Newbie kit confusion

[Perpetua]

Aug 12, 2013 10:20:39 GMT Roscopecotrain said:

Most smokers dont view the cost as a weekly or monthly thing. It is just the cost of a packet so when you say a kit plus liquid is going to cost them say £30 to there door they dont see that as there ciggy money for the week they see it as wow thats a lot compared to a packet of ciggys.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

I also think that as a Smoker, you know the £8 or whatever you spend on a packet of cigs is going to work for you . . . there's not the same certainty when spending £8+ on a vaping purchase.

So rather than ' waste ' money ( even if you can afford to ) there's that reluctance to overcome first.

That was certainly my mindset when I first spent £50+ on a DSE901 cigalike kit. How many fags could I have bought for that money.

[fred]

Aug 12, 2013 10:26:48 GMT jess said:

I think pointers for first steps should be simple to use & working cheap to get folk started. Also, UK based, so that there is no waiting & if needed, vendor help to hand. If someone is gadget minded, they will naturally progress, if not, they have easy to use kit that they can add to, that we all know works, as it has for us.

Which brings us back to the Paradise Vape Blister Pack @ the same price as  packet of stinkies.

Don't buy your fags on Wednesday (or any other day for that matter). Buy this kit instead.

Give it a go for a day - no stinkies (or 2 days on 1/2 ration stinkies). If at the end of this, you don't think you'll become a vaper, you've lost nowt, and could also get a couple of quid back on the classies.

[ChillerVapes]

What about we do a simple 1 2 3 4method...
1 choose your battery
Have a list of our recommended batteries and the pros and cons and pictures at the side

2 choose your mizer (I think thats the word for them)
Have a list of all our recommended tanks, clearos and other atomizers with a description and picture

3. Choose your juice
On this section have an explanation of vg and pg and nic strength. Then list some of our favourite vendors for juice.
Flavour is entirely up to them.

4. A list of our recommended uk vendors with some explanation about them.


If I could ever afford to run my own ecig business, my whole site / shop would be set like that for newbies and then have a different section for experienced vapers.

[giles]

That is all sensible and logical ChillerVapes but I suspect it is more useful to suggest buying two £7 blister packs. The poster and the lurkers will probably buy only one, and discover fairly quickly and cheaply what they like and what they don't, and the CE5 & ego remain as a useful spare when they've gone on to something else.

I'm not sure that a vote is useful raid2506. For instance, I've never used a CE5, but I've read comments from those who have, and the blister pack is clearly excellent value - so should I vote for it?

Also I suspect that like fred people will tend to recommend (and vote for) what they happened to start with, even though it may have been superseded by newer products.

But I do welcome the discussion. Getting new vapers started is probably the most important thing we do.

In particular I think it would be useful to have comments on any disadvantages of popular items. For instance I'm inclined to recommend an evod/ego kit to someone who seems willing to spend some money but is concerned about looks. But I've seen comments that evods leak. Mine don't, but before I recommended them I'd like to know if many people get leaks, are the ones from some or all UK suppliers leak-free.

[spikus]

I must agree with Raid's sentiments ...... I used this site for advice after wasting 50 quid on crappy Skycigs set...
I pointed out I was quite a heavy smoker
My advice basically was :

Blister packs
Riva 1100 from vape escape
Or go the whole hog and get a Vamo from Fasttech ...

Didn't have the patience to wait for the shipping from china so I went for the Riva....
From there graduated to evods, iclear30 and a spinner...
I've now ordered the Vamo and a couple of protanks...

In hindsight I should've gone with the Vamo in the first place but I think it's a little journey of discovery that we all need to make....

If I was asked to recommend the right kit to a new vaper I'd probably give them the same advice that was given to me ..

[chykensa]

Thanks for that spikus, it's really helpful knowing how the advice we have given has shaped your vaping progression. We blithely give out links and suggestions, but rarely hear from people once they are happily vaping and making their own discoveries.
Interesting that you have ended up on a VW mod after trying out the mid-range gear first. At least we weren't that wrong!

[spikus]

Thanks chykensa... The reason I'd still say go with the Riva type kit is that for many people it suits them and they have no need to upgrade ... For those that do want to move on I think half the fun is researching and experimenting and coming to their own conclusions as to what bests suits their needs ..

[Jaguar7777]

I see the Riva 1100 Deluxe kit got a mention again. Not surprising, the Kit as purchased from Vapeescape is probably the best starting point for anybody opting for the Ego/510 route. You have the kit, the charger and the case all rolled into one, the icing on the cake is a pair of one of the most reliable batteries you can buy at a reasonable price. They charge quickly, they last a long time, and they hold their charge well. It was the first kit I purchased, now I have four of them sitting around. They are THAT good.

Perhaps, if you go ahead with this idea, this kit would be the one most people would point a finger at and say, "Try that, it might be just the thing you are looking for."

I do think such advice would need to be impartial and vendor free. I have mentioned the Riva Kit from Vapeescape, but if you went ahead with this idea I would have mentioned the kit, but not the vendor. Sometimes, money and advice don't sit well together.

Jag. (Only a humble opinion)

PS. This looks like a good idea in the making.

[Wobblybootie]

The Riva 1100 kit gets my vote as a starter package as well ... It was recommended to me by someone on this forum (Sorry without trawling back to find the thread you will have to remain nameless, but you will forever have my gratitude!!)

I don't think you can beat it, I still have the case, batteries and charger and yes it still gets used every now and again.

Use the cartos and 'mizer then upgrade to Evods or Nova minis ... Onwards and Upwards ... (Then the shinys find you ... be afraid, very afraid!!!!)

[GunJack]

I think this is the start of a good idea, and there's a couple of things I'd throw in to the mix with it.....

1. Explain in absolute terms that cartos/clearos and the like are DISPOSABLE items, even the rebuildable ones... with an idea of how long each type is likely to last before needing to be chucked - this will give new vapers a better idea of the recurring costs of such things.

2. Explain how much juice they are likely to go through, e.g. on average 2ml a day is probably realistic, so that they can see that a 10ml bottle for, say, £4 will last around 5 days.

3. remember that the majority of the vape-curious will want to try something that just works with the minimum amount of hassle/prep/etc. as smoking is easy, just spark it and it works. E.g. filling cartos for the first time may well put off many, and hence why initially at least pre-filled cig-a-likes are so popular.

1 and 2 will help educate new vapers about the recurring costs, and 3 should be bourne in mind as any initially even slightly complicated kits will only put people off before they get started...

just my tuppence-worth

[djs]

Can I be an annoying git?

I saw a CE4 blister pack for real just two days ago. £10 in a market. It looked quite poor i.m.o.

I think if people come on, are serious and want to try something up to £40-50, we should advise them to get a good kit from a good vendor.
If they are very conscious of not liking it or overspending, then a blister or disposable (even) is fine, of course.

A complete vaping beginner (as in never vaped, only ever seen e-cigs) could do a lot worse than trying the £2.09 disposable for Morrisons.

Just remind them which one to buy, not the E-Lites (of course) and the Nicolites disposable one from various places is even worse.

[irishcas]

I have converted about 15 smokers now.
What I do is them them my twist and a back-up battery charger for a week.
I ask them to buy a clearo and the juice usualy ending up about same price as a packet of cigs so none of them mind. After the week they always come to buy a kit which I take the price of the clearo off.
I have 3 new kits and differant juices at all times. I may not sell my next one for a month but may as what happened recently sold 2 together to a husband and wife who are saving a massive 150 euro between them a week by vaping as well as the health side of hings

[Roscopecotrain]

Aug 13, 2013 12:53:40 GMT djs said:

Can I be an annoying git?

I saw a CE4 blister pack for real just two days ago. £10 in a market. It looked quite poor i.m.o.

I think if people come on, are serious and want to try something up to £40-50, we should advise them to get a good kit from a good vendor.
If they are very conscious of not liking it or overspending, then a blister or disposable (even) is fine, of course.

A complete vaping beginner (as in never vaped, only ever seen e-cigs) could do a lot worse than trying the £2.09 disposable for Morrisons.

Just remind them which one to buy, not the E-Lites (of course) and the Nicolites disposable one from various places is even worse.

What cigalikes would you recommend djs?

[djs]

Aug 13, 2013 14:00:20 GMT Roscopecotrain said:

What cigalikes would you recommend djs?

I'm certainly not in any way an expert on these, but the list is growing.

The Jasper and Jasper from Morrisons (£2.09) is comfortably the best I have tried yet for the money. I suspect (although it's still working) the 200 puffs is an over-estimate, but even of it's only 150, that's a good place to start.
There is a Ritchy one (them of other e-cig stuff) which is quite good.
The Gamucci came out well in some tests on the amount of nicotine...although I've not tasted it.
ecigwizard and totally wicked both do a decent-ish one.


We know the Poundland one is utter rubbish. Homebargains also terrible.
The Nicolites is very poor indeed
10 motives is also bad (there were some stories of this one leaking e-liquid as well - enough to scare a newbie)
If E-Lites do one, it must be bad and expensive because (presumably) it can't be better than the rechargeable.

t.b.h. the Jasper and Jasper does a fair job of being a middle-of-the-road example of what a skycig or nicolite might be like to use, although the taste is not a patch on decent e-liquid.

Work in progress...

Mrs DJS is trying them too, which seems to help get a more balanced view. If I find "the one" for her, then I am hopeful she'll convert over time.

[mybad]

Don't ya just love the world of vaping


Regarding newbies, if they are serious enough about giving vaping ago they will end up looking on a forum something like this one and maybe lurk for a while trying to gather info and learn a little before joining in, and when the question is asked, which ecig should I get , thats when the real confusion can just start to begin because of the bombardment from people to get this get that ect all with good intentions mind you,and I think I am right in saying that most will opt for the riva kit due to the fact its been the most ever recommended starter kit to buy, mind you I never bought it myself I just jumped in at the deep end with the vv because I did a lot of reading instead of letting myself in for the bombardment sort of thing , so anyway the cost of a riva kit is what ? 30/40 £ , newbie buys and gets along with it and enjoys their new found world of vaping, they may just stick with it or want to advance onto the world of vv/vw , at this point in time a good set up of vv/vw can be had at the same price now as the starter kit they bought in the first place , some people when they do advance may think I should have done this at the beginning instead of buying the starter kit , so at the end of it all its a learning curve to get to the point where your at.

Ramble finished.