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KangerTech AeroTank Followup Review
When I first undertook to review the Kanger Aero Tank, I never expected to be as blown away as I was by the device. A few weeks on, revelations have continued to wash over me regarding this amazing clearomizer, and I’d like to take a few moments to share those revelations with you.
Welcome to the Kanger Aero Tank Follow-up!
What The AeroTank Signifies
Summarizing from my earlier review, the Kanger AeroTank brings Kanger’s clearomizers into an entirely new class of clearomizer; joined by competitors such as the Aspire Nautilus, clearomizers with adjustable airflow have arrived.
In the case of the Aero Tank, this is simply a game-changing feature. What does it mean for vapers, though? What does it say on behalf of Kanger that they’ve taken this step? Well, here’s what it says to me: They’re listening. And, moreover, they’re acting on what they heard.
Three guesses as to the most widely heard complaint about the Protank series of clearomizers. If you guessed “draw is too airy” you got it in one. That was the single most prevalent complaint I saw in reviews of the device, and the biggest complaint I myself had. The draw was just way too airy.
And then, lo and behold! Here comes a clearomizer that lets you adjust the airflow so that it’s exactly as tight or as loose as the individual user wants it to be! Somebody was listening. The second most common complaint I’ve heard about the Protank series, and here’s another one I share when it comes to a head that’s more than a day or two old — severe loss of flavor fidelity.
I’ve had cherry flavors that are so obnoxiously extreme that the nose is more ‘Cherry Cough Syrup’ than you could shake a medicine cabinet at.
But load it up into a Protank with a head that’s seen a few days’ use, and you’d better hope you don’t forget what you put in there, because the flavor reproduction on that head might or might not remind you.
And somebody at Kanger heard that, too, because load up your liquid in an AeroTank, dial the airflow in right, and BLAM-O! That flavor’s comin’ at ya and gaining speed, all full and rich and vivid, and we’re talking about right up to the end of that head’s lifespan.
My thinking is that it’s the dual coils; I’m still not rightly equipped to perform teardowns on hardware, but there’s my educated guess as to the nature of the change in the heads’ internal structure.
And these grumbles were taken notice of. Improvements were made accordingly. That, to me, is the really beautiful thing about the Aero Tank, in the abstract; it’s tangible, material proof that the voices of vapers matter to the industry.
It’s evidence that what we say is heard, and better yet, acted upon for our benefit, because the manufacturers know that there is, let’s be cynical just for one brief moment here, profit to be made in offering us the features and performance we’re looking for. There is great reward in making us happy. That’s how an industry should work.
Kanger AeroTank Price Vs. Value
The other major revelation that came to me, looking back on my initial experience with the Aero Tank, was two-fold. It really can be summed up with two thoughts I had, on scoping out the retail price range this beauty commands in the market.
The first thought was, “Wow, this thing is spendy!” But, taking a good, long, amazingly satisfying drag from it, the coin flipped to, “But it is so worth every single penny.”
Our own Julia Hartley-Barnes brought us a piece the other day discussing this, and while I absolutely agree with her that there are some pieces of hardware that exist in a sphere of ‘status symbols’ with commensurately status-symbol-appropriate price tags, the real question is Price versus Value.
If I can do with a $50 mechanical mod like the SMOKTech Magneto, the only real purpose in throwing down $175-200 for an NZonic is… to specifically have an NZonic. I don’t really need to spend 4 times the money; it’s not as if I’m going to get 4 times the performance out of the more expensive device.
On the other hand, there are some devices that, due to the superior performance they provide, actually can reasonably and legitimately command a higher price. There is a reason why Vicious Ant, for example, can ask more for a Cyclone than SMOKTech asks for the Octopus.
There’s a reason why Innokin can ask more for the iTaste 134 than Joyetech asks for an eGo Spinner, to use a couple of really obvious examples.
When price exceeds value by too wide a margin, you have ‘status symbol’ territory. Where value exceeds price by… well, no, never mind that, that just about never happens. But the question as it relates to the Aero Tank is this: Are price and value balanced?
It’s my opinion that, yes, they are. The Aero Tank delivers so handsomely on all of the things that a good clearomizer must do, and at least one breakout thing that not many clearomizers do yet, that it is well worth its asking price. Its value is that high.
AeroTank Conclusion
So, looking back on my time with the AeroTank, incorporating these revelations that have come to me about it — usually while using it, probably not coincidentally — I can think of only a single deficiency regarding this device. And it is this:
I need to get mine a couple brothers.
Happy vaping, folks.
