Table of Contents
Vision MK, Herakles, and The iJoy Acme Subohm Tanks.
Thanks to our partners Ave40 for sending along the Vision MK, iJoy Acme and the Herakles tanks for review purposes. Ave40 is Spinfuel’s wholesale supplier, providing great prices and great customer service. If you’re a vendor looking for an honest and reliable wholesaler we recommend Ave40 without hesitation.
Subohm Tanks have, without a doubt, dominated the current review cycle for weeks now. With the success of the Aspire Atlantis, the Horizon Arctic, and the ever-expanding line of Kanger Subtanks, just about every manufacturer in our industry has designed, manufactured and distributed their version of a subohm tank. Some are fantastic tanks, some are not, and today I’m going to look at three recent entries into the field.
Before I get into the specifics of each tank, and my personal impressions of these tanks, a word to the wise is in order. The word I’m referring to is “patience”.
The biggest reason for the massive vapor clouds and the intense flavor from subohm tanks are, naturally, the coil heads. Each brand has their individually designed coil heads and each have their good points and their bad points, but all of them have one thing in common; the need for time.
Time & Patience
Because of the way the coil heads are constructed, with vertical, horizontal, or dual coils wrapped with varying layers of organic cotton, each one needs a few drops (or even several drops) of eliquid dripped into the top of the coil head. The coil heads must be completely saturated before the first inkling of electricity hits the coil wires. Dependent upon the PG/VG ratio that saturation can take 30 seconds to 5 minutes and beyond. But it doesn’t end there.
In addition to the time needed to saturate the coil heads completely, every subohm tank I have used needed a few bursts of energy to burn away debris or errant strands of cotton. Most importantly, every coil head I’ve used needed a break in period. That break in period can take an hour to two all the way to a day or two. You may find that implausible, or pure BS, but more than anything else about subohm coil heads, time and patience is your friend. I found this to be particularly true, and troublesome, of the iJoy Acme tank, which I’ll get to shortly.
Which is more important, flavor or vapor?
This is the first question you must ask yourself before spending a dime on a subohm tanks. While it is certainly true that most of the subohm tanks get awfully close to the same level of vape quality as the best RDA (rebuildable dripping atomizer), some get closer than others. In order to know your best chance of buying the “right” subohm tank you have to decide if you’re vaping a subohm tank for the enormous amount of flavor they are capable of wrangling out of the coils, or the voluminous amount of thick, dense clouds of vapor. Here is where the rubber meets the road, each tank has it’s own characteristics despite them all being ‘variations on a theme’. It has been my experience that my all day vape tastes a little to a lot different in the various subohm tanks.
The Subohm Tanks
Below are the basic specs for each of the tanks in this review. Along with these specs are my honest and unbiased impressions for each tank. Before I begin I think its important that you know what I want from a subohm tank so that you can apply my impressions below to my personal wants and desires from a tank. Sound fair?
What I Want
For me it has always been ‘flavor’ at the top of the list in not only my ‘eliquid delivery system’, but in every brand of eliquid I use, or have used. Flavor is #1, vapor production is, although nearly as important as flavor, #2. I love huge clouds of vapor as much as anyone else, but without an equal or greater amount of flavor I have no desire to use the tank. So, when you read my impressions below for these three tanks keep in mind that flavor is my primary goal when choosing a subohm tank.
One more thing: I don’t believe for a minute that any tank, subohm or otherwise, is made with Pyrex Glass. Pyrex is a brand, not a “type” of glass. I’ve never seen the word Pyrex etched into any glass tank.
The iJoy Acme Tank – Unique and Attractive Design. – $29.99
Features:
-Top adjustable airflow
-Full stainless steel material
-Glass Tank
-3.5ML capacity for eliquid
-Different resistance coils 0.25 and 0.5ohm
-180 degree airflow controller
The iJoy company sets the Acme tank apart from the others in two ways; bringing the airflow controller to the top of the tank, and claiming that you’ll need less wattage to get a similar vape experience to other tanks that will need higher wattage settings. Both claims are true.
The iJoy Acme tank will take the most time and patience of the three before you will get a good amount of vapor and flavor from it. The thing is, once it is broken in (the coil heads) that vape experience is very, very good. Flavor is thick, full bodied, and true to the flavor profile of your eliquid. Vapor clouds are dense, full, and can easily block your vision for a few seconds if your vaping in front of your computer screen. (Which can be a little annoying). I would advise you to not exhale directly in front of you when you’re driving.
The iJoy Acme tank took more than 30 minutes to saturate the coils and cotton, and more than a full day and several short bursts of power before the coil head was broken in. Have another tank, already broken in and available for use, immediately after filling a new tank, or exchanging the coil head. Do these things, and have patience, and for $29.99 you’ll have a great time using the iJoy Acme.
A very decent tank overall, but not one that I would buy again.
Bottom Line: Flavor 4/5 Stars Vapor 4.5/5 Stars
The Herakles Tank – $31.99
Herakles Sub Ohm Tank by Sense Tech Features:
- 22mm diameter
- Stainless Steel Construction
- Adjustable airflow control
- Pyrex glass
- 3ml capacity
- 510 threaded connection
- Subohm compatible
- Wide Bore Mouthpiece
- 0.6-ohm coils
I am surprised by how many vendors are stocking this tank. The Herakles tank is manufactured and distributed to wholesalers and vendors by Sense. I did not think this tank would make much of a splash, but as it turns out a lot of people are enjoying this tank.
In to
days war for dominance in the Subtank category Sense is taking the position of a ‘middle of the road’ tank when it comes to low resistance. While the other tanks offer low ohms down to 0.2, the Herakles is sold with 0.6-ohm coils. This is good news to those of you, like myself, who use 30-40w devices.
The lower the resistance of the coils means that it allows more power from your device to reach the coil and cotton head. In the simplest terms it means that at 40watts you’re sending ample amount of power to maximize the vape experience from the tank. Whereas a 0.2ohm coil requires about 60-65watts to reach its full potential, a 0.6ohm coil can reach its full potential at a much lower power setting. Most vapers will get excellent performance with just 30watts, and max it out at 40watts. Less power means more battery life. At 40 watts the vapor is plenty warm.
My experience with the Herakles is somewhat mixed. Again, it took some time to break in, but not nearly as much as the iJoy Acme. I’m not exactly blown away by its design, or the performance. It is a good tank, but flavor is “different”, my all day vape eliquid tastes just a bit muted. Vapor production on the other hand, is very close to most other subohm tanks. No real complaints with either flavor or vapor, but is the Herakles a tank I would buy again, probably, yea.
Bottom Line: Flavor 4/5 Stars Vapor 4/5 Stars
Vision MK by Vision – Attractive, heavy, built like a tank – $29.99
The Vision MK subohm tank is a late arriver in the subohm wars. Perhaps Vision was unsure it wanted into the war, or perhaps they took their time to measure the subohm landscape. Either way, it’s first subohm tank is very good tank.
Vision MK tank
- Capacity – 4.5ml
- Size – 72*22mm
- Resistance – 0.2ohm
- Working wattage – 30W-100W
- Weight – 70g
- Wide Bore Drip Tip
The Vision MK requires quite a bit of power in order to get good results. To get adequate flavor and vapor we’re talking about 55-60w before the MK comes alive. That doesn’t mean you can’t use it with a 40w device, if that device can hit a 0.2ohm coil, but the vapor will be cool and the flavor will be muted. That said, in the 60w vicinity the MK blows you away with intense, thick flavor, and massive clouds of vapor.
I like the ‘look’ of the Vision MK. It looks dead serious, with laser-etched engravings, metal posts hold the glass tube (from the inside), and that black engraved Ohm Symbol is kind of cool. At 60watts the MK pulls every atom of flavor from my all day vape and produces vapor clouds thick enough to hide behind. When all is said and done, the Vision MK is a solid tank and one worth owning. And at $29.99 it’s cheaper than tanks with names like Kanger, Aspire, and Horizon. The only caveat is that if you own a device that will not exceed 40watts don’t expect much in the way of flavor or vapor. The Vision MK is good enough to warrant the purchase of something like the SMOK XPro M80 Plus ($58.99)
Bottom Line: Flavor 5/5 Stars Vapor 5/5 Stars
Conclusion
This reviews covers just three out of more than a dozen current subohm tanks, with more to follow. All three tanks are right around $30 and are placed in the category of affordable subohm tanks. Each tank is worth consideration, but for myself I would only buy the Vision MK.
All Three Tanks are available at Ave40
My favorite subohm tank remains the Joyetech Delta 2 for flavor and vapor. So far, all other subohm tanks fall short of the Delta 2 in the categories of flavor and vapor density, but not by that much. If the Delta 2 was easier to fill and the fill ‘level’ were easier to determine over the long term my own search for the ultimate subohm tank would be over. But that is not the case at the time of this writing. There is always a Delta 2 attached to one of my vaporizers, but on other vaporizers there are, in this order of personal popularity, the Kanger Subtank, The Horizon Arctic, and the Vision MK (on my SMOK XPro M80 Plus). The other tanks sit there.
We all have our favorites, and I would love to know yours. Let the vape community know which subohm tanks you like, that you use, and that you would buy again.
John Manzione
