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REVIEW: ProTank 3: Dual Coil
The newest iteration of the Kanger ProTank has arrived on the scene and all day yesterday, last night, and this morning I’ve been running it through the paces in order to find out if the newest ProTank might be something I could actually use. This particular ProTank has two strikes against it coming in, but in an effort to be fair I was determined to look at it, as lawyers say, “when viewed in light most favorable to the Defendant”. The defendant in this case being the Kanger, just in case that wasn’t clear.
Two Strikes?
These two strikes are of a personal nature, and should be viewed that way when reading this review. We all have our favorite vape gear and vape styles. The ProTanks have had a bit of a ‘metallic’ taste to me, and I’m not that fond of dual coils, except for the new iClear 30S. In addition, these short-wick atomizers do not deliver the best flavor, for me a long-wick clearomizer or a good cartomizer has always delivered the best flavor from my favorite eJuice. Will the ProTank 3 Dual Coil change this? Yes, somewhat.
The ProTank 3
Packaging: Kanger loves deluxe packaging and the ProTank 3 is no exception. If you look carefully at the photos in this review you can see a slight reflection of my hand reflecting off the sturdy hard plastic cover that serves to keep all the pieces held firmly in place. The square cardboard box is once again used for the ProTank 3, making the presentation as ‘deluxe’ as ever. 
Dual Coil atomizers are biggest change to the ProTank, along with modifications to the post, the drip tip, and a few others. The coil heads are not interchangeable with other ProTanks, the stem is a bit longer preventing you from using a single coil in the ProTank 3 or the dual coils in the ProTank I, II, mini, and UniTank. Makes sense to me, otherwise why come out with a new tank when they could have released dual coil heads for the previous ProTanks.
Ohms – Voltage – Power – The coils are rated at 2ohms (expect 1.8-2.2ohm), and are etched into the heads. The total resistance of the 2.0-ohm dual coil is 2.0ohms, but the resistance of either coil it contains is 4ohms. Each coil is actually 4.0ohms, individually, together they do not equal 8.0ohm, as some may think. God I hate math!
Math: A 2.0ohm atomizer hitting at 3.7V would be drawing ‘3.7v/2.0ohm=2 amps’. But the single coil burns at 3.7v^2ohm / 2.0 = 6.84 Watts. Each coil of a dual coil 2.0ohm atomizer is burning at (3.7^2/2.0) / 2 = 3.4 watts. This is simply splitting the power between the two coils. I used 3.7v in the math since using the ProTank on a non-variable voltage battery yields these kinds of results. The better choice is obviously a variable voltage or variable wattage device that can output 4.6v or more, or at least 6 watts. Rather than relay ever configuration I went with the standard. Did I mention how much I hate math?
A 2.0ohm atomizer could easily range between 1.8ohms and 2.2ohms, so if you want to be super accurate you might want to put the coil heads on a meter and find out. I did not do that, I assumed 2.0ohms and found the best result for Harvest Moon Tobacco eJuice from Rocket Fuel Vapes to burn best at 4.8v on my ProVari. Using the 2nd coil I cleaned out the ProTank, filled it with The Plume Room’s Creamy Chai Latte (currently under review) and found 4.9v to be the ultimate sweet spot. Your mileage may difference of course, depending on which battery you use, which eJuice, and which PG/VG ratio you choice…not to mention your personal preference.
Draw, Vapor, Flavor
Interestingly, the first battery I chose to test the ProTank 3 was a Vision Spinner. The reason was it was the battery I was using at the time. I was toying around with an air controller I had gotten from MyVaporStore, an excellent and inexpensive little ring that screws over the outside threads and works to block off air holes. Before I popped on the ProTank 3 I removed the air controller so I would get an accurate ‘draw’. To my surprise the draw was very, very airy. A huge disappointment set in. Then I put the air controller back on and the draw stiffened up quite a bit.
Looking at how flush the ProTank 3 sat against the Spinner I made the decision to grab as many different batteries as I could and try them all out. With varying degrees of success I discovered that my purple ProVari provided the best draw, sitting very flush to the ProVari the ProTank’s air holes directly above the threads were virtually plugged up due to the top edge of the ProVari sitting completely flush against the tank. If you jump in and buy a ProTank 3 just beware of the airy draw on some batteries and take appropriate action.
Since it doesn’t do much good to talk about vapor production with an airy draw I’ll limit my comments to using the ProVari. My chosen voltage setting for the ProVari + ProTank 3 was 4.7v. This setting produced a nice warm vapor (from a bottom coil too!), and the most flavor. Any higher and it began to get too hot, any lower and the vapor production lessened, as well as the flavor.
With a proper draw in place the vapor production is on par with other ProTanks. Let’s face it; the ProTank is never going to win a vapor production award. The vapor was good, maybe even better than good, but then so are many less expensive tanks, clearomizers and even some cartomizers. I wasn’t unhappy with the vapor production; I just wasn’t impressed. The throat hit, on the other hand, was quite good.
Flavor, as I suspected, was a bit muted. But, unlike other ProTanks, it wasn’t as muted as I had experienced before. In this case I was impressed, not so much by an abundant overflow of flavor, but rather because the flavor was somewhat close to what I’m used to with long-wick clearomizers, my preferred system.
When I watch videos on YouTube the reviewer takes huge drags of whatever he or she is reviewing. I don’t know about you, but I seldom, if ever, vape that way. When I review something like the ProTank I will take the longest drag possible, and the shortest, and just about every device I’ve ever used has produced a lot of vapor when I maxed out the drag. The real test, for me anyway, is the vapor production and flavor from a ‘common’ drag. My common drag is most always a 4-second drag, sometimes less. When I judge a device’s ability to produce vapor to my liking it is with a 4-second drag. The ProTank 3, at 4-seconds, is ‘average’. Sometimes ‘average’ is good enough.
Buying Advice
The ProTank 3: Dual Coil has an MSRP of $19.99. Some vendors will sell it at that price; some will sell it a bit less.
Knowing the issue with the draw, and if it’s not fixed before it becomes widely available, then I can only recommend buying it if you can fix the draw problem with something like the air controller mentioned above, or if you vape with a ProVari. Perhaps, if you like the ProTank already this could be the final rationalization you need to pick up a ProVari if you don’t already have one.
We will update this review as vendors we work with make their decisions on whether to sell it or not, and for how much they will ask their customers to pay for it. You can bet MyVaporStore, Koko Vapes, and SmokenJoey will stock it, ‘when’ being the only variable.
For myself, this is the first ProTank I’ll keep, the rest having been given to Tom or Jason or Julia. It does draw stiff enough on my own ProVari, and vapor production is good enough, and the ‘flavor’ of my juices is good enough. I can’t say that I would buy additional ProTank 3’s, but I might. That said, I have a Kanger UniTank review coming up in a couple of days, so they may wind up fighting for my vaping budget.
