo website. I will make certain Spinfuel makes an official announcement of the availability of the Triton Twist right here in these pages as well as the Spinfuel News Blog.
The Pass-Thru Triton: I’ve spoken with many people that are extremely happy with their Halo Triton batteries, and many of them seem to be excited about the coming pass-thru Triton battery as well as the Triton Twist. I certainly understand why they would be. The pass-thru Triton battery will be a godsend to those that spend the day on the computer. Always having that 3.7v available with no concerns about running down the battery is enticing. Not sure I want to go down that road because of the cost involved, but I do understand why many people want to.
Why I Like To Vape With The Triton
As I indicated above, I use the Halo Triton 90% of the time, and 100% of my personal vaping time. The combination of the Triton battery and a Triton tank produces a magnificent vaping experience for me. Plumes of vapor filled with great flavor are the norm for the Triton series. More than enough vapor and flavor, not to mention a nice throat hit keep me coming back to the Halo Triton time after time, so for me there hasn’t been any reason to break out anything else. And of course the rubberized finish and the deep saturated colors make the Triton one of the best looking ego-style batteries on the market so that plays a part as well.
Some of the other reasons I continue to choose the Triton over other hardware include being able to fill or refill the Triton tanks without any concern of getting e-liquid into the center post. As I mentioned above the coil head extends past the top of the tank, and into the drip tip, so it’s a simple matter of filling an eyedropper with e-liquid, placing it up against the coil head, allowing the juice to pour down into the tank. Once full I simply screw on the drip tip and I’m ready to go.
Another reason I like that feature so much is that I never need to unscrew the tank from the battery to refill it. This saves me several steps and makes the job of refilling faster and easier. Since I’m constantly moving about the idea of stopping, dismantling the tank from the battery, filling a syringe, filling the tank, screwing it back on the battery and checking the voltage (a habit for sure) when using other devices are steps I do not need to take with the Triton. (Remember to check the coil heads when refilling to make sure it hasn’t come loose.)
And finally, a Triton battery and clearomizer are the perfect size and weight for me. Using it has become second nature. I don’t feel ‘obvious’ using it, and I’ve even taken it outside in the public arena and I don’t feel self-conscious doing so. That says a lot.
The First Review
On reflection I think we got our original review exactly right. I did not expect to be two months out and still using the Triton as much as I do. Dave Foster, our general administrator is equally impressed with the Triton and has been using his 100% of the time. The staff are still huge Triton fans but the nature of their job description has them using various hardware all the time. It’s not uncommon though, to see the staff on their off time using the Triton. For me I believe the Triton will remain my ‘vape of choice’ for a long time to come.
So, what about you? What has your experience been with your Halo Triton? Is it something you recommend to others looking for a good vape at a great price or have you moved on to something new(er)? Is the Halo Triton everything you expected it to be? More? Less? Sound off in the comment section below because I know that the powers that be at Halo read Spinfuel and they do pay attention to customer feedback. This would be a great place to tell Halo, as well as everyone else, about your experiences using the Triton.
Oh, over the past couple of weeks Halo has become a part of your forum, with a sub-section of the forum all to themselves, so stop by and say hello to Cinder Ella, the Halo staffer who runs that portion of the Spinfuel Discussions Forum.
Have a great weekend, and keep vaping!
