Hey all, first post here. Yay. Hopefully it has a happy ending.
It's gotten a bit ridiculous when you have to worry about a cheap atty being a clone, but here goes:
A local vape shop just opened a store near me, they have multiple locations in the area, so they are well established here. They had the Freakshow RDA and I remembered reading some positive comments about it. Cost: 35 bucks - yeah, I know but I wanted a new RDA today to use on my recently acquired Hexohm V2, and I don't mind supporting the locals.
Anyway, got it home, built it, and it vapes pretty nice. I wanted to see some youtube vids on building and wicking the Freakshow to see if I had oriented my coils/wicks correctly, and also went to Google images to look at some pictures and lo and behold - mine has some differences. The center post is copper, and the O-rings are red. Most of the pictures I've seen show a stainless steel center post and black O-rings. Also the packaging for mine is very generic: a foam-lined plastic box with no markings.
Understand that I had done zero research and asked the clerk repeatedly if this was an authentic RDA and was told yes, "all of the RDAs on the top shelf are authentic." So I was trusting the retailer who - as stated above - has an established presence here at multiple locations.
So, Freakshow owners - is mine a fake? If so, it's going back - on principle. I don't have a problem with clones, but I certainly have a problem with deceit, and I'm not paying 35 bucks for a $10 Fastech RDA.
It's gotten a bit ridiculous when you have to worry about a cheap atty being a clone, but here goes:
A local vape shop just opened a store near me, they have multiple locations in the area, so they are well established here. They had the Freakshow RDA and I remembered reading some positive comments about it. Cost: 35 bucks - yeah, I know but I wanted a new RDA today to use on my recently acquired Hexohm V2, and I don't mind supporting the locals.
Anyway, got it home, built it, and it vapes pretty nice. I wanted to see some youtube vids on building and wicking the Freakshow to see if I had oriented my coils/wicks correctly, and also went to Google images to look at some pictures and lo and behold - mine has some differences. The center post is copper, and the O-rings are red. Most of the pictures I've seen show a stainless steel center post and black O-rings. Also the packaging for mine is very generic: a foam-lined plastic box with no markings.
Understand that I had done zero research and asked the clerk repeatedly if this was an authentic RDA and was told yes, "all of the RDAs on the top shelf are authentic." So I was trusting the retailer who - as stated above - has an established presence here at multiple locations.
So, Freakshow owners - is mine a fake? If so, it's going back - on principle. I don't have a problem with clones, but I certainly have a problem with deceit, and I'm not paying 35 bucks for a $10 Fastech RDA.