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The other option is an RDA, but I'm hesitant to get one for a few reasons.
Having to drip all the time seems very annoying, and I hear they leak. A lot.
Tip them and they leak. Condensation leaks out the air holes. Here a leak, there a leak.
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I drip exclusively, so I'll address your concerns with RDAs if I may:
- Re "dripping is a chore":
Yes, on the face of it, it does seem annoying to drip all the time. After a week though, like any gesture you repeat over and over, you just don't think about it anymore. Your hands sort of do it for you. Believe me, I find dealing with tanks a lot more annoying than dripping: all that business of filling up, cleaning, playing with the wick to avoid dry hits and floodings... annoy the hell out of me.
Me, I much prefer throwing a dozen different flavor bottles in my backpack before leaving for work in the morning, and vaping whatever I fancy during the day - thin or thick juice, it doesn't matter, changing the wick every 3 or 4 days, changing the coil every 3 or 4 weeks, and never having to do anything more.
- Re "RDAs leak":
Yes, many RDAs leak. Some leak a lot, some not too much, and some not at all. The worst offenders are RDAs with bottom air holes, and the truly leak-free ones are RDAs with top holes.
The usual side-hole arrangement used by many RDA is a compromise between price (easy machining) and good air flow that hits the coils straight on. With these, you can control leaking using the following mitigation methods:
- Don't overfill the chamber. With experience, you learn how much is too much when you refill the RDA.
- Never put your mod away with a full chamber.
- If you have a box mod and it has an adjustment ring, line up the air holes so none of them is pointing down when you lay the mod on its side.
- Rest your mod upright as much as possible (if it won't stand upright by itself, buy or make a stand): no atomizer will leak in that position - with the exception of bottom air hole atomizers.
If, like me, you really, REALLY can't stand leaks, there are a few top air hole RDAs that will never leak. Here are the ones I know:
- The JDTech Manta v2 RDA: the best of them all, and the best atomizer period, imho. It is an excellent single- and dual-coil RDA. The air intake is on the top but it feeds from the sides inside the chamber. This thing blows your socks off in terms of flavor and vapor production. I have never had a single droplet of juice leak out of this guy. The authentic is not cheap though, but I see FT has a clone now.
- The Rogue RDA: true top airflow RDA - i.e. unlike the Manta, the air comes down on the coil directly from the top, meaning that if the coils are set too low, less air will touch them, it'll run hotter and won't produce as much flavor. It's also a little less easy to build on. It's not really designed for single-coil either. Finally, you'd better like really loose airflow, because the airflow control ring is almost useless, and is as good as wide open all the time. Having said all that, it's a very competent little atomizer: if setup right, it'll produce almost as much flavor, and a little more vapor than the Manta.
- The Buhawi RDA: a top-to-side airflow RDA, like the Manta. Great flavor, great vapor, clever airflow adjustment ring, gobs of air, but expensive and hard to come by. But my real beef with that atomizer is that the juice touches the copper sleeve inside, and I'm not too keen on that. Juice shouldn't touch anything but stainless steel or glass in my world. I know what juice that's been in contact with copper or brass for too long tastes like, and I'm pretty sure it's not good for my health...
- The Hellfire RDA: okay, but airflow is much too restricted for my taste.
- The SXK SK RDA: what-the-fuck airflow control drip tip design that forces you to remove the top cap each time you want to recharge the chamber. Otherwise okay.
- The Venturi RDA: too complicated for its own good. Otherwise fairly good.
I hope the above will help you join the ranks of us happy drippers
