Tesla Tornado Sub-Ohm Tank

SPINFUEL EMAGAZINE REVIEW

At $18.95 (DirectVapor) the Tesla Tornado Sub Tank is one of the more affordable tanks on the market. It’s also a great tank that offers the enduser a ton of flavor and vapor production in a modern, feature-rich package.

The Tornado Tank by Tesla features an excellent top-fill design, offers clickable airflow holes on the top and bottom. These holes are shaped like the windows on an airplane, and the more holes you have open the more air flows into the tank. Each time you move to open or close one of the port holes you get a tactile feel as each hole clicks into place. The tank features a top airflow system as well, but its usefulness is minimal, I’ve kept it closed from Day One.

The Tesla Tornado Tank a very decent 4ml juice capacity as well. Additionally, there are 8 eliquid “ports” along the side of the coil head, the result of which is virtually zero chance of getting a dry hit by vaping too much ejuice too quickly.

The Tornado is only 2.25 inches tall, with the standard 22mm diameter. Because it’s shorter than you might expect, it will look good sitting atop any box mod or tube shape mod, even mods like the Tesla Nano, which is just 3.1 inches tall.

Finally, the Tesla Tornado is made with 304 Stainless Steel and glass. It comes apart for cleaning, even the airflow ‘band’ on the base comes off. It feels well made, nice clean machine cuts and threading, the glass tank fits snug, and the top-fill cap has really smooth threading and seals the tank nicely.

Coil Head

The Vertical Build TC 0.2 ohm dual coils can handle temperature ranges from 380F – 550F, and Vertical Build Single Kanthal 0.4 coils range between 35W – 55W. I’ll talk about this a bit later. From information I have gleaned from other vapers, the Ni200 Dual Coil 0.2-ohm coils outsell the Kanthal by a wide margin. A 5-pack of either coil heads are $13.95.

Tesla Tornado Usage Report

There is much to like about the Tesla Tornado Tank, but it’s the $18.95 price tag that is most attractive to me. I don’t know a lot of people that drop $35-$40 on a tank very often, so this price range of $16-$20 is where most of us like to be. That $18.95 price tag gets you a lot of tank, and a lot of performance.

I enjoy both Kanthal and Ni200 (Nickel) coils about the same amount. Because I’ve used Kanthal for so long I base my eliquid ‘flavor’ on how Kanthal vaporizes eliquid… If I like an eliquid its because the flavor and vapor performed well with a Kanthal coil.

Out of all the Temperature Control systems out there I am a huge fan of the Evolv DNA200 board, and I’ve collected quite a few DNA200 mods these past several months. One of the reasons I like the DNA200 so much is that when building the board Evolv tuned it ‘just right’ to deliver a great Nickel coil experience. To me, a good Ni200 coil will vape the same as a Kanthal coil, only with temperature as my gauge, not wattage. This is why I can tell you that both Tesla Tornado coil heads perform excellently.

That said, my wattage and temperature ‘quality’ is a bit different than the suggested range printed on the coils. The ranges are only guides after all, but still, you should know my experience while using these ranges as a guide to my vape experience.

The Kanthal Single Coil has a printed range of 35w-55w. Vaping with a Max VG eliquid, from the Private Stock from Vape Dudes (Pineapple upside-down cake), the best wattage for me was 33.8 watts, consistently. Even when the Ohms meter on the mod I was using reported the ohms at 0.3 and 0.5, it was always 33.8 watts that gave me the best combination of flavor and vapor. You have to keep in mind that you will compromise to achieve that best combination, and if you wanted more vapor at the loss of flavor you could bump the wattage up without scorching the eliquid. On the reverse of that, I could take the wattage down to 30 watts for a lukewarm truer flavor, but it wouldn’t satisfy my need for vapor. The bottom line for the 0.4-ohm Kanthal Single Coil is this; the wattage range is not the range I experienced the best results.

The Ni200 0.2 Dual Coil has a temp range of 380-550, and here again the best combination of flavor and vapor was, at a minimum 550 degrees, the best was 580 degrees. Putting down my DNA200 mod for a while and picking up a Joyetech Cuboid I was able to adjust the wattage to 40w while vaping at 525 degrees for an excellent vape experience. You need to keep in mind that there are TC mods that are capable of wattage adjustment while in TC mode. That gives you more latitude and fine-tuning ability then TC mods that do not allow adjusting the wattage in TC mode.

Kanthal returned a rich, full and satisfying flavor with the Tesla Tornado, as did the Ni200. However, I suppose if I had to choose one over the other it would be the Ni200 coils for a few extra percentage points for flavor.

Leaking?

Like any other tank, especially top-fill tanks, leaking can be a problem. However, like or not, the leaking is 9 times out of 10 a human error, not a design flaw. To rid yourself of a leaking tank, whether it’s the Tesla Tornado or anything else, do the following every time and you won’t need to worry about leaking:

1. Make sure the coil head is secured correctly and securely. Sometimes you can skip a thread and ruin the coil, and perhaps the entire tank, so take the coil head out, reset it, and secure it, before using it the first time. With a top-fill you only have to do this once per coil head change, with bottom fill tanks you should do it every time you refill the tank.
2. Before putting a single drop of eliquid in your tank make sure all the airflow holes are shut, 100%. Top and bottom airflow holes should remain shut until you’re ready to vape.
3. When using a Top-Fill tank make doubly sure the system it uses is closed completely. If it comes with a rubber cap to fit over the fill slot, make sure you don’t lose it. If you do lose it you won’t make a 100% seal, and the tank will ‘probably’ leak.

If you get into the habit of being mindful when using a new tank, it will become second nature. Forget one thing and you could wind up with eliquid pouring out as fast as you put it in. When that happens some people just take a dry cloth and wipe it down. That’s not the way to do it. No matter how well you think you wiped away the eliquid, you left some in the cracks and crannies of the tank, preventing a good seal. Strip the tank down, clean it in warm water, air dry it, and then start over.

Rating the Tesla Tornado Tank

The Tesla Tornado Tank is not the world’s best tank. It’s not fancy, it’s not over-packaged, and it comes in one color; stainless steel (O-Rings bands available in red, gray, black, blue, and clear). I would say it was a no-frills tank, but that’s not exactly right. It may be minimal in its presentation, but functionally its up there with the best. A modern top-fill design, solid airflow system, awesome coils, and high grade stainless steel materials. For the price? It’s a fantastic deal.

Grade: A

Warnings: Follow the rules when setting up the tank and refilling it. Find your own sweet spots, do not rely on the ranges printed on the coils. Always start at 20w no matter what, and work up to the best spot.

Kiera Hartley-Barnes