Table of Contents
Last Updated on March 27, 2017 by Team Spinfuel
HorizonTech Ultima Sub-Ohm Tank Goes Horribly Wrong
The anticipation was overwhelming from the first time I saw the HorizonTech Ultima Sub-Ohm Tank prior to release. It was one of those moments where the bright light shines down out of nowhere and says “you have to have this!” So you can imagine once I found out I was receiving the Horizon Ultima for review, it began the mental countdown for the package to arrive and I’ll finally be able to take it for a test drive. With all that excitement resulted in a steep downhill spiral when I eventually vaped the ‘flavor-centric experience’ coils for the first time.
Let me begin by throwing one word in your direction just to keep us all on the same page; disappointed. The definition of disappointed is ‘depressed or discouraged by the failure of one’s hopes or expectations.’ I know I’m being very blunt and maybe overly harsh right off the bat but I have to give it to you straight. The HorizonTech Ultima Sub-Ohm Tank was a complete let down so please, let me explain why.
The HorizonTech Ultima Sub-Ohm Tank is a 25mm Sub-Ohm Tank made from 304 Stainless Steel. The reservoir holds 5ml of eJuice and weights 86g with a coil and full tank. The floating tank sleeve that surrounds the glass is great to look at, has a rubberized finish and comes with different paint splatter color mixtures (I received the Orange with Black splatter) that really give the tank a standout, zombie-fied appearance. After some struggle, I finally got the tank section disassembled, the sleeve just slides off the Pyrex reinforced glass (an extra glass is included in the box) and can be reassembled with or without the sleeve; I kept mine on for the duration of the review. The Ultima has a threaded top fill system with plenty of knurling on the top cap for easy removal. Dump your 5ml of eJuice in the huge dual 13.5mm x 3.8mm juice fill holes and off you go. With six 11mm x 4mm juice flow holes in the base of the chimney, there’s plenty of room for eJuice to saturate the astronomical amount of cotton in the coils.
The HorizonTech Ultima Sub-Ohm Tank features adjustable airflow consisting of three 9.8mm x 2.4mm slots on the bottom of the tank which provide an airy, open draw. I’ve noticed some sites listing a quad airflow system but it’s only three I promise you! The airflow ring has a slightly restrictive feel and stops in the opened/closed positions. The 13mm Delrin drip tip is 510-compatible with very strong O-rings and was difficult to remove the first couple of tries. On the bottom of the Atomizer, the 510 connection threads are machined smooth but are abnormally long and on some devices with shallow 510-connections, the Ultima won’t sit all the way flush (I tried it with four different devices and only sat flush on my Wismec RX200S with a recessed 510 connection).
The splatter paint scheme is not the innovative feature in this case even though the tank is visually appealing. It’s the Vapor Circulating System coil heads that intrigued me the most. Having two individual vertical coils staggered on top of each other was interesting and my first impression out of the box was the coils are huge! We’re talking 29mm tall and 15.6mm in diameter with a lot, let me over exaggerate a lot, of cotton stuffed inside. Horizon also implemented something they call a Spiral Splash Proof Vent (SSPV) that’s integrated in the chimney to prevent spit back and leaking which actually does work as described. I did experience some gurgling but very minimal spit back. You would think with an innovative coil system aimed at a ‘flavor-centric experience’ that it should deliver, but utter disappointment was in full effect almost immediately.
The Vapor Circulation System consists of two vertical coils stacked on top of each other but offset in which airflow travels up from the airflow slots underneath through the first coil then redirects to the second coil, out the chimney and then the drip tip. Basically it’s giving each coil its own airflow and wicking system and supposedly a flavor intensive mid-wattage experience. It’s been repeatedly stated that because of the airflow and separate coil channels that the tank and coil stay cool. I can tell you that’s a flat out false statement! My base and glass got so hot at one point I couldn’t even touch it and it passed that heat to my WISMEC RX2/3 which heated up my mod quite rapidly!
HorizonTech Ultima Sub-Ohm Tank Coils
The 0.2Ω coil head is preinstalled which has dual 4.3mm ID coils staggered and four 10.8mm x 3mm wicking slots. Working my way up to 55W, even though the base and glass got uncomfortably hot, the floating tank sleeve stayed right around room temperature. The drip tip and top cap were never at a degree that was bothersome. After two full tanks, the flavor still wasn’t coming through and was giving me a strange off-taste that was different than what my French Dude eJuice normally tastes like. Because of the mounds of cotton I figured it would take longer to break in. I don’t know if it’s the type of cotton HorizonTech used or the way the airflow system works but the taste is not pleasant at all. After two more tanks, I wasn’t getting a burnt taste but almost a chemical type taste. I cleaned the tank with soap and hot water like I do with all my tanks prior to filling it up so that ruled out machine oil. I never had any leaking but a lot of condensation under the coil and some sporadic gurgling. So after wasting over 20ml of funky tasting eJuice and not getting any kind of decent flavor, I ended up just throwing the coil out and installed the 0.5Ω to see if my results would improve.
The 0.5Ω coil head is rated up to 50W and has two 4.6mm ID coils staggered with four 10.8mm x 3mm wicking slots. After disassembling the coil because I wasn’t getting any resistance readings, only ‘Atomizer Short’ and ‘Atomizer Low’ messages, I had to use my screwdriver to tweak the coils a bit. I readjusted the coil leads and finally after 15-minutes of aggravation and almost throwing the coil through my window, it read 0.52Ω! I let the cotton saturate overnight hopefully eliminating the first coil’s stale tasting profile. After vaping a full tank, this sour, chalky taste (that’s the closest representation I could come up with) kept overpowering my eJuice! I used a very sweet e-liquid this time around but there it was again; even worse than the first coil! I started at the minimum 30W, took about 5 pulls and increased by 2.5W all the way to 50W and the taste just kept getting stronger.
HorizonTech Ultima Sub-Ohm Tank – I Quit!
After a few days and multiple different sessions, I couldn’t vape it anymore! I wanted to get at least 30ml through each coil to see if that changed my outcome, but I didn’t want to waste anymore eJuice. I’ve never had such a bad taste from a Sub-Ohm Tank before. This all took place between 4-5 days and I tried everything I could to get a better flavor experience from the coils but things never changed. What happened with these coils HorizonTech?
Frustrated, I angrily ripped the whole coil apart. Like I said before, there’s a lot of cotton but the construction of the coil seemed to be well put together. When I first took the coil out of the tank, there was a lot of condensation on the top and bottom of the coil so maybe excessive amounts of condensation was building up in that transition channel and why I was getting that weird musty taste. I’m not completely sure what went wrong but regardless it was horrible and something I hope no one else has to experience or pay for!
HorizonTech Ultima Sub-Ohm Tank Conclusion
The Horizon Ultima Sub-Ohm Tank really disappointed me, especially considering how many other Horizon Sub-Ohm Tanks pass muster with even the most critical Vapers. This is the same company behind the Krixus, the Cerakoat Ceramic Tank and the Arctic V8. Horizon knows how to build excellent sub-ohm tanks, so there is really no excuse for the Ultima. I can’t give it a failing grade because the actual tank is made well, looks even better and would be a decent tank if it had completely redesigned coils; or just a standard coil option. A valiant attempt for HorizonTech but a flawed design at best! The coil heads and rancid taste just ruined the experience for me. I don’t get grossed out often but the sour aftertaste you get after vaping these ‘innovative’ coils is rather unsettling. The Horizon Ultima Sub-Ohm Tank is available for $24.95 at Element Vape if you want to give it a shot but there are better alternatives than the HorizonTech Ultima Sub-Ohm Tank. (Just about every HorizonTech tank is available at Element Vape)
Final Grade – D-
“Honestly don’t waste your money! The coils that come with the HorizonTech Ultima Sub-Ohm Tank are terrible and hopefully this grade prevents someone else from spending their own money and having to go through the same thing. The ‘mid-range’ flavor is not even close to what they advertise and just overall a flawed, rushed to the market design that really needed more testing before being released! The whole August 8th deadline pushed a lot of products through quickly but regardless, it wasn’t a fun vaping experience. With so many Sub-Ohm Tanks to choose from, I would look the other way!”
Team Spinfuel
